Email Author William Michael Smith

2006 Stories by William Michael Smith

• Snit's Dog and Pony Show

  published April 6, 2006

  They've been playing around town a few years now, and Snit's Dog and Pony Show make no bones about it -- originality is overrated. They seem to... More >>

• The Blasters

  published March 30, 2006

  The last time I saw Phil Alvin was eight or nine years ago. He was sitting on the curb beside his grime-covered tour van in the alley behind the... More >>

• Fred Eaglesmith

  published March 16, 2006

  Mary Gauthier is one of the hottest commodities in Americana right now. She did only two covers on her wildly successful breakthrough album... More >>

• Randy Weeks, with Tony Gilkyson and Mike Stinson

  published March 16, 2006

  Okay, so it's Sunday night and you're thinking Screw it, I'm just gonna eat some leftovers, watch some tube, hit the sack. Big day tomorrow.... More >>

• Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, with Duke Spirit

  published March 16, 2006

  Ted Leo and the Pharmacists will never make it in pop music. They have no fear of searing guitar solos, odd breaks and meters, bass leads or, come... More >>

• Tommy Castro

  published March 16, 2006

  Tommy Castro is one of the good guys, an artist who refuses to let his blues become a cliché or an antique. On Soul Shaker, Castro finds t... More >>

• Shawn Camp

  published March 16, 2006

  Nothing I knew about Shawn Camp prepared me for the amped-up twanging hillbilly rock that came blaring out of my speakers when I punched "play" on... More >>

• Buddy Mondlock

  published March 9, 2006

  Songwriter Buddy Mondlock has worked with everybody from Garth Brooks to Nanci Griffith to Peter, Paul and Mary to Art Garfunkel to Janis Ian. He... More >>

• I See Hawks in LA

  published March 9, 2006

  Try as you might to avoid the heinous hippie-cliché "cosmic" when describing the music of I See Hawks in LA, when the melodies, lyrics, harmonies a... More >>

• Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen

  published March 2, 2006

  Between them, these two have written entire chapters in the history of whatever you want to call what happened when rock met country, when... More >>

• Domino Kings

  published February 23, 2006

  They may not be from Texas, but Springfield, Missouri's Domino Kings are still one of the best country bands on planet Earth right now. Not that... More >>

• Max Stalling

  published February 16, 2006

  If the world is looking for another Don Williams, Max Stalling pretty much fits the bill. Stalling has stockpiled a clutch of songs that recall... More >>

• Drywall

  published February 16, 2006

  Looks like former Wall of Voodoo leader Stan Ridgway (remember "Mexican Radio"?) has re-emerged from LA noir-rock obscurity just in time to lob a... More >>

• Yvonne Washington

  published February 9, 2006

  If you want biographical confusion, Google nimble, mellow-voiced jazz singer Yvonne Washington. According to one site, she was born and raised in... More >>

• Marshall Crenshaw

  published February 9, 2006

  It's amazing how many people don't know Marshall Crenshaw. Oh, sure, '80s hipsters are as aware of Crenshaw as they are of the Plimsouls or the... More >>

• Brian Keane, Wayne Sutton and Rachel Loy

  published February 9, 2006

  Most of Houston has yet to discover these Austin singer-songwriters, who each released interesting records in 2005 that garnered good press.... More >>

• The Gourds, with Last Train Home

  published February 2, 2006

  Around our house, a new Gourds album is anticipated like a sacred tablet coming down from the mountain or, at the very least, a new episode of... More >>

• Grupo Fantasma

  published February 2, 2006

  An instant party wherever they set up, Austin's Grupo Fantasma is to Latin funk what our own supergroup Los Skarnales is to Latino punk. Their... More >>

• Adrian Legg

  published February 2, 2006

  There's an old saw that guitar players are a dime a dozen. Tom T. Hall once wrote, "There ain't no money in it and it'll lead you to an early... More >>

• Mercy Eventually

  published February 2, 2006

  My dad is 74 years old and lives four miles outside a small town in central Texas. Needless to say, he's not exactly up-to-date on the latest in... More >>

• Rich Hopkins and Luminarios

  published January 26, 2006

  Just shows how mucked up the music scene is that a guy with Rich Hopkins's pedigree is passing through town almost anonymously. It wouldn't be... More >>

• Joy Lynn White

  published January 19, 2006

  Fans of Linda Ronstadt's versions of "Different Drum," "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" and "Heatwave" should feel instantly at home with Joy... More >>

• Eric Taylor

  published January 19, 2006

  Eric Taylor may have been born a Midwest Yankee and may these days inhabit the mantle of a Columbus, Texas, gentleman rancher, but his artistic... More >>

• Rev. Billy C. Wirtz

  published January 19, 2006

  The Right Reverend Billy C. Wirtz, who presides over the House of Polyester Worship and Horizontal Throbbing Teenage Desire, is in his own words... More >>

• Sunny Day

  published Oct 19, 2006

  Courtesy of Sunny Sweeney A little like Loretta: Sweeney The East Texas twang in Sunny Sweeney's voice takes us back to Loretta Lynn's heyday, back before regional differences had been homogeniz... More >>