Galleywinter

The first time I ever heard James “Slim” Hand, it was just in conversation at the dusty bartop in Tokio, TX at, what else, the Tokio Store.  Tokio was one of our favorite early 00’s haunts.  Just outside of West, it was the type of building that dots the landscape of the Lone Star State that looks as likely as it is home to a good time as it is to be scheduled for demolition in the morning.  The entire structure kind of leaned to 10 o’clock.  Now, mind you, the Hand family is well known in northern McLennan County

We’ve got some feel good for you this Friday to keep you warm on what looks to be a historically cold (and snowy) weekend in Texas… Those suited up, soul shopping gents from Big D, better known as Prophets and Outlaws, dropped a new single and video with a little bit of help from friends George Dunham and the OG himself, Pat Green. According to lead man Matt Boggs, “Little Bit of Love” was conceived when Pat Green called his buddy George with the hook…from the golf course. The P&O boys and PG share a common friendship through Dunham, the

“Texas Music” and the ensuing music scene that springs from its tentacles and ensares everything from Red Dirt to folk to Americana has suffered from few credibility crises over the years. However, it has been inundated over the years by an ongoing originality crisis.  With each original act, artist, songwriter, idea there are scores of copycats. It becomes tiresome. It also causes fans to seek something fresh.  Today’s modern streaming listening options provide ample opportunities for folks to sample those fresh sounds.  Sometimes they find them from within our genre’s borders…other times it is found far beyond. I’ve experienced this

Looking back and seeing the title of my end-of-year piece for 2019 was “It’s Been a Hell of a Year” seems laughable at this point because, without question, 2020 pulled a “Hold My Beer.” While the media likes to show us the world on fire and how we can’t agree on much of anything, I think most of us can agree on a common pool of emotions to describe the past twelve months. Sick, tired, lonely, worried, irritated, angry, dismissive, sad, skeptical are all almost certainly there, with a few other choice words thrown in to customize your recipe for

Avoiding all the cliches about how awful 2020 has been is difficult when compiling a list such as this. Or really just looking back at the past 12 months in any capacity. It’s unprecedented in so many respects, but particularly from the arts perspective. Concerts shut down. Venues closed. Movie theaters shuttered. Yet, as they will always do, artists found a way. And that way for musicians was to keep plugging along. Sure they couldn’t perform and play in the traditional manner, but they kept grinding. Live streams and album releases kept the music going until they could be joined