The Gourds @ the Texas State Fair
It would seem to me that if ever an event and a band were made for each other it would be The State Fair of Texas and The Gourds. I mean both the Fair and the Gourds are big and diverse. And the Gourds cover almost every aspect of Texas music, from country to Cajun, from Tejano to blues and on and on. So when they were scheduled to play two sets at the State Fair on Columbus Day, it was a good excuse to leave work early and head on down to Fair Park.
Slobberbone – The Last Show
It was a sad day for Texas music on March 13, 2005. That’s when people from as far away as Europe crowded into a sold-out Dan’s Silverleaf in Denton to bid farewell to the State’s reigning ‘best bar band’. That final show was short on covers and long on remembrances, for the band and the audience alike.
They resurrected a “Barrel Chested” era documentary film to kick off the night, standing quietly onstage while the film rolled on a screen set up near the entrance. Then they played for a little over two hours. While the album of the night seemed to be their second release, “Barrel Chested”, they managed to cover their entire career, but went sparingly on their last and most over-produced record, “Slippage”.
The Gourds, The Drams, & The BottleRockets Live @ The Granada – August 19, 2005
The Granada Theater in Dallas celebrated its one year anniversary Friday, August 19, with a near capacity show featuring The Gourds, The Bottlerockets, and The Drams. The Granada’s been around a whole lot longer than one year; but a year ago it was launched as a strictly live music venue.
They did a great job of refurbishing the place, leaving the murals and ornate, carved wood molding intact, and installing a state-of-the-art sound system. The Granada now boasts the best sound system of any venue in Dallas. And if you don’t mind parking two blocks away on the street or shelling out 10 bucks for the close-in lot, which was free a year ago, then you really can’t beat it.
Todd Snider & the Nervous Wrecks plus Fred Eaglesmith @ The Gypsy Tea Room, Dallas
The Fred heads were there. So were the Todd faithful.
The big side of Dallas’s Gypsy Tea Room was about half capacity so there was plenty of room to maneuver through the crowd without getting jostled (or having to jostle) yet still offering a respectable turnout for Todd Snider and opener Fred Eaglesmith.
It was a pretty good night for train songs, sing-a-longs, talking blues, rants, and party tunes.
Fred played solo. While the front of the crowd was singing along to “Freight Train” and “I Shot Your Dog”, the rear of the crowd was conversing away.