Crossroads Coffeehouse & Music Co.: Calendar

Saturday, August 16th, 2008

DENICE FRANKE - CD Release concert! / Adler & Hearne open!

NOTE: Students 18 & under admitted half price.

There was San Marcos. And Austin. And Houston, and bars and auditoriums and coffee shops the world over. There were collaborations with some of the greats of American song, including Nanci Griffith and Eric Taylor. There was time as a bartending folk singer, or a folk singing bartender. But, for Denice Franke, it was Galveston that did the trick. Crossing the causeway, there was something that happened to the air, and it made the breathing seem easier, and it kept the guitar strings in tune.

"It's a weird thing, this feeling that immediately came over me when I would come on to the island," said Franke, whose new Gulf Coast Blue album is a series of portraits and postcards straight out of her new home of Galveston. "Whatever it was, it put me totally in the moment. I took time to walk the beach and play guitar and read and work on songs, and I could dig my heels down and get into stuff that I wouldn't in a noisy environment."

Produced by Mark Hallman (Carole King, Eliza Gilkyson), Gulf Coast Blue is an invitation to terrains internal and external, beautiful and complex. There's grit and danger here. There are secrets revealed and secrets kept close, and motorcycles and sad motels. And there's a feeling that this is something distinct and different from Franke's first two solo albums, each of which were recorded by Lone Star muse Taylor. This isn't a back turned to Franke's past, but it's a page turned, with roots in folk and branches outstretched towards blues and rock.

"You go in to the studio with a clear picture of how it'll play out, and then you get something else," she said. "And that's what you want: You want the songs to do what they're going to do."

On Gulf Coast Blue, Hallman wraps Franke's voice - an instrument that conjures silk and smoke and dusk and other lovely things - within textured settings. Spare piano and percussion adorn "Weather Is Fine," while "Gibraltar" and "Cool Water" are fleshed out with organ, bass and amped-up guitars. Franke's acoustic guitar is the album's instrumental centerpiece, and she plays that guitar with a musical eloquence that is uncommon in this era of bang 'n' strummers. The guitar, the voice and all else work in service to songs populated by seekers and wonderers.

"A lot of the characters in these songs, their lives are associated with the gulf and the water and those surroundings, and the gulf coast ties them all in," Franke said. "It's a collage of different folks who present themselves."

Franke is one of those folks, opening windows to herself as she shines light on Sergio and Tara Lee, the Harley girl and the woman whose skirt "whips like liberty." It's a soft light that Franke shines. It's short of flattering, because flattering is too close to pandering. But there's a kindness inherent in her portraits, just as there's a kindness inherent in the artist. For decades, Franke has worked back roads and highways, touring and recording with Griffith and Taylor, Hal Ketchum and plenty of other notables. After all that, she has emerged with a bag of beguiling words and melodies, and with a wholly unique way of singing and playing for people. Lay your worries down, baby. Leave the nightingale to sing.

Saturday, August 30th, 2008

BILLY JOE SHAVER

This will be the second time Billy Joe performs on the Crossroads stage. Last time he played to a sold-out crowd, so get you tickets early!!

Click on name above to go to Billy Joe's website. To listen to his music, go to http://www.myspace.com/billyjoeshaver

We look forward to a packed house this night for "Everybody's Brother" - the one and only BILLY JOE SHAVER

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

EMILY KAITZ with Drew Pierce!

NOTE: Students 18 & under admitted half price.

We're absolutely delighted to have Emily back to Crossroads this September! Click on this woman's name above and dip into some of the original songs she has posted at her CDBaby site. If you're not already an Emily Kaitz fan, the way her music makes you grin will win you over.

Emily Kaitz, a Fayetteville Arkansas resident since 1998, cut her musical teeth in the vibrant club scene of Austin, Texas where she lived for 21 years and played "every place that had original acoustic music and didn't pay enough."

Emily Kaitz writes songs recorded by Trout Fishing in America, The Therapy Sisters, and The Austin Lounge Lizards. She's recorded six albums of her own songs, which she published under her own label, Pingleblobber Music. Her record label's name ought to give you a clue about the state of her mind, but just in case you haven't gotten the hint from the fact that her music is covered by the likes of Trout Fishing in America and the Austin Lounge Lizards, be alerted to the fact that she is hilariouly twisted.

With a name like Pingleblobber and recording groups like The Therapy Sisters and The Austin Lounge Lizards seeking out her work, it isn't too much of a stretch to guess that Emily's songs are eccentric, intelligent, and strangely humorous. Middle Aged Rock and Rollers Are So Damn Cute took its title from the song by the same name. The lyrics claim that middle aged rock and rollers have bags under their eyes, double chins and a bald spot under their cowboy hats?but damn cute!

Her song "Jay-Walkin" won her the 1983 Austin Music songwriter competition for the best in the Jazz/Soul/Blues category. She's been writing songs in Austin since 1976. She didn't begin performing live until 1980, but has been a regular around town since then.

In 1994, a live album was recorded at La Zona Rosa called Live at the Emily Fest and featuring Emily's songs performed by Christine Albert, The Austin Lounge Lizards, Kris Barnes, The Cow Pattys, Grian Cutean, The Funn Brothers, Gail Lewis, Mike Maddux, Dick Price, The Therapy Sisters, Trout Fishing in America, Caryl P. Weiss, and Emily, too. The Funn Brothers did one of Emily's better known songs, "The Shallow End of the Gene Pool."

Terminally Trendy contains the great number "When I'm Dead, Dress me in Drag." Also on this album, Emily has a duet with Ray Wylie Hubbard on "I Will Stay With."

We also look forward to the awesome, banjo-pickin' sidekick in the seat of the pants Mister Drew Pierce who will join Emily on stage again this evening!!

Saturday, September 13th, 2008

A Night With The Ramseys - Concert & Film

Note: Students 18 and under admitted half price.

More details to come!

Saturday, September 20th, 2008

RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTT (pending)

More to come on this exciting evening as soon as the details are confirmed!

Saturday, September 27th, 2008

ALBERT & GAGE

Saturday, October 4th, 2008

RHETT BUTLER

Saturday, October 11th, 2008

BEATLEGRAS

NOTE: Students 18 & under admitted half price.

The band Beatlegras was first formed when I asked both George and Milo if they wanted to do a studio project with me, taking Beatle songs and doing bluegrass arrangements with them. Knowing they were both very busy musicians I told them we would be 3 equal partners in whatever happened but meanwhile, I would pay them whatever I could. I also told Milo that George Anderson was going to do it while I was telling George the same thing about Milo. Thankfully they both decided to give it a try and it wasn't long before we realized we had something special.

I remember my first session with Milo, I showed him a list of possible songs to start with. He stared at it for a while, then his head started moving to a rhythm in his mind and he finally said, "Let's do Back in the U.S.S.R." He grabbed my guitar and started playing this really fast guitar solo line which I thought sounded really cool but I wasn't hearing anything that sounded like Back in the U.S.S.R. I said "that sounds awesome" thinking I would be playing some simple vamp behind it I asked "What do you want me to play to go with it?" He said, that's YOUR guitar part I'm gonna double it on mandolin. I've been hangin on like an innertube behind a boat ever since. At the end of the session I pulled out my check book and and started to write when Milo said, "What are you doing?" I said I want to pay you your normal rate. He said "You're trying to cut me out aren't you". I knew He was in.

When I first asked George, I said "Hey George I got this idea. I want to do this project that I hope turns into a band. It's gonna be doing Beatle songs on bluegrass instruments" He was smiling and listening until I said "and I want YOU to play Bass." He stopped smiling and just stared at me for a while then very uncomfortably said "But Dave I didn't grow up listening to The Beatles and playing bluegrass is not what I really do." I said "and that's why you'll be perfect for this! It's gonna be all about thinking outside the box and being true to our own influences and ideas." I asked George to listen to some Beatle songs, most of which he had never heard of. I knew he was in when he called back later and enthusiastically said "Dave, these are GREAT songs we've GOT to do this". I said "I know and the good news is there's about 200-300 to pick from!" Anyway- that's how we got started and I hope you hear and see the joy and passion we have in doing this. The Beatles were truly a phenomena that changed everything from a musical and cultural point of view. We truly hope to honor their music in our own way.

Dave Walser

Saturday, October 18th, 2008

MALCOMB HOLCOMBE

Saturday, October 25th, 2008

JIMMY LAFAVE / BettySoo opens!

Yup. We've already booked him again. Just can't get enough. Click on Jimmy's name above to link directly to his web site. And make plans NOW! That's usually the final weekend of Winnsboro's famed Autumn Trails month of festivities -- and most likely is the weekend of the Antique Car Parade on that Saturday morning. An event that draws majillions of people to our humble little hamlet here in the East Texas Piney Woods. What better way to cap off the night than to fall asleep hearing Jimmy's song "Revival" playing in your sweet dreams. ENJOY!

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

DIDDLEY SQUAT

Saturday, November 8th, 2008

TOM KIMMEL

NOTE: Students 18 & under admitted half price.

We're excited about getting one of our favorite songwriters back to Crossroads! You won't want to miss this evening of music at Crossroads.

Saturday, November 22nd, 2008

BRIAN BURNS

Monday, December 1st, 2008

ADLER & HEARNE / Kate Hearne opens!

Saturday, January 17th, 2009

ELIZA GILKYSON

NOTE: Students 18 & under admitted half price.

More details to come! Click on name above to go to Eliza's site, or copy and paste www.myspace.com/elizagilkyson to listen to her music on MySpace.

Saturday, January 31st, 2009

JONATHAN BYRD and CORINNE WEST

This show will be a co-bill with Jonathan Byrd and Corrine West. We're excited about both Jonathan and Corrine coming back to play the Crossroads stage.

http://www.myspace.com/jonathanbyrd
http://www.myspace.com/corinnewest

Saturday, March 14th, 2009

JOHNSMITH

Click on name above to go to John's website.

Saturday, June 20th, 2009

TERRI HENDRIX