Ah, yes. Again, our friends at The Granada Theater are bringing an excellent bill of twangy goodness our way. Can’t imagine I need to say much about the headliner, the stringed-instrument virtuoso himself, Junior Brown. The man is phenomenal, and if you haven’t seen him live AND you call yourself a fan of country music, then shame on you.

Be sure to get there early as well.  Austin’s The Belleville Outfit will swing the crap out of the place and DFW’s own 100 Damned Guns will begin by honky-tonking the crap out of the place.

Be one of the first two people to email me at kelly@thegobblersknob.com with “HIGHWAY PATROL” in the subject line if you want to win a pair of free tix to the show. If you dont win, be sure to grab you tickets quickly from The Granada’s website.

Alberta Cross was a pleasant surprise for me at ACL Festival, now they are on Daytrotter.

The last few days have seen some really sweet gems pop up on a  couple of my favorite sites…let’s get to it.

• Daytrotter has welcomed a host of excellent artists recently. Here are a few of my favorites

- Bobby Bare Jr.

-Lucero

-Alberta Cross

• Dallas Observer music blog, DC-9 at Night pointed us into the direction of a few choice vids from the new Dallas NPR station, KXT 91.7. Below are my three favorite videos from two of the best country acts Dallas has to offer right now…

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This coming Sunday night will be a floor-stompin’, hell-raisin’ whale of a time at the Granada Theater in Dallas, y’all. Local roots studs 100 Damned Guns and The O’s (both bands have been featured here on the Knob, you know) will be setting the stage for none other than Split Lip Rayfield.

SPR have come back strong with, I’ll Be Around, an excellent disc of front-porch funk. Picking up the pieces of their band and their lives after the 2007 passing of Kirk Rundstrom, their friend and guitar player. This is going to be a big night for some great music. Get your tickets at The Granada Theater’s website.

LISTEN: Split Lip Rayfield – “Aces High”

A few months ago, I directed your attention to a blog post from one of my favorite blogs. Lance from Bona Fide Darling had a few thoughts on one of the DFW area’s best country bands, 100 Damned Guns (Official / Myspace). I recently (and finally) listened to their newest album, Musica de Tormento (TXMF), and wish I hadn’t waited so long to get up to date.

100 Damned Guns are typically referred to as “Alt-Country”. I’m sure that it comes as no shock to anyone that I wish their brand of gospel infused country, flavored with homemade moonshine that is guzzled on the back porch while a little pickin’ and grinnin’ is going on, wasn’t the “alt” to what we are force-fed, as opposed to the actual mainstream content itself. Dave Sherrill’s warm and simple vocal style fulfils it’s role perfectly. The even-keeled performance compliments the authenticity of the subject matter and binds it together with the musical performance. Heck, “Broken Bottle Blues” and “Aint That Bad Anymore” could almost be confused for numbers out of your local southern-baptist hymnal if it wasn’t for the descriptive tales of life on the wrong side of the tracks.

LISTEN: 100 Damned Guns – “Here at the Bottom”