If Only You Knew About Tameca Jones

There was this one time I went to the Saxon Pub to watch Dan Dyer live, and the following band that took the stage kind of blew us all away. 8 Million Stories was the band led by a young lady that had everyone asking, "who is this diva and where did she come from?" Well it turns out that Tameca Jones is actually not a diva at all, but really a humble and grounded person that is comfortable just being herself. Tameca Jones is up there talent wise with the biggest singer/songwriters that have ever lived, but as the theme of this blog goes, you probably never heard of her.

Tameca was the lead singer for 8 Million Stories circa 2005-2006, and wrote and sang some of the most interesting lyrics I have ever heard. Then there is "the voice" factor that is just so smooth and soulful that wraps around you like a warm blanket. Tameca has been compared to Erykah Badu, Nikka Costa, Jill Scott, Ella Fitzgerald, Joss Stone and Billie Holiday. Watching 8 Million stories live was always a wonderful experience and was 10 times better than the CD. You always felt sucked into the performance, and were always entertained between songs because of Tameca's unique banter with the audience and great sense of humor. One time she did a rendition of "Happy Birthday" Marilyn Monroe style for a guy there that was so sexy it made us all blush.

The band was as great as they come, packed full of wicked grooves and just the right amount of tastefull licks only when needed. If you can find the only self titled CD they ever recorded, don't hesitate to buy it and take a journey into several tales of heartbreak and liberation all rolled into one. Still as talented as the group was, Tameca stood out above and beyond the great Dan Dyer that evening, and that's a lot.

Tameca Jones is based out of the Austin scene and is now singing with her new jazz cover band "The Tameca Jones Quartet " and also recording as a solo artist. The quartet is currently playing all across the state of Texas from San Antonio to El Paso. If you get the opportunity to see the group live, be sure to get a great seat up in the front, because it will be so worth it. There is no doubt that sometime soon, Tameca will release a new CD that will be sure to receive rave reviews in the Austin scene, and hopefully all across the country. I'm pulling for her as I know so many other people are, and I hope the right A&R rep. will see and hear her live and make her as big as she deserves to be.

Tameca's Myspace
8 Million Stories

Alpha Rev

OK, so I noticed that Alpha Rev from Austin is playing in Houston this weekend. This is a band that is a perfect example of wicked talent and song writing from a guy by the name of Casey McPherson. His songs are similar in style to Coldplay, but much better singing and songwriting. The music can be very dramatic at times and most of the songs sound like they belong in a movie soundtrack. The strings you hear on the CD are also used live, and it brings a different level of performance to a rock based band.

I ran into Casey at a Starbucks in Houston, and he told me that the next CD was going to probably be picked up by a major label. This is something you hear quite often from musicians, but something about this band makes me think it is really going to happen. I know I heard a piece of "The Beauty of Falling Down" on the MTV show, "Real World", so maybe that's a great indicator that Alpha Rev is getting the attention they deserve. Look for them on MySpace or main web site.Alpha Rev

Bob Schneider

Shame on me for not going out to any shows recently. I have not been to any live shows except for Dan Dyer (see below) and Bob Schneider. These guys are local musicians that are just as good as any other top-performing band on the road. It just so happens that they play at smaller clubs in the Austin area on a regular basis, mainly because they live here and they need to pay the bills.

Bob Schneider plays almost every day, and is on the road all the time. His album "Lonely Land" is still to this day one of my favorite CD'of all time. He had his run for a short while, and was opening for Stevie Nicks on her last tour. The fact that him and Sandra Bullock were publicly dating, was a big help for his career, and she even got him a gig on "Jay Leno". That still doesn't take away from the fact that he is a great song writer, and is one hell of an entertainer when he is on stage with one of his other bands named "The Scabs". These funkalicious dudes will have any bar jumping and swaying till the bar runs out of liquor if you let them play all night.

The other day I went to go watch Bob play at the Saxon Pub, and his guitar players van broke down in front of the bar. Well me and my old guitar player Noel happened to be walking by, and Noel stopped to help him. The band was supposed to go on stage, but the van was in the middle of the parking lot blocking cars in. As I was standing there watching Noel work on the van, Bob walked up behind me and asked me if we were going to have to push the van out of the way. I have to admit, I was caught a little off guard, and tried to play it cool, and said, "I think they will get it started". Then I asked them what time they needed to go on, and he said "like 5 minutes ago". Well Noel got the heap started, and saved the day so the band could go on only about 10 minutes late.

Funny how people treat entertainers, but he seemed cool enough. For a guy that sells out every show, and makes it next to impossible to get anywhere near the stage, he seemed really calm and cool before walking on stage into a packed house. Sometimes his shows can get a little weird, but I think it’s because he gets a little bored of playing the same songs all the time. Since he plays so often, I think he just plays some really obscure songs just to change it up for his own entertainment, because he has at least 100 songs. It just depends on when you see him and his mood I guess, especially in Austin.

Bob Schneider on Myspace

Citizen Cope

Last night I saw Citizen Cope at Antone's. I have actually seen him once before at Stubb's when he was on tour with Santana. I spoke with him briefly after the show, he was very cool, and appeared to be happy that somebody knew who he was. There were maybe 20 people there, and nobody really even tried to talk to him after the gig. I bought the CD that night, and it quickly became mine and all of my friends favorite disk. Citizen Cope Sample

Last night's show was completely different. Antone's was almost sold out, and the crowd knew all the lyrics to all of the songs. The band sounded great, and Clarence Greenwoods voice (his real name) was right on the money. Citizen Cope's new album is having much more success, and "Son's Gonna Rise" is featured in the new Pontiac commercial and on the WB's "One Tree Hill". If you are a fan of the new album named "The Clarence Greenwood Recordings", then you should really go and buy the self titled albumn "Citizen Cope". There is something about that album that is hard to explain, but it pulls you right in. Many people have used the same term to describe the first CD...HIPNOTIC.

I have a feeling that the next CD Clarence records will earn him some type of Grammy nomination. If you get a chance, go out and catch this guy live while you can still get close to the stage.

South By Southwest

People always ask me about the legendary music scene in Austin, and I always tell them that it's great. The city is proud to be labeled the "Live Music Capital of the World" and can always back that up during a special time of the year. Every year in March during Spring Break, Austin hosts a huge music fesival called South By Southwest, that is something like Cann or Sundance is to movies. It just so happens that movies are also a big part of the festival now, because before it was mainly all about music.

The idea behind South By Southwest is that every record label, no matter how big or small, all come together for a week in Austin to discover new music groups looking to get signed to a recording contract. How it works is, every bar on 6th Street as well as bars in the area, host bands from all over the World as far away as Japan. Every night all the record people go from bar to bar hoping to find great new acts to sign to their label. Most of the bands that get signed are bands that you hear on the radio everyday, for example John Mayer. Last year there were a total of 1279 bands in about 60 venues, and about 180 films screened all crammed into a week.

One of the coolest things is, major acts also play like The Black Crows, Duran Duran, Billy Idol etc. because their original contract has been fulfilled so they are trying to get a new recording contract. These shows are hard to get into, but sometimes you get lucky!

It is definitely a sight to see record people, musicians, and movie people are crawling all over 6th Street in a frenzy. There is also a great deal of celebrities that are key note speakers or just spectators because of the growing popularity of SXSW.

Austin is already gearing up for the event, and the list of bands are already posted on the SXWS website. Take a look at the site to see if there are any names you recognize. This year Robert Plant and Elvis Castello will be a few of the speakers, and the list will keep growing. Hopefully someday you will be able to make it to the festival.

Music You Need To Hear

Well, last night I went to see Dan Dyer live at Momo's. As usual, he had the crowd going, and the band was on fire. For those of you that don't know who Dan Dyer is, you should go to his website. You can listen to a few recordings Dan did at Rolling Stone Studios. Dan Dyer Sample

Dan Dyer was the lead singer of Breedlove here is Austin for years. They were voted Austin's favorite band for most of those years, and were probably going to be signed by a major label, but Dan decided to move to New York and take a break from music. Luckily I saw them 3 times before they split, and I must admit they were my favorite Austin band mainly because of Dan's voice. Well, a few months ago I ran into my friend Aaron Barrera (guitar player) at a music store, and he told me he was about to go on tour with Dan for his new CD release. He told me Dan was discovered by Lenny Kravitz, and Lenny had started his own record company. Tony Breit, the original bass player for Lenny on "Are you gonna go my way" is also in the band, along with the original drummer from Breedlove named Jason White.

I have seen Dan Dyer now with his new band several times, and they are great live. I have talked to Dan several times after the gigs, and I must say he is one of the coolest and down to earth guy's I have ever met. I told him I would try to get the word out on how good his CD really is, and he was very thankful. So go to the website and listen at least to the first 3 songs, and I think that is all it will take to see that some musicians can really still sing.

Very Sad Day in Music...RIP Dimebag Darrell

I'm not how many of you knew who "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott was, but for people in the Heavy Metal world, he was the ultimate guitar player. He played guitar for Pantera in the 90's, and changed the way heavy guitar was played. Everything you hear today on the radio that has heavy guitar all stems from Darrell's aggressive style.

Last night 12/8/04, a member of the audience climbed on stage as Dime's new band called Damage Plan, started playing their first song. The man then shot Dime 4 or 5 times at point blank range and killed him. Then he turned and killed a bouncer along with 2 other innocent people. A police officer was called and as he entered backstage he saw the gunman holding a hostage in a headlock. Officer James D. Niggemeyer told the shooter to put down the gun, and then shot and killed the piece of shit.

Witnesses report that the man was yelling at Dime before he shot him, and they all felt like it was some form of revenge. A few fans reported that the shooter was saying before the show that Dime was the reason Pantera had split up, and he was angry with him.

The craziest show I have ever seen was Pantera. Their overwhelming "in your face" sound and attitude on stage had the crowd in a violent frenzy. I have never seen so many people knocked out and bleeding at a concert. You may think that is going a little too far, but that was one of the biggest attractions to Pantera. The fans expected this behavior at Pantera shows, and would not settle for anything less. Dime will be missed and talked about for many years to come.