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.

Andy Lorge – Haunting Memories

Well, dang it. I’m not sure that Andy needs a whole lot of introduction to HTBers. He’s had a lot of success in the several previous contests that he’s been in, and he’s actually the writer of Jashuwah’s song “Baby” that made it into The Finals in last month’s contest. (Sometime this month on the show, I’ll play Jashuwah’s and Andy’s versions back to back. That will be a very interesting experience.) Oh yeah, and he’s the cousin of the two young ladies, Michelle and Melinda, who were semi-regulars on our little show back in 2009. So… without further ado, I welcome back all of our Wisconsin friends who will sure to be supporting their man Andy again this month, and I hope everyone will check out Andy at andylorge.com. Warning: this song is a bit of a tearjerker. Ya’ll have your dang Kleenex box out.

Art Gomperz Band – Don’t Worry Anymore

My friend Dan Gieb leads this cool little (eclectic) band of pickers and grinners, and a couple of weeks ago, he sent me a happy note saying that this song has been nominated for Independent Music Awards Americana Song of the Year. Reading that, it suddenly dawned on me that I’ve been very negligent in bring these great people back to the contest as I promised several months ago. So here they are… one of the coolest little independent bands you’ll find. This song, like “This Hearts Been Around” that we featured in the contest last year, is from a very emotional and spiritual CD that the band did in which they recorded songs written by their late friend Bev Hahn, who sang with them for many years. The singer is Jenna Mammina, who Dan calls Bev’s “musical soulmate.” Don’t be fooled by the name: no one in the band is named “Art Gomperz.” If you want to know how they came up with that strange-but-great name, well, you’ll just have to vote them into the Top 10, so I can ask Dan (or whoever else wants to come on the show with me) about it during this month’s “Interview Week.” Check this great bunch of people out at www.artgomperz.com.

Buster Ellisor – What I’ve Been Looking For

Buster has been showin’ up with his guitar at clubs and such all around East Texas since at least 2007, and in the last few months he finally got around to doin’ the CD, and this is the title track from that dang thing. Wow. I call this a great start to something that could be really big. Buster grew up in Huntsville, Texas, then ended up in Beaumont for a while, and now he lives in Texarkana. So he’s pretty rooted in the Texas pines, and I’m kinda jealous. Those woods have a way of producing some of our state’s best song writers, and I see they’re up to their same ole’ magic with Buster. Hope you kept your Kleenex box handy after Andy’s song. You’ll probably need it for this one, too. Check Buster out at www.busterellisor.com.

George Terry – She’s My Harley Davidson

If you recognize George’s name, well, he is who you’re thinking of: the guy played in Eric Clapton’s band (among others)  for all those years. Well, we’ve been featuring George’s wife Kitty’s songs on the show for several months now, so I figured it was about dang time we got a song from George himself in there. And, what do you know, my guest DJ Chuck Compton (a dear friend to both George and Kitty) thought it would be fun to pit the couple against one another this month. So… here you go. Fortunately, everyone gets 5 votes, so there’s more than enough love to spread to both of these great people. Check George out at www.georgeterry.com.

Herman Lammers Myer – Home of the Damned

Herman is my German friend who has become quite a big star over there by just keepin’ good ole’ country music alive and well in Deutschland. Every now and then ole’ Herman sends me a song for the song, and this is the latest one he’s sent. He says he’s headed back to Texas in a few weeks (where he has quite a number of friends in the music biz) to record a video for this thing. I’m looking forward to that. This is a very interesting song whose title is a bit deceiving. Herman is one of the most up-beat, happy-go-lucky guys you’ll ever meet. He would never do a song that’s as meanspirited as you might think this one is when you see the name. Check out Herman at hermannlammersmeyer.com.

Lee Pons – Voodoo Boogie

Lee lives in Tampa Bay, and is a friend of Wendy Rich who has had a LOT of success in this dang contest in recent months. When he saw how much fun Wendy was having with our silly little show, he didn’t waste a second in gettin’ me some of his own music. Wow. I’m glad he did! We’ve had some fantastic rip-roarin’ piano playin’ on our show over the years, and this little diddy may be the best of the bunch. Lee does some fantastic bluesy kinda singin’ too, but his piano is as good as it gets. So, for his debut on our show, I went with this instrumental. This dude is amazing. Check him out at www.leepons.com.

Ollie Dempsey (Ripcord 64) – Revolution

Yeah, our incredibly eclectic friend from Wexford, Ireland is back again after a great run on last month’s show. This is a song that he recorded in one take on his office computer just before February’s final show. He sent it to me (as he has done with other songs) right off the presses in hopes that I would fit it in as an “Exclusive” treat for ya’ll on that show. But, well, we just ran out of time doing all of our great interviews, and I didn’t have time to fit it in. So, to make up for that, I decided to make the dang thing one of my official picks for March. Yet another powerful song, even in it’s rough, accoustic form, in yet another of Ollie’s never ending repertoire of musical styles. (You watch: he’s going to send me an original chamber music piece next!) Ollie says the studio version of this song will be on the soon-to-be-finished CD that he and his band mates are working on. But, in the meantime, ya’ll have a good time with this cool little exclusive track. Check Ollie out at www.ripcord64.com.

Parrish – Hundley – When Angels Cry

At first glance, regular HTBer’s might not recognize this band name, but you’ve heard it before. Our contest’s 2009 runner-up, Mike Parrish, is half of this cool little duo that’s workin’ the Texas music scene pretty hard these days. Sammy Hundley is the other half. When Mike’s daughter Krystal sent me a note a few weeks ago saying that she’s finally finished the book she’s mentioned on our show a time or two, I couldn’t believe that it’s been over a year since we had her father in our dang little contest. So… in honor of Mike’s grandson (of whom Krystal’s book is about) and in honor of  Mike and Sammy’s overall coolness (and their new CD SouthBound Train), here they are again — under their new moniker. If ya’ll want to hear more about Krystal’s dang book, make sure you get Parrish-Hundley into the Top 10 for this month’s “Interview Week.” Check them out at www.parrish-hundley.com

Tennesee Larue – Everybody Feels The Blues

Ole’ Tennessee has been hangin’ around the Nashville music scene, playing with people like the late Buck Owens, since 1969, and in about 1999 he decided to take off on his own. This guy really knows what he’s doin, and I’m grateful that he took the time to look me up. He sent me a bunch of great songs one day, and I had a tough time figurin’ out which one to pick for this month’s show. So, you can bet that this won’t be his last appearance in the contest — whether you vote for him or not, dang it. Check ole’ Tennesse out at www.myspace.com/tennesseelarue

Tori Allen – Mr. Devil

Tori is a music student at the University of Texas San Antonio, and, since I know she ends up getting very excited about soliciting votes every time we play her songs in this contest, I have a feeling I know how she’s going to be spending a lot of her Spring Break this year. When Tori came to my attention last year, she was still a high school student in Round Rock, Texas, and I was amazed at the great production quality and mature song writing on the CD she sent me (Stuck in This House). This cool little diddy is off that same CD. The world is very fortunate that Tori is following her musical calling there at UTSA! Check her out at www.myspace.com/victoriaallen2.

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 | August 2010 | September 2010 | November 2010 | January 2011 | February 2011