Hillgrass Bluebilly Comes to Southern California.

We are proud to welcome a new Hillgrass Bluebilly chapter in southern California!

This event marks the kickoff of the Hillgrass Bluebilly Southern California Chapter and we are thrilled to have 2 of our favorite bands from the area, LOS DUGGANS and RESTAVRANT! Also
just added! Soda Gardocki, RT N' the 44's and Peewee Moore & the Awful Dreadful Snakes!

Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012 at Alex's Bar at 2913 E. Anaheim St, Long Beach, California 90804. There will be a limited edition CDs available at this show that features RestavRant and Los Duggans
covering the songs of Johnny Cash & R.L. Burnside.

The CD art was made courtesy of Erika Jane Mallette, an artist out  of Austin, TX. The songs on the limited edition are "Apache Tears" and "Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down" by Los Duggans, and "Ballad of a Teenage Beauty Queen" and "Poor Black Mattie" by Restavrant. We are pretty sure  you havn't heard Cash / Burnside cover tunes like this.... we guarantee it.

 
Facebook Event:
http://www.facebook.com/events/347760091977034/

 

Hillgrass Bluebilly in August and September 2012

Hello Dirtyfoot Family. Is everybody ready for the Muddy Roots music festival? We will be there Labor Day weekend and can hardly wait and we hope to see you there. This last Tuesday, Aug 21, 2012... "The Bootleg Beginnings from the Shack Out Back" by the Boomswagglers had it's official worldwide release and we also announced the official worldwide release date for "Mighty Lonesome Man" by James "Slim" Hand on Tuesday October 16, 2012.


 Hillgrass Bluebilly will have our official release write-up by Tressa A. Burns posted on "Mighty Lonesome Man" by Texas Country & Western music legend, James Hand, in the next week or so. Until then, the folks over at savingcountrymusic.com did a informational on it and you can see that, at this link here http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/james-hand-to-release-mighty-lonesome-man-oct-16th .

After the Muddy Roots Music Festival, Restavrant will be on tour with Scott H. Biram, the dirty old one man band. Our own Tressa A. Burns at headquarters released the offcial tour bio for this SHB tour, have a looksy......

 "Restavrant (Rest^vRant) is junkyard high art. A catapult that soaks in a wealth of contrasting influences and Pollacks back the mash obscuring any predictable template of genre. Electrocana, roots, punk, country and slide blues would seem to be rough acts to merger but through the mad science of front man Troy Murrah the formula hits the nail.

Murrah, a thirty something Los Angeles based Victoria, Texas native possesses a restless wiring that lends dimensional creativity to his projects incorporating visual art and a compelling asthetic in live shows as well as promotional materials. Troy got a late start musically but hit the ground running. During a moderate "social hiatus" he shacked up with a Silvertone and cut his teeth on the works of Mississippi Fred Mcdowell. He began as a solo one man band act until joining forces with J State who expanded the dynamic and provided percussion, Korg and back up vocals on the 2008 Narnack records realease 'Returns to the Tomb of Guiliano Medidici' and the 2011 album ' Yeah I Carve Cheetahs' under Hillgrass Bluebilly Records. In the current incarnation, Murrah is backed by a rotating cast of talent that captains the elaborate salvage lot trash kit that serves as the driving force of the bands overall sound.

Rest^vrant's hybrid of big belt buckle break loops, slide, banjo, vox and harp have been well received over the course of two full length releases and an extensive west coast and european tour. The band is currently in studio recording what will be their third release and a U.S tour with veteran "dirty ol' one man band" Scott H. Biram has been confirmed for the fall."

Thank you again folks. Pre-sales are up for "Mighty Lonesome Man" at www.hillgrassbluebillyrecords.com. All Trucker Hats are in stock, plus we have a new design. Check out the store, and stock up on everything you need.

What's up in July 2012 at Hillgrass Bluebilly?

How goes it Dirtyfoots? We have been busy here at headquarters, and would like to catch y'all up on a few thangs. First off, we signed up to Pinterest, where we have quite a few different boards started up like "Dirtyfoots", where we showcase different Dirtyfoots around the world in Hillgrass Bluebilly gear. Other boards include "The Extra Mile", where we will showcase folks who go that extra mile and "Real Deal, Nothing Less" which showcases anybody who we think is the real deal and "Music We Love" which showcases all kindsa folks, not just the Hillgrass Bluebilly roster.

James "Slim" Hand is just about finished up with his new record, due out soon on Hillgrass Bluebilly Records. We believe the new all original release will be titled "Mighty Lonesome Man", produced by Deborah Perry and co-produced by team Hillgrass Bluebilly. The album features an all-star line-up of folks like Will Indian, Speedy Sparks, former Weary Boys Cary Ozanian and Darren Sluyter, Beth Crissman, Alvin Crow, Bobby Flores, Gary Carpenter, grammy award winning Cindy Cashdollar and more! Chris Burns at Burns Audio in Austin, TX has been the recording / mixing engineer  and it will soon be sent off to our mastering guru, Mike Vizcarra, at the Cove in Laurel Pass, California. We will be releasing "Mighty Lonesome Man" on CD and Vinyl! This will be the 1st Vinyl release for James Hand and Hillgrass Bluebilly Records. Up next for James Hand is a Gospel album, to be released on Hillgrass Bluebilly Records. We will announce a release date and presales link to the website in few weeks for "Mighty Lonesome Man".

This Thursday in Austin, Texas, Hillgrass Bluebilly will feature a Country Music Showcase at Antone's. A local legend, Cade Callahan gets things started off at 9PM, followed by Hellbound Glory, then The Boomswagglers. It is a CD release party for the Boomswagglers and the CD comes with an emergency fishing kit. We could tell ya all about it, but the folks over at Saving Country Music (.com), did a few bang-up write-ups on the boys and you can check it out by clicking that link.

Possessed by Paul James got home successfully, after 2 week tour with his family and 2 dogs and VooDoo Rhythm label-mate, Delaney Davidson. We heard there were a couple van breakdowns after his tour to Deep Blues Festival, but we heard the van problems were easy fixes. We heard it was a successful tour and some good connections made. RestavRant is also due home anyday from their tour to Deep Blues Festival and back, I heard there were some great shows on that tour, after an almost rough start. We suggest youTubin' "Deep Blues Festival" and watchin' any of the videos that pop-up. Ten Foot Polecats are doin' some shows with Molly Gene - One Woman Band, soon.

Muddy Roots Festival is approaching FAST! Last night, founder Keith, and his wife Erika, got their round-trip plane tickets and compact rental car on priceline for a total of $722.21. We hope y'all take the Muddy Roots Festival as a serious thing... you should know why you should be there, or know you need to be there, but dont know exactly why. Either way, your gut and mind should be tellin you to make plans to be at this festival... Ralph Stanley, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Possessed by Paul James, Hooten Hallers, RestavRant, Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band, Lone Wolf, James Hand, Wayne Hancock and MANY MANY more! Holy Moly! Oh yeah, they even have air conditioned bunk houses for a $150 a night thats RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL THE ACTION!

...and on a final note... if your routing allows French Lake, Minnesota in travels or vacations.. Weber's Deck has officially announced open season at the Deck. Look into it, if ya haven't already.

Thanks,
HBHQ
Keith

Thanks again folks....

Summer 2012 Update

Hello, friends, fans & dirtyfoots,

We have been busy busy since we last posted. To follow up on the last post, we have held about a 7 or 8 events at the Austin Moose Lodge, including our 5th annual XSXSW event, it has been a good start!

We have accepted more submissions for our Cash/Burnside tribute album titled JR & RL. It is shaping up nicely. June 12, 2012 was the worldwide release for "Wreck of a Fine Man" by Tom VandenAvond. We signed James "Slim" Hand for a few albums, and we have been in the studio with him since January. We feel James Hand is the most authentic man living in country & western music today. Possessed by Paul James is also in the studio, we will update you on that as soon as we have some details. The Boomswaggler CD "Bootleg Beginnings....." will be available for purchase in mid- July 2012.  We began the year on Jan 12 with the worldwide release of "Yeah, I Carve Cheetahs" by Restavrant!

We celebrated our 7 year anniversary in Phoenix (Tempe) with Possessed by Paul James & Dr. Ralph Stanley & his Clinc Mountain Boys in April 2012. We will hop back on here and keep you better updated. Thank you for your continued support.

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