LIVE MUSIC I'VE SEEN

	Artist	Date	Location	Comment
	Help Austin Help Haiti	1/24/10	Austin Music Hall	A benefit to help the people of Haiti following the devastating earthquake. Performers while I was there included: Kelly Willis, Ray Wylie Hubbard, The Gourds, Reckless Kelly, The Joe Ely Band, with Marcia Ball, Robert Earl Keen, and Charlie Sexton. Although I must admit I spend a good part of the early part of the evening watching the New Orlean Saints outlast Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings in the exciting overtime NFC Championship game.
	Patty Griffin with Jack Ingram and Scott Miller	01/21/10	The Paramount Theater	A fundraiser for Grounded in Music. Patty Griffin played mostly solo, but was fantastic as exepected. Jack Ingram was pretty entertaining. But the surprise of the evening was Scott Miller whom we'd never heard of before. He was really fun, with great stories, great lyrics, and great melodies. Overall, a very enjoyable evening.
	Danny Schmidt	1/09/10	Sycamore Creek in Dripping Springs	A really enjoyable, although cold, night at an intimate venue in the Texas Hill Country. Danny Schmidt is an impressive young singer-songwriter. He was the Kerrville New Folk winner in 2007. He writes really poetic songs, plays excellent acoustic guitar, and has a nice singing voice as well.
	Cyril Neville and Tribe Thirteen and Anders Osborne	12/31/09	Tipitina's French Quarter	In New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. Spent New Year's Eve at this secondary Tips venue in the French Quarter that is only used for special events. Cyril & Tribe Thirteen played some old New Orleans classics & some newer blues, R&B, and reggae tunes. Anders tore it up on slide guitar with some long jams with his threesome that featured Kirk Joseph on sousaphone. Both Cyril and Anders were joined at times by Johnny Sansone on harmonica, and a bit of accordian. Not a big crowd, but you can't help but have fun at a show like this on New Year's Eve in the Big Easy.
	Carolyn Wonderland	12/23/09	Austin Convention Center	At the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar.
	Hogan Sullivan	12/19/09	Starlight Theatre	A fine meal, good company, and some nice tunes at this "oasis of food and entertainment" in Terlingua Texas, the night before a geocaching/hiking adventure on the Rancherias trail in Big Bend Ranch State Park.
	David Rawling's Machine with Sarah Jarosz	12/14/09	The Parish	The Dave Rawlings Machine, was led by guitarist Dave Rawlings, and featured Gillian Welch with members of The Old Crow Medicine Show. It was a really entertaining night, with excellent four part harmonies, great musicianship, and a real spirit of fun by everyone in the band. Here is an article previewing the show. You can get an idea of what they sounded like here on a recording from thw Newport Folk Festival. Sarah Jarosz who opened is an amazingly talented young singer & instrumentalist. Although she is just a teen-ager in her first year in college, she played four stringed instruments like a pro, has a beautiful voice, and writes nice melodies and lyrics. I would think that having a Grammy nominee in your first year college class might really blow the curve.
	Leeann Atherton	12/12/09	Mother Egan's Irish Pub	Some fun rock and blues by this veteran Austin band. Part of Club Chi-Wa-Wa's annual X-mas celebration.
	Suzanne Smith	11/25/09	B.D. Riley's	Some pleasant covers with acoustic guitar.
	The Subdudes and Lou Ann Barton	11/13/09	Antone's	The Sundudes sounded as good as ever, featuring John Magnie’s accordian, Tommy Malone's guitar playing, and their tight harmony vocals. Some new material from their recent "Flower Petals" recording sounded pretty good. Lou Ann opened with a nice bluesy set featuring Derek O'Brien's usual superb electric blues guitar.
	Mojo Nixon, Dash Riprock, and New Duncan Imperials	11/06/09	Continental Club	Mojo although semi-retired, was in fine form, still as raunchy as ever, and rocked up a storm with his band the Toadliquors. Not much new material, but stiil a rocking good time. Dash sounded as good as ever with classics like "Stairway to Freebird". The New Duncan Imperials were new to me, but also fit right in with their mix of garage/bar-band material.
	The Pogues and Justin Townes Earle	10/28/09	Stubb's Bar-B-Q	An interesting show of punkish Irish music. Lead singer Shane MacGowan is clearly, despite earlier reports, not on the wagon. He stumbled off stage between songs, coming back each time with cigarette and drink in hand, and slurred his speach so badly you could virtually not understand anything he said. Occasionally other members of the band would take pity on us and translate a few words. The rest of the band played well, and overall it was an enjoyable train wreck of a show. Here is a good review with a couple of photos and another review is here, and here is YouTube video taste of "Old Main Drag" and another video from one of their encores, "Fiesta", that features a band member smashing his head with a what looks like a metal cookie sheet. Justin Townes Earle, son of Steve Earle, opened with a quirky eclectic solo acoustic set.
	www.flickr.com Buckandi's ACL Festival 2009 Slideshow Friday, October 2 = Blue Sky, Green Grass Saturday, October 3 = Dark Sky, Lots of Rain Sunday, October 4 = Blue Sky, Brown Mud, Mud, Mud Favorites Papa Mali with Bill Kreutzmann Probably my favorite set of this year's ACL, as Bill Kreutzmann, drummer from the Grateful Dead joined Papa Mali and band. They played two Dead tunes, "I Know You Rider" and "Bertha", along with some excellent selections of Papa Mali's swampy blues. Rebirth Brass Band A funky dance party, just like being in new Orleans at Tipitina's. And what sent it to the next level was some wild hip-hop dancers showing off some crazy moves on stage with the band. Thievery Corporation I really enjoy their wide range of world music styles. The sounds ranged from reggae to middle-eastern to funky, and always danceable. !!! (chk chk chk) Pronounced "chk, chk, chk", according to the band. This band was new to me, but put on a very fun set of what is described as dance-punk. Their lead singer, Nic Offer, was all over the stage and out in the crowd. Flogging Molly An excellent set of hard rocking Irish folk, reminiscent of The Pogues. The fact that it took place in what was probably the hardest rain of the weekend only added to the atmosphere. Ben Harper & Relentless Seven Very high energy, hard-rocking set by Harper and his band, which consists of three Austin blues-rockers Other Highlights Sara Watkins Best known for her time spent with Nickel Creek, she put on a nice set of blue-grassy music, featuring her violin and vocals. She was joined by John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin fame, who played mandolin, and also Austinite David Garza for a few songs. Dr. Dog I seem to be the only person over age 25 who like these guys, but whatever. Anyway, the crowd who were there seemed to enjoy their high-energy, melodic rock. Daniel Johnston The first time I have seen Daniel Johnston live. Known for his eccentricity and erratic behavior due to mental illness, I found his performance and lyrics to be cool and riveting. It is obviously a challenge for him to perform in public, but the fact that he puts himself out there and does it is impressive. The B-52s My first time to see the B-52's. They may not look like they used to, but they sound just the same. They did all of their hits, and it was a fun set. Enjoyed Asleep at the Wheel I almost always start out with Ray Benson & band on Friday morning, and as usual they played some classic western swing, focusing on their recent collaboration with Willie Nelson The Gospel Silvertones Some fun, high-energy Gospel Walter "Wolfman" Washington Classic New Orleans R&B Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 Solid set by this veteran rocker, assisted by Peter Buck from REM on guitar. Yeah Yeah Yeahs I liked this indie rock band more than I expected. Front woman Karen O is a charismatic performer, and the music was fun but not very memorable. The Soul Stirrers Old time Gospel. I must admit I got chills when Willie Rogers, lead singer since the '60s, performed "A Change Is Gonna Come" after he had introduced it by describing what it felt like to perform the song for new president Barack Obama in the White House shortly after the inauguration. Cotton Jones Enjoyable mellow psychedelic folk The Felice Brothers Dylanesque vocals, backed by energetic fiddle and accordian/organ The Levon Helm Band Unfortunately, Levon Helm was not able to sing because of recent surgery, but his large band with three guitarists, four vocalists, five-piece horn section, and a B-3 organ/accordion player did a good job of covering a mix of songs by The Band and others in a roots/Americana vein. Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band A crazy hillbilly twosome Rodriguez Rodriguez apparently had a hit psychedelic rock album in the sixties, and has been pretty much out of sight since then. At one of his first appearances since then, he and his picked-up band showed some rust, but some of the songs and melodies were really good, so overall I enjoyed the set. Brett Dennen Bretty good singer-songwriter Arctic Monkeys Cool British Indie Band Wish I Had Seen More Mishka Just caught a few of his mello Reggae songs. No Matthew McConaughey sightings this time. Todd Snider Unfortunately only saw a the start of this eclectic songwriter's set Los Amigos Invisibles Just caught a bit of this Venezuelen dance band The Scabs Only saw part of one song on the way to something else Unremarkable Sarah Siskind Folky songwriter - didn't grab me Blitzen Trapper Bland melodic rock. I didn't hear the Grateful Dead influence that some have suggested. Jonell Mosser Bluesy soul, but not very exciting Andrew Bird Noted for his whistling. That's all I remember. Them Crooked Vultures Supergroup with Dave Grohl from Foo Fighters/Nirvana, Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age, and John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin. I did not get very close, but from where I was they didn't sound very super Eek-a-Mouse It was all about the ganja, and not much else Dave Matthews Band My first time to see him. He sounded like Dave Matthews. I did like the Talking Heads "Burning Down the House" cover, but the rest was just OK. White Lies British rock band - not memorable Michael Franti & Spearhead I tried to get into him, but the portion of theset I heard was a little too smooth, and not enough gritty enough for my taste. Pearl Jam It was too late, and too muddy to get up close. They actually sounded OK, but I just wasn't close enough to really get into it. Very Strange Girl Talk I don't get it. One guy who plays a bunch of short "samples" from other people's music and "mashes" them together, although he says "I am not a DJ". But around 100-200 people on stage and a huge crown in the mud seemed to love it for some reason. Disappointments The Avett Brothers Supposed to be very hip bluegrass, but they sounded slow and boring to me Phoenix This year's Vampire Weekend -- I thought I'd like them, but found them lightweight and repetitive State Radio They were supposed to be Reggae with some harder edges, but to me they were just loud, noisy hard rock, with a few moments of Reggae thrown in. Wish I Hadn't Bothered/Won't See Again The Parlor Mob Led Zeppelin Wannabees Wish I Hadn't Missed The Greencards Poi Dog Pondering Henry Butler ...And You will Know us By the Trail of the Dead Devotchka Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears Terri Hendrix Raul Malo The Dead Weather Preservation Hall Jazz Band
	The Steps and The Bobby Lueders Band	10/01/09	Shoal Creek Saloon	Bill and Sheri's annual ACL Fest Pre-Party. The Steps rocked once again. The Bobby Lueders Band opened with some western swing. .
	Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women and Shannon McNally	09/18/09	Antone's	An amazing show. Dave Alvin was backed by a great all-woman band, four out of five of which were from Austin: Christy McWilson on vocals, Cindy Cashdollar on steel guitar and dobro, Amy Farris on fiddle, Sarah Brown on bass, and Lisa Pankratz on drums. Sadly, Amy Farris died of an apparent sucide shortly after the show on Sept. 26. Here is a nice remembrance. And here are some good photos from the show. If you want an idea of what they sounded like, here is a recording of an earlier show, and a Mountain Stage performance from Sept 21. Shannon McNally opened with a nice solo acoustic set. Some good photos of Shannon here.
	The Apple Trio	08/30/09	Austin Java (12th & Lamar)	An acoustic trio made up of young women from the fine arts academy at McCallum High School. They played some mellow original folk on guitar, violin, mandolin, and cello, and reminded some of us of "The Sundays".
	Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk , Blondie Chaplin, and The Lee Boys	08/28/09	Antone's	A celebration of Ivan's birthday. It started off with the Lee Boys, a "sacred steel" band similar to Robert Randolph. They played one fiery song after another, and I was amazed to learn when they finished that the peddle steel player doing all of the damage wasn't even the regular steel player in the band. All I can say is they must have one amazing music school at the church they all attended in Perrine, FL. Next on the bill was Blondie Chaplin, a singer/guitarist recently known as a backing singer with the Rolling Stones (although he also played with the Beach Boys in the '70's and The Band in the '80's). As a solo artist, he was entertaining although not that memorable. By the time they got to the main act, Dumpstaphunk, I was tired, and although they played some solid, danceable New Orleans funk, it didn't have the magic for me that the old Meters and Neville Brothers shows had.
	The Wailers and Bob Schneider	08/22/09	Bat Fest on Congress Avenue Bridge	The Wailers were OK, but really didn't do it for me. It's a bad sign when a reggae band has to keep imploring the crowd to dance. Maybe it didn't help that much of the set was based on "Exodus", which although a great album, is not the most jammin' of Wailers albums. On the other hand, Bob Schneider put on one of the best sets I have seen from him, with lots of energy and audience participation.
	Papa Mali	08/12/09	Waterloo Park	Probably my favorite show of this summer's KGSR Blues on the Green series. A swampy, funky set of Lousiana-influenced slide guitar, along with an excellent backing band. As one of his best songs goes, "Let the Bon Ton Roulet".
	Smoke Like a Fish and The Resonators	08/07/09	Hootananny Brixton, London, England	Smoke Like a Fish, the headliners from Wales, play fast, relentless Ska. The Resonators are a reggae band from South England fronted by two women vocalists. They started things off with some mellow, grooving riddems. Overall a fun free show in Brixton, which is known as an area of London with a large population of African/Caribbean descent, and also as where Paul Simonon the bass player and Mick Jones the guitar player for The Clash grew up. By coincidence, earlier that same day I had run across The Rock 'n' Roll Public Library, a really fascinating exhibit of pop artifacts collected and presented by Mick Jones.
	Open the Taps	08/05/09	Paragon Bar, Skibbereen, Ireland	Somewhat less traditional, but still good quality Irish music featuring fiddle, guitar, and 5-string banjo.
	Richie Tisdall & Hugh Quinn	08/03/09	The Corner Bar, Skibbereen, Ireland	Very traditional Irish music featuring fiddle & Irish Uillean pipes in an authentic Irish pub.
	Nakia and his Southern Cousins	07/29/09	Scholz Garten	Some funky, southern-fried, soul by Nakia and band.
	Carolyn Wonderland with Shelley King	07/29/09	Waterloo Park	Part of KGSR's Blues on the Green series. Carolyn was excellent as usual, with a set of bluesy original tunes and covers. Shelly Kind and some other guest vocalists joinedfor the second set.
	The Radiators	07/19/09	Threadgills World Headquarters	One of the best Rads shows I have seen in a while. Lots of energy and a great New Orleans vibe, and one of their encores was a great cover of "You Can't Always Get What You Want". You can listen to or download the show here
	El Tule	07/11/09	Steve & Gina Aycock's	Some fun, danceable Latin music at the Aycock's 30th Anniversary party
	Pinetop Perkins, with James Cotton and Marcia Ball	07/08/09	Antone's	A celebration of legendary blues piano player Pinetop Perkins' 96th birthday, part of Antone's 34th Anniversary. Pinetop still sings and plays well, and was backed by Gary Clark Jr. and Derek O'Brien among others. They were joined later by Marcia Ball and fellow blues legend James Cotton, who at a young age 74 still plays a mean blues harp. Later on, Marcia Ball and her band played a set of their own.
	Tift Merritt, with Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion	07/01/09	Stuyvesant High School, NY City	Part of the River-to-River series of free outdoor concerts. Actually it was supposed to be outside at Rockefeller Park, but due to a threat of rain the show was moved to Stuyvesant High School. Tift Merritt played some new songs and older music that showed off her nice voice, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar, keyboard, and on one song, Johnny Irion's electric guitar. Sarah Lee and Johnny performed the kind of folk music you would expect from the daughter of Arlo and grand-daughter of Widdy Guthrie. Here are some photos and a review of the show.
	Dr. Dog, with PHOSPHORESCENT, and These United States	06/27/09	Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY	Part of the Celebrate Brooklyn series of free outdoor concerts. Dr. Dog put on their usual dynamic show featuring lots of guitar and Beatle-esque harmonies. This time their regular five man lineup was supplemented on some songs by 4 horn and 3 string players. Here are some photos from the show. Of the two openers, I preferred PHOSPHORESCENT, which is primarily one guy named Matthew Houck who's most recent album was made up exclusively of Willie Nelson cover songs. These United States played garagey folk music that didn't work too well for me.
	Slaid Cleaves	06/17/09	Scholz Garten	Just stopped by for the last few songs by Slaid Cleaves at this free series at Scholz's, and I ran into my sister Liz there.
	Cyril Neville & Tribe 13	06/17/09	Waterloo Park	Part of KGSR's Blues on the Green series. Cyril and band sounded good with some new material, some old Nevilles/Meters, and some covers featuring his "Queen" Gaynielle. As he puts it, now that he lives in Austin, "The gumbo has spilled into the chili."
	Gomez and J.J. Grey & Mofro	06/08/09	Stubb's Bar-B-Q	I enjoyed Gomez's pop-rock, which was higher energy than I expected, and the crowd certainly loved it. With three rotating lead singers, they had a nice range of sounds, and plenty of good material. Several people on a fan site said it was the best Gomez show in years. Here are some photos from the show. J.J. Grey and Mofro sounded great again, with their big swampy sound, the full horn section, and Austin's Greyhounds sitting in on bass and Hammond B3 organ.
	Conspirare	6/06/09	The Long Center for the Performing Arts	Here is their description: "ROCK MY SOUL brings all of the ensembles of Conspirare’s Company of Voices on stage together for the first time for a joyous celebration of spirituals – the music born of struggle, faith and deliverance. With the combined 200 voices of the Conspirare ensembles, plus special guest artist, trumpeter and composer HANNIBAL LOKUMBE, the program will focus on many of the most passionate and stirring settings of songs from the African-American spirituals tradition, as well as West African chant and American blues – music that shares a common and related core of expression."
	Tribute to Ronnie Dawson	06/05/09	Continental Club	An excellent tribute to the late, great rockabilly legend Ronnie Dawson (also known as "The Blonde Bomber" and "Waxahachie Wildcat"), with Nick Curran on guitar & vocals, Tjarko Jean on guitar, Shaun Young on guitar & vocals, Kevin Smith on bass, and Lisa Pankratz on drums.
	Dale Watson	06/03/09	Scholz Garten	Just stopped by for the last few songs by Dale Watson at this free series at Scholz's.
	Ruthie Foster	06/03/09	Waterloo Park	Part of KGSR's Blues on the Green series. Ruthie put on a high energy, feel-good show along with her full band.
	Soul Rebels Brass Band	05/16/09	Threadgills World Headquarters	A (slightly muddy) New Orleans dance party with this horn-led jazz/funk band.
	Slaid Cleaves	05/07/09	The Paramount Theater	A very enjoyable set that was part of an event to announce the Paramount's 2009-2010 Season. Slaid played some old material and a few songs from his new album, "Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away." We especially enjoyed "This Morning I Am Born Again", a song that he created by putting music to some Woody Guthre lyrics. He and his guitar accompaniest played it unplugged, which sounded great with the nice acoustics of the Paramount.
	The Steps	05/02/09	Pecan Street Festival	Was just able to hear their first three songs on the way to a show at the Paramount, but they sounded good and the crowd was into it.
	Iris Dement	4/25/09	Cactus Cafe	Iris has been out of the public eye for a while. She hasn't published an album of original material since 1996 or an album of any kind since 2004. She looks and dresses like the Iowan farm mom that she now is (I also learned at the show that she is now married to folksinger Greg Brown). She seemed a bit nervous at first, and it was obvious that she has not performed in public much lately. But she still has that great voice, and put on a good show featuring many of her old favorites and some new material as well. Here is a more detailed review & a photo from the show.
	Zookeeper and Colin Gilmore	04/25/09	Downtown Austin - Cesar Chavez	At Art City Austin.
	Dr. Dog with The Cave Singers and Golden Boots	04/21/09	The Parish	Dr. Dog put on a very cool show with Beatlesque harmonies, rocking instrumentation, and great energy. Here is a review with the setlist and a few photos from the show. You can also see and hear (although with fairly poor sound quality) a streaming video of an entire similar show that Dr. Dog put on at the Parish in September, 2008. I also liked The Cave Singers, who played some hard edged acoustic folk.
	War, Galactic, Keith Frank and the Soileau Zydeco Band, Bonerama, and Jamie Bergeron & the Kickin' Cajuns	04/04/09	Downtown Austin - MLK & Congress	At the 2009 Louisiana Swamp Thing & Crawfish Festival. War is still led by charismatic front man Lonnie Jordan, and performed their hits "Cisco Kid", "Low Rider" and "Why Can't We Be Friends". Galactic played their usual brand of hard core Jazz Funk. Bonearama made up for their shortened set last year with their three trombone-led brand of original New Orleans Funk and some covers such as Jimi Hendrix's "Crosstown Traffic". Keith Frank and Jamie Bergeron played a couple of high energy Zydeco sets.
	Leonard Cohen	4/02/09	The Long Center for the Performing Arts	This was the second of two shows in Austin, which kicked off Leonard Cohen's first US tour in 15 years. He did not disappoint, putting on a 3 1/2 hour show that was great from start to finish. Pretty amazing for a 74 year old. His band led by Austin's Roscoe Beck was outstanding, but it was really the songs and what Leonard Cohen put into it that made it a really memorable show. The band, the staging, and the three female backup vocalists all contributed, and the new Long Center was a perfect venue. You can see some more in-depth reviews here, and here, and some photos from the Austin show here. There is also an interview explaining Leonard's decision to tour here.
	Ian McLagan & the Bump Band	3/20/09	Mother Egan's Irish Pub	The only "official" SXSW set we saw, with former Faces member Ian McClagan leading his excellent rock and roll band. You can listen to one of their songs, "Little Trouble Maker", along with some others who played that night.
	Quiet Hooves	3/20/09	Treasure City Thrift Store	An eclectic band to say the least featuring Big Ed's cousin, with an odd blend of vocals, horns, violin, electronics, and toy piano.
	Superdrag	3/20/09	Interior Design Works	An interesting young band in the backyard of an office in East Austin at an event called After the Jump Fest & Red Stripe Party on the Eastside".
	Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit	3/20/09	Home Slice Pizza	Jason Isbell, formally of Drive-by Truckers, put on a good set, but not nearly as hard edged as he was with the Truckers. The big surise was a version of the Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer".
	Hill Country Revue and The Mother Hips	3/20/09	Jo's Coffee	The annual South by San Jose Party at Jo's. Hill Country Revue is an offshoot of the North Mississippi All Stars featuring Cody Dickinson. I actually like them better than the All Stars because their muusic is more melodic and flowing, with a definite Allman Brother's influence at times. The Mother Hips play psychedelic garage music "divinely inspired by the four great (North) American B's: The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, The Band and The Beach Boys", and actually were not too bad.
	Waco Brothers with Rosie Flores, The Meat Purveyors, and Deadstring Brothers	3/20/09	Yard Dog Gallery	A bunch of excellent alt-country bands at the annual Yard Dog party put on by Bloodshot Records. I particularly enjoyed the last set when Rosie Flores joined the Waco Brothers on a Bo Diddley number and Big River.
	The Photo Atlas and Halos	3/19/09	Shiner's Saloon	Two indie rock acts that actually rocked. This event was called SXSI (South by Stay Indie) and was sponsored by Stay Indie. You can see a video about the Halos' SXSW experience here
	The Boy Bathing and Joe Pug	3/19/09	Fado Irish Pub	Two acoustic acts that were pretty boring to me.
	Culture Prophet	3/19/09	The Tiniest Bar in Texas	The start of my SXSW 2009 wanderings with Big Ed. Culture Prohet was not too bad - kind of a Talking heads meets electronica sound.
	Derek Trucks Band and Gary Clark Jr.	3/04/09	La Zona Rosa	Derek showed his versatility by with a wide-ranging set that including soul, jazz, funk, pop, and rock. The highlight for me was when Bobby Whitlock came up and played "Anyday" which he co-wrote and performed with Eric Clapton on the Derek and the Dominoes classic "Layla and Other Love Songs" album. You can download or listen to the entire show here. Also, as was pointed out in a comment on the download site, you can learn anything you might want to know about Dreek and the Dominos directly from Bobby Whitlock and his wife Coco Carmel on this 83 page forum thread.
	Save Artz Rib House Benefit	2/22/09	Scholtz Garten	A benefit to help out Artz Rib House, a long time supporter of the Austin music scene. I was there for The Austin Lounge Lizards, (with two new female band members, Darcie Deaville replacing Korey Simeone as the fiddle/mandolin player, and Julieann Banks replacing Boo Resnick as the bass player), Redd Volkaert with Cindy Cashdollar, Carolyn Wonderland with Shelley King, and Del Castillo.
	2nd Night of Marcia Ball's 60th Birthday Celebration	2/14/09	Antone's	It was a lady's night "Valentine's Sweetheart Ball" featuring some great perfformers along with Marcia, including Angela Strehli, Lou Ann Barton, Tracy Nelson, Miss Lavelle White, Maria Muldaur, and Sarah Brown. The evening featuring songs they've recorded together and separately. It was great hearing Marcia, Lou Ann, and Angela performing songs from "Dreams Come True", and Tracy, Miss Lavelle, and Maria all had some highlights as well. This was a benefit for Health Alliance for Austin Musiciansand Sweet Home New Orleans.
	1st Night of Marcia Ball's 60th Birthday Celebration	2/13/09	Antone's	This was billed as a "Rocking Voodoo Party", and it was tons of fun. Unfortunately I missed Geno Delafose, but was able to get there for the Steve Riley set, which featured C.C. Adcock and Marcia sitting in on a number of songs. And then Sonny Landreth tore it up with his trio.
	Susan Tedeschi and James Hunter	2/07/09	La Zona Rosa	I really enjoyed Susan Tedeschi's set. She had an excellent supporting band and really sounded good. My only minor criticism was her Sarah Palin look until she took off her glasses and let down her hair late in the set, which you can see here. James Hunter was good, but he admitted that he had a cold, so his voice sounded a little rough and seemed a bit low energy to me.
	J.J. Grey & Mofro	1/31/09	Antone's	Another great show by Mofro. Fortunately they only played a few songs from his most recent CD which I don't care for as much as their previous less polished, swampier sound. The highlight was John Popper from Blues Traveler joining for several songs, including a couple of Muddy Water's "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "Got My Mojo Working" that must have made Clifford Antone smile somewhere. You can hear or download the whole show here.
	The Tea Merchants	1/02/09	Fiddler's Hearth	Some traditional Irish music at this relatively new Irish "Public House".
	2007-2008 Live Music I've Seen 2005-2006 Live Music I've Seen 2003-2004 Live Music I've Seen 2001-2002 Live Music I've Seen 1999-2000 Live Music I've Seen 1997-1998 Live Music I've Seen