I guess this falls somewhere between blog and newsletter. I hope it finds you well & I hope to see you in person soon.
ARTICLES OF INTEREST…
Guitar Player Magazine article by Darrin Fox.
You gotta getta copy of GP June 2008 (with Slash on the cover) to see the photos!
Austin Chronicle feature story by Margaret Moser
Austin American Statesman XL cover story by Brad Bucholtz
Austin Woman Magazine cover story by Deb Hamilton. You might have to scour the bins for the September Issue! When we get permission, we’ll repost the article online.
Multi Media Slideshow on the whole band from Rochester- Will Yurman from the Democrat & Chronicle did this great piece on Lefty, Cole, and me. Check out his other work, too. It’s amazing.
SO YOU’LL KNOW WHAT WE DID THIS SUMMER…
I know music is not a competitive sport, but some folks like statistics! We have logged over 30,000 miles on the Sprinter van since March…the craziest leg of this tour involved 9,000 miles & 23 appearances in 30 days. (just Cole, Lefty, me & the puppets!) Thanks to y’all, we’ve placed in the top 20 on the Americana Radio Chart & in the top 30 Billboard Blues Chart this summer…there’s the stats, here’s the stories:
During brief visits home this summer we had the honor of playing several groovy shows like KGSR’s Willie Nelson’s 75th Birthday celebration, where we played a set of Willie songs with Cindy Cashdollar, (check out those pictures! Who do you recognize wearing the Willie Braids?) You can click here for News 8 Austin’s footage of Cole, Lefty & me playing the Willie Nelson / Bob Dylan song, “Heartland.” KGSR’s Blues on the Green and Unplugged at the Grove were also quite fun & full of kids. (thanks KGSR for having free concerts that are kid friendly) World Wellness Weekend was fun with Marianne Williamson speaking, & Michael Franti, Papa Mali, and us providing music. I even snuck in an appearance or two this summer with the Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers at Gospel Brunch at Maria’s, (where we still play first Sundays!) and the band had a fine time or two at the Saxon Pub. We played some great events at Antone’s this season. The Van Wilks Prostate Cancer Awareness Concert with Eric Johnson, us, David Grissom, Derek O’Brien & heck, even Rev Billy F. Gibbons was there! We opened for Doyle Bramhall III & then there was the phenomenal Candye Kane benefit & other Women’s Shows where the band played with Lou Ann Barton, Rosie Flores, Paula Nelson, Patrice Pike, Erin Jaimes (and, yes, that’s me singing back-up on Erin’s new “Soul Garden” release!) Betty Soo & the Bluebonnets. (Speaking of Women’s shows, look for me, Cindy Cashdollar, Sue Foley, Sarah Brown & Lisa Pankratz in Cincinnati this November!) We also had some great shows in Houston with the big band (featuring Scott Daniels, JP Conga, and Patrick Brink, in addition to Cole El-Saleh, Michael “Lefty” Lefkowitz, & myself) at Dan Electro’s & Mucky Duck. I look forward to adding a Last Concert Date in the very near future, too! I loved doing shows with the Shelley King Band & the Hightailers in Houston this summer & I am happy the curfew was lifted in time for that last show. Of course, everyone is still cleaning up after Ike & some venues have a lot of repairs left to do….a good way to help out is to patronize your favorite musical establishments.
I flew in from tour to do a show for PlanetMake-Over.com in Austin this summer. Stephen Bruton put together this amazing project and led the all-star orchestra featuring musicians from last year’s smash “Road to Austin” concert, like Delbert McClinton, Joe Ely, Ian McLagan, Eric Johnson, Joel Guzman & Sarah Fox and other amazing featured artists like Marcia Ball & Patrice Pike! Go to: http://www.planetmake-over.com for a lot more information. (Hey, there’s a really cool segment in the trailer on the website that shows Bonnie Raitt and me jamming together at the Road to Austin concert!) Sign up on the LIST & be the first to know of the future launch of this very special program designed to help all of us do what we can to stop global warming on an immediate & personal level.
You’ve got to check out the links to these festivals we played this summer, so that you can decide which ones to visit yourself next summer! We played several sets (including a long Gospel Brunch with Papa Mali, Chris Chandler, Jeff Miller & others…and a crazy blues guitar workshop featuring Papa Mali, Eric McFadden & myself) at the oh so fine High Sierra Music Festival, (you can buy a copy of our set, among others, here from previous years…check back often, 2008 updates available soon) Rochester International Jazz Fest was amazing! It was great to hang out with Brother Wease, & the Kentucky Headhunters are still as firey as you can imagine. (You did check out the Will Yurman piece, right? Here’s Jeff Spevak’s review of the Montage show) Ann Arbor Summer Fest was a hoot. Portland’s Waterfront Blues Festival was so much fun. I cannot believe people waited in line over 2hours for my goofy signature—I surely blushed myself to death that day. KRSH Sonoma County Blues Festival, where we played before the amazing Angela Strehli, was lovely. Playing with Fire in Omaha was great fun with the Blues Ed Kids, OK Sisters & Tab Benoit. KLAQ’s State Line Music Series in El Paso, TX is another fine example of how to have a good time with music, kids & food! We had a ball in Colorado with the Grand County Blues Society & even got to play at the Fox Theater in Boulder. I love Jon O’! What a sound, man! The Salmon Arm Roots & Blues Festival was so much fun! I had the privilege of playing a song swap with Chris Smither & the band played a really nice set in the barn after our friends, porterdavis. It was nice to hang out with Big Brother & the Holding Co., & to hear Jake Shimabukuro twice in one summer is worth celebrating! Our Canadian fun spilled over onto our Seattle gig at the Triple Door where Jimmy Bowskill opened for us. Squrl put on a nice show in Hood River, OR for us to play & the folks at the wine tasting room couldn’t have been sweeter to provide us an indoors venue during the mist storm. We played Santa Barbara’s Sings Like Hell concert series with David Olney in the sublime Lobero Theater. Sold out of CDs for the 5th time this summer while we were there. (thanks, y’all!) Blues in Hell (Hell, Norway) was a real treat. We played 2 sets, one of which was broadcast on NRK. You can find the video here. The stage was set up like a calliope & with all of the mirrors, it felt like you were inside a kaleidoscope! Here’s some photos from St. Ivar. It was great to hear Leon Redbone, James Harman, & C.J. Chenier. I loved getting to listen & hang out with Little Willie Littlefield, Walter Trout, & Marcia Ball (I love her new CD Peace,Love & BBQ). I tried my hand at a few phrases in Norwegian & ended up ordering a tall glass of damnit from the bar. Fortunately, the barkeep was friendly. If you’d like to try your hand at Norwegian, here’s a link to a nice review from the Adressa in Trondheim.
Radio shows & links from this summer:
KUT appearance with Jay Trachtenberg - July 28, 2008 Hear the whole show here: http://kut.org/items/show/13443 We are all such fans, it was splendid to come play in Studio A. Grand piano, indeed! & boy howdy, what a mix, Walter!
We had a great time appearing in Tampa, Florida at the WMNF [88.5FM] 29th anniversary bash in Ybor City! You can hear our stripped down appearance from that morning’s Women’s Show With Arlene & Mary here. (search for the 09/13/08 show) Here’s a sweet review of that evening’s performance from a very kind listener. We had such a great time & cannot wait to come back!
NEWS FROM SCREENS SMALL & LARGE…
AUSTIN CITY LIMITS AIRS OUR SEGEMENT NOVEMBER 8, 2008! DUDE…We had such a great time filming our ACL appearance with Cole, Lefty, myself & our truly special guests Scott Daniels, Bobby Perkins, Ray Benson, Shelley King, & Guy Forsyth! Austin City Limits airs our segment (Carolyn Wonderland / Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings) November 8th, 2008 [on KLRU in Austin] [or November 9th, if you’re in Amsterdam ;-) ]. Check your local PBS affiliate for local air date(s) & time(s)!
T.Sean Shannon’s hilarious & oddly sweet movie “Harold” is available on DVD! Harold stars Spencer Breslin as a 13 year old boy with male pattern baldness. The film also stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Ally Sheedy, Nicky Blonski, Stella Mauve, Chris Parnell, Suzanne Shephard, Colin Quinn, Rachel Dratch, Lou Wagner, Nicky Katt, Dave Attell and Fred Willard. The soundtrack features songs by us & the Hightailers. Visit http://www.haroldmoviesite.com/ to order your copy today.
“American Music: Off the Record” is a documentary by Benjamin Meade from KC, MO. American Music: OFF THE RECORD features theorists Noam Chomsky and Douglas Rushkoff in an interrogation of the American music industry. The film covers a great deal of ground from the authenticity of live music to the circumvention of the corporate machine by indie distribution, to the demise of the privately owned music store. Featuring: Richard Thompson, James McMurtry, Rodney Crowell, Lizzie West, Sonic Youth, David Lindley, Mission of Burma, Watermelon Slim, David Allen Coe, Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, Darden Smith, me, The Mavericks, Bob Walkenhorst, The Alloy Orchestra, The Morells, Little Feat, Candy Coburn, Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker, Billy Joe Shaver, Pavlov's Dog, Chubby Carrier, Buckethead, Lee Roy Parnell, The Blasters, Country Joe McDonald, Eddie "DEVILBOY" Turner, Big Bill Morganfield (son of Muddy Waters), Chris Duarte, Eric Lindell, Bugs Henderson, Les Dudek, Rick Derringer, Commander Cody, The Elders, Hothouse Flowers, Room Full of Blues, Webb Wilder, Chris Scruggs, Hank Williams III, John Mooney, The Belairs, Wanda Jackson, Paul Thorn, Rev. Billy Wirtz, Kerry Livgren, Iron Butterfly, It's a Beautiful Day, Canned Heat, Les Paul, Tommy Castro and The Bottle Rockets, Diunna Greenleaf, WAR, Roger Miller, and Lee Oskar.
DVD available at: http://www.corticrawl.com/films/american_music.html
Active Music released the DVD “Houston Solution for Hurricane Relief featuring us, Johnette Napolitano, and the Fabulous Thunderbirds, hosted by Kinky Friedman; more info at: http://www.activemusic.org
We recently learned that Texas Burning’s “A Lone Star Salute to our Troops” benefitting the Center for the Intrepid at Brooke Army Medical Center received a Platinum Remi Award as Best Music Video – Shows/Specials at the 40th annual WorldFest International Film Festival. This 2007 concert from the Charlene McCombs Empire Theater in San Antonio, TX features us, Patricia Vonne, Ruthie Foster, Shannon McNally, Sherman Robertson, Theresa Andersson and Sam Baker. Congratulations to Anthony Cutrona & everyone involved!
Speaking of music helping to heal returning soldiers…The “Welcome Home Project” is going to release Welcome Home [Vol. I & II] on November 11, 2008. These CDs feature new songs & collaborations with David Ray Reed, Malford Milligan, Shelley King, me, Cole El-Saleh, Jamie Oldaker, Willis Alan Ramsey, John Inmon, Jimmy LaFave, Lavelle White, Guitar Shorty, Charlie Louvin, Brennen Leigh, Green Mountain Grass, Jeff Plankenhorn, Jesse Dayton & Johnny Bush & many more to be announced. For more information [and to order your copy online] go to: http://www.myspace.com/icehousewelcomehomeproject
AND NOW, A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE…
HAAM day Oct 7! The Health Alliance for Austin Musicians is a great service to our community & could use your support. HAAM day features bands all day, all over the city raising money for the cause. You can catch us playing at KGSR’s broadcast from Whole Foods 6:45pm & then afterwards I’m gonna go jam with the Un-Insured All Stars at Threadgill’s WHQ! Of course, you can donate anytime here.
Join us as we play an all-ages show at the Nutty Brown Cafe under the stars on Sat Oct 11. The next weekend we will be taping, and you can join us on the radio for XM Cross Country at Threadgill’s WHQ on Fri Oct 17, then we swing into Houston to play at Dan Electro’s on Sat 18 with special guests & then come back to Austin Sun 19 to play 6:30-7:30pm at the Texas Wine & Song Festival benefitting SIMS foundation with Suzanna Choffel & the Gourds. On October 26th we will join Willie Nelson, Grupo Fantasma, Ruthie Foster, Kelly Willis, the Gourds, Lucky Tomblin, Elizabeth Wills, and Nakia & his Southern Cousins for the final celebration at the Backyard. I will miss this very groovy venue. It is where I first met Bob Dylan and where I first jammed with String Cheese Incident, among many other great memories. Come revel in those vibratory waves one more night…Before we leave for Europe this November, you ought to put on a costume & shake a tail feather with us this Halloween at Saxon Pub!
Saveaustinmusic.com look for PSAs to start airing in Austin in the near future. Will YOU go out & hear one Austin band a month?
WonderJam in Amsterdam 2008! This November 2-9 we will be in Amsterdam for the 6th annual WonderJam! This year KGSR gave away 2 tickets to WonderJam as the grand prize for July Music Month & we can’t wait to get on board with the contest winners & 75 or so of our dear friends to play music in this wonderful city with D. Brown Fisher, Speedy Sparks & a special Doug Sahm set with Shandon Sahm & many guests. If you want to join us last minute style, be sure to contact Darren at Wonderjam.
Upon our return to the states, you can find me, Sue Foley, Cindy Cashdollar, Sarah Brown & Lisa Pankratz playing a show together in Cincinnati as the Guitar Women. Be sure to check our reverbnation widget below for all tourdates including NYE at the Saxon Pub, and updates on my Japan tour with 2008 Texas State Musician Shelley King in February 2009.
Thanks for your patronage, comments & support.
VOTE early. One cannot vote late.
PEACE,
Carolyn
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