Ready to face the machine guns... of Mo McMorrow

SIX years ago I ran home to write my weekly music blog after a wonderful singer-songwriter performed at the Corner Cafe here in Navasota, and in a rare instance, I experienced writer's block. I'm sure now I was afraid I had lost my objectivity, and sure I would be too much in love with the performer to be credible... And also painfully aware that my take on her music might be appreciated by her the least... (I had gotten some angry feedback at that time from some of the visiting musicians who hated my reviews...)  So I let it brew awhile.  

And then I forgot about it. Sorry Mo! I am ready to face the machine guns!

I do not believe in re-incarnation. But sometimes a song comes along which seems to connect me with an eternal, primeval chain of souls who reach for me from out of the past-  and possesses me- hand-in-glove, through the singer. And I have to admit that when this happens, it is usually some kind of music which is derived from Irish traditions.

Sure I love folk and country and rock and roll, and I'm learning to appreciate blues. The first time I felt this supernatural Irish effect was listening to an Eddie Rabbitt 8-track. He sang a mystical song about Ireland like he knew and loved it with all of his being... and as I listened, I too became Irish. Man I went there! An exceptional musician can do that. The same way Blind Willie Johnson and Al Green baptized me African American, and Merle Haggard brought me into the brotherhood of ex-cons. It is something wonderful and spiritual and completely a divine fruit of the imagination. Music is a way we can all celebrate the brotherhood of man... and YES woman... I am a woman whenever I listen to Jewel, or Crystal Gayle.

But when my daughter introduced me to Steeleye Span... I was a goner. I became Irish in my soul of souls, and the rest was just quaint cultural exchange. I was grooving to words I could not even understand. You Tube then fed me an infinite dive into “my past.” The crying fiddles, the driving rhythms, and tenor ecstasies... and sometimes bagpipes that choke me up when they just begin to whine. They reset my emotions instantly. 

(Click below for Cam Ye O'er Frae Franc by Steeleye Span... several versions, I love the shorter studio version the best, second from the left, but all worth listening to)

http://search.aol.com/aol/video?s_it=sb-top&s_chn=prt_bon&v_t=comsearch-aolnewtab-t&q=you+tube+steeleye+span+cam+ye+o+frae+franc

When I discovered the anthem Erin Go Bragh (Ireland forever!), I was sure I was hearing the caress of my ancestral heartstrings...
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3Nqg2ohiDY

When they sing FACE THE MACHINE GUNS for Erin Go Bragh, I am so ready! 

Still, I had no clue what these folks were so mad about... But it was inspiring to be exposed to such conviction, such unanimity, all shared through soulful poetry.

 Mo McMorrow

So if you understand or even relate to any of this you will probably enjoy Mo McMorrow... a darlin' lass of Irish extraction who sings here in Texas like a passionate angelic missionary. And you will grow to love her recordings like Irish Gold from across the sea. I heard her first in Schulenburg, Texas at a downtown festival... She had commandeered a beauty parlor for the evening and won everyone's hearts... and most of them were of hard-core German extraction. I played her first CD (Excellent: Mona Lisas Don't Cry) until it had so many dings in it that it became irritating... I had to find another one... That led me to her next album.

McMorrow's album called Hangin' from a Nail (2013) continues her weaving of American and Irish traditions, and within she does her own version of the Irish standard, Spancil Hill.

Just twenty-three, Michal Considine wrote this song in the 1800's while dying in the gold fields of California. A native-born Irishman, his gaelic impetuousness led him to seek riches in a faraway land. And there he perished. But before he passed away, his adventure over, his gift of Irish poetry captured his epic regret as he realized he would never see Ireland, or the love of his life, again. He sent the song on where he could never go, to say good bye to everything he loved about his beloved home.

It was a very sad song, full of poetic, cultural pride and ethos. Thank goodness, the Irish loved it, and it has become a national anthem, if not a warning to NEVER LEAVE, ever since.

 Spancil Hill is the site of a traditional horse fair in County Clare.

You see, Irish music traditions are built on the same foundation as blues; Oppression and depression and the human struggle to endure. The music is large, hearty, focusing on the “small” people with huge loves, hates and passions. It is a catharsis for its audience, salving their hurts, but finding oneness in corporate self-pity and identity in a people chained to their own negativity. Like blues it will never go away as long as oppression (and Ireland!) exists. When you hear this music you remember your own pains and sufferings, and find comfort and community in the music. And it is good every once in awhile to free this stuff, which we tend to internalize, out of our systems. Thus Irish music has a very liberating effect.

So the Irish will always be the proud custodians of bedrock melancholy and discontent. Maybe it is in their DNA. Thankfully some of us have escaped. Mo is one, one of those exceptional musicians, transforming her passion for life and lore into soulful, engaging, inspiring performances.

But some of us have never escaped, or even sadder, never known what we escaped. But if you want to know... If you have a restless, wandering soul, if you are feelin' a bit Irish... Get Hangin' on a Nail, and especially Spancil Hill... but fetch your box of tissues first. Click below to have your socks blown off!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqKJs5ZLe3o

Serendipity- and Bob Livingston Returns

If you hung out around Navasota a few years ago, you will remember a little place called Serendipity’s. Later Phil Heibeler, the owner sold the business and then got it back, and re-invented it and renamed it The Corner Café. Phil’s new vision was a café with Live music, and he featured about two years of excellent Friday evening mini-concerts he called a singer-songwriter series. I actually began this blog to try to help him promote the music scene here in Navasota, the “Blues Capital of Texas.” Every Friday night I was there at the Corner Café photographing and staying up very late writing the blogs while they were fresh on my mind.

In the process some of the musicians enjoyed my comments and used them on their websites. My photos went all over the Internet, and Phil had me blow some up and put them on his café walls. They looked good there, and I felt real cool coming in the place and feeling the art and the fun and the live music even when it was not there. Then Phil went out of business again, and left for greener pastures. He sold me the big enlarged photos I had made for his cafe, and suddenly I had these huge cumbersome things all over my studio. I’m talking 30” x 40” canvases of George Ensle, David Lutes, Susan Herndon, Bob Livingston and Brian Ashley Jones.

These folks are not exactly huge stars, but they are in my universe. Still, I was not sure what needed to happen to them, I just did not want them to leave Navasota, like the rest of our music history.

Anyway, all that to say that one of the big plans was to have each of the artists back some day and they could sign their canvases. You know, with one of those big gold pens. Of course other than one of them, that never happened. Now fast-forward a couple of years.

Sunday I was keeping the store at Blues Alley, something I rarely do any more, and had an average day and was about to close when two dudes strolled in. They arrived all smiles and commenting what a great town Navasota seemed to be… one of the prettiest towns in “East Texas” one of them offered. This identified them as Austinites. Everyone around here knows we are in CENTRAL TEXAS.  OK, we are on the edge... of three distinct geographical regions... Still, I had to agree that Navasota is one of the prettiest towns around... I bragged a little and tried to sell them a cheap guitar...

One of them asked about the Corner Café.  I shared the tragic loss of the wonderful little music venue we enjoyed for several years. And then one of them said, almost under his breath that he had performed there. I pondered that, for I had seen most of the shows. 

Bob Livingston

The only one of the performers he could have been was Bob Livingston, but Bob is taller, younger and clean shaven.

Bob Livingston is sort of a living piece of Texas music history, a Texas songwriter, once a member of the Lost Gonzo Band and running the roads with Michael Martin Murphy, Gary P. Nunn and other Texas Music Legends. This guy was no Bob Livingston. “You say you played at the Corner Café? What is your name?”

“Bob Livingston.”

Well you can imagine that, after insulting him mercilessly, I adapted quickly and invited Bob Livingston up to my studio to see my collection of Texas musicians… and he graciously offered to sign my canvas of his former countenance. It was a great mini-moment… One of the long Lost Gonzos had been found, right in my studio! Felt kinda like Neil Armstrong when he first stepped on the Moon. He even posed for a picture.

Songwriter and world traveler Bob Livingston poses with his obsolete portrait. I urged him to keep the beard. I was hoping he would give me the hat. I'm pretty sure he is thinking... "What a moron!"

And I had not been scheduled to keep the store like that, in YEARS. So Phil, that’s two down… three to go. Thanks to... your serendipity. 

This might take a while, but I‘m thinkin’ we gotta GO FOR IT!

Maybe one of the coolest country crooners to come along in a long time...

You need to watch this guy... Actually you need to listen to him first, then run go snatch up his music, while you can... he's going to be hhhhhhhot.

The Charlie Lucas Band. That's Charlie on the right...

It took me awhile to peg this group... you know that's what music writers do; compare, analyze, dissect. Lucas' voice is a leaner version of Mac Powell's, the Grammy Award winning lead singer for the Christian rock group Third Day. He has been one of my favorite vocalists of all time. The Charlie Lucas Band is a full blown semi metal-rock group, and they could cover ZZ Top or Guns and Roses or Billy Idol, no sweat. The songs, some of them original, are thoughtful, classic, and thank goodness, not all about boozing and chasing booty. But what sets Lucas apart is his amazing countenance.. a confident, friendly smile. When he is on stage, he looks... IS... very comfortable and just damn happy, as he smiles at the audience, at his musicians, at the folks walking by. And soon the people feel themselves smiling back. It's that smile that will take him all the way to the top.

Here just a couple of them entertain the lunch crowd at the Corner Cafe in Navasota.

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Partytime! Friday after work!

Navasota Blues Alley is having another blues bash, free beer and refreshments,and featuring the meaty amusement of our own Chris Puente, who has turned out to be a world class entertainer, who travels all over the world playing special venues that hunger for blues and Americana. Chris and his lady friend play the classic, historic music of the common man, with uncommon flare and grit... Don't miss it! TOMORROW!

Susan Gibson! Tonight!

You know, "Wide Open Spaces!" At the Corner Cafe in Navasota! THURSDAY... That's TODAY for most of you! Come as your favorite saint... Mine was Susan St. James...

2 Bit Palomino!

This incredible day ended with an intimate concert by 2 bit palomino at the Corner Cafe. The Renfrees have teamed up with Bill Ward to form a great little folk-Americana- you name it- band. All original songs, with their usual zeal, and now with the veteran finesse of a git down picker and piano man. Ward has an interesting gravelly voice and sings a fun song about a child riding one of those grocery store mechanical ponies... a 2 bit palomino... hence their new name. But there is nothing 2-bit about their sound. These performers already sound like they have been playing together for a long time. You know that is true when the show seems too short!

Rick Droit

It's Friday and I still have not changed my mind... the best music in town is at the Corner Cafe! More shots of the Rick Droit concert last week.

I gotta hand it to Phil...

The guy has really good taste... in music... he studies his Navasota music venue like a general going into battle. Thanks Phil for so often bringing GREAT music to our town! The Corner Cafe rocks!

Kevin Higgins... is ... the BEST!

Jimmenychristmas!, what a show Friday night! Navasota's Corner Cafe took its place again this summer, as THE place with excellent LIVE music, every Friday night. I've been distracted with a book I'm writing, and have not been the usual raving lunatic, BUT, But, Butt, but YOU have been missing it if you have not heard Mo Mc Morrow, Brent Lee Croucher, and this last show, Kevin Higgins and his DIVINE Wife Barbara Malteze. Kevin, we are warning you, we want your wife, so you better stay away...

What a couple... what exquisite ART, with a capital A. Take Gordon Lightfoot, the Eagles and Crosby, Stills and Nash...mash them all together and extract the granola, you might imagine this OUTSTANDING act. Sure, he is Texas songwriter of the year, song of the year, yaddda yadda ya, this freaking long haired hippie with a Spanish moss haircut, but a dead aim throwback to the very best of the 70's Texas Progressive Country, with a woman that sings like Aretha Franklin on a good day. This couple does all original masterpieces with casual perfection, delicious harmonies that are... orgasmic, OK, I'm sorry, there I said it!

Higgins grabbed me hook,line and sinker, perhaps the most endearing act I have seen since Corner Cafe began to present its songwriter's series. Hey, I only worship God, but when these guys sing, you feel like the power of Creation is about to come through the floor. Favorite song: OUT IN THE FIELDS, Oh my God!

It's a song about a tornado that takes you up so high you swear you're hugging Dorothy and Toto and freefalling over Nebraska... And a deeply beautiful song about falling in love at the Grand Canyon, called "Infinity," that makes you stare into the depths of your own love, for that special someone. JimmenyCHRISTMAS! YOU FOLKS NEED TO WAKE UP AND SMELL THE NAPALM. Kevin and his lady burned the house down and built it back again by 10:00. What a deal! Right here in Navasota.

They played a couple of encores, one, called Four Friends at the Bar, went "we don't suck..."

No you don't, Kevin. But you guys sucked the life right of me as I smiled so big my jaws hurt. DO NOT MISS THIS BAND. They are important. Hopefully , you'll get another chance, before they are untouchable.

Thanks to Phil, and Sarah, for continuously bringing us the BEST of Texas music, every week.

It's goin' on at the Corner!

Saturday night was another orgy of musical delight, REALLY! Bud Bierhaus was the featured performer, and he brought along a couple of friends that generously shared their talent, and left all of us feeling lucky. Bud is back in the States after a long period in Arabia, and he sings and picks like a man that has gotten many an hour of sanity and inspiration by preserving his American soul and his roots in American music. His talent is impressive, as he sings and plays the guitar like a veteran performer, and then backs up his friends on the bass and mandolin.

Season Ammons was back at the cafe, for the third time, looking and sounding more stunning than ever, and with a guy she calls Grumpy, who collaberates with her on songs... and he got up as well and displayed a budding mastery for good old Country music.

And, best of all, there were decent crowds at the Cafe both nights, giving all of us hope for culture in Navasota!

Much thanks goes to the musicians who perform more as a labor of love... and the Hiebelers who have so persistently hosted them.

F..U..N spells Corner Cafe

I'm in a hurry... have a job these days, but want to thank everyone for the hilarious good time we had at the Corner Cafe Saturday night. It was a spin off of Halloween... back to the original intent... "All Hallows Eve"... All Saints day, and the cafe was decorated as .. a cheap rip-off of Heaven... pearly gates, bearded greeters in robes...

A very special thanks goes to Jim Gill, his band and Glynnis Eastman for bringing humor and authenticity to the event. Gill is an absolute HOOT, and gave old songs new words that broke us up... "I Wish They All Could Be Presbyterian Girls" ...and "Jonah be Good." I guess we all knew that SOMEBODY out there had humor as a spiritual gift... now we've met him. The food, fellowship and FUN were typical of what we have come to expect at the Corner... Now also doubling as the worship center for the Home Fellowship, starting last Sunday... another awesome, quality experience!

A sound fit for angels.

It’s not often I can walk a few blocks from my house and post a blog claiming I’ve seen something I’ve never seen before… Jim Kam and his soon- to- be legendary Chapman Stick qualify as unusual and even elevating, and he and his companions are working on an instrumental album that should be that, if not fascinating and perhaps even historic. They are developing a sound that is pushing the limits of my vocabulary, but you know I’m going to take a shot at it. Kam plays his instrument as if he is making contact with another dimension… and it sure sounds as if he is. And it is one we will all long to visit, if not stay indefinitely.

Once again, I’ll skip the rest, and just cover it with adjectives. Heavenly. Mesmerizing. Otherworldish. Haunting, complex, addictive, awesomely beautiful.

You have to hear him for yourself. Friday night he was accompanied by two excellent musicians, singer/guitarists Tom Tranchilla and Buddy Allen, who might have intimidated most performers, both of them strong entertainers in their own right. But the three of them played round robin, letting flow a wonderful evening of songs, at times contrasting and other times finding stunning and almost indescribable harmonies, and Kam’s Chapman Stick often turning a familiar song on its ear and delivering once- in- a- lifetime renditions with musical genius.

At one point, they were playing a blues instrumental, two acoustic guitars giving it all, and this amazing Chapman Stick running ahead, lagging behind, almost playing tag with intricate harmonies, Hell, I don’t know what I’m talking about! But these guys know what they are doing singularly and collectively, and it was sure exciting to watch them share this unique sound at the Corner Café.

It is rare to witness this kind of virtuosity, anywhere. For me to be able to hear it a few blocks from my house… let’s just say I’m having a ball, and you are missing out. I think almost all of Navasota is so busy being busy, that people are letting incredible, once- in- a- lifetime opportunities slip by, history being made down the street, and never stopping for a moment to notice how special your town, or your cultural surroundings are.

Those of us that are there however, are determined to enjoy it enough to make up for the rest of you!

John Hogan: One more time... with ATTITUDE

It was another night at the Corner Cafe and I told myself, I have written way too many laudatory reviews for anyone to ever consider me anything but a local suck schmoozing for beers. I came into the performance by Jon Hogan and Maria Moss ready to hack them up. It was a matter of journalistic objectivity, my artistic integrity. They looked like two likely victims, a couple of big city wanna-be’s out trying to act like real talent where nobody knows the difference. I sharpened my pen.

Hogan, a wisp of a man, made my cynicism easy; I could probably take him later if I had to. You know, to defend my artistic integrity. Moss looked like… well, Ruth Buzze’s sister, some poor bag lady Hogan might have saved from a homeless shelter, who had kept her mother’s clothes, vintage hat and all. Either they were going to be laughable, or they had to be really good. I had found just what I was looking for, to re-establish my credibility. But quite inconveniently, they did not fit the bill. Once again, I must say, damn, where was the crowd that should have been there to witness such an extraordinary concert.

And it is just as well, when Maria Moss unwound and stepped off of the stage, all six foot of her, (or so,it seemed!) I felt... let's just say I felt like I should be very respectful... "Nice hat..." And then, it turns out the handsome stranger in the crowd was her husband. So I got a Shiner and started taking pictures.

I say Damn! Hogan and Moss were… I’m going to have to leave out everything but adjectives… Exhilarating… Fun, Heartbreaking, Wild, Crazy, Epic, Microcosmic, toe-tapping, head-nodding, gut busting, Soul searching, Wow, I can’t believe I’m in Navasota stupendousness.

John Hogan is a blast. He was born to entertain. If he had no audience, he would play to the forest. He just loves to sing. In fact, I have not heard such sheer joy in singing since my all time favorite, Rusty Wier, who was known to just haul off and half-yodel and laughingly holler for awhile. Hogan sings with happy abandon and sometimes seems to forget that the song even has an ending, or else he can’t stand to pinch it off, and everybody is just nodding and smiling with him. When he gets exhausted he turns the controls over to his co-pilot, Maria Moss who carries the musical journey until he gets back the air in his lungs, and then he might go another verse. It was exhausting to just watch them. What a gift.

By the end, they had made us live an extra year of our lives in a couple of hours. They made us love them... even their clothes... That's what genius does.

And all of this, just two blocks down from my house. It is such a great privilege to live at the center of the Universe. And thanks to Jon Hogan and Maria Moss for landing their magic carpet here, and sharing their song. If this is any sign of things to come, I’m not going anywhere!

A New Navasota Tradition: Concert Hopping!

World famous entertainers have often been in our midst. If you want to know about some of them, visit the Navasota Public Library this month and check out the display in the back. You will be stunned and pleased to know who some of our neighbors have been. And here’s the point: Nobody ever knew or cared, and that was our loss.

But I want to tell you about the here and the now. Regardless of how people in the old days responded to rare talent that passed through small towns like ours, we can only benefit from our own choices. And let me tell you, we have some great choices these days. Friday, music enthusiasts were able to hear two excellent female vocalists at the Corner Café. Season Ammons very ably opened for Susan Herndon and they both charmed the crowd. Both very talented young women, I dare say Navasota has rarely seen this class of female vocalist performing live, much less a pair of them. Herndon had an impressive quiver of original songs, written and delivered with easy flair. At then end, the two joined into an impromptu version of a Fleetwood Mac song that made us realize we had only experienced the tip of the iceberg.

But that was not the end of it, and I ran over in the balmy night air to the Filling Station to catch Navasota’s favorite son Randy Pavlock. Randy was slicing the night air with his usual fare, Grimes blues-rock, and a nice crowd came out to see him. He is a popular opener for big time rock groups these days, and we are lucky to get him anymore. The recent rains had cooled things off and it was pleasant out. I walked up just in time to catch him using an old blues trick, playing slide on his guitar with a beer bottle, out on the streets. That’s sort of a Navasota tradition.

Blind Willie Johnson, credited as the progenitor of the slide guitar, used a sawed off bottleneck and taught Mance Lipscomb, who improvised and used his pocketknife. Blind Willie played for nickels at the intersection of Tenth and Washington Ave. Right here in Navasota. Who could have guessed that someday NASA would send one of his songs on the voyager space ship, along with a few others, on a golden CD of the most important songs of Western civilization.

Local restaurateurs Phil and Sarah Hiebeler have taken a daring leap. They built a stage, put in lights and sound, and scheduled an exciting line-up of Texas songwriters, who come and dazzle us every Friday night. The show comes with the meal. So far we have heard a treasury of song, delivered up by Texas songwriters, good ones who actually sell their songs. Bob Livingston is one the original Lost Gonzos, has written, played and recorded with Jerry Jeff Walker, Gary P. Nunn, and Michael Martin Murphy. He is a heavy hitter. He was right here in Navasota. He opened for Mance Lipscomb a long time ago and loved our Blues museum and was eager to reminisce.

Kevin Robinson, sure to be a force in Texas country music, played a few weeks ago. His day job is expediting for Hassell Construction. He has an unforgettable, mature voice, and writes the kind of songs you want to hear again. Right here in Navasota. So far the musicians are impressed with our charming little town, and want to come back. And there are more to come. It’s neat to say you just played in the “Blues Capital of Texas.” It’s even better to say you live here!

Note: The Navasota Examiner did not have room in their publication to include this article, so I offer it here. The musicians and restaurateurs deserve all the exposure they can get.