Tag Archives: Austin

american, americana, bluegrass, country, Country and Western, Dance Hall, folk, Honky Tonk, Western Swing

CloudwatcherUno Podcast S7 Ep 3 ~ Sterling Drake

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CloudwatcherUno catches up with Sterling Drake in the middle of his “Roll The Dice” tour promoting the EP of the same name. The EP was supposed to come out on vinyl last October but literally every artist under the sun wants to make physical copies of their songs. Melvin Dillon from Soul Step Records collaborated with Sterling to produce a slice of honky tonk, dancehall and western swing heaven. The orange coloured vinyl is a testament to the quality of production and care that goes into each pressing.

“Roll The Dice” by Sterling Drake

Sterling Drake plays timeless country music following in the footsteps of Bob Wills, Merle Haggard and George Strait. Sterling doesn’t put a label on his music, for him it’s just music that has a cultural heritage. Sterling’s peers such Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson and Tyler Childers are breaking from the perceived notion of what country music should sound like and Sterling is also breaking the mould when it comes to this style of country music.

The Man…
The Guitar…
The Country…
“Roll The Dice” EP by Sterling Drake from Soul Step Records

Sterling likes to catalogue the music that he likes on a public forum playlists on Spotify. As for the future Sterling has many many songs that he’s been saving such as old style country songs with a modern twist, bluegrass music and everything in between.

Sterling is looking to tour in the North West in Spring 2022 and the South East later in the winter. Sterling also plays once a month at the Station Inn in Nashville, Tennessee.

Click below to hear more from the podcast with CloudwatcherUno featuring Sterling Drake. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict or wherever you listen to your podcasts

americana, blues, country, folk, rock and roll

CloudwatcherUno Podcast S6 Ep 10 ~ Chris Roberts

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Season 6 of the CloudwatcherUno podcast comes to a close with a fabulous talk with the legend that is Chris Roberts. Chris was born in Austin, Texas, then moved to Aspen, and when we spoke we did so from his new home in Joshua Tree, California where he recorded his most recent EPs ‘Red Feather and ‘Lost and Found’. Chris fell in love with the Californian landscape and the vibe and moved in a blink of an eye.

‘Six Months Too Long‘ by Chris Roberts

Chris can’t wait to travel across the UK and Europe to bring his good time music to audiences who need to listen to this stunning artist and his sensational sound. To Chris it’s just Rock and Roll with a southern voice that gets tagged as Country Music but to Chris labels don’t mean anything. To Chris if you love the music then play another song and another until you are surrounded by the energy and warm embrace of Chris’s lyrics and songs.

‘Hate When You’re Gone‘ by Chris Roberts

Chris’s vision for his music is to showcase his energy, determination to tear the roof off with his rock and roll and bring joy to the fans. For Chris his music and his songs just pours out of him, there is no existential dread, no struggle with a blank page. An example of how awesome Chris’s music is his ‘Red Feather‘ EP which features songs such as ‘Hate When Your Gone‘ and ‘Remember That It’s Me’. An Ep that was made during the pandemic

Chris Roberts ~ A true original voice within the world of music.

Chris is a prolific artist and has also released his ‘Lost And Found‘ EP which features the songs ‘Loving Arms‘ and the classic Sammy Johns track ‘Chevy Van‘. All this from a musician who only recently took up playing piano and guitar. Chris has a gift and it needs to be shared with the world.

‘Jam In The Van‘ with Chris Roberts and his band.

Chris recently moved from Colorado and the most important thing to travel with Chris to Joshua Tree were his books filled with songs. For Chris trying to organise a set list takes time as he wants to give the best performance he can with a combination of killer songs, hooks and melodies. So if you hear that Chris Roberts is playing in venue near you make sure you run, don’t walk to that gig because you will be in the presence of greatness when the lights go up and Chris is on stage.

Click below to hear the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring Chris Roberts. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

americana, country

CloudwatcherUno Podcast S6 Ep 5 ~ The Ransom Brothers

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Sean and Sal talk about how they came up with the name of ‘The Ransom Brothers‘ . They changed the name from Good Springs to a name inspired from the Jimmy Stewart’s character Ransom Stoddard in the movie The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance. Their new song ‘Talk Of The Town‘ is a very honest roots rock kinda sounding song and needs to be played in your kitchen at the loudest volume you can!

‘Talk of the Town‘ by The Ransom Brothers.

Sean is the main songwriter of the band with input from the rest of the musicians for various verses and riffs. For a change fiddle and peddle steel were added to bring an extra dimension to their sound. Opening up for the ‘The South Austin Moonlighters‘ led to an opportunity to meet producer Chris Beale and then come up with a game plan of choosing 4 songs from 20 tracks and release these to radio stations.

Brothers together in the world of music ~ The Ransom Brothers

Harmoni Kelly did the bass tracks on the records and the band are grateful for what she brought to the mix. Sean and Sal talk about growing up in the North Austin and the country lifestyle of barn dancing, bull riding and the allure of cowboy movies and country music. They explain that ‘Texas Country’ is a stripped down country music rather than the Nashville country pop music. Whiskey Myers, Turnpike Troubadours and Jason Isbell are definite influences on the band.

Sean and Sal have very different approaches to writing song, adding harmonies and making sure they don’t use country music clichés. Their next release will be coming out in November 2021 followed by live recordings of songs recorded at 512 Studios in North Austin. Then booking shows in central Texas with a view to more live performances out of the Lonestar State.

Click below to hear the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring The Ransom Brothers. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict or wherever you listen to your podcasts.