Archive for the ‘Peter Rowan’s Twang an’ Groove’ Category

I am pleased to announce the availability of “Peter Rowan’s Twang an’ Groove, Vol. 1”, a compilation of live recordings from our inaugural show at the Purple Bee Halloween Hoedown on 10/27/2012 and Antone’s on 1/30/2013.  You can download the album from iTunes right now, and the physical CD should be available tomorrow on Amazon.  Twang an’ Groove Vol. 1 is released by There Records, the same organization that brought you Reggaebilly, and it was mixed & mastered by Mike Morgan at The Zone Recording Studio (Mike is also the bass player in Twang an’ Groove, for those who don’t know.)

I got an opportunity to play with Peter and the band again last Wednesday at the Old Settlers Music Festival pre-party, and it was an amazing experience as always.  Over the past 18 months, Peter has evolved into a beast of an electric player, with the chops necessary to drive the straight-ahead power trio that is the new incarnation of Twang an’ Groove.  The concept of Twang an’ Groove has always been basically about reading Peter’s mind, about him starting off in a particular direction and the band following along, so it took us a dozen shows spread out over a period of 9 months before we could really get a sense of where he was going.  If you saw us last Wednesday, you saw a band that was a lot tighter– but also less experimental– than the band that was out standing in our field in the freezing cold on Halloween weekend, 2012.

What you’ll hear on Vol. 1 is the much more raw form of Twang an’ Groove, a band that was still throwing things against the wall to see what would stick.  As with most experimental projects, not all of the experiments were a success, but when they were, they were sheer brilliance.  Vol. 1 tells the story of a bluegrass legend who, at age 70, after having played acoustic guitar and mandolin most of his life, picked up the electric guitar and hired an Austin-based jam/country band (Rhythmic Statues) to back him up (in fact, that first gig was still billed as “Peter Rowan and Rhythmic Statues.”  The name “Twang an’ Groove” didn’t exist yet.)  Vol. 1 is basically every form of roots music America has to offer thrown into a blender with Peter’s finger on the “purée” button.  The sound is undeniably Peter Rowan but still completely different from anything that any of us have ever done before.

Either way, though– jam band or rock band– it’s a brilliant and ridiculously fun band to play with.  I’m proud to have had the opportunity to participate in the project, and I hope there will be a Volume 2.

December Shows

In the interest of not burying the lead, I’ll be performing a solo “acoustic” show next Sunday, Dec. 15 at Stompin’ Grounds Coffee & Cocktail Lounge at 3801 S. Congress (below the lofts across the street from Expose’.)  The Studio E Song Class will open at 6 PM with their acoustic renditions of “songs that should not be done acoustically” (I will probably accompany them on a couple of those), then I do an hour set at 7:30, featuring songs from “Seven Cities” and my next album (working title: “Songs What I Done Writ But Ain’t Yet Sung Into a Can”), with some covers thrown in for flava.

Also next weekend (Sat. Dec. 14 at 11:30 PM), I’ll be playing keys and singing backup with Ulrich Ellison & Tribe for Ulrich’s birthday show & single release party at One-2-One Bar at 1509 S. Lamar.  Ulrich is a native of Austria, and his new album is steeped in 70’s and 80’s prog. rock.  It has given me an opportunity to exercise my synth chops, which I don’t often get to do around here.  Some of his original stuff will remind you of Pink Floyd, Sting, Moody Blues, even Manheim Steamroller, but he’s also prone to launch into some blazing Texas blues with little provocation.  FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/666410780046948

The following weekend (Sat. Dec. 21 at 7 PM), I’ll be playing with Robin Wiley at Milt’s Pit BBQ in Kyle.  Robin and I do a Captain & Tenille sort of duo, with her singing and me doing keys and backing vocals (Captain & Tenille currently outrank us, but I’m long overdue for a promotion.)  We had a great show down in Corpus last month at Chat’s Drive-in and did a short concert and interview on KCCT radio with “Daddy D”.  Robin’s original material is both folk and R&B-oriented and includes a lost Guthrie song that apparently no one else has ever recorded.

You can add any of my upcoming shows to your Google or iCal calendars by going to this page and clicking on the + sign next to the show.  I’ve got a lot more stuff coming up in the first part of 2014.

Twang an’ Groove News

For those who weren’t following our tourettes with Peter Rowan this past summer (Telluride in June and North Carolina in July) on Facebook, links to my photos are available here.

Telluride was perhaps the most amazing musical experience I’ve ever had.  First time to attend the festival, much less perform there.  Got to hobnob with a who’s who of the bluegrass/jamgrass scene, not to mention hang out in one of the most beautiful places in the world (with free food and 4-star lodging, no less.)  We did two encores at Fly Me to the Moon Saloon, and the audience still almost wouldn’t let us get off the stage.  Other highlights:  Lake Street Dive; Milk Carton Kids; String Cheese; Jackson Browne (!); Hot Rize/Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers; and the Telluride “house band” that consisted of Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, Bryan Sutton, and Edgar Meyer with special guests Jackson Browne, Peter Rowan, half of the Punch Bros., etc. etc.

The First Annual Crystal Coast Music Festival in North Carolina almost got rained out, but the skies cleared in time for our show, and although the rain had driven a lot of people away, it was still a good crowd and a great show.  Keep an eye on this festival, because they apparently have 5 years of funding secured, so they are likely to grow and may end up being the North Carolina version of Old Settlers.  We got the rare opportunity to perform with Yungchen Llamo, a Tibetan mountain singer, at both the Crystal Coast festival and at the Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh.

Peter has been off performing with Yungchen and others since then, but at least according to the Old Settlers web site, Twang an’ Groove is on the bill for 2014.  We haven’t yet received confirmation of that, so I’ll keep you posted.

Videos

A lyric video for “Dead to the World” is now available here.  Enjoy!

Some actual music videos are also in the works, including “Hill Country Rain” and “The American Dream.”  My friend Tony is producing the latter, and it should be amazing.  Subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified the second that these are available.

Social Media & Stuff

I rail against Spotify frequently, but if it’s going to exist, then I might as well take advantage of it.  If you’re on there, then please visit my official Spotify profile (type “spotify:user:drcommander” into the search box) and follow me.  I am curating some playlists that bear some relevance to my music career, both past and present.

Have a José Feliciano Navidad!
DRC

Peter Rowan’s Twang & Groove Update

Playing Old Settlers was an absolute blast, and thanks a bunch to everyone who came out to see one or both of our shows on Saturday.  Audience response was amazing.  Here’s a video of our noon show, shot by Ted Branson from KOOP radio 91.7:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZryjUmbyo3M

We’re getting amped up to play Telluride in about 6 weeks, and we’ve announced several dates in North Carolina in July, including the Lincoln Theater in Raleigh and the Crystal Coast Music Festival over in Morehead City.  More info on these is on my gig calendar.

Free Stuff!

In the world of DRC’s solo music, you can now download “Dead to the World” for free from my ReverbNation page in exchange for signing up for my e-mail list.  If you’re already on my e-mail list, just click “Download” under the song, then click “I’m already a fan”, and where it says “I’m on the mailing list”, enter your e-mail address and click “Submit”.  Bada bing.  Free song.

Please share this song with anyone who you think might like it.

CD’s

CD’s are on the way and should be here early next week.  My BandCamp store lets you name your price on “Seven Cities”, and all proceeds at the moment go toward paying off the 4-figure production debt.  🙂  If you pay $10 or more, or if you already paid that amount through BandCamp, then I’ll make sure you get a CD if you want one.  So don’t delay– buy today.  You can pay either with PayPal or a credit card (you don’t have to create a PayPal account.)  If you’ve bought the record via iTunes or another outlet, then I thank you heartily for your support.  I won’t know for probably a few weeks how those sales are doing, because reporting from the major online stores has a significant delay.

Spread the word!

The album is now officially available “everywhere” online, including most streaming sites.   If you know someone who might like my music, please take a moment to tell them about it.

More good stuff in the works.  Stay tuned!

Lots of big news, so I guess I’ll just go in chronological order:

“Seven Cities” Digital Release

This coming Wednesday, it’s the day you’ve all been waiting for … or, at least, I hope you’ve all been waiting for it … the digital release of “Seven Cities.”  As we speak, I am in the process of pushing it out to digital distributors and setting up the BandCamp.com page for direct sales.  I had the pleasure of working with Nick Landis of Terra Nova Digital Audio, Inc. last week to master the record.  I told him that I was looking for a sound reminiscent of an album that was produced in the 70’s but transferred to digital in the late 80’s/early 90’s (pre-“loudness wars”), and not only did he know exactly how to achieve that, but it turns out that he can issue official dynamic range certifications from the Pleasurize Music Foundation (http://www.pleasurizemusic.com/).  “Seven Cities” received a rating of DR12, which gives it a similar level of dynamic range to some of my favorite late 80’s/early 90’s classic rock CD’s.

I will provide more details on Tuesday or Wednesday regarding the album release.  Stay tuned.

Old Settlers Pre-Party

This coming Wednesday (4/17), I’ll be playing a free show at Camp Ben McCullough (across from the Salt Lick on F. M. 1826 near Driftwood, TX, about 15 minutes south of Austin) with Rhythmic Statues.  RS is a project conceived by Mike Morgan and featuring most of the members of Peter Rowan’s Twang & Groove band (including Carter Arrington on guitar, Mike on bass, and me on keys), but it centers around Mike’s songwriting.  For this show, we’ll have Jenny Mier and Andy Markoff from Flounders Without Eyes as special guests, and we’ll be doing some of the songs that Mike wrote for Flounders, in addition to some new Rhythmic Statues material and some covers of old favorites.  I’ll be playing keys and helping out on backing vocals.  We may also have a couple of other special guests joining us.

Bring a lawn chair, munchies, and BYOB.  Admission is free.

Lineup:

5:30 Tom Vickers
6:15 Chris Baker
7:00 Bob Slaughter
8:00 Three Hands High
9:00 Rhythmic Statues
10:30 Jabarvy

Old Settlers Music Festival

Peter Rowan’s Twang & Groove will be doing two shows on Saturday, a matinee at 12:05 PM on the Hill Country Stage and an evening show at 9:30 PM on the Bluebonnet Stage.  Also performing on Saturday will be Jerry Douglas, Leftover Salmon, The Gourds, Martin Sexton, and Bob Schneider.  Friday’s lineup includes Terri Hendrix, The Del McCoury Band, Michael Franti, and Fred Eaglesmith.  Camping is currently sold out, but 1-day tickets and 3-day wristbands (without camping) are still available at http://oldsettlersmusicfest.org/tickets/.

Telluride!

Yes, indeed.  The good news is that Peter Rowan’s Twang & Groove will be performing at the 40th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival on Friday, June 21.  It will be my first time to ever attend the festival, and I’m super stoked to get the chance not only to play but to see some of my idols, including Jackson Browne and Béla Fleck, from the VIP section.

The festival is completely sold out, as is our show at Fly Me to the Saloon in Telluride on Thurs., June 20, but if they’re doing live streaming, I will be sure to send out the link.

North Carolina

For you Blue Ridge folks, we’ll be coming your direction in July.  Currently, the band is not even 100% sure where the festival is, but I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as I find out.

It’s hard to know where to start without burying the lead, so I guess I’ll just flip a coin.  🙂

As some of you know, Peter Rowan’s Twang & Groove will be performing at SxSW this year.  We finally got the deets, and here they are:  we’re going to be at the KCA Artists Showcase (official showcase — wristband required) at The Stage on Sixth (508 E. Sixth, Austin, TX 78701.)  The showcase is on Thursday night (3/14), and check out the lineup:

9 PM:  Rodney Crowell
10 PM:  Ray Rylie Hubbard
11 PM:  The Black Lillies
12 AM:  Billy Joe Shaver
1 AM:  Peter Rowan’s Twang & Groove

No pressure, right?

In other news, I am pleased (thrilled, ecstatic, relieved, Dance of Joy, etc.) to announce that, after nearly 4 years and well into the 4 digits’ worth of hours spent futzing with Logic and Pro Tools, production of “Seven Cities” has finally wrapped.  It’s been a long ride, full of big doubts and bigger lessons and many sleepness nights, but I’m proud of how it turned out.  I want to thank all of you for your support, and I especially want to thank those who lent their various talents to the project.  I’ll be going into The Zone Recording Studio after SxSW so Pat “Goldenear” Manske can work his magic mixing and mastering it, and the current plan is to release on or about April 15, to coincide with Old Settler’s.

Speaking of Old Settler’s, PRTG will be performing on Saturday evening (4/20.)  Get your tickets here:  http://oldsettlersmusicfest.org/tickets/.  We’ve also got a couple of big festivals lined up for summer in various scenic locales, so stay tuned!

It was a beautiful spring weekend in the Hill Country, a little more than 10 years ago.  The grass was emerald, Onion Creek was clear and gushing (remember when that used to happen?), the sun was shining, and I was attending and camping at a multi-day music festival for the first time in my life and wondering to myself why I had wasted so much time in Houston before finally moving to the Hill Country.  I was really there to see my idol Bruce Hornsby, but I also decided to check out several acts that, I’m embarrassed to say, I had never heard of at the time:  Grammy-award-winning bluegrass artist Peter Rowan, Grammy nominee Michelle Shocked, and veteran Austin roots rock/R&B/jam band Flounders Without Eyes.  I left that festival being life-long fans of all of them.  And of course, the festival I’m referring to is none other than Old Settler’s, the first year it was held at the Salt Lick.

Flash forward 10 years, and I’ve now been fortunate enough to have played with all three of the above artists and recorded a live album with one of them.  My first time playing with Peter Rowan was with Flounders Without Eyes last May at the now-defunct Jovita’s.  The first thing I posted on Facebook after getting home from that gig was:  “there’s a reason why Peter Rowan is a living legend.”  I don’t know that I’ve really had very many, if any, transcendent musical experiences before that, but that show was definitely one.  This past Halloween down in Lockhart at the Purple Bee Halloween Hoedown, Mike Morgan put together a new backing band for Peter consisting of legendary drummer (just watch this) Jamie Oldaker, jazz guitarist Carter Arrington, Mike on bass, and me on keys.  Not only was this even more of a transcendent musical experience, but it was probably the most actual fun I’ve had on a stage in my entire life.  It doesn’t even feel like work when you are so in tune with what everyone else is doing that the music just flows naturally out of you and you don’t even have to think about where it’s going next or what role you have in it.

Well, apparently we weren’t the only ones who thought that that show was really something special, because I am pleased to announce that Peter has decided to bring us all on as his band, under the name Peter Rowan’s Twang & Groove.  This will be the first rock & roll band Peter has played in since he was 14.

Jamie is an absolute beast of a drummer, and he and Mike lock in a groove tighter than probably any rhythm section I’ve ever played with.  Jamie was one of the inventors of the “Tulsa sound” that Eric Clapton co-opted for his solo career, so sometimes he’ll start grooving on something that sounds like, for instance, “Lay Down Sally”, and I’ll have this sudden flash of insight that, oh yeah, the reason “Lay Down Sally” sounds that way is because of him!

Mike’s primary instrument is bass, but he has also played rhythm guitar with Flounders Without Eyes since 1997, as well as penned dozens of songs for that band and produced all but one of their albums.  His studio, The Zone, has also recorded the likes of Robert Earl Keen, The Flatlanders, Eli Young Band, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Butch Hancock– not to mention a little jazz fusion combo I was in called The Harmony Theory.   Mike has been producing, performing, and writing since 1968, and his credits include playing/recording with Allen Ginsburg and Peter Orlovsky, as well as a prolific songwriting collaboration with Arthur Brown.

Carter formerly played with Larry (a band with whom The Harmony Theory shared a stage several times, and incidentally a band that also played that first Old Settler’s I attended) and is a now a guitarist’s guitarist, backing up a who’s who of well-known Austin artists.  He produces a lush, rich sound that calls to mind Knopfler or J.J. Cale, and like those two guitar gods, he wields his power sparingly, but when he wields it, you had better hold onto your face.

(And, of course, you probably know all about the keyboard player by now.)

Our inaugural show will be at Antone’s on Wed, January 30:

Facebook event:

https://www.facebook.com/events/404513362964904/

Tickets ($17 in advance):

http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/eventV2/195997?wrKey=B4CF4C8DF18257B5FFE4C407EEB92D78

Doors at 8, show at 9

We are also booked at Old Settler’s, 4/19-4/20 (time TBD):

http://oldsettlersmusicfest.org/

Expect more announcements soon!

Hope you can make it out on the 30th to help us kick off the new band in style.  It is certain to be like nothing you have ever heard before.  It is definitely like nothing I’ve ever played before– or rather, it’s like a combination of everything I’ve ever played before, multiplied by 1000.  Peter describes it as “where Rhythm and Blues meets Reggae at an all-day Bluegrass pickin’ party”, so if you don’t like the genre we’re playing, then wait five minutes.  It’ll change.

Greetings, comrades or Commandroids or whatever you think fans of a guy named “Commander” should be called.  I’ve been much remiss in sending out updates this past summer– a lot going on, including GregoFest in June;  a very productive week at Camp Bluegrass in Levelland in July; finishing up all of the recording on “Seven Cities” (including some killer Dixie Chicks-style backing vox by Andrea Whaley);  laying down keys on Mike Morgan’s upcoming solo album, which features Jamie Oldaker (former drummer for Eric Clapton & Bob Seger), Pat Manske (drummer for the Flatlanders), Keith Davis (guitarist w/ the Eli Young Band), Lloyd Maines, Carter Arrington (if some of you remember a band called Larry that used to run in the same circles with The Harmony Theory, Carter was their guitarist), and Jenny Mier from Flounders Without Eyes;  doing a mini-tour with Deadeye and Green Mountain Grass for Jerry Garcia’s Birthday Bash;  and probably other notable events that have slipped my swiss-cheese memory.

I tend to remember to update Facebook a lot more frequently than the e-mail list, so give me a Like at https://www.facebook.com/drcommander if you’re interested in more fine-grained doses of Commander.  I’m also on the Twitter @DRCPianoMan.

The main purpose of this e-mail is to let you know about a great festival that I (we) will be playing on Saturday Oct. 27 (a week from this Saturday, assuming you’re reading this before Oct. 20.  Otherwise, this Saturday.)  It’s called the Halloween Hoe-Down and will be held at Purple Bee Studios in sunny Lockhart, Texas, famous for barbeque and Christopher Guest films.  Flounders Without Eyes’ 20th anniversary show will be at 3 PM on Saturday, then I’ll be joining Mike Morgan, Jamie Oldaker, and Carter Arrington at 11:30 PM for the debut of our new band, The Rhythmic Statues (Mark II.)  We’ll be charging right out of the gate as the backing band for bluegrass legend Peter Rowan, who is headlining the festival.  I learned at Camp Bluegrass that every working musician has a “Bill Monroe Number”, which is basically the bluegrass equivalent of a “Kevin Bacon Number.”  Well, Peter has a Bill Monroe Number of 1.  ‘Nuff said.

I got a chance to play down at Purple Bee for GregoFest, and it’s a super sweet venue.  Very relaxed, no draconian rules or anything.  BYOB and a lawn chair and just hang out (actually, you don’t even have to BYOB this time around, since there will be free booze, thanks to a generous liquor donation.)  On-site pool with a great view of the stage (if it’s hot enough to swim.)  Festival passes are still on sale for $30 but will go up to $35 at the gate for those in costume or $40 without costume.  Everything you need to know, including the ticket link and lineup, is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/120142514798232.  Ticket price includes on-site camping for those who want to go on Friday as well.  Also performing on Saturday will be our old friends The Flying Balalaika Brothers and Deadeye.

Oh yeah, and I’m a 40-something now.  How the hell did *that* happen?!

Signed,
D. R. Commander
Austin’s second most vertically integrated musician