Christmas music: you either love it, hate it, or love it selectively.  If the overblown synths of holiday elevator music or the slick, vaguely disingenous pop-star Christmas songs make you more annoyed than festive, here’s a list of cool, sincere, non-grating songs that for the most part are no farther than iTunes or your other favorite (legal) download site.  Here’s what’s been shaking our tree at the Gibson Austin showroom and our homes & vehicles this year:

• Hayes Carll - “Grateful For Christmas” - Again proving that you don’t have to be overwrought to be soulful, our local fave digs down deep for a nice mix of smartass grins and sad-eyed reflections on how the holiday changes as you get a few years under your belt.
• Terri Hendrix - “Away In A Manger” - Even this ancient tune sounds fresh via the bottomlessly warm twang of our down-to-earth Hill Country chanteuse.
• The Pogues - “Fairytale of New York” - Shane McGowan and Kirsty MacColl make the story of two Irish wastrels in the Big Apple sound as relatable as if they were living next door to us.  Even cheerily cursing each other out, they’ll bring a tear to your eye.
• Emmylou Harris - “The First Noel” - Good call for Christmas, get somebody who sings like an actual angel and put her in a room with some committed harmonizers and a song about the reason for the season.
• Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison - “Baby It’s Cold Outside” - No kidding … supposed to get down to about 60 tonight.  Also no kidding that this song is full of charm and holds up well to dozens of listens.
• The Gougers - “Just Because It’s Christmas” - Sweet country swing from a band that went it’s separate ways a year or so ago but lives on forever on our iTunes.  This one was written by local legend Matt Skinner.
• John Prine - “Christmas In Prison” - I’ll probably get homesick, I love you, goodnight.  Whatever put him in the big house should be forgiven just because he wrote this poignant, subtly funny classic.
• Dwight Yoakam - “Santa Claus Is Back In Town” - Actually Dwight’s whole Christmas album is pretty great, but this lascivious little number might be the best of the batch.
• John Evans - “Christmas In Texas” - An endearingly silly, enduringly twangy trifle about stockings full of Lone Star Beer.
• Jack Ingram - “Jingle Bells” - Our country crossover buddy strips the most overplayed Christmas song ever of all the sugary sleigh bells and sings it with a warm, plaintive acoustic drive.  Possibly the only version you’ll want to hear again.
• Willie Nelson - “Silent Night” - We could probably listen to a whole CD (or more) of Willie Christmas songs, but if we only get to keep one …
• Robert Earl Keen - “Merry Christmas From the Family” - This one was a no-brainer.  Any Christmas song that works in motor homes, margaritas, and chain smoking is well worth re-gifting ad infinitum until everyone’s heard it.

We could go on & on but we’ve got gifts to wrap.  Feliz Navidad from Austin!

For those of you done with the holiday shopping (or just handling this year blissfully non-commericial) here’s a slate of good gigs around town this weekend.  Typical Austin … not much chance of snow, but plenty of cool music to go around.

FRIDAY

• Charlie Robison, Jason Eady, & Stonehoney at Antone’s - three fine shades of modern alt-country
• Two Tons of Steel at the Broken Spoke - real deal honky-tonkers in a real deal honky tonk
• Ringo Deathstarr, Follow That Bird!, Schmillion, & more at Emo’s - at least ten bands rocking and rotating long into the night 
• Cody Canada at the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar - roots-rocker slowly shedding his twang with an upcoming flat-out rock & roll project

SATURDAY

• WC Clark at the Saxon Pub - one of the last great Texas bluesmen still standing
• Scott Miller at Lambert’s - rare swing through town for a risk-taking Americana standout
• Mother Truckers at Antone’s - sultry mash-up of honky tonk, rockabilly, and gunpowder
• Dan Dyer Band at Momo’s - soulful folk-rocker, hard to define but easy to like
• Terri Hendrix, Eliza Gilkyson, & Ian McLagan at the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar - titans of the local music scene, singular and compelling artists still humble enough to share some holiday spirit

SUNDAY

• Gary Floater Tribute at Cheatham Street Warehouse - local songwriters pay tribute to a cryptic country legend
• The Resentments and Monte Montgomery at the Saxon Pub - hard-charging roots rock and inventive acoustic-guitar rock all in one night
• Ray Wylie Hubbard, the Derailers, and Band Of Heathens at the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar - some of Austin (and thus the world’s) finest roots-music taking the edge off your Christmas shopping for you

The generous spirit of the holidays finds a foothold with just about every good soul sooner or later. Even the day-job musicians who lose a little needed rest with every gig the book, as well as the tip-jar rock stars whose pay hasn’t caught up to their talent, still give of themselves, most noticeably when a benefit show pops up in their area.  They happen year-round and across genres, but for the moment here’s some news about a couple of artists hosting benefits for Toys For Tots.

Mike Ethan Messick started his own tradition in Bryan back in 2002, filling up whichever bar was willing to play host with his musician friends and their fans.  When he made the move to the Austin area in 2007 the tradition was picked up by Britt Lloyd, who had been a frequent performer at Messick’s shows.  Now, for two years running, the two old friends have been putting on parallel benefits: Messick has hosted a TFT benefit at San Marcos’ Cheatham Street Warehouse while Lloyd hosts one back in Aggieland at Hurricane Harry’s.  They’re both December 12 this year, both packed with an army of regional artists and both well worth your time if you’d like too make a small (or large) donation to TFT and enjoy some of the musical cameraderie in person.

So to recap, the San Marcos event will be at Cheatham Street Warehouse, hosted by Mike Ethan Messick and featuring Matt King, Mark Jungers, Kent Finlay, Jordan Minor, Forest Wayne Allen, Jeremy Steding, Mark Allan Atwood, Aaron Navarro, Andrea Marie and many others.  The College Station event will be at Hurricane Harry’s, hosted by Britt Lloyd and featuring Brian Burke, Ryan Beaver, Ben Morris & the GABC, Dub Miller, Matt Skinner, Brison Bursey, James Pardo, and many others.     

We’d also like to point out that, like many good-hearted and talented musicians around the world, Messick and Lloyd also play Gibson & Epiphone guitars.  Here’s the links to the Facebook pages for both events:

Britt Lloyd & friends at Hurricane Harry’s in College Station:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115112621888009&ref=ts#!/event.php?eid=115112621888009

Messick & friends at Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115112621888009&ref=ts#!/event.php?eid=109112045829290

Our friends next door at the Texas chapter of the Recording Academy compiled this list of Texas-born or Texas-based artists newly nominated for Grammys.  Congratulations everyone!

For a list of all nominees, please visit:
http://www.grammy.com/nominees
The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences
53rd Annual GRAMMY® Awards
For recordings released during the Eligibility Year September 1, 2009 through September 30, 2010.
Compiled by Casey Monahan, Stephen Ray, Amber LaFrance, Katelyn Orr, and Ambika Singh

Arcade Fire (The Woodlands)
-Album of the Year for The Suburbs (Merge)
-Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for Ready to Start (Merge)
-Best Alternative Music Album for The Suburbs (Merge)

ARS Lyrica Houston (Houston)
-Best Opera Recording for Hasse: Marc’ Antonio E Cleopatra (Dorian Sono Luminus)
Devendra Banhart (Houston)
-Best Recording Package for What Will We Be (with Jon Beasley) (Warner Bros.)

Joseph Banowetz (Denton)
-Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with Orchestra) for Kletzki: Piano Concerto In D Minor, Op. 22 (Naxos)
John Beasley (Denton)
-Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual of Group for Positootly! (Resonance)

Beyoncé (Houston)
-Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Halo(Live) (Columbia/Music World Music)
-Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for Telephone (with Lady GaGa) (Streamline/KonLive/Cherrytree/Interscope)

Ryan Bingham (Austin)
-Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media for The Weary Kind with T Bone Burnett (New West)

Carol Burnett (San Antonio)
-Best Spoken Word Album for This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection (Random House Audio)

T Bone Burnett (Fort Worth)
-Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media for Crazy Heart (New West)
-Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media for The Weary Kind with Ryan Bingham (New West)

Guy Clark (Monahans)
-Best Contemporary Folk Album for Somedays the Song Writes You (Dualtone)

James Cotton (Austin)
-Best Traditional Blues Album for Giant (Alligator)

David Crowder Band (Waco)
-Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album for Church Music (Sparrow/Sixsteprecords)
Steve Earle (San Antonio)
-Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media for This City (Geffen)

Roky Erickson with Okkervil River (Austin)
-Best Album Notes for True Love Cast Out All Evil (ANTI-)

Patty Griffin (Austin)
-Best Traditional Gospel Album for Downtown Church (Credential Recordings)

El Güero Y Su Banda Centenario (San Antonio)
-Best Banda Album for Enamórate De Mí (A.R.C. Discos)

Grupo Fantasma (Austin)
-Best Latin Rock, Alternative or Urban Album for El Existential (Nat Geo Music)

Ty Herndon (Dallas)
-Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album for Journey On (FUNL Music)

Sara Hickman (Austin)
- Best Spoken Word Album for Children Healthy Food For Thought: Good Enough To Eat
(Hickman contributed two selections) (East Coast Recording Company)

Buddy Holly (Lubbock)
-Best Historical Album for Not Fade Away: The Complete Studio Recordings and More (Ume/Hip-O Select/Geffen)

Intocable (Zapata)
-Best Norteño Album for Classic (Sony Music Latin)
Israel Houghton (Houston)
-Best Gospel Performance for You Hold My World (Integrity Music)
-Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album for Love God, Love People (Integrity Music)

Jewel (Stephenville)
-Best Female Country Vocal Performance for Satisfied (The Valory Music Company)

Norah Jones (Dallas)
-Best Female Vocal Pop Performance for Chasing Pirates (Blue Note)

Miranda Lambert (Lindale)
-Song of the Year for The House That Built Me (Columbia)
-Best Female Country Vocal Performance for The House That Built Me (Columbia)
-Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for Bad Angel (with Dierks Bentley and Jamey Johnson) (Capitol Records Nashville)
-Best Country Song for The House That Built Me (Columbia)
-Best Country Album for Revolution (Columbia)

Lecrae (Dallas)
-Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album for Rehab (Reach)

Little Joe Y La Familia (Temple)
-Best Tejano Album for Recuerdos (TDI)

Alan Lomax (Austin)
-Best Album Notes for Alan Lomax in Haiti: Recordings for the Library of Congress, 1936-1937 (Harte Recordings)
-Best Historical Album for Alan Lomax in Haiti: Recordings for the Library of Congress, 1936-1937 (Harte Recordings)

Johnny Mathis (Gilmer)
-Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for Let It Be Me: Mathis in Nashville (Columbia)

Juan P. Moreno (Houston)
-Best Tejano Album for Sabes Bien (Q-Vo)

Willie Nelson (Austin)
-Best Americana Album for Country Music (Rounder)

Pinetop Perkins (Austin)
-Best Traditional Blues Album for Joined at the Hip (with Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith) (Telarc)

Joe Posada (San Antonio)
-Best Tejano Album for In The Pocket (Baby Dude)

LeAnn Rimes (Dallas)
-Best Female Country Vocal Performance for Swingin (Curb)

Poncho Sanchez (Laredo)
-Best Latin Jazz Album for Psychedelic Blues (Concord Picante)

Sunny Sauceda Y Todo Eso (San Antonio)
-Best Tejano Album for Homenaje A Mi Padre (Solstice)

Allen Shamblin (Austin)
-Song of the Year for The House That Built Me with Tom Douglas (Columbia)
-Best Country Song for The House That Built Me with Tom Douglas (Columbia)

Esperanza Spalding (Austin)
-Best New Artist

George Strait (San Antonio)
-Best Country Song for The Breath You Take (MCA Nashville)

Chris Tomlin (Austin)
-Best Gospel Song for Our God (Sparrow)

Tortilla Factory (Austin)
-Best Tejano Album for Cookin (Tortilla)

Jimmie Vaughan (Austin)
-Best Traditional Blues Album for Plays Blues Ballads and Favorites (Shout! Factory)

Cedric Watson et Bijou Créole (San Felipe)
-Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album for Creole Moon: Live At The Blue Moon Saloon (Valcour)

Kirk Whalum (Houston)
-Best Pop Instrumental Album for Everything is Everything: The Music of Donny Hathaway (Rendezvous Music/Mack Avenue)
-Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for We’re Still Friends (with Musiq Soulchild) (Rendezvous Music/Mack Avenue)
-Best Gospel Performance for He’s Just Been That Good (with Lalah Hathaway) (Rendezvous Music/Mack Avenue)
-Best Gospel Song for It’s What I Do (with Lalah Hathaway) (Rendezvous Music/Mack Avenue)
 
　

http://social.entertainment.msn.com/music/blogs/one-country-blogpost.aspx?post=776cb7de-f19c-4cef-bb4c-2e47c8b49163

Tribute albums frequently add up to a hit-and-miss affair or a well-intentioned mess, but this one feels beyond right.  For starters, few honorees are as deserving as Guy Clark, certainly a first-round pick for the (not just Texas) songwriter’s hall of fame; his open-minded approach to collaboration and his craftsman’s approach to his work have resulted in a body of work that is personal but not insular, distinctive but not so quirky that interpreters can’t hope to grasp it.  Outside of the context of a tribute album, Clark has been covered by the likes of Johnny Cash, Jerry Jeff Walker, George Strait, and Kenny Chesney, each more than once. 

On the new project, Stuff That Works, the list of Clark interpreters swells grandly and quite naturally; instead of a pack of platinum-selling ringers, producer Tamara Saviano rounded up artists that are often as relevant to Clark as he is to them.  Rodney Crowell and Lyle Lovett were both unofficially mentored by Guy; Emmylou Harris, Hayes Carll, Radney Foster, Vince Gill and Terry Allen have all written or sang with him before.  Verlon Thompson has been his right-hand man for years now, Joe Ely and John Hiatt have toured extensively with him, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson might have overshadowed him a bit through the years but they didn’t hesistate to lend their names to a project honoring their old friend.

It says a lot about Clark that he’s an influence on his own generation, sort of a gold standard that even the established best songwriters in the nation tip their hat to.  And for the future of this strain of music, hopefully it says just as much that young artists like Carll, Jack Ingram, Ryan Bingham, Terri Hendrix, and The Trishas (nice surprise there) are among those paying tribute here.  Nobody needs to strive to top Clark: much like Dylan, Prine, Springsteen, Waits, and their kind, he might be untoppable.  Sometimes it’s enough just to be part of that esteemed tradition, and do it the best way you know how.  With a song.

-MEM  

Like we’ve done a time or two in this forum, here’s some recommendations to the folks who wisely choose to get out and catch some live music between here and Sunday.  It’s been a rough week for Texas sports but it’s always a great week for Texas music.  Forgive us if the list leans hard towards Austin & the Hill Country - we like to write what we know - but you’ll notice we worked in some prominent Lone Star neighbors, plus feel free to tack on comments with any shows you’d like to plug.

1. Wednesday - The Beer Joint (College Station) - Ben Morris & The Great American Boxcar Chorus.  Fun-loving mishmashers of honky tonk, alt-rock, folk-rock and anything else that goes in the stew.
2. Thursday - Glass Cactus (Grapevine) - Micky & The Motorcars.  Biker-friendly, gruffly melodic roots rock in a small-town setting … well worth the drive.
3. Thursday - The Blue Light (Lubbock) - Rich O’Toole.  Poppy, punchy, crazy-catchy take on Texas country-rock with an infectious live show.
4. Friday - Gruene Hall (Gruene) - Lyle Lovett & His Large Band.  Not sure if we gotta explain this one to you … a wry, soulful take on everything from classic folk to honky-tonk to big band jazz.  Arguably the best & most enduring thing still hanging around from the mid-’80s. 
5. Saturday - Firehouse Saloon (Houston) - Bruce Robison w/Rob Baird.  Hit-writing Texas treasure hits the H-town honky tonk with one of our new friends opening the show.
6. Saturday - Floore’s Country Store (Helotes) - Matt King.  Macabre story songs, bluesy swamp rockers, and cacophonous folk-rock from one helluva songwriter/guitarist.
7. Saturday - Antone’s (Austin) - Dixie Witch.  Swampy, steamy metal-edged southern rock makes the legendary venue rock even harder than usual. 
8. Saturday - McGonigel’s Mucky Duck (Houston) - The Trishas.  Sometimes-wild, sometimes-wistful Americana with soaring harmony, rootsy writing and unmistakable good vibes.
9. Sunday - Threadgill’s South (Austin) - Gram Parsons Birthday Hoot.  Stonehoney, Michael Fracasso, Ben Mallott & more salute the long-gone and always-loved alt-country pioneer.
10. Sunday - Gruene Hall (Gruene) - Mark Jungers & The Whistling Mules.  Cracked humor and soulful folktales with a gonzo bluegrass-tinged backup band.  Like all the above, highly recommended … enjoy your shows.

http://americanamusic.org/index.htm

Just a couple of weeks ago we had the pleasure of hosting Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses on the Gibson tour bus, using it as an artist’s dream green room on wheels when the band played a sold-out-for-months aftershow at Momo’s, one of the crown jewels of the Sixth Street music scene.  The band’s guests, on board the bus and later on the stage, included songwriting legends Alejandro Escovedo and Terry Allen, leading to a memorable practice jam around the bus’ electric Baldwin baby grand piano.

Bingham, fresh off the justified acclaim from his “Weary Kind” being awarded the Oscar for Best Original Song, was also kind enough to consent to a quick Q&A interview.  A couple of questions centered around a lesser-publicized but, in our eyes, equally significant award: Bingham had been named Artist Of the Year at the Americana Music Awards just a couple of months prior.  Asked to describe Americana in a music genre context, even a guy who’s been literally awarded for his way with words was at a bit of a loss.  ”It’s basically folk music, you know … the modern version of folk music.”

True enough, because Americana is folk music.  It’s also country music, with some blues and (depending on the artist) any number of rock & roll subgenres mashed together.  Nowadays it has it’s own governing body of sorts (we stuck the link to the Americana Music Association atop the blog), an airplay chart, and other industry signifiers that weren’t around for moments such as:

• Gram Parsons bringing a touch of the surreal to the timeless ache of country music, just as hip rock titans like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, the Grateful Dead, and the Rolling Stones ran the other way with it, injecting their music with the downhome authenticity of country and blues in the ’60s
• Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and fellow travellers of varied notoriety spending the early ’70s busting the polite notions of Nashville-sound country with nods to rock & roll’s frank sexuality, folk music’s poetic ambition and a down & dirty sound that crossbred pretty much every strain of music in it’s path
• The Flatlanders in Lubbock, the Blasters out in LA, and Uncle Tupelo up in Missouri hammering their own signature sounds with one eye on a rustic, rootsy past and the other on an expansive musical future where artistic individuality always found a niche outside of (or in between) mainstream genres  

As America’s pop-culture universe grew more compartmentalized and (arguably) sophisticated in the ’90s, the Americana genre was established by a hopeful few.  Artists, radio stations, venues, magazines, and fans around the country were at least subliminally impacted by the still-fresh alt-rock revolution; if Nirvana and Nine Inch Nails could topple the bloated hair-metal and cheesy pop-rock acts on the rock & roll scene, maybe the bracing, emotionally complex strain of American music that included the likes of Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, Lucinda Williams, and Robert Earl Keen (all Texas-rooted artists … not that we’re bragging) could goose a country music industry that had grown stagnant with a glut of hat-act wannabes.  It didn’t happen quite that way, but in the Internet age it was easier for fans to connect the dots.  Suddenly the off-beat songwriter or band you stumbled across and loved because their music was lyrically ambitious, emotionally direct, and beguilingly individual wasn’t just a diamond in the rough … they were part of a growing scene and a venerable tradition that defied labels but, if it really needed one, “Americana” would do just fine.  Even legends, marginalized by an industry that preferred to either file you under “Legend” or just forget you once you hit 50, found the “Americana” label useful … note that the current #1 on the Americana chart is esteemed former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant.  The genre is loose and loving enough that one doesn’t even have to be American to be Americana.

Today Texas still boasts at least a partial claim to some of the genre’s greatest - Alejandro Escovedo, James McMurtry, Patty Griffin, Hayes Carll, Reckless Kelly, Bingham of course, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Adam Carroll all come to mind.  Bubbling under are exciting new artists like Band of Heathens, Jonny Burke, Rodney Parker & 50 Peso Reward, the Trishas, Javi Garcia, and Jordan Minor.  Nashville, underneath the city’s glossy Top 40 veneer, is HQ to the likes of Buddy & Julie Miller, Todd Snider, Jim Lauderdale, and Chris Knight.  Good Texas folks like Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell, and Radney Foster have made a home there too (there in Nashville and there in Americana, that is).  Hipster-friendly acts like the Drive-By Truckers, Sons of Bill, the Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons arguably fit the bill as well.

Basically, Americana to me - a lifelong fan, part-time critic, and frequent practitioner of the music - means a place where deeply-rooted sounds and traditions mix with forward-looking artistry.  It can be soothing or explosive, direct or elliptical, and incorporate anything from bluegrass to soul to Western swing to punk but at its best it’s timely and timeless all at once.  Check it out, and if you need a place to start … we didn’t mention all those artists above because we’re getting paid by the word.  They’re their because they rock (in a rootsy country Americana kinda way).

Thank ya,

Mike Ethan Messick