Hoss’s January 2010 Hossey Award Picks
Posted December 31st, 2009 by Don Cudd (aka Hoss)
These are all the songs I’ve chosen for this month’s contest. I know thousands of independent musicians who are deserving of having their songs in this dang deal. So narrowing my picks down to just a few is always the hardest part of my month. Oh well. Such is life.
Audrey Auld – Let Me Paint You A Picture (Buy, Dang It)
- Audrey Auld is an Australian singer who has spent a lot of time traveling across the U.S. of late. (In fact, she may even live here permanently now. I’m not sure. ) This song is from her new EP called “Billabong Song,” a collection of songs that pay tribute to her home country’s charmingly wild and rugged culture. It’s Audrey’s only original song on the album, and I find it a beautifully touching compliment to the other Australian songs on the CD, including the world famous Waltzing Matilda and Pub With No Beer. Audrey is as much a poet as she is a singer! Check her out at www.audreyauld.com.
Better Late Than Never – My Jesus (Buy, Dang It)
- Better Late Than Never is led by Tom Sablatura, a guy from Agua Dulce, Texas (not far from the HossTheBoss.com hometown of Corpus Christi) who I think has a great sense of humor and a healthy attitude toward life. All that comes across in the band’s music, which varies in style (“southern rock, to blues/jazz, to country and Latino salsa, Tex-Mex, and a little of what we call ‘Padre Island raggea’”, they say on MySpace), but always features a strong Christian theme. Tom says he co-wrote this song with an old gentleman named Brother Max Vela from Hebronville, Texas. Brother Vela, apparently limited in English, mailed Tom a letter with some of his jumbled thoughts about Jesus and asked Tom to put them in a song. “My Jesus” is the wonderfully inspiring result.
Chris Edwards – Quandry Town (Buy, Dang It)
- I’m always a big fan of soul searching in a song, so I really like this guy’s style. Chis Edwards lives in East Texas (Nagodoches to be exact. That’s almost in dang Louisiana!), and is getting some good response from European fans from a CD that he recorded mostly in his kitchen. This song is off that cool little record. Chris is now working on a follow-up CD that he hopes might get a little more attention in the U.S. this time, dang it! I, for one, can’t wait to hear it! Check Chris out on MySpace. I’m assuming his MySpace URL (thisonegoestoeleven) is a reference to one of the funniest flicks of all time This is Spinal Tap. If so, then Chris is as cool as he is soulful!
Curtice/Markley – All of the Above (Buy, Dang It)
- This fun-loving duo from Trenton, Michigan has a story that’s as intriguing as their very danceable music. I’ll just let their bio on MySpace tell the tale: “Having been cousins since birth and estranged until just a few months ago, it was destined that these two rediscover their music together (again). Eric Markley searched the MySpace family for Craig only a few months ago. Since Eric met with Craig and they completed their first fruitful demo, called All Of The Above, they both expect their talents in the country genre to move mountains.”
Gary Burleigh – Tamborine Mama (Buy, Dang It)
- Gary is my new friend who lives in Refugio, Texas (not far from Corpus Christi) and has been hanging around the South Texas Music scene for several years. He finally put together a CD not long ago, and it has a little of just about every kind of music that you can hear at our local spots. I think this is the funniest song of the bunch (plus I’ve known a few very nice Tamborine Mama’s over the years and I don’t think they get the dang respect they deserve)! Gary’s MySpace.
Lonnie Ray – Memory of Years (Buy, Dang It)
- Lonny Ray is a native of suburban Detroit, and he made a big name for himself with his guitar there when he was just in his teens. Since then, he’s been a fixture in the music scenes of both Nashville and Los Angeles for several years, and, in 2007, he started seriously promoting himself as a solo act. This song is the title track off the first CD he’s done entirely of his originals. It was recorded with the production help of rock giant Robin Robins of the Silver Bullet Band, and I’ll testify that every song is as solid as they come. Lonny is planning a second CD in 2010 and he reports that one song, Party in the Bayou, has already done pretty well in all the marketing tests that Nashville people like to do. So he’s expecting great things in the months to come, and I’m excited that he found HossTheBoss.com and sent me his stuff. (He said he was attracted to my site because of the spirit behind my royalties policy. He’s not the first musician to tell me that, unfortunately!) Here’s Lonny’s website.
Nancy Apple – Voodoo Woman (Buy, Dang It)
- This song is off the new CD from my friend Nancy Apple, the Queen of Memphis Twang. I’ll let Nancy’s website tell her story for her. I’ll just say that I think the world of this dear woman and her music, and so do many, many musicians — from Memphis and many other parts of the music world. I’ve tried several times in 2009 to get Nancy into the Hossey Music Award finals, but she just missed every time. Maybe this cool song will do the trick in 2010. (If not, you can bet I’ll bring her back in future months. The new CD has a lot of great stuff on it.)
Mike Benish – Our Church of St. John (Buy, Dang It)
- Mike Benish, hanging out these days in “the middle of nowhere in Southwest Kansas,” is as laid back and as cool as they come. This is what he says on MySpace about his new CD that features my pick: “The new CD “When I Was A Boy,” is like taking a trip through time and across the country. It starts in the hills of Tennessee with the 5 string banjo sound on the songs “When I was a Boy,” and “Our Church of St. John.” You then are taken into the plains of the mid west with the western sound and slide guitar of “Saddle Tramp”. Finally, the song ” I’m in a Serious Groove”, is meant to take you to your final destination, laid back in LA, cruising down Sunset Blvd.” I love it!
Shield of Steel – Communion (Buy, Dang It)
- This one is wild. But we’ve had wilder on the show. And I find it intriguingly inspirational (weird for a metal song). This band out of the U.K. says something very Hosslike on MySpace: “Forming out of the underground UK act Black Rising, the Wakefield outfit Shield Of Steel presents their own brand of hard rock and heavy metal with an eye for tradition, though providing a collection of 8 songs that have not been heard before. The production of this album alone is a direct giveaway that the band has no intention at following the current trends of metal or rock music, namely the addiction some have at getting a ridiculously loud mix.” I like music that makes an audience think — and even challenges some of the things they’re used to thinking. This is certainly one of those.
Total Strangers – The One That Dances Backwards (Buy, Dang It)
- These guys are a 3 piece band that began as a Thursday Night Jam session at Pub 22 in Whitney, Texas in 2007. The guys — Bob Arnold, Chip Steele and Kevin Carter — put together their first CD of original stuff, and this song of there may give you some dang goosebumps. Stare your sweetie in the face when you’re listening to this thing and start gettin’ ready for Valentine’s day. Here’s these guys’ MySpace page.
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