I’m Tony, and these are my January 2011 picks…

Buster Jiggs–Down Country Loving
Finished in 11th place in the January Contest

Buster Jiggs is from Hondo, Texas, playing Americana & Rock Music. They’re a 3-person group, consisting of Kristin Muennink on guitar & vocals, her husband Scott Muennink on drums, and Cody Scherer on bass. They have 2 cds out, 2007’s EP cd “Miserably Happy”, and their latest cd “Heartache Jubilee”, from which I chose the song “Down Country Loving” as their contest entry. For more info on Buster Jiggs, visit their MySpace page www.myspace.com/busterjiggs, or their website www.busterjiggs.com…

David Martinez Band–Hey Mary
Finished in 8th place in the January Contest
Download our January interviews with David here

David Martinez Band is from Corpus Christi, Texas, playing Acoustic, Americana & Rock Music. They’re a 5-man group, led by David Martinez on acoustic guitars & lead vocals, Leroy Miller on acoustic, electric and slide guitars, and harmonica, mandolin, percussion and background vocals, Adam MacDougall on piano, clavinet and organ, Steve “Cha Chi” Mitchell on percussion and electric drum, and Kane McGee on drums. David Martinez has 1 self-titled cd out, which you can download from their website for free, or whatever you’d like to donate for it. They’ve just come out with a new single, “Hey, Mary”, written by David & Leroy, which I’ve chosen for this month’s contest. For more info, visit their MySpace page, www.myspace.com/davidmartinezmusic, or their website, www.davidmartinezmusic.com..

Dusty Dave & The Hill Gillies–Drunken Poet’s Dream
Finished in 7th place in the January Contest
Download our January interview with Dave here

Dusty Dave & The Hill Gillies are from Las Vegas, Nevada, playing Acoustic & Country Music. I really don’t know much about them, except that they are friends of The BarnYard Cupcakes, Earlene Cash & Jonnie Sue Presley. In fact you can hear Earlene talking to Dusty Dave at the beginning & end of the song I’ve chosen for their contest entry this month, Ray Wylie Hubbard’s “Drunken Poet’s Dream”, which was recorded during the Cupcakes’ Shotgun Showcase at The Imperial Palace in Las Vegas. To listen to more songs from The Hill Gillies, featuring Dusty Dave, go to www.karmaradionetwork.com/ALBUM-samples-10.htm…

Indianola Railroad Co.–Life Of Living Blues
This song will be back in the December Finals
because it finished 3rd in the January contest

Indianola RailRoad Co. is from Corpus Christi, Texas, playing Americana, Country & Southern Rock Music. They’re a 5-man group, led by Scott Smith on vocals & guitar, Tom Robertson on lead guitar, Aaron Stevens on bass guitar, Todd Praesel on fiddle, harmonica, mandolin, keyboards & vocals, & Jaime Valdez on drums. They have 1 cd out called “Long Road” from which I chose the song “Life Of Living Blues” for their contest entry. For more info on Indianola railRoad Co., visit their MySpace page, www.myspace.com/indianolarailroad, or their website www.indianolarailroadco.com…

Listen To The Sky–Not All Sharks Are In The Sea
Finished in 19th place in the January Contest

Listen To The Sky is from Burlington, Vermont, playing Alternative, Pop & Rock Music. They’re a 5-person group, consisting of Kelsey Wells on vocals, Tony Murphy on guitar & vocals, Marc Verity on guitar & vocals, Niles Gibbs on bass, & Ruston Fettig on drums. Listen To The Sky formed in 2009 and has produced 1 EP cd called “Letters”, which I’ve added to the rotation here on HTB, and I chose their song “Not All Sharks Are In The Sea” for their contest entry. For more info on Listen To The Sky, visit their MySpace page, www.myspace.com/listentotheskyvt…

Lyrical Bynge–Last Night’s Hairdo
Finished in 9th place in the January Contest
Download our January interview with Edna DeLa Garza here

Lyrical Bynge is from Corpus Christi, Texas, playing Rock, Classic Rock & Southern Rock Music. They’re a 4-person group, led by Edna De La Garza, (who calls herself Electric DNA!), on lead vocals, guitar & keyboards, Miguel Davila on bass & vocals, Donald Aguirre on lead guitar & vocals, & Maraca 15 on drums (which is the nickname of a real person, not a drum machine!). I’ve used Lyrical Bynge in several contests, and they even made the top 20 of last year’s finals with “Rock Like There’s No Tomorrow”. I’ve chosen to start the New Year right, by choosing a song Edna sent me recently, “Last Night’s Hairdo”, for this month’s contest. For more info on Lyrical Bynge, visit their MySpace page, www.myspace.com/lyricalbyngeband, or their website, www.musictx.com/lyricalbynge…

Scarlet–Back In My Arms
Finished in 13th place in the January contest

Scarlet is from Corpus Christi, Texas, playing Country & Pop Music. They’re a 7-person group, led by the 3 Carrion sisters, Monica, Lauren & Chynna on vocals, guitars & song-writing, their brother Ray on bass, Charles Longoria on lead guitar, Mason Shirley on guitar, and Evan Enderle on drums. After leading the worship services at Corpus Christi’s mega-church, Bay Area Fellowship, for the last 8 years, the group has come out with an EP cd called “The Scarlet Band Sneak Peek”, from which I chose the song “Back In My Arms” for their contest entry. For more info on Scarlet, visit their MySpace page, www.myspace.com/officialscarletband, or their website, www.scarletband.com…

Scott Wiggins Band–Lean
Finished in 14th place in the January contest

Scott Wiggins Band is from New Braunfels, Texas, playing Alternative, Texas Country & Rock Music. They’re a 3-man band, consisting of Scott Wiggins on lead vocals & guitar, John Diaz on drums & percussion, & Ryan Fedako on bass guitar. The group first got together nearly a decade ago when the 3 guys were attending Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi, Texas. They’ve produced 3 cds now, all of which I’ve added to the rotation here on HTB, including their latest “A Thousand Words”, from which I chose the song “Lean” as their contest entry. For more info on The Scott Wiggins Band, check out their MySpace page, www.myspace.com/thescottwigginsband, or their website, www.scottwigginsband.com…

The 484 South Band–Baton Rouge
This song will be back in the December Finals
because it finished 2nd in the January contest
Download our January interview with Jim Oakes here

The 484 South Band is from several cities in Mississippi & Louisiana, playing Country, Southern Rock & Classic Rock Music. They’re a 6-man band, consisting of Keith Schultz on guitar & vocals, Twain Pigott on guitar, Brady Bagwell on vocals & guitar, Jim Oakes on vocals, David Johnson on drums, and Don Hull on bass. (Don Hull, regrettably, passed away last December from complications following heart surgery.) The 484 South Band finished in 10th place in our Song Of The Year contest last month, with their song “Lost Highway”. After a suggestion from one of my listeners, I decided to choose the song “Baton Rouge” for their contest entry this month. Both songs are from their debut cd “Mississippi Nights”. For more info on The 484 South Band, visit their site: 484southband.com…

Ty Dietz–Army Green
This song will be back in the December Finals
because it finished 4th in the January contest

Ty Dietz is from Corpus Christi, Texas, playing Americana, Blues & Country Music. On his MySpace page, Ty lists his influences as Robert Earl Keen, Willie, Waylon & the boys, Todd Snider, Townes Van Zandt, Creedence Clearwater, and a bunch of other artists he says are “worth mentioning, but takes too long.” His page is worth checking out, if for no other reason, he has the lyrics for “Army Green” posted under his “sounds like” column. This is a powerful song, and that’s why I chose it for this month’s contest. I especially liked the line “I hope you’re smoking good buds, sipping on suds, as I watch my best friend’s blood turn the sand to mud!”. By the way, Ty Dietz will be appearing at Grunt’s in Mathis tonght, Jan. 8th, at 9pm, and at The House Of Rock in Corpus Christi, with Corb Lund, on Feb. 10th, at 8pm. For more info on Ty Dietz, visit his MySpace page, www.myspace.com/tydietz(music)…

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. Listen to my own dang show on the station every Sunday night at 7 p.m. Central.

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My previous Hossey Music Award 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 | August 2010 | September 2010 | November 2010