After shooting my first arena show I was still in the mood for music, and alas a little libation as well.  I headed over to the Hole in the wall to look over the nights images and began the buzz with a double Jameson on the rocks.  After several passes through the shots, deleting the out of focus and dark ones, needed another drink and it was then that I ran into Bryce Clifford.  Pleasantries were exchanged and it was agreed that I would stay and see his band.

I must say that I am glad that I did.  I had seen Bryce play only once before and at that time he was doing a solo acoustic show.  I remember the passion that he belted out to a very small audience on a Monday at Hanovers.  I was impressed with him then and I was excited to see him with a full band.

His band was well rounded with keyboards (Adoniram Lipton), drums (Daniel Jones), base (Zachary Firnhaber), and a baritone sax player (Thomas Vanderbrook).  From the first song I was enticed by what I heard.  I heard an accomplished song writer whose passion for the song was self evident in the voice and poise of the singer who sang it.  The lyrics were intelligent and delivered with a kind of subdued bravado that was only eclipsed by the molten undercurrent of  angst.  It was a powerful cocktail and took me completely off guard.  The whole thing reminded me of early Bruce Springsteen, and Elvis Costello.  Its always good to see someone after a time and witness the fullness of their talent after only a brief introduction long before.  If these guys keep playing like this they will be riding from show to show on a big bus and staying in nice hotels like the band I shot before heading thirstily over to the Hole In The Wall. 

Get out this holiday season.  Go see a show and support the people who make this The Live Music Capital of the World!

What do you get when you add one part classically trained vocalist (grew up singing in the choir), one part 80’s avant-garde synthpop influenced guitarist (think ‘Art of Noise’ and others), and one part classically trained violinist (who plays for the Austin Symphony)? If you said ‘The Hudsons’; an Austin based trio whose sound is best described in the words of John Greenberg as Austin Folk Funk, you’d be right. What you’d also get is a sound that truly can be called Americana and it was on display on Tuesday in Marble Falls.

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In the music world venues often promise you special times with special talents only to have them fall flat and prove not only to be not special but to be painful. However, every now and then there are those times when you know you’ve encountered something very special, and one of those evening occurred tonight at TexAmericana Tuesday at the River City Grille in Marble Falls, Texas. (more…)

I wasfortunate enough to find myself at Broncos last night and I was also fortunate enough to have my camera with me. It just so happened that local favorites the Josh Weathers Band was there to play a four hour set. After making some typical bar conversations and  having some free drinks courtesy of some really cool people (you know who you are) I met at the bar I got my camera and headed up to the stage. The band sounded great as usual, but I had never actually seen them perform with some brass in the background. Needless to say, the sound was phenomenal. I managed to snap off a few good shots between sets and by the end of the night…that whole place was rockin.

-Josh Martinez