Email Author William Michael Smith

2009 Stories by William Michael Smith

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  FEATURED STORY

  Lonesome Onry and Mean: This Is Not (Really) a Best-Of-2009 List

  published Dec 30, 2009

  Lonesome, Onry and Mean saw a great comment from Dave Alvin on Facebook recently that went something like this: "I do not do Best of lists or End of the Decade lists, the only lists I do are 'crap I h... More >>

• Cross Canadian Ragweed

  published December 31, 2009

  You've got to love Cross Canadian Ragweed, those boys from Oklahoma who roll their joints all wrong. Working their way up out of college bars in... More >>

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: R.I.P. Vic Chesnutt

  published Dec 28, 2009

  The saddest musical news from the Christmas holiday is the overdose suicide of Athens, Ga. singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt. Rumors circulated on the Internet Christmas Eve that Chesnutt had died overn... More >>

• The Gourds

  published December 24, 2009

  Against all odds, 15 years in, the scruffy, chaotic Gourds are still firing on all cylinders. Over that period, record labels have come and gone,... More >>

• Delbert McClinton

  published December 24, 2009

  There's an old adage, especially for blues singers, that when the women start coming to your shows the men will follow, and Delbert McClinton is... More >>

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: Looking Ahead to Jonathan Richman, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Scott Miller and Lots More

  published Dec 21, 2009

  While doing our usual hunt for interesting acts coming to Houston in the next few weeks, Lonesome Onry and Mean came across some great stuff coming to Continental Club and McGonigel's Mucky Duck. The... More >>

• Listology: Blues In Hi-Fi DJ Clint Broussard's Favorite R&B 45s

  published Dec 16, 2009

  Clint Broussard is a local boy who was born with the music of the Gulf Coast in his chromosomes. Broussard works as a bartender at Ginger Man, a clerk at Cactus Records and volunteer disc jockey with... More >>

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: A Christmas Album That Doesn't Suck

  published Dec 15, 2009

  It's no secret that Lonesome Onry and Mean usually thinks of Christmas music at about the same moment the concept of suicide pops into our head. But a few days ago we were pleasantly surprised to rec... More >>

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: Three Never-Before-Heard (Almost) Webb Wilder Demos

  published Dec 14, 2009

  Recalling the sessions for Webb Wilder's albums Hybrid Vigor and Doo Dad, former Wilder guitarist Donny Roberts (above left, with the REO Speedwagon hair) forwarded some demos of songs that that neve... More >>

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: This Guitarist Really Does Rip the Strings Off

  published Dec 11, 2009

  You hear people say guitarists "ripped the strings off it" all the time. Well, travel out to the 2:30 mark on this great Webb Wilder video and, if you look close, you'll see the inimitable Donny Robe... More >>

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: More on California Honky-Tonk Zelig Larry Hosford

  published Dec 09, 2009

  We've just listened to his duet with Larry Hosford on "Reno Is a Late Night Town," and Mike Stinson looks up and grins like he's just heard Dwight Yoakam is going to cut another one of his songs. "La... More >>

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: The Second Act of Onetime "New Dylan" Larry Hosford

  published Dec 08, 2009

  Unless you're a professional Trivial Pursuit player, chances are high you've never heard of Larry Hosford. But there was a time when Hosford was hailed as the next Bob Dylan and was hanging around She... More >>

• Tender Mercies

  published December 10, 2009

  Itasca native Sam Baker's third album, Cotton, confirms his status as one of Texas's finest song-poets. His songs contain dust, drought and... More >>

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: Concluding Our African-American Country Series With O.B. McClinton

  published Dec 07, 2009

  One other Charley Pride contemporary who cut a wide swath through country music in the '70s and '80s was Mississippian O. B. McClinton.. After failing to break into R&B, although several of his songs... More >>

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: The Rockabilly Country Soul of Big Al Downing

  published Dec 03, 2009

  Maybe the most successful African-American country artist of the post-Charley Pride period was Big Al Downing. Talk about a guy who could blur the line between country and soul. An affable Oklahoman,... More >>

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: Stoney Edwards, Another Lost African-American Country Singer

  published Dec 02, 2009

  In our previous story regarding black artists who took the country music route, we omitted a huge talent who, though he never achieved Charley Pride's level of commercial success, was a respected art... More >>

• Jack Ingram

  published December 3, 2009

  One of the first of the Texas Music crowd to come to Nashville's attention, Woodlands boy Jack Ingram is the most successful country singer out of... More >>

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: Between Darius Rucker and Charley Pride, There Was Otis Williams

  published Dec 01, 2009

  Darius Rucker's award as the Academy of Country Music's New Artist of the Year recently made him the first black artist to take a significant country award since Charley Pride ruled Nashville in the ... More >>

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: That Sucking Sound You Hearr It's KILT's Upcoming "Ten Man Jam"

  published Nov 27, 2009

  What a something-for-everyone mish-mash local radio station KILT's annual "Ten Man Jam," its tenth, is this year. For one thing, the two performers that Lonesome, Onry and Mean would most like to see... More >>

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: Hank Snow, "Movin' On" to Altman's Nashville... and George Wallace

  published Nov 25, 2009

  "You switched your engine now I ain't got time For a triflin' woman on my main line 'Cause I'm movin' on, you done your daddy wrong I've warned you twice, now you can settle the price 'Cause I'm movi... More >>

• Jackson Browne

  published November 26, 2009

  Jackson Browne has been one of the great songwriters of the modern era. With his amazing and varied hits – “Doctor My Eyes,”... More >>

• Jackson Browne

  published November 26, 2009

  Jackson Browne has been one of the great songwriters of the modern era. With his amazing and varied hits — "Doctor My Eyes," "The... More >>

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: The Shadowy Depression-Era Roots of Modern Country and Bluegrass

  published Nov 24, 2009

  As LOM promised in last week's blog about bluegrass, here are some precursors to that art form. These are some wonderful tunes to listen to on your boom-box or iPod while tending your illegal still. ... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Our New Favorite Blogger Is Also Her Own Favorite Blogger

  published Nov 23, 2009

  rTo say that rsvp713.com "fashion columnist" Leslie Tyler-Fink is arrogant, thoughtless and elitist is probably being too kind. A recent ellipses-filled "Glam Life" column is filled with air-heade... More >>

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: Remembering Doug Sahm - 10 Years Gone Alreadyr

  published Nov 19, 2009

  "You just can't live in Texas if you don't have a lot of soul" - Doug Sahm, "At the Crossroads" rIf the Texas music scene ever had a soul, it belonged to Doug Sahm, the leader of the Sir Douglas Qui... More >>