I’m Tony, and these are my February picks….

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Aaron Watson – Except for Jessie (Buy, Dang It)

• Aaron Watson, with his back up band The Orphans Of The Brazos, are from the Austin, Texas area, but their MySpace page has them listed as being based in Abilene. He plays Texas Country music and has been playing for quite awhile, with 8 cds available through Hoss’s store link to Amazon.com, including his latest “Angels & Outlaws” and “San Angelo”, from which I’ve chosen his tribute to Waylon Jennings, the song “Except For Jessie”, for his entry in this month’s contest.. The cd “San Angelo” was co-produced by Aaron and Ray Benson, from Asleep At The Wheel. Aaron Watson has appeared in several concerts lately with another favorite of mine, last month’s Hossey Music Award winner, Gary Bonnett. By the way, Aaron will be appearing in Corpus Christi March 20th at the Old Concrete Street Ampitheater, along with another group we’ve gotten permission to play, The Randy Rogers Band…

Ben Morris & The Great American Boxcar Chorus – The Ballad of Billy Clyde (Buy, Dang It)
Dropped after week 2

• Ben Morris & The Great American Boxcar Chorus are basically from all over Texas, as they list their hometown on MySpace as “Brazos Valley/Bryan, College Station/Marquez Tx.” They play Texas Country, Folk Rock & Americana Music. Their first CD was released in 2007, called “The Other Side Of Broken”, and they’re now touring in support of a new single that’s been released on an Ep cd, which I chose for this contest, “The Ballad Of Billy Clyde”. Ben says the song is about Texas A&M basketball and contains several references that long-time supporters of the Aggies should recognize, like the line “hear your momma call” which is something Coach Bear Bryant used to say to his players all the time, and “Mark the day”, which is a reference to the Aggies’ current basketball coach, Mark Turgeon.  Both of their CDs are available through Hoss’s link to LoneStarMusic.com.

David Allan Coe – Son of the South  (Buy, Dang It)

• David Allan Coe currently lists his hometown as Cincinnatti, Ohio, but I will always think of him in relation to Texas music. He’s listed on MySpace as playing Country, Rock and Metal music, which is why my son, Draystin, likes him. As a songwriter, he’s written over 10,000 songs for people like George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Johnny Cash, Leon Russell, Elvis Presley, The Oak Ridge Boys, Pantera, Canibus, Kid Rock, Uncle Cracker, and many more. His song “Walking Bum” was featured in Will Ferrell’s move “Talladega Nights”. He has been performing and recording for years, and currently has about 16 cds available through Hoss’s link to Amazon.com. I’ve chosen one of my favorite songs of his, “Son Of The South” off his Live At Billy Bobs’ cd for his entry in the contest.

Jamie Talbert Band – Down South (Buy, Dang It)

• The Jamie Talbert Band is from Beaumont, Texas, playing Texas Country & Southern Rock Music. For the past 6 years Jamie’s been touring as the opening act for a number of groups, such as Cross Canadian Ragweed, Roger Creager, Honeybrowne, Jason Boland & The Stragglers, and Sammy Hagar, among others. His debut CD “The Opening Act” came out in 2006, and was produced by fellow Texas songwriter, Phil Pritchett. He is currently working on a “Live At Antone’s” Cd, and his sophomore studio album. His debut CD is available through Hoss’s link to LSM. I’ve chosen “Down South” off that cd for his entry in the contest…

Jason Boland (with Robert Earl Keen) – The Party’s Not Over (Buy, Dang It)

• Jason Boland & The Stragglers are from the Central Texas area, north of San Antonio, but list their hometown on MySpace as The United States. They play Texas Country, Southern Rock & Rock Music. Jason spent alot of 2008 with medical problems. He developed a growth on one of his vocal chords and had to have it surgically removed, leaving the possibility that he might not be able to sing anymore. But, he recovered, and is now back on tour with his band in support of the latest single release off his “Comal County Blue” cd, “The Party’s Not Over” with Robert Earl Keen singing along. That’s the song I’ve chosen for his entry in the contest. Jason Boland & The Stragglers have 6 CDs available through Hoss’s link to LSM or Amazon, and he is also featured on the new Robert Earl Keen tribute cd. Bt the way, they’ll be appearing here in Corpus Christi at the Brewster Street IceHouse on March 26th…

Reckless Kelly – Think It Over One Time (Buy, Dang It)

• Reckless Kelly is from Austin, Texas, playing Texas Country, Roots & Southern Rock Music. They were the second group I contacted last April, after Asleep at the Wheel, to try and get permission to play their music on HossTheBoss.com. They were all for it! I had been a fan of theirs since I heard their cd “Millican”, which had been thrown away in front of me at the accursed KFTX-FM radio in Corpus Christi by the program director, who said “I wouldn’t play that shit”. After he left the room, I got out the cd, which had been autographed by a couple members of the group, who’d written on it “We’d appreciate a spin”. I still have that CD, in fact it is now in the computerized rotation on HTB, so I am giving them a spin, and you can go fuck yourself, Dr. B. Your bad taste in music is showing! Reckless Kelly also performed at my niece, Kat Head’s, wedding in Austin a few years back, because her new husband is their stage lighting technician. RK has 7 CDs available through Hoss’s link to LSM or Amazon. I’ve chosen their version of the song “Think It Over One Time” off the new Robert Earl Keen tribute cd “Undone” for their contest entry this month….

Rednex – Cotton Eyed Joe (Buy, Dang It)
Dropped after week 2

• Rednex are from Stockholm, Sweden, playing Country, Bluegrass, Pop & “Other” Music. They are a two man, one woman group, who’ve been performing their own unique brand of Alternative Country music for years now. I first heard of them when they came out with their version of “Cotton-Eyed Joe” about 15 years ago, and it was actually being played on stations like K99 and KOUL here, briefly. When I decided I wanted to add them to our playlist, I started sending them e-mails, which followed them around Europe all last summer, until they finally got back home to Stockholm, wrote me back, and said that would be a great idea. They wanted to re-introduce themselves to the American market, and thought HTB would be a good place to start. They also wanted to know if we knew of an American record company that might want to sign them. Any suggestions? They have a couple of cds and EP singles available through Hoss’s link to Amazon.com, including the cd “Sex & Violins”, which is where their version of “Cotton-Eyed Joe” that I chose for the contest comes from. It’s called the “slide to the side mix” and I chose it because it’s about a minute longer than their other versions of the song. Check them out on my MySpace blog, I’ve posted videos of them doing 2 different versions of “Cotton-Eyed Joe” and one animated video of them doing “The Devil Went Down To Georgia”….

South Austin Jug Band – Coon Ass (Buy, Dang It)
Dropped after week 2

• The South Austin Jug Band was from Austin, Texas, playing Indie, Rock & Pop Music, with some Texas Country thrown in. They were a 5 man group, but recently broke up, and they’re now being booked as The James Hyland Band, but 4 of the current band members were in SAJB before, and they’ve added Cowboy Junkies pedal steel player Kim Deschamps into the mix. SAJB has 4 CDs available through Hoss’s link to Amazon.com, including their last CD “Strange Invitation” and their 3rd release “Dark & Weary World”, from which I’ve chosen their contest entry for this month “Coon Ass”….

The Gourds – Tex Mex Mile  (Buy, Dang It)
Dropped after week 2

• he Gourds are also from Austin, Texas, playing Roots, Acoustic &”Ghetto-Tech” Music. They’re a 5 man group, who list, as their influences, “Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Women, Food, Automobiles, TV, Radio, Government, Plastic, Beer, Catfish and Time”. OK. On MySpace they describe their sound  as “Rags and bones and pipes and tones and lovely delights wrapped in horrific ribbons.” They were the 5th group that I contacted last April for permission to play their music on HTB, and they responded immediately, saying they’re always glad when someone wants to play their music. They have 7 cds available through Hoss’s link to Amazon, including their brand new release “Haymaker”, (just added to the HTB lineup), which contains the song I’ve chosen for their entry in the contest, called “The Tex-Mex Mile”….

Wicked Brew Band – Down South (Buy, Dang It)

• The Wicked Brew Band is from Belton, Texas, playing Texas Country, Southern Rock & Rockabilly Music, or as they describe it, Hardcore Country & Red Dirt Rock. Led by Jared Lightfoot, they’re a 5 man group who list, among their influences, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Reckless Kelly and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Listening to their cd “Down South”, I heard all of those influences, and, on one song, even thought “It’s Lynyrd Synyrd re-born in Texas!” And, you can’t get better than that! Strangely enough, this group was recommended to me by Amazon.com as one I should like, and they were definitely right! Of course, their cd “Down South” is available through Hoss’s store link to Amazon. WBB have spent the last 4 years honing their skills in roadhouses, dancehalls and bars all across Texas, and their debut cd is a keeper. I’ve chosen the title track “Down South” for their entry in the contest, and it was a tough choice between about 5 songs on that cd. Be sure to check out “Bury Me In Texas”, “I’m Alright”, “Go Truck Yourself”, and, if you like Celtic Rock as much as I do, “Whiskey, Leather & Lace”. They’re all good….

About Me:

I got started in broadcasting during my stint as a Signalman in the U.S. Navy during the Viet Nam era, working part-time as a DJ and newsman for a ship-board Armed Forces Radio & TV station on the USS Truckee out of Norfolk, Virginia.  After being honorably discharged in 1979, I became a mainstream radio DJ and News Director in the Corpus Christi area for over 25 years on 9 different stations, including all 3 of the country-western ones. During that time I received 4 news broadcasting awards, 1 from the Associated Press & 3 from United Press International. I spent the last 5 years of my “career” on KFTX in Corpus Christi, constantly fighting with the program director over having to play their narrow top-ten Nashville music playlist of songs, when I really wanted to play Texas Music. I was finally shown the door after I played a Christmas-time phone request for Robert Earl Keen’s “Merry Christmas From The Family”, which was definitely not on the station’s playlist, (I really hate that word!). Now that I’m on HossTheBoss I can play what I want. I’m working on getting my own show started on the station by early 2009,  so I hope you’re listening….

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My previous Hossey Music Award Picks
November 2008

December 2008

January 2008