<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<iFestival>
  <Festival>
    <Name>Twangfest</Name>
<Desc><![CDATA[It was a great 2009 festival! Stay tuned for 2010.

We welcome you to Twangfest, which is still the best music festival you’ll ever attend, if you’ll allow us a moment of immodesty. It’s a place where incredible musical performers from all over the country play before the most fervent bunch of music lovers that they or you will ever meet. We often say that Twangfest is a big tent; the big top of a musical three-ring circus, filled with the sights and sounds that make roots music so vibrant and inspirational. So get ready to fill your ears and feast your eyes, and be sure to introduce yourself to friends new and old, and support the bands and Twangfest by visiting the merchandise tables. But most of all … have yourself a great time! In fact, we dare you not to.]]></Desc>
<Photo_Link>http://www.tourdatabase.com/paperclip/festivals/1/iphone/Picture_1.png?1241845151</Photo_Link>    <Location>
      <Address>3504 Magnolia</Address>
      <City>St Louis</City>
      <State>MO</State>
      <Country>USA</Country>
    </Location>
    <Contact>
      <Email>admin@twangfest.com</Email>
      <Phone></Phone>
      <URL>http://www.twangfest.com</URL>
    </Contact>
    <Revision>57</Revision>
    <LastUpdate>2009-09-01 01:19:16 UTC</LastUpdate>
    <News>
      <Post>
        <Title>Twangfest announces stage change</Title>
        <Body>Check out the Blue Room State</Body>
        <Published_at>2009-08-24 04:00:00 UTC</Published_at>
      </Post>
      <Post>
        <Title>Individual Tickets On Sale Now!</Title>
        <Body>Individual tickets are now on-sale for all Twangfest shows at the Duck Room and at the Pageant. We are expecting all four nights to sell-out, so what are you waiting for?

Better yet, get guaranteed access to all four nights of Twangfest, plus guaranteed awesome T-shirt and poster, designed by Jason Baldwin, and more with the Friends of Twangfest &#8220;Dan Pack&#8221; Four Night Pass. Only $120.00, no service charges, and all proceeds benefit KDHX Community Media and Twangfest! Get your pack today!</Body>
        <Published_at>2009-05-05 17:05:00 UTC</Published_at>
      </Post>
    </News>
  </Festival>
  <Artists>
    <Artist>
      <Artist_ID>1</Artist_ID>
      <Name>Alejandro Escovedo</Name>
      <URL>http://www.alejandroescovedo.com</URL>
<Bio><![CDATA[In June 2008, Alejandro Escovedo released his 9th solo album Real Animal. Produced by Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T.Rex, Thin Lizzy), Real Animal is a collective journey through Escovedo’s various musical incarnations from punk rock to string quintets and is as introspective as it is retrospective. Recalling the people, places and influences that helped shape his career, Real Animal represents the primitive aspect of Escovedo’s music - the instinct, the urgency and a survivor mentality that fuels his musical passion.

Escovedo was a founding member of the pioneering San Francisco-based punk band The Nuns in the mid-70’s. In the early 1980’s he moved to New York City, where he joined forces with fellow Bay Area punk scene veterans Chip and Tony Kinman in Rank & File, a band that forged the early 1980s country-punk sound that later became known as alternative country. After Rank & File relocated to Austin, Texas, Escovedo left the band and formed True Believers with his brother Javier. The critically acclaimed group disbanded in the late 1980s.

In 1992, Escovedo embarked on a solo career with his debut album Gravity. Subsequent solo albums have included Thirteen Years (1993), With These Hands (1996), More Miles than Money: Live 1994-1996 (1998), Bourbonitis Blues (1999), and A Man Under the Influence (2001). In the late 1990s, he began developing a dramatic work, based on his songs about his father, with the Los Angeles theater company About Productions. The resulting composition, By the Hand of the Father, premiered to critical acclaim in 2000 with Escovedo performing his songs as part of the production. His last album, The Boxing Mirror, released in 2006 was produced by John Cale and traces Escovedo’s journey from the brink of death at the hands of Hepatitis C to renewed wellness and artistic creativity.

Escovedo’s music has been widely lauded by the media, appearing in several high-profile publications including Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, USA Today, PASTE, HARP and Entertainment Weekly. He was invited onstage by Bruce Springsteen to join The Boss and The E Street Band, playing Escovedo’s “Always A Friend” before a packed Toyota Center in Houston on April 14, 2008. He has also appeared on Conan O’Brian, The Today Show, The Tonight Show and performed at the Democratic National Convention in Denver to a wildly enthusiastic audience.]]></Bio>
      <Photo_Link>http://www.tourdatabase.com/paperclip/artists/1/iphone/images.jpg?1242092048</Photo_Link>
<Itunes_Link><![CDATA[http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?WOURLEncoding=ISO8859_1&lang=1&output=lm&country=US&term=Alejandro Escovedo]]></Itunes_Link>    </Artist>
    <Artist>
      <Artist_ID>2</Artist_ID>
      <Name>Hot Club of Cowtown</Name>
      <URL>http://www.hotclubofcowtown.com</URL>
<Bio><![CDATA[The story begins with a classic musical travel adventure: an ad in the music section of New York City's Village Voice. In the mid-'90s Elana James was looking to join a "gigging band" when Whit Smith answered her ad. Though he had no shows on the books, Whit somehow convinced Elana to come down to his East Village apartment and rock out for an evening just to see what would happen. When she arrived, he opened the door in big furry slippers and the rest is history.

More than a decade later, the Hot Club of Cowtown has grown to be the most globe-trotting, hard-swinging Western Swing trio on the planet. From early days busking for tips in San Diego's Balboa Park, the band has grown and developed into a formidable international sensation. The Hot Club's ever-growing presence on the international festival scene has grown with its relentless touring over the years alongside the release of five critically acclaimed CDs on American Roots label HighTone Records. In August 2008 the Hot Club's sixth CD, "The Best of the Hot Club of Cowtown," a hand-picked, band-picked, twenty-song retrospective, was released by Shout!Factory.

After a two-year hiatus during 2005-2007 the band went its separate ways, reuniting in 2008 with a packed tour schedule and a new studio CD of original material slated for release in early 2009.

In the meantime, some things haven't changed. The band--Elana James on violin and vocals, Whit Smith on guitar and vocals, and Jake Erwin on bass and vocals--still swings harder than ever as it continues to develop it's unique, ever-evolving sound. This journey, which began with the roots of the Hot Jazz era, Americana music, vintage pop and folk music, continues to unfold into the new sound of the group's original songs.

In the United States, the Hot Club of Cowtown has been featured on All Things Considered, The Grand Ol' Opry, $40 Dollars a Day with Rachel Ray, Mountain Stage, A Prairie Home Companion, and numerous other radio and television programs. In the UK they have appeared extensively on BBC Radio with Bob Harris and Andy Kershaw, and on BBC TV's "Later" with Jools Holland, the "Live From Glastonbury Festival" broadcast, as well as throughout the UK at festivals, theatres, and clubs. Among the youngest members ever to be inducted into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame, in 2006 they also toured as musical ambassadors for the US State Department and were honored to be the first American band ever to tour in Azerbaijan. These days, tours with Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, the Mavericks and others keep the Hot Club of Cowtown busy dazzling new audiences both nationally and internationally throughout much of the year.]]></Bio>
      <Photo_Link>http://www.tourdatabase.com/paperclip/artists/2/iphone/images-1.jpg?1242092198</Photo_Link>
<Itunes_Link><![CDATA[http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?WOURLEncoding=ISO8859_1&lang=1&output=lm&country=US&term=Hot Club of Cowtown]]></Itunes_Link>    </Artist>
    <Artist>
      <Artist_ID>3</Artist_ID>
      <Name>Amy Lavere</Name>
      <URL>http://www.amylavere.com</URL>
<Bio><![CDATA[Amy LaVere routinely gets antsy after she's been off the road awhile. Born in Shreveport, Louisiana and a native of Bethany, Texas, she's really more a child of America - a self-described "General Motors brat" whose father's jobs kept her small family frequently on the move. Her life as a touring musician seems tailor-made for a woman who is seemingly one part upright bassist and another part gypsy.

Of late, Amy says she's been surprised at how much she's enjoyed "nesting" in the Midtown Memphis home she shares with Paul Taylor, her boyfriend and collaborator. Typical afternoons have found her in between bursts of household chores, sips of warm tea, back-scratches for her lab mix, Charlie, and living-room band practice with Paul and guitarist Steve Selvidge. In the early evening, with the temperature hovering in the teens outside, there's dinner as classical music plays underneath.

Welcome to the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, right? But like the music on Amy's stereo, this relative calm is merely a rest between movements.

Extensive tours are planned throughout the U.S. Europe and, specifically, Scandinavia - enough that Amy now has another frame-dwarfing upright bass on standby overseas. Propped against her living room chair, an artist's drawing pad displays handwritten lyrics of a new song Amy has written. It's one among many she, Paul and guitarist Steve Selvidge expect to record for a new album later this year.

In $5 Cover, Amy's character portrays a striving musician with a bruised and wayward heart. Her songs "Killing Him" (from "Anchors & Anvils") and "Never Been Sadder" (from "This World Is Not My Home") power two episodes.

Amy's music jumps genres as a mix of rock 'n' roll, jazz and bluesy balladry. She doesn't like categorizing it anyhow, and feels boxed in even by the notion. As in "Killing Him," she sometimes lets the specter of death or consequences of murder inform her thoughts on love. (These days, she's shaping what you might call a Civil War post-murder ballad.) But the uneven intersections in her work explain why she makes her home at the musical crossroads of Memphis.

The city has "serious pride in its history," she says, "and I think Memphis walks a fine line with really trying to balance what is authentic.. and also staying up with being progressive. It can be a real detriment to someone's creativity to go into a town (elsewhere) that has a cookie-cutter sort of thing thatâ€™s driving the music industry." Here, she says, there is a more ad hoc system that keeps the process organic, allowing artists "to feel more free."

She adds: "In Memphis, it's perfectly acceptable if you want to wake up and drink a mimosa on your porch and then just stay drunk all day and have a social afternoon. It's in no way looked down upon to truly relax here. It's OK to just really enjoy life."

Though excited by the exposure $5 Cover will provide her music, simply participating in the project means "my dreams have been fulfilled," she says. After small parts in "Walk the Line" and Craig Brewer's 2007 film "Black Snake Moan," she remains a performer who thrills whenever her music hits the radio.

"I was out with Paul Christmas shopping, and I was worn out," she recalls. â€œPaul went in to get a gift, and I was sitting in the van waiting on him. I was starving and cranky. And they played 'Killing Him' on the radio. And I said, 'Awwww, they're playing my song! It's awesome to think you work hard at something, and it actually sees the light of day."

- John Hubbell]]></Bio>
      <Photo_Link>http://www.tourdatabase.com/paperclip/artists/3/iphone/images-3.jpg?1242092402</Photo_Link>
<Itunes_Link><![CDATA[http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?WOURLEncoding=ISO8859_1&lang=1&output=lm&country=US&term=Amy Lavere]]></Itunes_Link>    </Artist>
    <Artist>
      <Artist_ID>4</Artist_ID>
      <Name>Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys</Name>
      <URL>http://www.bigsandy.net/</URL>
<Bio><![CDATA[
Since forming in 1988, Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys have emerged as one of the world's most respected practitioners of American roots music, western swing, rockabilly, and traditional country—playing it like they invented it. "I think of us as just a rock and roll band, a rock and roll band that's letting the roots show," says bandleader Big Sandy. Whether they're playing the Grand Ole Opry, Late Night With Conan O'Brien, or simply climbing out of a bus after rolling into your town, these guys are bringing us some great old-time rock and roll.

The first lyric on their newest release, Turntable Matinee, commands us to "Drop the needle in the groove and start to move!" That opening track—"The Power of the 45, Part 1"—is a dance call to arms as well as a love song to the group's musical influences.]]></Bio>
      <Photo_Link>http://www.tourdatabase.com/paperclip/artists/4/iphone/band_35.jpg?1242358296</Photo_Link>
<Itunes_Link><![CDATA[http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?WOURLEncoding=ISO8859_1&lang=1&output=lm&country=US&term=Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys]]></Itunes_Link>    </Artist>
    <Artist>
      <Artist_ID>5</Artist_ID>
      <Name>Bruce Robison</Name>
      <URL>http://www.brucerobison.com/</URL>
<Bio><![CDATA[Bruce Robison is an Austin-based country music singer-songwriter. Bruce and his brother, fellow singer-songwriter Charlie Robison, grew up in Bandera, Texas and currently reside in Austin, Texas.

Bruce has written several songs which have become hits when covered by well known singers, including: "Travelin' Soldier," (recorded in 2003 by the Dixie Chicks, reached No. 1 on the Country charts); "Angry All the Time," (recorded by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill in 2001, also reached No. 1 on the country charts); and "Wrapped," (recorded in 2006 by George Strait, also reached No. 1).]]></Bio>
      <Photo_Link>http://www.tourdatabase.com/paperclip/artists/5/iphone/images-4.jpg?1242359240</Photo_Link>
<Itunes_Link><![CDATA[http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?WOURLEncoding=ISO8859_1&lang=1&output=lm&country=US&term=Bruce Robison]]></Itunes_Link>    </Artist>
    <Artist>
      <Artist_ID>6</Artist_ID>
      <Name>Eileen Jewell</Name>
      <URL>http://www.eilenjewell.com/</URL>
<Bio><![CDATA[“I’m already bracing myself,” Eilen Jewell reasons, matter-of-factly, “for a little controversy.”

Boise-born and Boston-based, Jewell has quickly distinguished herself as one of the rising stars of a new generation of roots musicians. Her first two albums, Boundary County (self-released, 2006) and Letters from Sinners and Strangers (Signature Sounds, 2007) were astonishingly assured efforts, which matched Jewell’s understated yet insightful songs with a rugged blend of Americana styles. They were met with a great deal of acclaim, with No Depression raving that “Jewell is showing she can wander with the best of them, and write riveting song-stories about her adventures along the way.” Indicative of Jewell’s strong following in Europe, The Word in the UK described her as “A voice of real distinction [that] manages to transcend some powerful influences and pierce the fog long enough for her own point of view to emerge.”

“On those albums,” she reflects, “people told me they heard folk, country, western swing, rockabilly, and even jazz…but a part of my roots has been left out up until now.”

On April 21, Signature Sounds will release Eilen Jewell’s third album, Sea of Tears, a recording that fills in a vital, hitherto missing element of her musical persona. “Before I discovered Woody Guthrie and folk music,” she explains, “I was listening to Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, and, later on, the Animals and the Kinks. I love that stuff, and I love to play it.”

With Sea of Tears, Jewell and her longtime band of Jason Beek (drums, harmony vocals), Jerry Miller (electric, acoustic, and steel guitars), and Johnny Sciascia (upright bass) wed her elegantly unflinching songwriting with a rustic, pre-Beatles swagger that encapsulates vintage R&B, Midwestern garage rock, Chicago blues, and early rock and rockabilly, while maintaining the haunting, folk-inspired purity that first made her an artist to watch.


“There’s a lot of styles of music that I love equally,” Jewell says, “and I come from all of them. For this record, I had a clear sense of a sound I wanted to hear, and somehow I was able to communicate that to the band. That’s rare for me…I usually just let the song go – but these songs were telling me they had to be done a certain way.”

Together for almost four years now, Jewell’s basic band has been variously augmented on their previous albums, and formed the heart of the American gospel supergroup the Sacred Shakers, who released a self-titled album on Signature Sounds in 2008. Sea of Tears, however, features just the core quartet, a conscious decision on Jewell’s part to keep the sound lean and, in its darker moments, daringly stark. The absence of fiddle, heard prominently on Letters from Sinners and Strangers, actually widens the band’s range – allowing them to move seamlessly between genres, even to combine styles more fluidly than previously. To this sound, Jewell responds with nine original songs that boldly stare down rejection, denial, and change.

“I had a dream about the title track,” she recalls. “and when I woke up, I was able to remember my dream and the song wrote itself. I wish I could have more dreams like that…” “Sea of Tears” wraps a bitter, confrontational missive in a sinuous, sultry groove punctuated by Miller’s slashing guitar. In the role of a woman ignored, Jewell doesn’t howl – she looks the object of her affection straight in the eye and plainly, firmly states that without him, “It’s gonna be a sea of tears for me / It’s gonna be a life of misery.” The effect is disarmingly powerful – an unadorned but undiminished statement of single-minded devotion.

In contrast to the title track’s seething rhythmic undercurrent, “Nowhere in No Time” (a song Jewell has been carrying with her for years, but is just now being heard) rides a gently swinging country beat, rendered with the minimalist clarity of a Sun Records country 45. Elsewhere, such as on the swaggering, blues-informed “My Final Hour,” Jewell introduces a new color – the Hammond B-3 – which she had never played before. “The piano was my first instrument and my first love,” she says, “but so far normal piano hasn’t come up on any of my records!” On Sea of Tears, the organ bridges the gap between the Vox-fueled garage rock of the early British invasion and grinding, organ-driven American R&B and soul.

The intensity and urgency felt throughout the record is partly owed to Jewell’s chosen subjects and partly to the uncluttered, unencumbered recording process. These songs were finished in the brink of time, and mostly delivered to the band on the eve of the sessions, leaving no time for the performances to become rote. “Last year I did a lot of hotel writing, coming up with bits and pieces,” Jewell says. “I think I work well under pressure, and if I’m not under pressure I don’t work at all! I don’t need the pressure of an album to start songs, but I need it to finish them.”

“The guys are good with picking stuff up right away, and making it sound natural,” she continues. “This album was recorded pretty much live, with very little post-production. The material was very fresh.”

Alongside Jewell’s own songs, there are three outside numbers that point to much of the inspiration behind Sea of Tears. “I’m Gonna Dress in Black” is a churning lament gleaned from Van Morrison’s Them, who recorded it originally in 1965. Loretta Lynn’s “Darkest Day” is a classic honky-tonk stomp by one of Jewell’s biggest influences, whom Jewell was able to open for in 2007. Most intriguingly, however, is a version of the early British rock’n’roll standard “Shakin’ All Over.” Rarely tackled by female singers, Jewell’s clattering, simmering version is equally sensual and ominous.

“I was never in a real rock band,” Jewell shyly reflects. “But I was in a pretend one when I was seven. We had cardboard instruments.” As witnessed on Sea of Tears, Jewell approaches rock’n’roll like any other American hybrid – balancing the defining elements of the style with her steadfast integrity and never altering her approach to cater to the medium.

“Since the ‘60s folk revival, there’s been this fear of rock,” she concludes. “If people define you as a folk musician, it’s somehow scandalous to play with drums and electric guitars. It’s thought of as selling out or being commercial…but, to me, it’s all folk music.”]]></Bio>
      <Photo_Link>http://www.tourdatabase.com/paperclip/artists/6/iphone/00000004.jpg?1242359701</Photo_Link>
<Itunes_Link><![CDATA[http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?WOURLEncoding=ISO8859_1&lang=1&output=lm&country=US&term=Eileen Jewell]]></Itunes_Link>    </Artist>
    <Artist>
      <Artist_ID>7</Artist_ID>
      <Name>Brothers Lazaroff</Name>
      <URL>http://www.brotherslazaroff.com/</URL>
<Bio><![CDATA[Bridging the geographical gap between St. Louis, Missouri, and Austin, Texas, BROTHERS LAZAROFF lay waste to the idea that long-distance relationships can't work!

With their first record 'PURE DELIGHT' (co-produced/engineered/mixed by David Sanger, 6-time Grammy winning drummer of ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL) and a second record on the way, The Brothers combine experimentation with conventional folk elements. In the process, they effectively find a way to reconcile traditionally opposing musical genres to create a refreshing sound.

And yes, Hank matters but so does Scratch and of course all three Bobs and all those from Canada and those from before the time of telephone poles and those who've grown up with them as if they're just another family of trees. BROTHERS LAZAROFF take the approach that everything matters, but nothing should be taken seriously.

Whether you are in the great mid-west or the deep south, look for BROTHERS LAZAROFF tour dates and their upcoming release 'American Artifact' due out in June!]]></Bio>
      <Photo_Link>http://www.tourdatabase.com/paperclip/artists/7/iphone/images-7.jpg?1242360007</Photo_Link>
<Itunes_Link><![CDATA[http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?WOURLEncoding=ISO8859_1&lang=1&output=lm&country=US&term=Brothers Lazaroff]]></Itunes_Link>    </Artist>
    <Artist>
      <Artist_ID>8</Artist_ID>
      <Name>Asylum Street Spankers</Name>
      <URL>http://www.asylumstreetspankers.com/</URL>
<Bio><![CDATA[The magnificently indefinable Asylum Street Spankers began in 1994 during a booze and hallucinogen-fueled party at the Dabbs Hotel in Llano, Texas. There Christina Marrs met Wammo. During a night spent singing and playing along the banks of the Llano River they discovered a shared love for early 20th century music. Upon returning to Austin they gathered a few like-minded pals and began playing free shows at clubs and busking around town.

Within a year they conquered Austin, playing three SRO weekly residencies, including the city’s first Gospel Brunch. In 1997 the band began venturing out into the wider world. Since then, Christina and Wammo have pushed their ever-evolving troupe from country blues revivalism toward original compositions, new works for the stage and sociopolitical commentary.

Regular touring throughout Europe, Japan and the states has established the Asylum Street Spankers as an underground institution, widely considered one of the best live acts working today. Their discography includes ten albums, including, What? And Give Up Show Biz? a two disk live document of the group's two week stand at New York's Barrow Street Theatre, and Mommy Says No!, one of the most honored family oriented releases of 2007.

The Spankers are generally available for concerts in North America, Europe and Japan. Available shows include: a club and theater concert for mature audiences, a "kids concert" for general audiences, a festival set for general audiences, and their stage production, "What? And Give Up Show Biz?" for mature audiences.]]></Bio>
      <Photo_Link>http://www.tourdatabase.com/paperclip/artists/8/iphone/images-8.jpg?1242360103</Photo_Link>
<Itunes_Link><![CDATA[http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?WOURLEncoding=ISO8859_1&lang=1&output=lm&country=US&term=Asylum Street Spankers]]></Itunes_Link>    </Artist>
    <Artist>
      <Artist_ID>9</Artist_ID>
      <Name>Andre Williams</Name>
      <URL>http://www.bloodshotrecords.com/artist/andre-williams</URL>
<Bio><![CDATA["Williams has twice the swagger and three times the guts of almost anyone a third of his age." —Tucson Weekly

"A long, long time ago -- before most of us were even alive to remember -- blues,R&B and rock'n'roll were dangerous, dirty and off-limits to anyone with hopes of fitting into proper society, flitting out of the windows of skeezy juke joints and bars on the outskirts of town. It was primal. It was honest. Mostly, it was fun. Thank God Williams is around to remind us of that halcyon era." —Aversion.com

"I bought a couple Andre Williams CD's off your website, based solely upon your written glories about the guy. Sweet fucking god they didn't disappoint. You know how there's a feeling of being 'clean naked' and 'dirty naked'? Well, Williams is dirty naked, even when I'm fully dressed. I could never listen to his music in front of my mother, God no." —A Fan on our website

Andre "Mr. Rhythm" Williams is a R&B legend, and you may not even know it. He wrote "Shake A Tail Feather," and sang such uber-raunch cult classics as "Bacon Fat" (covered by the Cramps), "Greasy Chicken," and the epitome of songs about little girls, "Jail Bait." He worked at seminal labels such as Motown, Chess, and Fortune. He wrote songs for, or produced folks Ike Turner, Parliament/Funkadelic, Edwin Starr and Stevie Wonder. The guy is like music's version of Zelig; he's been everywhere, man. Yeah, baby.

After a few hard years in... er... retirement, he stormed back in the late 90's with a record of smutty garage punk called Silky recorded with members of the Demolition Doll Rods and the Dirt-Bombs. Since then he has recorded with the Sadies, Jon Spencer, Two-Star Tabernacle (which included a very young Jack White) and many others. His resurgence of popularity (and notoriety) continues as he tours the world. Recently he was the subject of a documentary, Agile, Mobile, Hostile that premiered at the 2008 SXSW Film Festival. Andre tells it like it is, and if you get all bashful and shit with the blue language, you might want to steer clear--this guy can make Redd Foxx (who gave him his nickname, by the way) look like Bill Cosby. Don't let the shtick fool you, though, the man has put together some of the most bad-ass soul shakers in the history of music. He strips away all the bells and whistles and shoots musical arrows right to your goodie spot. Music at its most feral.]]></Bio>
      <Photo_Link>http://www.tourdatabase.com/paperclip/artists/9/iphone/artist_main_williams.jpg?1242358969</Photo_Link>
<Itunes_Link><![CDATA[http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?WOURLEncoding=ISO8859_1&lang=1&output=lm&country=US&term=Andre Williams]]></Itunes_Link>    </Artist>
    <Artist>
      <Artist_ID>10</Artist_ID>
      <Name>Sarah Borges</Name>
      <URL>http://www.sarahborges.com</URL>
<Bio><![CDATA[As the great thespian Patrick Swayze once said, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner." The same is true of Sarah Borges. On the basis of her critically-lauded early work, particularly Diamonds in the Dark (2007), some pundits decided they know exactly where the Boston-area rocker and her cohorts, the Broken Singles, belong in the musical spectrum. They were mistaken. Her new record, The Stars Are Out, is about to stun them with a more vibrant, far-reaching display of what Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles are all about. And yes, there will be dancing.

"We always want people to dance," enthuses Borges. "That's the best way to get a show going." After months of touring in support of Diamonds, she knew the character of her third album needed to be more upbeat than its contemplative predecessors. "I was trying to think of songs that would fit really well into our live show." The results include the slinky, '60s stroll of "Me and Your Ghost" ("That's about going out and dancing, all the things you used to do with your loved one"); the flirtatious, guitar-driven kickoff, "Do It For Free"; and "It Comes To Me Naturally," a hip-shaking tale of a girl-about-town, originally recorded by bar band supreme NRBQ.

Diamonds and Borges' 2005 debut, Silver City, often found her work filed under the Americana banner. But the time had come for Borges to explore different terrain, both as a writer and performer. The Stars Are Out is a soundtrack for Saturday nights, not Sunday mornings. "When I say I explored country music as much as possible, that doesn't mean I became perfect at it," she quickly qualifies. Borges just felt ready to take a break, until she had something new to say in that realm. And rock has always been her first love. "This is a style of music I've always listened to, and been really excited about."

The ten selections of The Stars Are Out—five new originals, and five covers—were winnowed down from a list of dozens of candidates. Possible songs were put forth not only by Borges, but also her band mates—guitarist Lyle Brewer, bassist Binky, and drummer Rob Dulaney—and producers Paul Q Kolderie (the Pixies, Lemonheads, Radiohead) and Adam Taylor. "Every day, we'd sit down at the table, drink coffee and listen to records," she explains. "In the end, we had way too many songs, and had to pick the best of the best. We held ourselves up to high standards, so I think we got the cream of the crop."]]></Bio>
      <Photo_Link>http://www.tourdatabase.com/paperclip/artists/10/iphone/images-2.jpg?1242092299</Photo_Link>
<Itunes_Link><![CDATA[http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?WOURLEncoding=ISO8859_1&lang=1&output=lm&country=US&term=Sarah Borges]]></Itunes_Link>    </Artist>
    <Artist>
      <Artist_ID>11</Artist_ID>
      <Name>Jon Hardy &amp; The Public</Name>
      <URL>http://www.jonhardy.com</URL>
<Bio><![CDATA[
Jon Hardy is the son of a traveling holiness preacher. His father's fevered zeal to call souls to repentance kept the family in constant motion, and as such, Hardy can't really claim any one place in this land as his home. He made his way onto the sanctuary stages while still a toddler, first to rattle along on the tambourine, and not long after to revile against the fire and brimstone of hell. He baptized his first believer at age 12.
 
It was a southern woman that eventually pulled him away from the preaching life, but don't bother asking him about it. The relationship was short-lived, and its collapse sent Hardy into the two-lane honky tonks and hardscrabble gambling rooms he'd once admonished against with ferocity. If there is such a thing as earnest wandering, Hardy did it during these years. This, of course, is when he began writing songs.
 
Penniless, he went wherever folks were willing to take him, often sleeping on riverbanks or under bridges when he found no other shelter. He now laughingly recalls sleeping on the banks of the Ohio in the eastern U.S. and the banks of the Guadiana in Spain within a span of seven months.
 
He met his wife, Suzanne, during a stint as a short-order cook at a Waffle House in Defiance, Missouri. She was a waitress, and her simple kindnesses to him were a restorative salve to his faith and hope. She has inhabited many of his songs, if sometimes only in single words or short phrases. Sadly, life with a full-hearted sayer became too much for Hardy's woman. A number of years back she told him that she was leaving for the arms of a more noticeable man.]]></Bio>
      <Photo_Link>http://www.tourdatabase.com/paperclip/artists/11/iphone/Oct_6_2007.jpg?1242359527</Photo_Link>
<Itunes_Link><![CDATA[http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?WOURLEncoding=ISO8859_1&lang=1&output=lm&country=US&term=Jon Hardy & The Public]]></Itunes_Link>    </Artist>
    <Artist>
      <Artist_ID>12</Artist_ID>
      <Name>Jason Isbell &amp; The 400 Unit</Name>
      <URL>http://www.jasonisbell.com</URL>
<Bio><![CDATA[For a comparatively brief moment in the mid-1960s, Muscle Shoals, Alabama was the unlikely epicenter of a major American songwriting renaissance. Here are some of the names: Arthur Alexander, Donnie Fritts, Eddie Hinton, Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, O.C. Smith, Joe South, Tony Joe White. Toss Bobbie Gentry into that mix, on style if not geography, and the list is not complete, regardless.

Style matters, for in those turbulent times these writers and their collaborators fused the vocal passion of African-American soul and gospel to an Anglo-Saxon storytelling tradition which goes back at least to Beowulf: Tough, hard, passionate, unflinching songs, unrepentant in their sense of place and direct in their stubborn Southernness.

That is a powerful pile of names to spade across the work of Jason Isbell, as his second solo album, named for his band, is, well, only his second solo album. And he's almost 30. It's not simply that he lives in Florence, Alabama, just outside Muscle Shoals, nor that he recorded Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit at the famed FAME studio there. That guarantees nothing.

The songs will stand on their own.

The opening "Seven-Mile Island" manages simultaneously to evoke the long-ago sounds of Traffic (who have their own Muscle Shoals connection) and to serve as an oblique eulogy to the regionally famous harmonica player Topper Price, and yet it's about a failed father, a birthing mother, an island on which banished Native Americans congregated, a place where Jason and his dad used to go to collect arrowheads. All of those things said eloquently in just over four minutes, and there are layers unexamined by that long sentence.

That's the only song that sounds just like that, says those things ("Good," for example, has the rock urgency of Big Star, "No Choice In The Matter" is classic soul, complete with horns), though they all come from deep within Isbell, no matter how far he distances himself, no matter that "Soldiers Get Strange" is mostly his imagination at work trying to make sense of how those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan feel. No matter that "Cigarettes And Wine" claims, midway through painting a very direct vignette, "I know that ain't much of a line/But it's the Gods' own truth."

That's enough. Leave the songs to be found, to talk for themselves. But let Jason explain, just a bit. "I always say that writing a song, first and foremost, to me, is a way of teaching myself how I feel about something," he says. "And that's the purpose it serves, really, more than anything else."

But the last thing Jason says about his new record is this: "I want it to be known that it's a band record. I want it to be known that it's something we all did together. Even though I wrote the songs, it was a very inclusive project."

Meet the band, then. Keyboard player Derry deBorja comes from the Baltimore area, and matriculated into the 400 Unit from a stint in Son Volt, which is where Jason met him. Guitarist Browan Lollar turned up at party, turns out to have just the right knack for Jason's songs. And bassist Jimbo Hart? "He's from Sheffield," Jason says. "I've known him since I was 16. My first image of Jimbo is him marching in a uniform playing bass with this huge kid behind him pushing his amp trying to keep up."

It was also a much more coherent recording process than the four years it took to stitch together his 2007 debut, Sirens Of The Ditch (New West). They spent a week cutting tracks at FAME, went on the road for a week, came back and spent another week finishing up. And it's clear from the credits that the 400 Unit made this album, together. They produced it, with Centromatic/South San Gabriel drummer Matt Pence both on the kit and behind the mixing board. Simple enough.

Here's the story of the band name, because it's a good story and deserves telling, and the telling says what needs finishing here. Jason begins, "There is a mental treatment facility here in Florence called The 400 Unit. About once a week they would drive downtown and take, I guess, the six or eight healthiest people in the facility and let 'em go downtown. Give 'em all like $15 apiece to go get some lunch. You'd immediately recognize who it was and why they were there; they all had nametags on, saying kinda strange stuff to everybody. And trying to get a sandwich at the same time.

"When I started thinking about a band, and how we get to a new town and everybody gets $15 and gets out of the van, goes out and tries to get a sandwich, it kinda reminded me of that."

Yeah, it's a sad record, but he's laughing. And it's a good sound, all around.
]]></Bio>
      <Photo_Link>http://www.tourdatabase.com/paperclip/artists/12/iphone/images-5.jpg?1242359611</Photo_Link>
<Itunes_Link><![CDATA[http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?WOURLEncoding=ISO8859_1&lang=1&output=lm&country=US&term=Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit]]></Itunes_Link>    </Artist>
    <Artist>
      <Artist_ID>13</Artist_ID>
      <Name>Daddy</Name>
      <URL>http://www.myspace.com/daddytheband</URL>
<Bio><![CDATA[Will Kimbrough and Tommy Womack both boast amazing underground resumes. Kimbrough (2005 Americana Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year) and Womack (Two-time winner of the Nashville Scene Best Song Award) first came together in 1992 in the bis-quits, who made one impressive guitar-fest record for John Prine’s Oh-Boy! label. They discovered a musical and personal kinship that they fought for years – in and amongst other commitments – to get back to.

With the breakup of the bis-quits in 1994, Kimbrough went on to be lead guitarist in Todd Snider & the Nervous Wrecks. (He has since produced several of Snider’s records, along with a whole slew of other artists.) Womack wrote Cheese Chronicles: The True Story of a Rock n’ Roll Band You’ve Never Heard Of (the story of his first band, Government Cheese.

Kimbrough went on from Todd Snider’s band to play with Rodney Crowell (most recently) as well as with Kim Richey, Josh Rouse and others, and to become one of the most in-demand session guitarists in Nashville, launching a successful solo career as well and getting songs cut by Jimmy Buffett, Jack Ingram and Little Feat. Womack wrote songs with Jason & the Scorchers and Dan Baird, and has been covered by Todd Snider, Scott Kempner and David Olney, among others.

As guitarists, Kimbrough and Womack most noticeably click. The former’s wide-ranging abilities, sweet and reckless by turns, dovetail with the latter’s passionate slash-and-burn style to produce a chemistry that pushes each other.

Drawing on Juke-Joint Blues, Country and good old Heavy Rock, DADDY (as they chose to call their new band) made its debut many years later, in 2005, with the “At The Women’s Club” album, recorded live in Frankfort, Kentucky. A strictly indie release, it created quite a bit of online stir, after which they went back to their individual solo projects.

As impressive as the co-leaders’ credentials are those of the rest of the band: Paul Griffith (one of Nashville’s most sought-after session drummers), Dave Jacques on bass (John Prine, Emmylou Harris) and John Deaderick (Dixie Chicks, Michael McDonald, Patty Griffin) keys.

DADDY plans to take their act on the road to promote their NEW studio album "DADDY For A Second Time", fittingly in time for Father’s Day! National release on June 16, 2009.
]]></Bio>
      <Photo_Link>http://www.tourdatabase.com/paperclip/artists/13/iphone/images-6.jpg?1242359868</Photo_Link>
<Itunes_Link><![CDATA[http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?WOURLEncoding=ISO8859_1&lang=1&output=lm&country=US&term=Daddy]]></Itunes_Link>    </Artist>
    <Artist>
      <Artist_ID>14</Artist_ID>
      <Name>The Deep Vibration</Name>
      <URL>http://www.thedeepvibration.com/</URL>
<Bio><![CDATA[The Deep Vibration is a rock and roll band playing American music. In a time when it might be more popular to play pitch perfected, pop or distanced, ‘hipper than thou’ indie rock, their sound calls a listener back to a stark simplicity and authenticity. A lean and gritty four-piece, The Deep Vibration has surprised Nashville with their heartfelt explorations and maturity, earned from years of listening and learning from the classics.

Matt Campbell (vocals, guitar) and Jeremy Fetzer (guitar), the band’s founding members, began collaborating while attending college in Nashville. Their original vision—playing blues and rock music as explosively as possible—has been enhanced over time with explorations of wild and lonely folk tales and soul powered rave ups.

After shuffling through a handful of members, the band finally meshed with Adam Binder (whose bass has been heard backing bands in Nashville for years) and Luke Herbert (a drummer from Sydney, Australia who has studied with drumming greats Bernard Purdie and Joe Morello in New York). After signing to Dualtone Records, the band changed their name from “The Attack!” upon discovering that a 60’s British psych-outfit bore the same moniker. In searching for a new name, the group had to look no further than to their collective hero and indie pioneer Lou Reed for inspiration. The band approached Reed for some advice after his performance in Nashville on May 2, 2008. After a moment of thought, he christened them (in characteristic growl) "The Deep Vibration."

With an arsenal of Americana tinged rock songs, the band recorded live onto 8 track one-inch tape at Nashville’s Masterlink Studios for their first EP, Veracruz. At the helm were Niko Bolas (Neil Young, My Morning Jacket) and Rob Clark (Neil Young), who took care to faithfully capture The Deep Vibration’s naturally classic aesthetic. Matt Campbell’s eccentrically soulful vocals pierce and tremble over the band’s driving stomp led by Jeremy Fetzer, whose jolting guitar work in “Thanks To You” and “Oklahoma City Woman Blues” plays out like a thoughtful combination of Neil Young’s edginess and the quirky rock endeavors of Wilco’s Nels Cline. Binder and Herbert provide the combustive impact behind “Third Day of July” and a primitive elegance in “Mississippi Women.”

The EP is verdant with rich tones, driving rhythms, sly orchestrations and serves as the proper introduction to the band: loud, rock solid, and strangely spiritual. Appropriately skidding to a halt, Veracruz’s bookend gem “Tennessee Rose” features Gillian Welch’s graceful harmonies accompanying the tale of a sojourner whose mind lingers at home with his love. As stated in American Songwriter Magazine, ‘Tennessee Rose’ is one of those songs that makes you stop what you're doing, and, like the great American songs, puts an original voice in a pair of very old shoes." The Deep Vibration are walking in those shoes of American musical tradition and taking them to strange, new places. They have it, that inarguable authenticity that accompanies music not made out of will or want, but whose creation and existence is simply necessary. To have it in such a city, at such a time, is no easy feat; leaving no doubt that soon The Deep Vibration will be felt everywhere.]]></Bio>
      <Photo_Link>http://www.tourdatabase.com/paperclip/artists/14/iphone/main.jpg?1242359415</Photo_Link>
<Itunes_Link><![CDATA[http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?WOURLEncoding=ISO8859_1&lang=1&output=lm&country=US&term=The Deep Vibration]]></Itunes_Link>    </Artist>
    <Artist>
      <Artist_ID>15</Artist_ID>
      <Name>Theodore</Name>
      <URL>http://www.myspace.com/theodoreacoustic</URL>
<Bio><![CDATA[Theodore is a four piece band from St. Louis, Missouri. We have been playing music together since September 2006. We have driven around the United States and played music together. We have self-released two full length records, "Songs for the Weary" and "Defeated, Tennessee". "Defeated, Tennessee", our most recent record, is based upon some letters and family debris we found in an abandoned house in Tennessee. We are working on a new full length record. We will be touring a good piece this summer.]]></Bio>
      <Photo_Link>http://www.tourdatabase.com/paperclip/artists/15/iphone/m_4c90feccc5374b039ee92528db1dd1c0.jpg?1242359330</Photo_Link>
<Itunes_Link><![CDATA[http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?WOURLEncoding=ISO8859_1&lang=1&output=lm&country=US&term=Theodore]]></Itunes_Link>    </Artist>
  </Artists>
  <Vendors>
    <Vendor>
<Name><![CDATA[BowlingShirt.com]]></Name>
<Desc><![CDATA[This is a great vendor...that sells great merchandise]]></Desc>
      <Phone>210-249-2394</Phone>
      <Location>
        <Address>83 NE Loop 410</Address>
        <City>San Antonio</City>
        <State>TX</State>
        <Zip>78259</Zip>
      </Location>
    </Vendor>
    <Vendor>
<Name><![CDATA[CMS Communications]]></Name>
<Desc><![CDATA[CMS is dedicated to providing you great information at a reasonable cost]]></Desc>
      <Phone>549-239-2384</Phone>
      <Location>
        <Address>1 Smith Street</Address>
        <City>St Louis</City>
        <State>ME</State>
        <Zip>78660</Zip>
      </Location>
    </Vendor>
    <Vendor>
<Name><![CDATA[Cruisin' USA]]></Name>
<Desc><![CDATA[A great place]]></Desc>
      <Phone>230-444-3434</Phone>
      <Location>
        <Address>123 Church Street</Address>
        <City>Austin</City>
        <State>TX</State>
        <Zip>78758</Zip>
      </Location>
    </Vendor>
  </Vendors>
  <Lodging>
    <Lodge>
      <Name>Best Western - Airport Plaza Inn</Name>
      <Phone>210-555-5532</Phone>
      <Description>20-28 double rooms have been reserved at a rate of $79 per night (plus tax) for Twangfest fans for the length of the festival (June 10-13, 2009). To secure this rate, please mention that you are attending Twangfest when making your reservation.</Description>
      <Location>
        <Address>123 Smith Street</Address>
        <City>Bridgeton</City>
        <State>MO</State>
        <Zip>63044</Zip>
      </Location>
    </Lodge>
  </Lodging>
  <Stages>
    <Stage>
      <Name>Duck Room at Blueberry Hill</Name>
      <Stage_ID>1</Stage_ID>
      <Description>Duck Room at Blueberry Hill</Description>
    </Stage>
    <Stage>
      <Name>The Pageant</Name>
      <Stage_ID>2</Stage_ID>
      <Description>The Pageant</Description>
    </Stage>
  </Stages>
  <Events>
    <Event>
      <Event_ID>222</Event_ID>
      <Artist_ID>13</Artist_ID>
      <Artist_name>Daddy</Artist_name>
      <Stage_ID>1</Stage_ID>
      <Date>09/09/2009</Date>
      <Start_Time>05:00AM</Start_Time>
      <End_Time>16:00PM</End_Time>
    </Event>
  </Events>
</iFestival>
