Ernie Hendrickson @ Joe's

Americana music is a genre label that some people don't understand, i think it scares some people. Its not as defined a word like say Country music is but Country music in itself has so many styles and Americana has country and many other styles like blues and Rock. I am not sure where i am going with this but i do know that once you hear the music of Ernie Hendrickson you know that it is not just Country, its not just Folk music or Rock but a mix of all of those and more, it has a sound that is "Classic American" that appeals to anyone who has ever liked a Bob Dylan song or James Taylor and just about any singer and songwriter that was on the radio in the seventies. Ernie and his band opened up for Texas musicians Charlie Shafter & the Gnomes and The Randy Rogers band Friday September 18Th in Chicago. Ernie's latest record which is due out on October 13Th captures that sound in part thanks to the opportunity for him to work with Bo Ramsey who is a guitar player with some of the best Americana artists around, Lucinda Williams and Greg Brown. Bo produced the up coming album entitled "Walking With Angels" which is Ernie's second album. Starting with his teen years in Rockford Illinois Ernie honed his music skills in various bands until deciding to go it on his own. Ernie's website features photography by one of my favorite photographers, Jim Herrington who has an amazing portfolio of images of musical icons. Click on the title of this post to view more photos from this show.

Jack Ingram @ Joe's bar

When i arrived at Joe's i pulled into a parking space near the tour bus and looked up and there was Jack Ingram talking on the phone after finishing up a run through the streets of Chicago. I waited until he was not busy and introduced my self and asked if he would mind signing my hat, he politely did and i told him i saw Hayes Carll step off the bus earlier while i was waiting for him. Jack asked "Did you get him to sign your hat too? you should" and i replied that i didn't want to bother him as it looked like he was heading inside to do a sound check. Later while i was waiting for a phone call Hayes came back and i talked to him for a few minutes. Hayes was only along for the ride and was not there to play any songs. Later that night i came back in time to catch Steel Magnolia opening the show and then soon after Jack and his Beat Up Ford band took the stage.
Jack kicked the show off with an energetic "Mustang Burn" and kept that level going for quite a few songs before going into a few slow songs like "Flutter" and his version of "Lips of an Angel" by the band Hinder. Jack Ingram is one of the best showmen in the business and engages the crowd with eye contact and hand shakes. During Jack's recent world record attempt, which he did set (he now holds the record for the most radio interviews done in one day previously held by the band Fall Out Boy) he stated on air that "Joe's bar is the coolest bar in America" and it was streamed live on CMT. At one point he even went crowd surfing which is a first for me to see at Joe's. He involved the crowd by having us sing the background to "Barbie Doll" co written with Todd Snider, Jack re recorded it on his new "Big Dreams & High Hopes" release with Dierks Bentley and a host of Nashville who's who of modern country music. During "Barefoot & Crazy" boots and shoes were passed up to Jack and he tried to sign them all during the song and even balanced his Cowboy boots on the Mic stand. Jack's Beat Up Ford band is top notch and his lead guitar player "Frenchie" as he is known is a true rock star showman. After the show Jack came back to meet fans and talk with everyone upstairs even though he had to leave on the bus by 1:45 am for a 10 am sound check in another state. Click on the title to this post to view more photos of the show.

Steel Magnolia @ Joe's bar

The latest season of CMT's Can You Duet came to an end in August and the duo consisting of Megan Linsey and Josh Jones who call themselves Steel Magnolia opened up for Jack Ingram at Joe's bar in Chicago. Steel Magnolia were signed to Scott Borchetta's label Big Machine records who was also one of the judges of the show. The label also has Jack Ingram and a young singer and songwriter maybe you have heard of, Taylor Swift. Megan is a former karaoke host at the Buck wild saloon which is across from the Wild horse saloon in Nashville since moving from New Orleans and Josh Jones stopped in one night and after requesting a song, they hit it off and began dating.
Josh was running out of luck trying to make it in Los Angeles and returned to his Midwestern roots (he is from Charleston Illinois) and moved to Nashville. Megan has a great voice with a good bluesy streak to it and Josh is pretty adept on the acoustic guitar. You can hear in their harmonies that they have had time to sing together before being talked into auditioning for the show. Their first single "Keep on loving you" which by the way is not a cover of the REO Speedwagon song is on radio now and they performed it and even a Waylon Jennings song. The place was packed for Jack and the audience was very receptive to Steel Magnolia even without a band behind them. Click on the title of this post to view more photos from the show.

David Nail @ Joe's

Last time David Nail played at Joe's bar in Chicago he opened up for the Lost Trailers on May 29Th with an acoustic set before his debut album came out (David has actually been around for about ten years and had an album that was going to be released back in 2002) and gave a strong performance with songs like "I'm About to Come Alive" (First done by the band Train) and his single "Red Light" with just his acoustic guitar. On Friday September 4Th he headlined and brought along his whole band. I have been listening to his new album since it came out on August 18Th and its one of my favorite Nashville releases this year. The self titled album produced by Frank Lidell who also works with Miranda Lambert also includes a duet with Miranda and songs that were co-written by Kenny Chesney and Gary LeVox of Rascal Flatts. David also had a hand in writing five songs himself too and hopes to release "Strangers on a Train" as his next single. The album opens up with a great country & southern soul song called "Mississippi" with a beautiful piano accompaniment by Chuck Leavell and stays solid all the way through to the last note. David's debut is full of soulful vocal delivery and an air of maturity in the lyrics. There are none of the stereotypical mainstream themes that run rampant in Nashville country music like tractors, pick up trucks and chewing tobacco. Instead the songs are about contemplating your own mistakes, longing to be somewhere else and a relationship that ends "At a red light in the sunshine on a Sunday" David has an intensity on stage that matches the quality of his music but he still seemed like he was having fun with his band and is enjoying his newly married life. Click on the title to this post to view more photos.

The Carter Twins @ Joe's

Twin brothers Josh and Zach Carter opened the show up on Friday September 4Th for David Nail. I reviewed their show a few months ago the last time they played at Joe's with the Eli Young band so i wont write about things i mentioned the first time. The Carter Twins have their debut album coming soon, i thought it was supposed to be out in August. They wrote over 8o songs with different songwriters including a few with Lady Antebellum. The Carter Twins are the first group signed to CMT's new label and artist development group CMT music. The Carter Twins worked with producer Frank Rogers on their debut and he has produced all of Brad Paisley and Josh Turner's albums. Click on the title to this post to view more photos from the show at Joe's bar.

Pat Green @ Joe's bar in Chicago

Texas musician and songwriter Pat Green played A Thursday night sold out show at Joe's bar in Chicago and decided to play another packed show the next night August 21st. Governor Pat Quinn was in attendance Thursday night and declared Friday Pat Green day in the state of Illinois. Pat has sold out stadiums and arenas in Texas and is becoming quite a popular musician outside of Texas through his Nashville connections. Known outside of the Lonestar state for his hit "Wave on Wave" and in the state for his many songs about Texas he brought it all with him to Chicago.
Pat is also an advocate for the preservation of the dancehalls located throughout Texas, he is a spokesperson for the Texas dancehall preservation society and has put together a beautiful hardbound book detailing some of the historic and unique dancehalls that he and fellow Texas musicians have played in. Filled with insights and commentary from Wade Bowen, Kevin Fowler, Willie Nelson and Cross Canadian Ragweed and more, each band highlights a particular dancehall that they have played in and has a special meaning or memory to them. You can find this book through Pat Green's official website where you can also find his latest release "What I'm For" on Nashville's BNA records. Click on the title of this post to view more photos from the show.

Love & Theft @ Joe's

Nashville's Love & Theft are three guys that write songs together, sing great harmonies and also take turns as lead vocalists. They each come from a diversely different upbringing and influences but all of them were born in the same year 1984 and all of them are from the South. Love & Theft are signed to a division of Lyric Street records called Carolwood. They have opened for Taylor Swift and last night August 21st they opened for Pat Green. The first single off their soon to be released album is called "Runaway" and its getting them a lot of attention and airplay. Click on the title of this post to see more photos from the show that i took.

Brad Paisley @ Joe's bar

Chicago's US99 WUSN, Blue Chip casino and Coors Light brought us another one of the 8 shows at Joe's this time with none other than Brad Paisley on August 18Th. Brad is known as a guitar guy and is considered one of the best guitarists in any genre. His Telecaster style guitars are built to look like the vintage Fender telecasters from the late fifties to mid sixties by Crook Custom Guitars located in Brad's home state of West Virginia. Paisley kicked the show off with a string of hits from his past five albums (he has released seven including his latest and a Christmas album) like "The World" and "Waiting on a Woman" "I'm still a guy" and also a few from his latest release "American Saturday Night" including his new song "Welcome to the future" where he showed us he had the Pacman video game on his iphone.
Brad's show was all about the music and free of gimmicks and effects concentrating on the almost incomprehensible guitar playing that is embedded into Brads catchy upbeat and often humorous songs. Brad and his band gave the lucky fans who won tickets through Chicago's country music radio station a solid two hour show and it was "Time Well Wasted" who is next in the eight shows at Joe's series? Bucky Covington.
Click on the title of this post to see more photos on Flickr.

Upcoming shows @ Joe's bar in Chicago.

These are shows i am interested in and will be at, there are more listed on the joesbar.com website.

Just announced: Brad paisley August 18th (must win tickets through US99 radio WUSN.com)
Pat Green august 20th and a second show added the next night.
Jack Ingram September 11th
Ernie Hendrickson, Charlie Shafter & the Gnomes with The Randy Rogers band September 18th
No Justice, Charlie Robison and Jason Boland & The Stragglers September 25th
Leeann Womack & the CMA Songwriters festival October 2nd
Jamey Johnson October 3rd (also the Chicago country music festival is the 3rd and 4th with Jamey and Miranda Lambert)
Wade Bowen and Radney Foster October 29th.

Just added: David Nail & the Carter Twins September 4th
Stoney LaRue acoustic show September 28th
Eric Church two nights ! November 6 & 7
Luke Bryan October 13th, another one of the 8 shows at Joe's
Darren Kozelsky and Chris Cagle October 16th
And yes it's true !!  Tim McGraw October 20th........SOLD OUT
Radney Foster & Wade Bowen October 29th
The Casey Donahew Band November 5th
The Band of Heathens November 10th
Cross Canadian Ragweed with Seth James November 21st
The Eli Young Band December 19th
Carrie Underwood December 3rd (another one of the "8 shows at Joe's" win tickets through US99 WUSN radio)
Plus many more and soon to be announced. Check with Joesbar.com

Click on the title of this post to go to Joesbar.com Any questions? feel free to email me: dykhuis.jeff@gmail.com

Frankie Ballard rocks and rolls through Kalamazoo

Frankie Ballard came back up from Nashville on July 23rd to play at the Taste of Kalamazoo on Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) old tour bus, and when i say old tour bus i only mean that it used to belong to him, the bus was amazing. The crowd was there to see him on a Thursday night, and it seemed like everyone was there to see Frankie back with his band in our hometown. During the show he played some new songs he has been working on down in Nashville with songwriters like Rivers Rutherford and Paul Overstreet. He slowed things down for a few songs with a nice acoustic break and even gave away a guitar to a lucky young girl he picked out of the audience. It was great to see him on a bigger stage again with Eddie Robinson on guitar, Bill Justice on drums and Jarrod Sturgis on bass. It wont be long before he heads out on tour, look for him near you soon. Click on the title to this post to visit his myspace page and hear a few songs. Frankie Ballard is signed to Warner Brothers records in Nashville.

Lady Antebellum @ Joe's bar

Verizon Wireless has been sponsoring free shows around the country to lucky subscribers of their services and Fans of Lady Antebellum were treated to a great show Friday June 10th at Joe's bar in Chicago. This was the second show in a row for me that was standing room only in a bar that i am told holds eight hundred people. Everyone was in good spirits including Lady Antebellum and Charles especially seemed upbeat as he was recently married. Alison Bonaguro writes for CMT and was on hand to review the show. Her article can be read by clicking on the title to this post and i was happy to be able to colaborate with her by providing a photo that fit well with the theme of her review. Lady Antebellum has been receiving numerous accolades and awards including Top new duo or group by the Academy of Country Music and two grammy nominations and three CMT awards nominations, but most recently they achieved their first number one song with "I Run to You" written by all three members with the moral support of Nashville songwriter Tom Douglas.

Montgomery Gentry @ Joe's bar

As i drove by the lot where tour buses park on my way to the hotel i saw more vehicles than i have ever seen for a show at Joe's. I counted four tour buses and two semi trucks and then there were a few more out front. This was going to be another huge show. Montgomery Gentry was formed after Troy Gentry won a Jim Beam sponsored national talent contest but he was unable to find a record deal until he teamed up with John Michael Montgomery's brother Eddie. Their partnership with Jim Beam continues to this day as they were on hand to sponsor this show at Joe's last Thursday July 9th. The most recent inductees to the Grand Ole Opry on June 23rd, Montgomery Gentry received a warm welcome inside Joe's with a large banner covered with signatures congratulating them on their achievement. Then with Jim Beam race cars and giant inflated bottles decorating the front of the building Montgomery Gentry launched into a high octane set of all their past and present hits including their most recent song written by Texas singer and songwriter Kevin Fowler "Long Line of Losers" you can hear the original version done by Kevin by clicking on the title to this post.

Todd Snider @ The Intersection

Todd Snider was originally scheduled to play a small acoustic show in the front room of the Intersection in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Friday June 26th before his show on Saturday at the Ark in Ann Arbor. Due to larger than expected ticket sales they had to move the show to the main stage and included Ashliegh Flynn to open the show. It was still an acoustic show but thats the best way to experience Todd and his music. Arriving to the show in his Volkswagen bus armed with a few guitars and his harmonica he took the stage barefoot pausing between songs to talk about them and sometimes just go on his off the wall tangeants that have nothing to do with much of anything but are always humerous. Fans of Todd's were attempting to sneak backstage before and after the show to meet him and give him handmade crafts and handrolled homegrown. Todd played mostly the songs he's known for going back to the "Songs for a Daily Planet" debut album even though he has a new release out called the "excitment plan" produced by Don Was, he chose to stick with his hits like "Play a train song" and "Talking seattle Grunge Rock Blues" to the delight of the crowd. I got to talk with Todd after the show a bit and he signed my hat and posed for a few photos and left in his VW bus to the next show.

Country Fever summary and slide show.

Country Fever in Pryor Oklahoma was an amazing and overwhelming event for me, although it may not have been a great success for the owners and promoters of the venue, i don't know of any final numbers at all. For the bands and musicians and everyone around them it was a coming home for some and a reunion for others. The weather was hot but it didn't rain, the people were incredibly friendly and outgoing, they were passionate about the music that permeates life in Oklahoma. The musicians were supportive of each other and watched each others shows when possible and that's what is so great about this genre labeled red dirt music not to mention the integrity each artist brings to their craft. Thirty seven plus bands and musicians in one location in four days time was incredible for me, i got to see and hear some of my hero's and discover a few more. I have been a fan of red dirt music and Texas country for years but this just solidified it even more for me, I become more discouraged with Nashville's idea of country music everyday, Nashville has an inferior product right now, people who are willing to take the time to search out good music know this and more are learning about this genre and the Americana movement all the time. i want to thank the organizers of Country Fever for taking such a big risk to promote this great music and i need to thank Lindsay at Event Marketing Group and John Cooper of the Red Dirt Rangers as well as Jessie Scott and Musicfog.com for helping me and my friend Rob Watson over the past few months in arranging for us to do this. John has already mentioned having us back next year, we don't know if they can pull of what they did this year and i don't know how they can top such an amazing line up but i hope it happens. I am working on putting together a site with a slideshow for all the hundreds of photos i did not use yet. If you love this music like i do, send me a friend request on Facebook, i have a link to mine further down the right side of the page, i look forward to meeting anyone that loves this great music. Click on the title to this post to view a slide show of over 300 photos of performances from the main stage at Country fever 2009.

Jerry Jeff Walker @ Country Fever

Well i can come up with all kinds of adjectives like, legendary and iconic to describe Jerry Jeff Walker and they are all true. Seeing Jerry Jeff for the first time after listening to his music for years either through one of his records or through someone else covering one of his many songs, i can say that he has only gotten better. His infamous hard partying ways have seemed to mellow him and his voice out which usually that doesnt happen. Jerry had a stellar band with him on stage he introduced as "The Sons of the Pioneers" and played all his hits to the remaining loyal fans that were on hand to watch the last act on the main stage in Pryor. Jerry Jeff has always done things his own way, never compromising his music and has his own record label "Tried & True" so he can do just that. He has played for Presidents and for working folk in the honky tonks and saloons across America, although he was born and raised in New York state he is a true Texas Troubadour and continues to inspire musicians and songwriters around the world with his story telling songs that are both serious and humerous. I was moved sitting there in one of the seats listening to his show after photographing him realizing that Im here actually watching Jerry Jeff Walker on stage. After seeing so many other incredible talent on the main stage as well as the side stages i still gotta admit Jerry Jeff Walker is a master of his craft like no one else will ever be.