Change is Gonna Come

Hello Friends, Fans & Dirtyfoots,

We have hosted many events in Austin, since our arrival in 2007. We announced in 2010, that we'd be searching for a way of doing things that would better suit our endeavors & presentation. On Veteran's Day, Friday November 11, 2011 at the Austin Moose Lodge 1735, we present: "Searching For Guy Clarks Kitchen - Tour 2011" featuring Tom VandenAvond, who was nominated for "Best. Alt. Country Album of 2011" at the Independent Music Awards for his latest release "You Oughta Know Me By Now" & Willy Tea Taylor who has been called one of the best songwriters & deliverers of this generation. Yes, they are singer/songwriters.... but I can tell you that NOBODY can put them in that box.

On to the Moose Lodge... Like I said, we have hosted many events since 2007, Scoot Inn, Emo's (inside & out), Jovita's, Ruta Maya, The Oaks, Beerland and of course, Hole in the Wall. Hillgrass Bluebilly "Entertainment" released statements for almost 2 years that we would be looking to host our events, on a national level, at local VFW's, Moose Lodges, Italian-American Halls/Banquet Halls, Country Clubs, Barns, and the like. I feel these places/communities have been on a rapid decline since I was a young boy and was taken to the Tomball VFW, being a part of all the holiday happenins, dances, concerts and run around the property, behind the stage, in the offices and meeting rooms I wasnt supposed to be in, behind the bar, all up in the kitchen, runnin and slidin ' across the sawdust dance floor, playin' pool for the 1st time, Bingo night.... late 70's early 80's... it was a beautiful time. Shit, everyone knew the barber, the dude at the hardware store, grocery store, the local plumbers, AC guys.. the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers ..even the owner at 7-11 ... you'd see em all at the V.F.W.

Thanks for allowing me to paint a picture of the community I was privileged to be a part of. I have been looking for a place that resembles things like that this.... I would like to think the Dirtyfoot Family would like to have things like that. Loyalty, follow-through, respect, a foundation to build on... a place we can be a part of, and contribute to when we can.... ACTUALLY be a part of y'all.. a place for our kids a lot of the time, our grandparents and all of us. Places like this STILL exist folks, but barely.... they are on there last leg. They need our help, and we want to give it to them. I believe we all need to embrace a lot of things that are in place and within reach, and we can start right here at the Austin Moose Lodge, when it comes time for you to spend an evening with our time tested and approved of, successful events.... successful to the soul 1st, the bar last mind you. At the end of the day, I am Loyal Order of the Moose, and my wife, is Woman of the Moose, and hopefully a lot of you Dirtyfoots will soon join us down at the Moose, and embrace our contribution/idea/endeavor for a revival of "lost America", for our friends and family to have a place of our own. A place that IMPROVES & BUILDS FOR US as we bring them beautiful, exceptional music that you just flat out cant get anywhere else.

We will host Possessed by Paul James at the Austin Moose Lodge in Mid-December for the Hillgrass Bluebilly Happy Holidays Hoe-Down. Konrad Wert (Possessed by Paul James) took home "Best Alt. Country Album of the Year" at the 2011 Independent Music Awards this year for his latest release "Feed the Family" on Hillgrass Bluebilly "Records". He was also nominated for "Best Americana Album of the Year - 2011", which was won by Pokey LaFarge. Konrad was also one the best, if not the best performance at this years Muddy Roots Music Festival outside Nashville, TN, which also included Wanda Jackson & Don Maddox. We will say goodbye to 2011 in tribute to Possessed by Paul James, who is currently recording his next release, due out on Hillgrass Bluebilly Records in earlyish 2012.

We will also host the 5th Annual Hillgrass Bluebilly X(not)SXSW Showcase at the Moose in March 2012. SavingCountryMusic.com, the Muddy Roots Festival, has teamed up with us to present a HUGE 2 day "SAVING (country music) DEEP (blues) MUDDY (roots) HILLGRASS (bluebilly) XSXSW FEST" (more to be announced on savingsountrymusic.com soon). We are very proud to make the connection and call the Austin Moose Lodge our new home in Austin, TX. The Moose has reached out to folks in the past, but we will open up shop for the Moose and start booking folks who we see deemed fit at the Moose Lodge in our efforts to revive "lost America" and prove once again... that you never know where a song might take you! We need your help y'all... can't make a difference... without you!

Thanks a lot, Keith M. / HB

Veteran's Day

Friday 11/11/11Austin Moose Lodge

2103 E.M. Franklin Ave.

Austin, TX 78723

Yeah, I Carve Cheetah's

"Yeah, I Carve Cheetahs"

Every so often something will come along and snap your neck to it, flipping the auto pilot to full attention. A new sound that reconciles the familiar with the foreign, and pulls you into it. In 2008 our own Keith Mallette had such an experience as he caught the captivating bucket thump and grainy slide stylings of REST^vRANT through the trees of the "Enchanted Forest" ( no joke ) in Austin, Texas. Since then Hillgrass Bluebilly formed a lasting connection with Troy Murrah and J State that led to REST^vRANT performing in 2 of the 4 H.B.E SXSW showcases and joining forces with Left Lane Cruiser on the H.B.E Hard Luck Summer Tour in 2009. Today, REST^vRANT and Hillgrass Bluebilly Records & Entertainment proudly announce the upcoming release for the long awaited 12 track opus of an album "Yeah, I Carve Cheetahs" to you! This unique duo delivers a diverse cannon of sonic emotion that reaches rafter shaking, floor stomping heights and dreamlike contemplative depths using an inventive arsenal of unconventional instrumental implements. A guaranteed good listen, whatever your mood! REST^vRANT has the H.B.E middle finger of approval in spades. We encourage you to pick up the album and support this incredible act when they come to your town. Also look for their contribution to the upcoming J.R & R.L, Johnny Cash and R.L Burnside double tribute album from Hillgrass Bluebilly Records coming in 2012! "Yeah, I Carve Cheetah's" is expected for an October release, official release date coming soon.


Tressa A. Burns / Managing Editor / Curator / Creative Consultant
Hillgrass Bluebilly Records & Entertainment Headquarters

The Boomswagglers - The Bootleg Beginnings from the Shack Out Back

We present to you our first installment of the Hillgrass Bluebilly "Bootleg" series in the form of a ten track chunk of hard sentiments spawned from harder living. The Boomswagglers -"The Bootleg Beginnings from the Shack Out Back" is a hopeful window into the next generation of pickers and grinners backed with an all-star cast of accomplished musicians. Formed in 2009, this duo of troublemaking Texas young bucks managed to get themselves thrown out of more venues than they played in, stirred up controversy during their sets with the nature of their lyrics and crammed a lazier mans decade worth of rehab jail time and bar brawls into a short but enthusiastic three year run that sadly, for now, has come to an end. Luckily, before they disbanded they joined with Brian Salvi and Darren Sluyter (former members of the Weary Boys), North Dakotan turned Texas alumni Leo Rondeau and Molly Salvi (who has lent her lovely silky rasp to the likes of Woodsboss , Tom Vandenavond and the Salvi Family band) in Elgin, Texas to make this gem of a record.



I had the pleasure of speaking with Lawson Bennett and Spencer Cornett in separate telephone conversations whose transcripts read like Dukes of Hazard meets Gummo. Bennett and Cornett met in Georgetown, Texas where the south end of the San Gabriel river runs and the city motto is "sincerely yours". They bonded over fishing, catfish noodling and making explosives to collect arrowheads. Lawson was living in a shack in the area and Spencer would come by for picking sessions. Lawson wrote the majority of the songs he and Spencer played and attributes much of their influence to his long time admiration for Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band. "This is kind of a bummer album" said Lawson. " A lot of the songs were written in a house with no running water. We were stealing from a hose from the neighbors place. Shitty girlfriends, shitty jobs , the world treated us like shit and that's the truth. Like that song 'Even Lower Down', that came from a tough time. I came home sad as shit, shits fucked, aint no money, aint no phone, well... just the CB radio, aint no runnin water, hardly any beer, goose shit all over the house and my girl at the time yellin in my ear. Same with 'Morning Pills', Doc told me I had high blood pressure, had me on all kinda medication. I fucked up my knee and they had to set it, they gave me vics for the pain and it fucked up my heart more. wasn't nuthin I could do. Country goes two ways, you got your Willie Nelson hippie folky types and that rich kid drivin daddies truck bullshit. We were listenin to punk rock, fishin and shootin guns. We didn't know country , then we heard Merle Haggard. Most folks didn't figure out shit like we did. We are like an oddity to them , sumthin they read about in books. Thats fuckin life. Bad times. That's why we don't play much anymore. We aint pissed off anymore. People want to hear me upset and I aint tryin to be upset my whole life."


Shame. It's a chainsaw juggle to balance playing and surviving but I have a feeling this wont be the last we hear from the Boomswagglers. Till then, enjoy these tracks and as always... support local music , wherever it may be local to.

1. Low Down
2. Workin' Man
3. Why I Sleep Alone
4. Trailer Park Special
5. Jim & Jack
6. I'm Comin Home
7. Even Lower Down
8. Mornin' Pills
9. Wilco Blues
10. Run You Down

This afternoon, over at http://www.hillgrassbluebillyrecords.com, you can download/have this album for free!

Tressa A. Burns
Hillgrass Bluebilly Headquarters

The XXX Steel Horse of the Apocolypse

Hey Folks,
Hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend! In the spirit of independence I'd like to take a minute to address, well, independence. As you know we run an independent label. In the 7 years we have had this team together, for better or worse, we have had a clear idea of our mission since day one. Every ounce of articulated press from the archive to date, compliments the ideas that got us started and the actions we take that keep us running with the same amount of steam our founders barreled into our creation.

It's a good deal we've got. Promoting what we love, on our own terms for the sake of the music that changed us when we found it, drew us in as individuals and pulled us together. If you have the means I highly recommend it. Whatever you love, you are not alone and there is no better time than now to organize and find an audience to support it with you.

All of us that work in this industry on an independent level have our own views on the society that wired our motives to spotlight whatever frame we built. The "mainstream" has always been run on the buck and now more than ever the generic hit rotisserie files into the five approved genres and cranks out minty fresh sound cubes to the digital breadline of consumers celebrating their individuality through their marketing demographic. That's a bleak dystopian angle but thankfully only a portion of a free market. As long as we have the power of cultural autonomy the music industry version of Soylent green doesn't have to have anything to do with us.

If you follow the message boards on Saving Country Music and No Depression, you have a head start on where this is going. We have hit a crux on the political side of business and some tough decisions have been made. What should have been a private and brief conversation between Adam Sheets of XXX and Keith here at HBE hit the bike racks of the board and sparked a public dialogue that we now have no choice but to acknowledge. It aint' pretty. On a business level, I'd love to call a spade a spade close the door on the badger den and go back to work, but it has gone to far now.

It came to our attention that our logo and a few of the artists we represent were listed throughout the XXX site in a way that made it appear that we were directly affiliated. No one from XXX had approached us prior to this. No glove slap, just a matter of principal we were within our rights to make note of. When we called on them to remove the images only part of our request was granted and the conversation didn't go well, a good portion of which can be found on the SCM public forum. The feed back from the posts had some common themes ; 'What's the big deal as long as the artists are being promoted?' 'This argument is pointless' 'We are all in this together, why can't we just get along?' I'll tell you. Not all promotion is good promotion when it compromises the continuity of our philosophies concerning the greater good. This requires some looking into.

First of all, yes our primary goal is promoting our artists through the HBE cause but the company and artists are not interchangeable. That being said, this is an issue strictly between labels and the observations that follow are separate to the company itself. We do our best to work for our artists but make no attempt to speak for them. In the same turn our choice to draw a thick line between ourselves and XXX as entities falls under conflict of interest between ourselves and XXX's proprietors and not the artists they carry. Our instincts led us to be wary of XXX from the beginning and through revelations over a short amount of time our notions were consolidated and confirmed. We will get to some of the statements that led to this but first let us tell you what this isn't about.

We don't care what XXX calls itself. Weather the moniker conjures ties with porn, moonshine or x-treme snack chips makes no difference to us outside of opinion. Hell, as far as logos having offensive implications one of the main images we use is a middle finger. However in our case there was never any doubt as to the message the symbolism carries.

We don't care about the general career connections or family influence or monetary advantage Shooter inevitably brings to the XXX table. The closing line in Shooters post to us on SCM was " If you really believe music is better without XXX then we can ask the people, but from the amount of positive responses i've gotten from my radio show, I really don't think thats the case." Great Shooter Having a radio station is an excellent way to have listeners. You should use every tool you have to move your agenda. We don't have a radio station. We don't have any of that. You win. We are a small operation but we are here. We've been here. The sudden X-posure of XXX coming in quick with the interest of representing the "underdog" might have sank in a little better with us If they had put the horse before the cart.

Ultimately it breaks down to opposition of mission and method. All over XXX is the desire to put a pretty extensive and varied list of bands that are "Too rock for country, to country for rock!" into the pantheon of media that has its back turned on them. "We want our own genre." "Sign the petition!" "We want the same for XXX that every piece of slop that gets played in other genres gets!" ..........................Woah. Sounds like 'meet the new boss to us. We don't need a boss and I can die just fine without my favorite songs on the top 40 chart. God speed XXX but that aint our fight.

XXX came out with their first compilation yesterday morning. Southern Independent XXX Volume One. With it came a "Warning- This album is intended to ruin the sanctity of roots music. By downloading and or listening to the material herein you are actively contributing to its demise. Despite this it is expected that you will fucking love it." I could keep citing examples of why XXX doesn't work for us, even have a good time on a personal level bashing Shooters "Southern Family Anthem" track, but in a predictable twist It has done that on it's own in a neatly wrapped package. Way to steal my journalistic exposition thunder XXX. Again, though its a mix mash I wouldn't have thrown together, the XXX roster has some great bands that despite their new powerhouse endorsement I will continue to buy their albums and attend their shows. Its not necessary to choose sides when it comes to the music, or the lables for that matter we just wanted you to know where we stand. Any and all feedback is more than welcome and if there are things I may have overlooked in my conclusions please, have at it. Till next time Amigos.....
TAB

--
Tressa A. Burns / Managing Editor / Curator / Creative Consultant
Hillgrass Bluebilly Records & Entertainment Headquarters
http://www.hillgrassbluebillyrecords.com

My first intro to Possessed By Paul James was sometime in early '07 at an H.B.E showcase at the Hole In The Wall in Austin Texas. I didn't know much about him and the only notion I had of the quality of the show I would get came in the wide eyed and nodding instruction of friends familiar with his work to "just watch".
I took my usual preferred spectating stance up front and to the left as he took a seat on a chair on a wood platform on the stage surrounded by an unconventional setup of an old amp, various instruments and a battered tambourine rigged at his feet. A decent crowd had accumulated, hungry and shifting with anticipation. He settled his fiddle and picked up a bow so frayed it looked as if a razor had been taken to it sending it's hairs, thick with rosin, to curl in all directions. Without introduction he pulled out a few stark and rolling notes. His knees jerked. a slight semi rhythmic spasm at first then a pulling and pounding of his foot into the wood and rigged tambourine creating a full and layered thump that built into a pulse that he let hang in the air between the increasingly frenetic fiddle arrangement. He craned his neck and reeled, gritting and gnashing his teeth akin to the effects of some kind of religious revival. He let out seemingly involuntary yips and yells and sharp exclamations as the music and rhythm welled up and out into the crowd. He burst into the hook and I was taken by the rawness and clarity of his vocals and keenly original and intimate lyrical content. Throughout the set he switched between banjo, fiddle, and guitar hammering out a catalog of intense, emotionally charged songs. This was the real deal and possessed was a good word for it. This wasn't just a show this was a 40 minute battle cry against heartache and the high cost of living.
It is clear through his albums and performances that Possessed by Paul James is his music. His talent for viscerally projecting the weight of living makes him an unapologetic conduit of his own device. There is nothing contrived or forced. He seems to be continually and with great humility 'working it out' through his songs. The resulting progress is illustrated in the way his tone has altered in the time between his first self titled release and his most recent endeavor "feed the family".
In an earlier performance just before the birth of his son, I witnessed as he exscorscized the stress he was under almost alarmingly. He explained to the Audience he would have to make it quick as his pregnant wife was waiting in the van. He delivered the usual set but towards the end he loosened and unraveled and started chanting and wailing " I've got babies on my mind! I've got babies on my mind!" Men were stomping and shaking their fists in response to the rhythm and women were dancing and swinging their hips to what appeared to me to be a nervous breakdown. Good show to be sure but this this was serious. This was a stranger wrestling his struggle to the ground in front of a "mostly" live audience. The struggle to pay his bills and his dues, to straddle lives without losing footing on either side of a duplicitous nature and the struggle as a man to bring new life into the world in uncertain times.
Feed the family is a 12 track anthem to the general growth and maturity gained through sacrifice and reflection. Kinder versions of 'Color of my bloody nose' and 'Old man's souls' don't retreat from their original power but relax their grip as if reconciled by time. Tracks like 'Older in my body' We welcome you home' and 'fathers and sons' are all shining testaments to the best of earnest song writing. The album in its entirety seems to end a chapter in a life on a triumphant note and as a fan I eagerly await the next installments from this truly unique and irreplaceable artist.
In an excerpt from Faulkner lies a fitting sentiment, " Not for glory and least of all for profit , but to create out of the materials of the human spirit that which did not exist before." I just got word that PPJ bagged best alternative country artist at the independent music awards. Goes to show a little glory is inevitable when the material is lightning in a bottle and as for the latter, the lines blur in the expectation of profit when its time to "feed the family". TAB

Tom Vandenavond

Tom Vandenavond

Guthrie said a man should know his country like the back of his hand. Some people spend their whole lives in the towns they grew up in, nothing wrong with that. Some people spend most of their lives traveling for their jobs from chain hotel to chain hotel strip mall to strip mall and don't have a story about the American experience that i'd like to hear. Other folks may harbor a stifled wander lust as they are beaten into their respective corners of the world in a gridlock to pay their rent and feed their children.

Times are tough all over and the upper hand it seems could care less about the old American dream only bending to the bottom line. There was a time that great detail and care was placed into American design. Architecture, cars, even the way communities settled themselves into the landscape had a modicum of pride and sensibility. You see that less and less anymore in the pre-fab slap together cheap labor replacements of destroyed land marks and shut down mom n' pops. At this rate all we have, is all we have left. Chunks of our culture are eroded in a white wash of ''progression'' and I'm afraid of what America will mean to our children's children. Thankfully we have an archive of music and literature to tell our stories. An archive built by crusaders who weather they meant to or not put a permanent stamp on the people and places that otherwise may have remained an undocumented flicker. Our history and our time now is to important to lose to subjection and white knuckle survival. There are plenty of examples through popular music of where things went wrong that are widely available and slurped up like the last dance club cocktail by consumers who, I can only hope , just don't know any better but when it comes to the good American hard luck hittin hard tour driven troubadour , like George says , "whose gonna fill their shoes?''

Tom Vandenavond is a contemporary ghost with a wisdom in his music that exceeds his years. His sound embodies the nature of solitary travel and the inevitable connections made from a life on the road. He has torn through his midwest roots and created an auditory imprint of the highways and byways, truck stops and roadsides of the afforded white line spectacles of the American construct. If you listen you can hear a long haul on the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental highway. Where the day glow over exposure of Los Angeles meets the dessert of palm springs. Red rocks and mesa tops before Phoenix and Tucson. The cumbersome nothingness of West Texas where a man can can only bide his time with his thoughts and am radio. El Paso with a glimpse of the third world at the boarder of Juarez. San Antonio and New Mexico heavy with Spanish and Native American charm. A brief pass through future city Houston and the descent into the thick air of southern Louisiana stretching over the 35 along the Pontchartrain into the heart of Cajun Country. Mississippi's Jackson County into the Panhandle. These are just a few of the back drops that bleed their influence into a catalog of work as eclectic as the land itself. You don't need to visit the hotel lafayette or have a hard south texas christmas to identify , any amount of living should draw you in.

He seems to take his notes from the rambling Jack Elliot handbook a bit of a maverick he's also not afraid of the odd straight job painting signs or slingin beer. He is part John Prine and a bit of Mark twain. He has written some of the saddest songs i've ever heard but most are coupled with a wink and a nod. He's like Rory Callahan in the Texan or Chuck Conners in the Riflemen with a guitar, A squint in his eye weather from the desert sun or the smokey respite of any bar U.S.A, you get the idea he knows something we don't and no matter how rough it gets there is comfort for the stock that he'll pull the ace from his sleeve and more or less come out on top.

Tom is a great act to catch when he flies solo but their is a great deal of magic in the company he keeps on his albums. The unparalleled talents of the Weary boys, Good luck Thrift Store, and members of the genre decimating Larry and his Flask (the Say Hey Kids when they play with Tom) have all thrown their efforts into his recordings. Each album has it's own feel and with his latest release "Oughta Know Me By Now" it's clear he can't make a bad album. Pick up the latest release but while your at it grab the other three and get to know your country. TAB

A small recap of the 4th annual HBXSXSW on 3/18/2011

Thank you to everyone who came out to the 4th Annual Hillgrass Bluebilly Records & Entertainment Showcase (HBXSXSW4) last Friday, March 18, 2011. This may very well be the last XSXSW event we have at the Hole in the Wall, so we are glad you came out! We do not have youtubes of everyone that performed Friday night. "Rose's Pawn Shop" captivated the crowd outside with a very strong performance, as usual. "Shake it Like a Caveman" joined us for his 2nd HBXSXSW event and did not dissappoint. The night was started off by the Harmed Brothers, doing the best start off in HBXSXSW history by takin' the floor over in the front room. This year may have been the strongest set for Uncle Tom VandenAvond & the Say Hey Kids, we hope to find some y'all Uncle Tom videos from that night.


This is our 2nd XSXSW showcase with Austin Lucas. He was joined by his sister Chloe Manor, this time & Cory Branan on a song or two.

"Go West" (with sister, Jon Snodgrass & Cory Branan)


"Sun or Snow" (with Chloe Manor & Cory Branan)


"Somebody Loves You"

"Dead Factories" (with Chloe Manor)



Drage the River - This was our 1st time working with Drag the River, here are a few videos of Drag the River at our showcase. They were on stage 2.

"Dancing in the Moonlight" with Cory Branan & Austin Lucas joining them on stage.


"Death of the Life of the Party"


"Medicine"

Our brother, Soda, has performed at 3/4 of the HBXXSW events, maybe all of them. Here is Soda performing "Gutter Queen" at our event on Friday. He took over stage 2 with a 12 string Banjo. Hillgrass Bluebilly will have a Soda release for you, shortly after summer.

"Gutter Queen"


"Possessed by Paul James" finished the night off us again, for his 2nd HBXSXW showcase. Enjoy the video from our showcase that Friday night, March 18th, 2011.


This is the last post by co founder Keith Mallette (me) for awhile, Tressa B is now on detail. She was our writer / pr / editor back in 2007 and 2008 and we are super excited to have the one & only Tressa back on duty.

We would like to leave you with a video from Willy Tea Taylor, the newest edition to the Hillgrass Bluebilly Records family.