Tag Archives: texas country

21st Century Folk, bluegrass, Country and Western, Jazz, Robert Ellis, Songbird, texas country, Texas music scene, Texas Piano Man

CloudwatcherUno 100th Episode ~ S10 Ep 10 ~ Robert Ellis

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The 100th episode of the CloudwatcherUno podcast is out now with Robert Ellis. He is a special artist. To me, a true definition of a poet who captures the real everyday life of us mere mortals. Robert has a history of generating classic country and bluegrass songs but also mixing in some alternative pulsating melodies. His songs are dramatic folk-pop for the common man, a way of escaping these terra firma chains.

CloudwatcherUno Podcast 100th Episode with Robert Ellis

We caught up with this Texas Piano Man, in a recording studio where his skills as a listener and producer were being used to make beautiful music. His larger than life persona personified in his album of 2019 has now given way to a much more introspective sound that will be heard on his new album. Just listen to “Yesterday’s News” to see how this song adds to Robert’s musical vocabulary.

“Yesterday’s News” by Robert Ellis

Robert’s songs are awesomesaurous, they connect with you in a way that very few songs do, basically ear candy for those who want to listen to real music. It’s on stage that Robert truly shines and he recently supported Courtney Marie Andrews in the UK bringing a stripped back acoustic sound.

Texas Piano Man – Robert Ellis

Robert sings from the heart and his songs are an antidote for those who want to feel more than this earth can offer. He is fantastic live, you really need to see his show if you get a chance.

“Topo Chico” by Robert Ellis

So add some Robert Ellis songs to your playlist, get your friends to join in with the conversation with CloudwatcherUno and Robert Ellis. Click the link below and also streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

americana, Big Talk, bluegrass, Country and Western, Honky Tonk, Jarrod Dickenson, nashville, Red Dirt Country, texas country, Texas music scene, Troubadour, Waco, Texas

CloudwatcherUno Podcast S10 Ep 9 ~ Jarrod Dickenson

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In this 99th episode of the CloudwatcherUno Podcast we catch up with gentleman troubadour himself Jarrod Dickenson. The wandering minstrel originally hails from Waco, Texas and after spells in New York , this singing sensation has settled in Tennessee. Travelling all over Europe he met his wife and bandmate Claire Dickenson in Belfast and this versatile vocalist has become the special ingredient to his sound on stage and on record.

“Take It From Me” by Jarrod Dickenson

We have a “Big Talk” about Jarrod’s new album, his inspirations and his music. We also talk about Jarrod’s Battle Royale with a major label and the deal that went sour big time when the label did their utmost to sabotage the release of his album “Ready The Horses” but it took a Jarrod and Goliath battle to get the rights back to his own music. Jarrod’s musical riposte to all of these shenanigans is the song “Buckle Under Pressure” which you can hear on his latest album.

“Gold Rush” by Jarrod Dickenson

That wasn’t the only battle that Jarrod has been fighting, complications from Covid-19 left Jarrod with a lifelong health condition. All of this drama has been poured into Jarrod’s music and especially into the latest album. With the help of Jano Rix, Ted Pecchio, J P Ruggieri, Oliver Wood and Ethan Johns this album is a testament to the true grit of this southern artist.

Suave and sophisticated is this southern gem Jarrod Dickenson

Jarrod has recently been to these Isles of Britannia having done a tour of the UK and Europe. He’ll be back over here again to support Amanda Shires in June and performing on stage at Black Deer Festival – Americana & Country Music Festival in June 2023. So do your ears a favour and get you to a gig to listen to this magnificent Texan artist.

Jarrod Dickenson has a fine moustache….sadly it can’t compete with CloudwatcherUno!

Click below to join in with the conversation with CloudwatcherUno and Jarrod Dickenson. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

americana, country, Country and Western, East Texas, Honky Tonk, Music Row, texas country, Texas music scene, Western Swing

CloudwatcherUno Podcast Season 8 Finale ~ Ep 10 ~ Jonathan Terrell

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This is the CloudwatcherUno S8 Finale ~ Episode 10 with Jonathan Terrell and it’s a fantastic way to end the current season. JT is the ultimate renaissance artist he’s a cosmic cowboy, singer songwriter, film director, photographer and DJ.

“I Know” by Jonathan Terrell

We talk about his upcoming EP, “A Couple 2, 3,” his singles “Better For You” and “I Know”. His signing with Range Records @range.records Sharing his experiences touring with Midland most recently in Europe. When Jonathan’s not doing a million and one creative things all at the same time he’s finding time to playing golf with @markaroo (lead singer of Midland) and the one and only Arkansas troubadour @dylanearl.music

Photo: Mike Dunn

The EP comes out on September 9th 2022 although the final mix was done in January of this year. JT is excited to get this music out to the world. It’s a big step forward musically from his previous albums “Trails & Stimulation” (2008), “Past The Lights Of Town” (2015) and “Westward” (2020). JT never wants to put out the same album twice and takes inspiration from some of his favourite bands who stayed ahead of the curve and make new sounds to engage the audience.

Photo: CloudwatcherUno

JT is always looking to constantly refresh his music continuously to inspire his music and art and keep it all fresh. JT says that music is his forte and it was only after speaking to another artist who said that he needed to have other artistic endeavours such as photography. So he practised for over 3 years with his camera in hand taking photographs on the road and at his DJ residency. JT’s passion allows his creativity to stretch himself as a artist and musician.

Photo: Neil Perry

We talk about what it means to be a musician in this day and age when singers become Tik Tok famous but it doesn’t translate to the real world of live gigs and touring that traditional artists have gone through as a right of passage into the world of music.

Photo: CloudwatcherUno

JT’s next single release from the EP is “Texas” co-written with Jess Carson from Midland Then JT will be on tour with William Clark Green in September 2022 and will be promoting the EP and the singles out on the road.

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

americana, country, Country and Western, Red Dirt Country, texas country, Texas music scene, Western Swing

CloudwatcherUno Podcast S8 Ep 4 ~ Billy Hartman

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Reverend Billy Hartman blesses us with a fabulous chat on the CloudwatcherUno podcast from his hometown in Stephenville, Texas. We catch up on his plans for his follow up album to “Beans and Cornbread” his 2020 release. We delve into the why’s and how’s of bringing such modern classics as “Cheese and Taters“, “Forrest“, “Railroad Blues” and “Divine Town” to life and the enjoyment of the listening public.

“Divine Town” by Billy Hartman

On a particularly warm and humid day Billy talks about what it means to be an independent artist during the pandemic, living in Texas, becoming an ordained minister of The Universal Life Church, producing music with other musicians such as Zach Pack and by extension James Steinle who’ve now become friends and vice versa. Billy will be recording his new album at Melody Mountain Studios near the house which gives Billy more control around recording the album. Ben Hussey will record and produce the album.

The one and only Reverend Billy Hartman

After a period of self reflection and Billy uses his diary entries as his therapy and as the source for coming up with his lyrics and songs over the last couple of years. Billy’s musical heroes were pretty much the gold standard of country music from George Jones, Webb Pierce and Johnny Cash to name a few. Listening to these artists is what got Billy started on the musical path he’s been on rather than mainstream artists such as Garth Brooks. Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle and Guy Clark‘s “Together at The Bluebird” truly inspired and made Billy strive to capture that level of quality in song writing and musicianship. John Prine also figures largely in Billy’s songcraft.

“Cheese and Taters” by Billy Hartman

What finally pushed Billy into writing was having problems with his high school girlfriend which got Billy started into writing songs and paying attention to alliteration in songs and wordplay. “Sunday Morning, Coming Down” by Kris Kristofferson from 1970 is a perfect example of what Billy is trying to achieve with his own songs.

There’s cool and then there’s Billy Hartman

Looking forward Billy and Zack Pack will be singing together for the Hico Steak Cookoff in Texas on Saturday 21st May 2022. There’s also local clubs that Billy will be playing live with Zack Pack.

Billy Hartman always recommends you smoke ’em if you’ve got them.

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

american, americana, country, Country and Western, Red Dirt Country

Artist Showcase with Jaret Ray Riddick

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At C2C Festival in London 2022 CloudwatcherUno got an exclusive with Jaret Ray Riddick on his press tour to promote his new country album “Just Woke Up“. The frontman for the pop punk band “Bowling For Soup” Jaret was inspired during lockdown to explore his country roots after speaking with his friend Zac Maloy who also produced the album. The Texan is very familiar with the genre having listened to and grown up with the greats of country music such as Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, George Jones as a child.

Jaret Ray Riddick at C2C Festival, London. Photograph : CloudwatcherUno © 2022

Jaret was convinced that this is what he needed to produce so much so that he brought his band to play for the first time in Europe’s biggest country festival for the first time. For those who may have doubted whether this was a good idea , I for one can report that when Jaret went onto the Town Square Stage it was completely sold out.

“One Of The Good Ones” by Jaret Ray Riddick

We talk together in his hotel room in Greenwich, London and talk about album and how he wants to showcase red dirt country music, great lyrics and a story to grab fans hearts and minds. Jaret collaborated with artists such as Frank Turner who features on “Drunk As It Takes“. There’s also a cameo for Uncle Kracker on the album opener “Way More Country“, Descendents guitarist Stephen Egerton features on Natalie, and Cody Canada of The Departed appears on “You And Beer“.

With Jaret Ray Riddick

We talk about the inspiration for his songs and in particular “Royal Family” which is based on his real life biological sisters tracking him down four years ago and Jaret connecting to a family he never knew he had. Going forward Jaret is looking to get established as a country singer as well as his more well established pop punk band.

Click below to hear the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring Jaret Ray Riddick. 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.

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CloudwatcherUno Podcast S5 Ep 8 ~ Dallas Burrow

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Dallas Burrow’s voice will take you away to a country that only exists in his heart and his music. It’s called Texas, the Lone Star State that is so mythical in the world of music it seems to fill the listener with dreams of how they too could live the life of an adventurer without a care in this world.

Dallas Burrow follows in the fine song writing tradition of Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark.

Born and raised in Texas, his first experiences of the country music world were from his father (a blood brother of Townes Van Zandt and friend of Guy Clark). Dallas Burrow continued the song writing tradition with his first album like 2019’s ‘Southern Wind‘, and now his sophomore self titled album ‘Dallas Burrow‘

‘Country Girl‘ by Dallas Burrow

To record the album, Dallas went old school in the production of the album by recording to two-inch analogue tape by producer Bruce Robison. He met Bruce while going on tour with the living legend that is Charley Crockett. The end result is the nearest you’ll get to hearing Dallas and his band play live. Dallas recorded the album with bassist Sterling Finlay (Todd Snider), guitarist Larry Chaney (Steve Earle), pianist Kullen Fox (Charley Crockett, Paul Cauthen), violinist Bryan Duckworth (Robert Earle Keen), steel guitarist and dobro player Dan Johnson (Hank III), slide guitarist Chad Pope (Dale Watson), pedal steel guitarist Cody Angel (Jason Boland), drummer Josh Blue (Bruce Robison’s band), and guitarist Chris Kues (Burrow’s own touring lineup).

Dallas Burrow, Texan through and through.

“ I’ve realized that being a family man is perhaps life’s greatest adventure so far. I’m still writing about the adventures I’ve had… I’m just embracing a new kind of adventure.“

‘American Dream‘ by Dallas Burrow

Stand out tracks are ‘American Dream‘ and ‘Country Girl‘ with the epic ‘Outlaw Highway‘. It’s an album that brings fire to the soul, showcases how much travelling around the world as influenced this Texan adventurer and presents a man reborn and this is the soundtrack to his new life.

‘Dallas Burrow‘ out on Friday 23rd July 2021

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

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CloudwatcherUno Podcast S5 Ep 5 ~ Dustin Brown

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Dustin Brown is living his life finally playing live music with all the enthusiasm and passion he can to excite his audiences again. Finally after quite a few years doing different jobs and living different lives Dustin is once again a fully fledged paid-up member of the musical fraternity. With the release of ‘Dreamer’s Last Drifter‘ his album from 2020 Dustin has shown what an amazing cosmic energy he brings to the world of music.

‘You‘ by Dustin Brown.

Dustin recorded the album as an acoustic album and then change his mind to make it a full band experience. You was recorded as a breakup song and relationships that disintegrate. Most of Dustin’s music is what he feels in his gut and how you can express that in musical form. Dustin’s grandfather and two of his sisters were and are accomplished musicians and a lot of Dustin’s creativity comes from the need to play guitar and express his voice. Townes van Zandt is a musical hero and influences his song writing style.

Dustin Brown in action.

Modern psychedelic rock stuff mixed with folk music is the only label that Dustin likes to put upon himself and his music. During a pandemic Dustin has been working on his sophomore album and has been putting all his energies into his music music that makes him happy and hopefully his followers happy when they hear it when they seem live or when the album comes out.

‘Dreamers Last Drifter‘ by Dustin Brown

For the future Dustin will be releasing new album in the summer of 2021. This was recorded with his band Dustin Brown and The Now. Dustin and the band have taken the time just to make sure that the listener gets chill experience. New singles should be coming out very soon.

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

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CloudwatcherUno Podcast S4 Ep 8 ~ Nick Garza’s Get Along

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Nick Garza comes from a long line of Texans and it’s this history combined with the music of the great state that influences his lyrics, songs and outlook on life. On this podcast CloudwatcherUno and Nick talk about the stories behind his songs ‘I’ll take another Margarita‘, ‘Muchacha‘ ‘Take me down to San Antonio‘ and ‘Denial‘, We also hear Nick sing acoustic versions of some of the songs and the collaboration process with other artists such as Augie Meyers and Los Texmaniacs.

Muchacha by Nick Garza’s Get Along (feat. Augie Meyers and Los Texmaniacs)

Nick also answers the life-and-death question of which city has the best tacos is it Austin or San Antonio? We talk about how it sometimes takes weeks and months to finish a song and how he uses a voice recorder memo function on his phone to put down ideas for his music. He currently has 2500 voice memos Which all could turn into fully fledged songs.

Denial by by Nick Garza’s Get Along (feat. Kelsey Wilson)

Now that the world is slowly opening up Nick is focusing on releasing singles all the rich would complete his first album and then being able to play those songs in front of a live audience. I for one can’t wait to hear new music from the Tex-Mex legend that is Nick Garza.

The legend that is Nick Garza’s Get Along

Click down below to hear the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring Nick Garza’s Get Along. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict and many other platforms.

Nick Garza from the podcast. Photo: CloudwatcherUno

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CloudwatcherUno Podcast S4 Ep5 ~ Brandon Padier

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Brandon Padier sits down with host CloudwatcherUno as they talk about the inspiration behind his albums ‘Brothers Of The Flood‘(2020), ‘Rock and Roll Heart of Gold‘ (2019) and ‘To God Be The Glory‘ (2018) such songs as ‘Once Again (I’m Alone)‘ ‘The Hardest Thing‘ and ‘To God Be The Glory‘ his musical history of being in the band ‘Adopted Kids‘, and how being the guitar player led to him becoming a singer. His musical influences such as The Beatles, Jason Isbell, Neil Young, Tom Petty, The Band and The Grateful Dead are evident in the songs that he has released.

Brandon Padier ~ Stunning vocals combined with a spiritual soul makes for an original artist.
‘The Hardest Thing’ by Brandon Padier

For a self confessed introverted personality Brandon comes to life when talking all things music, art and culture. Taking that first step into song writing was only natural after having written the songs themselves. we talk about how music is a universal language and his love of playing instruments such as the piano and trombone and especially those that challenge him especially the fiddle and the sitar.

Looking forward to the new album from Brandon Padier.
‘To God Be The Glory’ by Brandon Padier

Brandon is working on his new album and is being influenced by The Byrds, Wings era McCartney. The songs for this album are akin to tackling life in these pandemic times and universal concepts of isolation. The magic will be turning these simple concepts but turning them into something incredibly profound.

‘Everything Falls Apart’ by Brandon Padier
Brandon Padier from the podcast. Photo: CloudwatcherUno

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