Woodlands native turned Austin dweller Hayes Carll had an up-and-down year in 2008. His first Lost Highway release, Trouble In Mind, garnered worldwide attention. As he relaxed in the Ozarks with his in-laws before heading to Warehouse Live for tonight's gig with Band of Heathens and Adam Carroll, we caught up with him to look back... and forward.
Rocks Off: What were the highlights of 2008 for you as an artist? Hayes Carll: The Stingaree Music Festival, playing the
We freely admit we are homers, as big a fans of Hayes Carll as Milo Hamilton is of the Astros, but the Press isn't the only media outlet in the country impressed by Carll's first Lost Highway album, Trouble in Mind. The album, which featured the Americana Music Association's song of the year, "She Left Me For Jesus," was Amazon.com's #1 country album, R&R Americana album of the year, and Amazon's #9 album overall. It also scored a #2 in the annual poll of No Depression writers, as well as a #2 i
Led Zeppelin shouter Robert Plant and country/pop vocalist Alison Krauss seem like a highly unlikely duo. When I heard they'd made an album together called Raising Sand, the pairing seemed so odd I didn't really even want to hear it. I thought their two voices would clash like Lucinda Williams and Robbie Fulks.
But the woman in my life, a pretty fair vocalist in her own right, kept telling me I had to listen to it. Now she and I don't exactly listen in lockstep; she likes Rufus Wainright and Jul
William Michael SmithLance Smith (left) and Mike Stinson
LOM grew up in the oil patch, made a good living in it, saw the world because of it. So it made sense to want our son, Lance, to grow up to be a petroleum engineer. Alas, it was not to be.
Now he's a guitar player.
Two years into the petroleum engineering program at University of Houston, LOM and the wife pulled the plug on Lance's financing. The logic? Exxon doesn't hire engineers with C averages who majored in frat party and skirt-cha
Lonesome Onry and Mean has to hand it to those people in Conroe: they know how to book a cool festival lineup. In fact, the list of performers for the Go Texan! Wine & Food stage at Saturday's Conroe Cajun Catfish Festival is downright scary from the standpoint of cutting-edge, less-than-highly-visible quality Americana acts.
Longtime LOM left-side-of-Nashville fave Phil Lee fires up at 2:45 p.m. Recently signed to Steady Boy Records, this wildman maverick - who counts Neil Young as one o
