Greetings and Happy Holidays to everybody out here in cyberspace. November was a good month for me personally as I spent a great deal of time with music-related activities. There were a lot of shows, mostly close to home here in Austin, and a lot of time my free time was spent “trying to get good” (as the great Jack Sheldon would say). A few recording sessions (most notably with my pal, Luke Benson; also Nick Jay and King Corduroy) here and there which were fun. I’ve updated the music player on this site with a few cuts from Bryon Friedman’s new record, which we recorded back in February. Hanging with Freedog and Marc Benning for a few days off the grid at the majestic Hideaway Studios outside of Woodland Park, CO was such a great, soul-nourishing experience. I hope the record captures that somehow!
My birthday was last week (Nov. 30th) and Gordy and Ed and their lovely wives took me to see Wilco do their ACL taping at the new Moody Theater. It was absolutely incredible as you might imagine. The 2-hour plus set spanned their entire 17-year career and demonstrated that they are truly ‘rock ‘n roll’s foremost impressionists’. (Sidenote: the room was lifted when they brought out Duane Allman’s 1957 Gold top Les Paul for Nels Cline to play on a few tunes. Jeff Tweedy was very genuine when he acknowledged how honored they all were).
Here is a cool little clip of the entire Ryan Montbleau Band sitting in with the BOH during our encore in Dallas. Pretty clear how much fun we were all having.
Per usual, here are some records that I’ve been listening to a lot recently:
Kiko, by Los Lobos. This album (from ’91 I believe) is a masterpiece. “When The Circus Comes”, “Two Janes”, “Reva’s House”, “Peace” are all amazing tunes. The singing is very moving. Production (Mitchell Froom and Los Lobos) is absolutely brilliant too.
Whatever It Takes, by Larry Goldings. Hammond, piano, wurly, clav…whatever he plays, Larry Goldings is one of the finest keyboardists in the world.
“However much sincerity a person may have, there is always a gap to fill, for we live in the midst of falsehood, and we are always apt to be carried away by this world of falsehood. Therefore we must never think we are sincere enough, and we must always be on our guard against influences which may carry us away from that sincerity which is the bridge between ourselves and our ideal.” -Hazrat Inayat Khan
TN