The hat is likely to be covering some serious scars
As I mentioned last week, yesterday was the day for the “Pickin’ for Preemies II” show in Grapevine. Strong cast of players on one stage for a great cause. I managed to get there just in time for the first foursome (the 16 acts were divided into groups of 4) which featured Adam Hood, Darren Kozelsky, Walt Wilkins and Ryan Bingham. Unfortunately, this would be the only set that I would get to witness for the entire evening (don’t ask, trust me). Luckily for me, the opening set turned out to be what would surely be one of the tightest, most transcendent sets of the night. Of the 4 writers on stage, Hood had the best overall voice, he boomed out “Buzzes Like Neon” and quieted the rustling, still-arriving crowd that seemed surprised to have such a serious sound hitting their drums that early in the show. Wilkins proved to be the best showman of the 4. His songs are about relating stories and the teaching of lessons learned. When Wilkins’ wife, Tina, came out to duet on “Someone Somewhere Tonight,” it again made people stop and savor the moment and appreciate Wilkins for the heir apparent to Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt that he is. Wilkins is a song-writing svengali who can be as comical as he is mystical (at one point he swallowed some of his own lenghty hair and said “that would never happen to Ray Price“). As enthralling as Mr. Hood and Mr. Wilkins turns at the mike were, it was when Mr. Ryan Bingham started strumming that you felt as if you were seeing something different and new in Texas/Red Dirt music. Bingham carried himself with several unique attributes, chief among them was his cowboy hat (see above picture). It isn’t a 10 gallon and it’s not your typical Stetson. Second, his fake, pearly-white teeth were gleaming. His past life as bull-rider is responsible for his new mouth full of teeth. Above even those stand-out elements it was his voice that signaled the arrival of something great. His voice contained enough gravel to pave the parking lot outside with two layers of coarse concrete. As dusty and gravely as his voice was, his melodies were as sweet as the ones Mr. Wilkins’ sang before him. He went from gothic-western tales in “South Side of Heaven,” where he busted out his harmonica and tore it up, to a more deliberate, meandering “Snake Eyes,” which featured some great pickin’. Bingham even got into party, jam-band mode as he revved up with “Sunset.” Bingham will see his next album, Mescalito, be released on Lost Highway Records, home of Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams, Hayes Carll and Lyle Lovett, in October. Lost Highway has done a great job of nurturing and promoting its artists, and it is exciting to know that Bingham and his band, The Dead Horses, will be given a real shot at nation-wide acclaim. Since I had to leave early (still not ready to talk about it), I couldn’t help but feel good knowing that these 3 individual, completely different talents represent the new guard (they were given the afternoon slot, where LaRue, Randy Rogers, Cody Canada, Jason Boland, etc.. were given the late-night slots). The Texas “scene” is still growing, however, it can only live off of the albums of Ingram, RRB, Green, and Morrow for so long. These 3 names; Hood, Wilkins and most definitely, Bingham will be up front and center in continuing the expansion of the Texas brand.
Ryan Bingham Live (this isn’t from Pickin’ for Preemies, though. Sorry, it was dark!!)
10 Responses
Travelin Jones is one of the best songs of the year. Great voice, too.
Thanks TFG!
As much as I love “Texas/RedDirt” or whatever people wanna call it, there have been SO many shiner drinkin’, aggie lovin’, pat green rippin’, imposters to come out and become relatively well-known. That’s fine, it means that there are people enjoying what they are creating, butI love it when a guy comes along and isnt fitting into a mold or going after someone elses audience, or trying to be “in a scene”. Bingham wears the coolest hat, has one of the coolest voices and is now on one of the coolest labels.
I wish someone would convince these cats to put their music online at emusic.
hat ? gravel voice? lost h’way coolest label & break’n new artist.?…huh?…adam is the future
Pete,
I agree (partially, i suppose) that Adam Hood is a big part of the future for this kind of music. I also think Bingham is a big part of it, and has a tremendous opportunity to be showcased with the same label as Ryan Adams, Willie Nelson, & Lyle Lovett, not to mention the cool hat. If you type in “Adam Hood” into the search field on the gobblers knob, you’ll see that I think quite highly of our boy from ‘bama. Thanks for reading!!
Scott,
E-music is awesome, but in the meantime, give http://www.ourtracks.com a try. they have much of the material from bands before many of their labels got a hold of ‘em.
[...] that The Texas/Red Dirt is as fertile now as it was when the only “Green” we knew was Gruene [...]
[...] I’m a dude, but whatever). Even though I may not have been the first to utter his name, I was WAY ahead of the current crop of sites, magazines and bloggers that now call Bingham the next best thing or Mescalito the top [...]
I’m supporting this idea all the way! I can not imagine who would disagree with it. On the whole – make posts like this more often.
Hi,
i recorded and mixed the January the 2nd 2008 gig of Ryan and Stephane Beaussart (Banjo, Dobro, Slide guitar), when he was in Paris, at the Connoly’s corner pub. I put 5 songs of that night on http://www.myspace.com/fdsoundinc . Hope you’ll enjoy them. Feel free to leave a comment.
Fd