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.

Carl Fendley – Don’t Take My Last Beer

Carl is from Houston, Texas, and I put him  in last month’s contest with his very first song every recorded professionally. It was called “Best Part of Me.” Well, you voters being the dang jerks that you are, that song didn’t make it past the early rounds in July. Lucky enough, Carl has just finished up yet another song, and he sent it to me in the nick of time, so I could put him right back in the contest in August. This one is on the funny side. So maybe ya’ll will like it better. You need too, dang it! Check Carl out at www.carlfendley.com.

Cornell Hurd Band – Cold Rain

Cornell is another of the Austin, Texas legends that we’ve been able to feature in on this silly show. (Jim Stringer, T Jarrod Bonta, Asleep at the Wheel and even the fiddlin’ phenom Ruby Jane, just to name a few off the top of my head.) Spend a minute to check out his biography on his website, and you’ll get a good look at what life has been (and still is) like for a real musician for the last few decades. This song is off the latest in Cornell’s long list of recordings, and it got my attention for this contest because it’s one of six instrumentals that Cornell wrote and recorded in honor of his dear friend Paul Skelton who passed away in 2009 and was “the best guitarist I ever knew.” The song is loaded with Austin All-Stars playing, and we’ll be able to find out about all of them during Interview Week (August 21) if ya’ll put this song in the Top 10 by then. But, for now, I’ll just mention that the rip-roarin’ piano player on the track is T Jarrod Bonta, the jazzy guy I picked for last month’s show.

Country Boy Rolling Stone – Honkey Tonkin’ for Too Long

These guys from Mississippi finished their new (self-titled) CD a few weeks ago, I thought enough of me and this silly little contest to make sure I got one of the first copies. This is some good ole’ American country music, the way it would probably sound in Nashville these days if the corporate types weren’t calling so many of the dang shots.  Here’s what the guys say about the new CD on MySpace: “One cold and rainy day in November 2009, at a recording studio in a small Mississippi town, the generational boundaries between young and old collapsed. A CD was created that bridges that generational gap. The lyrics, the music, the emotions, are all there. If you thought you would never again hear music that would make you feel like music did back in the day, you were wrong. The place was Zebra Ranch. This is the CD…………………………..” Sounds like these folks will have some great stories for Interview Week on the show. (August 21) I hope ya’ll keep the song around ’till then, dang it!

Daybehavior  — City Lights

This is a Swedish band that, unlike several of the bands Tony Kinsel has picked in previous editions of this contest, actually sounds “Swedish” to me. They (and their fans) call their music “minimalistic Electro-syntpop,” and, for some reason — out of the typical cultural and geographical ignorance that American public schools tend to produce — it fits my idea of the kind of music that’s most common on the stereo systems of Sweden these days.

These guys have been navigating the nastiness and craziness of the indie music world for several years, and — after a years-long hiatus — have just finished a new CD. And this song is off that one, of course. Check them out at www.daybehavior.com.

Gary St. Kelly – Passion of Fire

Gary St. Kelly’s biography remains a bit of a mystery to me. All I know is that he’s from Pearland, Texas (near Houston) and that he’s been playing with a number of bands all across Texas for several years. Other than that, all I know is that he just rocks. I really like his style. If ya’ll vote him in to the later weeks of this month’s contest, I think you will really like some of the bonus songs that I have in the can from him. In the meantime, you can be one of Kelly’s first friends on MySpace.

D.L Marble – San Ramon

For now, D.L. is another guy that I have to admit I don’t know a heck of a lot about, but his music is enough. (His facebook page lists his hometown as Arizona/Colorado. That narrows it down a little, I guess. ) This is one of the coolest dang songs I’ve heard in many months.  I can’t wait to get this guy on the show for Interview Week. You dang voters don’t let me down by kickin’ him out of the contest before August 21, dang it!

Hattie Snooks – Jericho

Get a Bible handy. This song is going to make you want to re-read all that stuff about Jericho. Powerful, spiritual, emotional (and intelligently quirky) music is apparently Hattie’s specialty. And she’s dang good at it, too. I love this description of Hattie’s music from her MySpace page:  “Touching on subjects as diverse as biblical battles and Cupid’s choice of underwear, she appeals to the Bridget Jones in all of us. Hattie writes straight from the heart with poignant and funny, often quirky, lyrics and without pretension.” I guess I forgot to mention that Hattie’s from Brighton, England, a place that, from what I’ve read over the years, seems to be a good fit for someone like her.

Jason Suthern — Sunglasses & Flip Flops

Jason Suthern is one of the All Stars on the music scene in the HossTheBoss.com hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas. And this is his very latest recording. Surprisingly, Jason has had a good amount of luck in getting our local “real” radio stations to play his music, and, usually, I’m even behind them in getting to his songs. But this time, I think I finally beat those guys! Whooo hoooo! Jason is a true star-in-the-making! Ya’ll need to remember where you’re hearing him first, dang it! www.myspace.com/jasonsuthernmusic.

Kitty Terry  – Don’t Go Wanderin’

Kitty and her husband George (you know, the guy who played with Eric Clampton) live in Florida these days, and Kitty is starting to get serious about pushing her own dang music. Look out world! This song from a CD that she did in 2009 featuring some of the best known studio musicians in the biz. Want to know who, exactly? Well, just get her into the Top 10 and stick around for her appearance on Interview Week. (In the meantime, you can read about some of them by checking out her page on CDBaby.) Besides being a hellaciously wonderful singer, Kitty has some incredible stories of her days playing — and hanging out — with The Bee Gees, Stevie Wonder, The Bellamy’s, Eric Clapton (of course) and who knows how many other huge stars. Ya’ll HAVE to get her into the Top 10. Kitty is guaranteed to be one of the best interviewees we’ve ever had.

Monicans – My Love

The Monicans are a 3-piece band from Sheffield, England. Not sure of much else about them at the moment. But, as I think we all know, since the ’60’s, being a 3-piece band from England puts a group in decent company.

Richard Craine – Saturday Night

Wow. I sure did include more people from England than usual in this month’s contest.  Richard’s another one! He’s from Bristol. I was a little miffed at you dang voters for knocking his fabulous Mother’s Day song out of this contest very early in May. So, I’ve been looking forward for several weeks to bringing him back to give ya’ll a shot at redemption. Here it is. This is a new release from Richard. And I think it’ll gives you a goosebump or two. www.myspace.com/richardcrainemusic

Sean Chambers – Ten ‘Till Midnight

This guy from Florida is “ranked among the 50 blues rock guitarists” by Guitarist Magazine in Britain. That, and this song, is about all you really need to know, about this guy, dang it. www.seanchambers.com.

Sharen Wendy Robertson – Hold Me

Sharen of Cape Cod, Massachussets came to this silly little contest last month after she sent me her song that was very critical of all that’s been happening this summer in the Gulf of Mexico with the Oil Spill.  But, amazingly, ya’ll let that song get eliminated after just the first week of the contest. So I figured Sharen deserved another shot right away. She sent me this very touching little song, and I wasted no time in making it one of my picks. Give it better treatment this time, dang it! www.sharenwendy.com.

Steve Carlson & Rosalee — I Believe

Steve Carlson doesn’t really need much of an introduction to HossTheBoss.com fans. Not after winning the 2009 edition of this contest with his song “She Loves.” This is Steve’s first appearance in the contest in 2010, and I have no doubt that he’ll end up back in the finals with this song that he recorded recently with his friend Rosalee Sher. Rosalee has recently completed her new CD “Love is The Way,” and I hope everyone reading this will head to her website (www.rosaleesings.com) to find out all about her. In the meantime, I’ll just tell you that Rosalee is the wife of Darren Sher, Steve’s partner in a new Las Vegas recording studio that is producing some amazing sounds. Check them all out at www.TheSoundParlor.com. And check Steve out at www.SteveCarlson.com. And I highly recommend you stop by and say high to Dee Reeves and all the rest of the very cool Steve Carlson fans who hang out at www.SteveCarlsonFans.com.

The Medicine Show – Dig Deep

This song from these guys in Australia definitely hits home with the Texas spirit that tends to rule this dang station. Who knew that spirit was universal? The Medicine Show is well worthy of checking out from many other perspectives, too. www.myspace.com/themedicineshownet.

See My Previous Picks

November 2008

December 2008

January 2009

February 2009

April 2009

May 2009

June 2009

July 2009

August 2009

September 2009

October 2009

November 2009

January 2010

February 2010

March 2010

April 2010

May 2010

June 2010

July 2010