Turn the Paige Foundation benefit @ The Hogcreek Icehouse.

Sunday morning i was still asleep when Jason Boland's bus fired up and headed up the road from Austin to Waco but i woke up to have some coffee and look out the window. We arrived at the Hogcreek Icehouse around 10:30 am and crews were in the process of setting up the stage and the Hogcreek staff were making sure things would run smoothly. I went inside and uploaded photos from the Lonestar State Jam so i could continue shooting and introduced myself to Keli Pierce who is the driving force behind the Turn the Paige foundation which has been started in her daughter Paige's name after her untimely passing last October. The Turn the Paige foundations goal is to bring about awareness and promote becoming an organ donor. Paige was an organ donor who ultimately saved the lives of seven other people who were in need of transplants. Through a series of concerts and festivals they hope to sign up as many organ donors as possible.
The music started around 12:30 with the Chad Hammock Band based out of Bryan Texas and for most of the day i got to hear some music by bands that i have either only heard of by name or never heard of at all. I liked the Chad Hammock band and their manager known as Parmer was a hoot. The Scooter Brown band came on next, these guys tour all over Texas as do most of these bands opening for some of the biggest acts in Texas music. Scott Brown is a former Marine who spent some time in Iraq and spent some of that time performing music for fellow soldiers before starting the Scooter Brown Band with his best friend who has since left for a career as a fireman in Houston. One of the guys i hear a lot of good things about was on next, Josh Langston. Originally slated to play the indoor stage at Hogcreek he was moved to the outside stage for a few songs. Josh played a few acoustic songs with T-Ray accompanying him on guitar. Josh is based out of College Station Texas. Huntsville Texas band the Cody Johnson band took the stage next, i really liked these guys. The Cody Johnson band is more straight forward Texas country which was a nice change during the day from the Red Dirt sound of the previous bands. Cody and his band played a fantastic version of Bob Seger's "Turn the Page" that had everyone impressed.
One of Paige's close friends took the stage next, Aubrey England played some acoustic songs that she wrote including one naughty song about a float trip on the river with Paige that turned into quite the party. The Zach Edwards Band was on next and maybe it was his reputation that preceded him or just the mediocre music but i just didn't get into it. Later i heard that he had been talking crap about Keli and Lane some of the festivals organizers and that Zach was offered a guest list like all the other bands but that Zach was the only one to turn it in (late) with 19 people on it! remember this is a benefit, Johnny Cooper and Jason Boland could have friends on the guest list and so could the other bands but they chose to respect the reason the whole festival was about.
Johnny Cooper and his band was up next as the sun was beginning to go down. I haven't seen Johnny since last June in Pryor Oklahoma so i was looking forward to hearing how the songs on "Follow" his latest record translated into a live show. Johnny knows how to entertain and his band is well rehearsed and offer a sound that is far from your typical Red Dirt sound that lately has a hard time doing anything original. Johnny beat boxes, he has a DJ scratching and mixing in effects and a good funky rhythm section. Click on this link to my other site to see a video of Johnny Cooper performing "Can't Hold Onto You/Nothing at All" at the Hogcreek Icehouse. Johnny Cooper will be up this way soon playing a show at joe's bar in Chicago and his respect for what the Turn the Paige Foundation is doing was evident all day long as i saw him direct quite a few people from his own merchandise table over to the Foundations displays.
Jason Boland & The Stragglers were the nights final act to hit the stage and even though the crowd was not nearly what we had hoped for Jason and the Stragglers still put on a show just like they did the night before in Austin. Jason also had respect for what the Turn the Paige Foundation is doing and could have easily chose to play somewhere else but instead took the time to help promote this cause. All in all it was a very successful day, "Rita" showed up and took photos of the Red Dirt Hurricane girls and blogged on her iPhone all day, new friends were made, caught up with old friends, heard some new music and i was really impressed with the look and feel of the venue that is the Hogcreek Icehouse and their staff. Become a friend of the Turn the Paige foundation on Facebook and keep up to date with what is going on as its going to get bigger and better with lots of good things coming up. Click here to view more photos.