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.

Possessed by Paul James & Tom VandenAvond are nominated for BEST ALBUM!

HILLGRASS BLUEBILLY RECORDS HAS 3 NOMINATED ALBUMS IN THE 10TH ANNUAL INDEPENDENT MUSIC AWARDS WITH "FEED THE FAMILY" by POSSESSED BY PAUL JAMES & "YOU OUGHTA KNOW ME BY NOW" by TOM VANDENAVOND featuring: LARRY & HIS FLASK!



Austin Texas’s Own Possessed by Paul James & Tom VandenAvond, Joins Ra Ra Riot, Melissa Auf der Maur, Flying Lotus, Jim Campilongo, Jackson Browne and David Lindley As Nominees for The 10th Independent Music Awards

Last year about this time, Hillgrass Bluebilly Records was VERY PROUD to announce that "Hiram & Huddie Vol. 1 & 2" was nominated "Best Concept Album" for the 9th annual Independent Muic Awards. WE DID IT AGAIN! "Feed the Family" by Possessed by Paul James has been nominated for both "Best Alt. Country Album" and "Best Americana Album" and "You Oughta Know Me By Now" by Tom VandenAvond has been nominated for "Best Alt. Country Album".

February 19, 2011 – Austin based Possessed by Paul James and Tom VandenAvond joins Ra Ra Riot, Melissa Auf der Maur, Flying Lotus, Hemoptysis, Darrell Scott, Jim Campilongo, Jackson Browne and David Lindley and other self-released and independent label talent as Nominees for The 10th Independent Music Awards (The IMAs), the influential awards program for independent bands and fans.


Representing the broad spectrum of today’s global independent music scene, the more than 300 Nominees in nearly 70 Song, Album, Music Video and Design categories were culled from submissions from North America, South America, Asia, Australia and Europe.


Known for celebrating artists that follow their own muse, The 10th IMA Nominees are an eclectic mix of rising stars including Strawfoot (Alt. Country Song), Hemoptysis (Metal/Hardcore Song), and Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three (Amerciana Album) and established talent including telecaster virtuoso, Jim Campilongo (Instrumental Album), experimental multi-genre artist, Flying Lotus (Music Video and Dance/Electronica Song), and indie rockers, Ra Ra Riot (Pop/Rock Album). Perhaps better known as major label acts, this year’s Nominees strutting their independence include former Hole bassist, Melissa Auf der Maur (Indie/Alt./Hard Rock Album), and songwriting legend Jackson Browne with David Lindley (Live Performance Album).


Winners will be determined by a panel of 62 influential artist and industry judges including Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, Suzanne Vega, Aimee Mann, Pete Wentz, Bettye LaVette, Seal, Adam Duritz, Ozzy Osbourne, Arturo Sandoval, Martin Atkins, Andrew W. K., Shelby Lynne, Kevin Lyman (Warped Tour), Bill Bragin (Lincoln Center), Anthony DeCurtis (Rolling Stone), Pat McGuire (Filter Magazine) and Evan Schlansky (American Songwriter) and will be announced in mid-March 2011. Music fans have until July 11 to cast their votes at The IMA Vox Pop Jukebox to determine the fan-selected IMA Winners.


Hear the music of all Nominees at: http://www.independentmusicawards.com/imanominee/10th/album

If you have a minute, we ask that you please go and vote for both "Feed the Family" and "You Oughta Know Me By Now". We have the opportunity to win BOTH judges vote AND fans vote. Like last year though, if we do NOT win over the judges, the BIGGEST statement we can make as listeners... is to achieve the vox pop vote so we can help push Possessed by Paul James & Tom VandenAvond on to bigger and better things.

GOOD JOB BOYS, WE LOVE YA!

Celebrating the democracy of creativity and meritocracy of talent, The Independent Music Awards honor exceptional independent artists who are, traditionally ignored by mass media and big box retailers. For the past 10 years, artists and labels from around the world have found new fans and prominence through The Independent Music Awards. Produced by Music Resource Group, publisher of the popular industry networking database The Musician’s AtlasOnline, and producers of the original webTV series, Grooveable Feast, The IMAs use its unrivaled access to performance, promotion & distribution opportunities to connect Winners and Nominees to new audiences and revenue opportunities. Earning IMA honors goes beyond a badge of distinction. Artists credit The IMAs with increasing recognition among music fans and industry gatekeepers.

Past winners and nominees include: And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, Cursive, fun., The Flatlanders, Spinerrette, Holly GoLightly & The Brokeoffs, Vienna Teng, The So So Glos, Cephas & Wiggins, The Matches, All That Remains, The Cliks, Oran Etkin, State Radio, Lee “Scratch Perry, The Very Best, Tim Easton, Marco Benevento, Kes The Band, Jamie Lidell, Lacuna Coil, The Trews, Joan As Police Woman; Koko Taylor, Miguel Migs; Speech, God Forbid, Lionel Louekee; Jeff Healey, Johnny Dowd, Chris Whitley, Ike Turner, The Apples in stereo, Mary Gauthier, Jennifer Nettles (Sugarland), The Mooney Suzuki, and Denque Fever among many others.

Somebuddy over at Hillgrass Bluebilly is sad tonight!

We didn't forget you Buddy. At 22, to record all that beautiful music. A true man. Much love tonight .... wherever you are



Buddy Holly R.I.P.
Winter Dance Party. Fuckin Suck.

Brand New Song from Possessed by Paul James

Here is a BRAND NEW song from Possessed by Paul James. This is from the Ghost Room in Austin, Texas. I was at this show, and this was one of the best PPJ shows I have ever attended. Lets hope we hear this song and "Amazing Life / Sweet & Bitter Life" on his next album.

Original Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbU-5YXp5lY



Konrad Wert A.K.A. Possessed By Paul James will be at Ruta Maya on Friday Feb. 11, 2011 with the Calamity Cubes, Boomswagglers & Uncle Tom & the Say Hey Kids. Join us Dirty Foot Family & friends.