Saturday, June 21 (date change!)
7:30 p.m.
Eric Taylor
Weimer, TX
www.bluerubymusic.com
Opening: Devon Heath
 
Eric Taylor learned intricate blues guitar stylings from music legends Lightnin' Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb and Mississippi Fred McDowell while working at the Family Hand club. Later, he developed his own unique guitar picking style, that would be imitated by many of his contemporaries from the early Houston days, such as Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Robert Earl Keen, Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, and Nanci Griffith.
"There were no lines drawn in the sand between musical genres in Houston back in those days," Taylor remembers. "You were just a musician. I believe so many great writers came out of that scene because you could learn from others. Isn't that the point of this whole thing?"
In 1977 Taylor was a winner of the "New Folk" competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival. Shameless Love, his first album, came out in 1981, and after a hiatus of almost 14 years, he returned with the self-titled Eric Taylor, released in 1995. His eponymous release was chosen as the 1996 Kerrville Folk Festival Album of the Year. Three years later he released Resurrect, and it was subsequently named one of the "100 essential records of all time" by Buddy magazine. Taylor has headlined the prestigious Newport Folk Festival, played National Public Radio's "Mountain Stage" and has appeared on both "Late Night With David Letterman" with Nanci Griffith and "Austin City Limits" with Lyle Lovett, Guy Clark, and Robert Earl Keen.
"To say that Eric Taylor is one of the finest writers of our time, would be an understatement," Nanci Griffith says. "If you miss an opportunity to hear Eric Taylor, you have missed a chance to hear a voice I consider the William Faulkner of songwriting in our current time." Griffith has recorded several of Taylor's songs, including "Deadwood," "Storms," "Dollar Matinee" and "Ghost in the Music," which they wrote together. Lyle Lovett, who recorded Taylor's "Memphis Midnight/Memphis Morning," and with whom Taylor co-wrote the immensely popular "Fat Babies," compares Taylor's narrative voice to that of Bruce Springsteen. Iain Matthews claims, "Once you become a Taylor fanatic, it gives one immense joy and pride to be able to enlighten others to the man's work."
2001 brought forth Scuffletown, and shortly following its release, Taylor was a featured artist on "Austin City Limit's" and NPR's "Morning Edition." The Kerrville Tapes (2003) is his first live album, recorded during three years of appearances at the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival. In 2004, heeding repeated requests by fans and media, Taylor re-mastered the vinyl Shameless Love and reissued it as a CD with 2 never-released-before bonus tracks. 2006 introduced The Great Divide, a powerful, brilliant work that is both timely and timeless. Recorded at Rock Romano's Red Shack in Houston, TX, between April and July 2005, the album includes several new songs, some older songs, and 2 songs by a couple of Eric's early music mentors (Arthur Jackson, aka Peg Leg Sam, and Townes Van Zandt).
A mesmerizing performer, Taylor has toured extensively in the United States and Europe, playing notable venues such as Club Passim, The Bottom Line, The Bluebird Cafe, Eddie's Attic, The Ark, CSPS, Cafe Carpe, Paradiso (Amsterdam), Theatre Kikker (Utrecht), The Real Music Club (Belfast), Hotel du Nord (Paris), Grey's Pub (Brighton), and The Bein Inn (Perth). Festival appearances include Kerrville, Newport Folk Festival, Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, Take Root (The Netherlands), and Roots of Heaven Festival (The Netherlands). He has taught at the Kerrville Song School, and has conducted songwriting workshops at the Fulston Manor Performing Arts Centre (Sittingbourne, England), CARAD (Rhayader, Wales), and the Plowshares Coffeehouse (Pennsylvania).
Sound Clips:
Hollywood Pocketknife
Carnival Jim and Jean
Highway Kind
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Saturday, September 20
7:30 p.m.
Bob Livingston
Austin, TX
www.texasmusic.org
BOB LIVINGSTON has never been a traditional Texas country musician living the honky-tonk life even though he has spent more than his share of time on the roadhouse circuit with some of Texas’ most colorful musicians. Livingston grew up in Lubbock and moved to Austin in 1971 after recording the album Geronimo’s Cadillac with Michael Murphey. Austin was a creative boom town whirling with excitement and busting at the seams. The streets were full of musicians, poets, artists and dancers. There were plenty of places to play and a lot of music to be made. Livingston quickly hooked up with Jerry Jeff Walker and they toured the country and recorded some quintessential progressive country rock albums including the 1973 classic, Viva Terlingua! In 1974, Livingston, Gary Nunn and John Inmon founded the Lost Gonzo Band and made two records for MCA (Lost Gonzo Band and Thrills) and one for Capitol (Signs of Life). Rolling Stone called the Gonzo’s self titled debut record, “one of the best albums to ever come out of Austin.”
Livingston has been called a 'cosmic cowboy' for good reason. He's looked into the music and mysteries of other cultures and toured countries like India, Pakistan, Africa, and the Middle East for the U.S. State Department. Inspired by these experiences, Livingston released a new CD in 2004 for Vireo Records called Mahatma Gandhi & Sitting Bull. The Austin-American Statesman chose it as one of the top-ten records of 2004.
Livingston is currently playing around the country and abroad promoting a new compilation album called Original Spirit and he's writing material for a new record with a harder edge. He only half jokingly says he's thinking about calling it Flesh & Blood. He's put together a multi-cultural group of musicians from Texas and India called Cowboys & Indians and he's turning the concept into a full fledged musical play with the first performances scheduled for the summer of '07. Also on the creative horizon is a documentary film that Livingston and his son, Tucker, are editing about their tours in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.
Sound Clips:
Original Spirit
Mahatma Ghandhi and Sitting Bull
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