I See Hawks in L.A. featuring Alex Meixner
– ALL AGES- SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEI SEE HAWKS IN L.A.I SEE HAWKS IN L.A. are Southern California’s leading Americana/folk rock band, with ten critically acclaimed releases and consistently high Americana radio charting. Countless miles and bars and festivals from the Mojave desert to the Carolinas to UK and Europe have earned an enduring global following. “We thrive in the margins,” say the Hawks. They’ve emerged from pan isolation with a stronger live show than ever, with a busy 2022 including a headliner slot at fall’s Kerrville Folk Festival. Their latest release “On Our Way” has perhaps the best reviews of the band’s career:“Glorious.” — Nigel Williamson, UNCUT”The quartet is all breathing as one, and the clear night sky full of stars is the limit. Listen and hear not only what has come before, but what is also right around the next bend. See the Hawks.” — Bill Bentley, Americana HighwaysFormed in 1999 by Rob Waller and brothers Paul and Anthony Lacques during a philosophical discussion and rock throwing session on an East Mojave desert trek, I See Hawks In L.A. first gathered on the front porch in Echo Park, Los Angeles, drank whiskey and wrote their first batch of songs. They sought advice from local country rock guru David Jackson (John Denver, Dillard & Clark, Emmylou Harris). Jackson promptly joined the Hawks for their first recording, featuring legendary fiddler Brantley Kearns (Dwight Yoakam, Dave Alvin). The CD established the Hawks signature sound: dense three part harmonies, innovative telecaster and steel, and also unadorned all acoustic songs, musing on mortality, whales, and the geography of preapocalyptic L.A.ALEX MEIXNER (sitting in with I See Hawks in L.A.)Alex Meixner is a nationally acclaimed musician, performer, bandleader, educator and a leading advocate of polka music. Formally trained in classical, jazz and ethnic music, Alex has cross-pollinated his versatile playing styles through pop music, funk, jazz and polka. He is an active ambassador for polka music, revitalizing interest coast to coast resulting in sold out shows, renewed cultural interest, and growing mainstream acceptance. For Alex, it’s more than playing energetic shows; it is a mission to provide a much needed positive experience that pulls communities together to celebrate history, culture and genuinely good times.THE HAWTTHORNS An Americana band whose sun-kissed songwriting, versatile guitar work, and lush vocal harmonies evoke the California coastline as much as the Bible Belt countryside, the HawtThorns are rooted in the collaborative chemistry of husband-and-wife duo KP and Johnny Hawthorn. Both have had celebrated solo careers and were members of LA based touring bands. That chemistry reaches a new peak with Tarot Cards and Shooting Stars, which marks the band’s second collection of hook-driven country-rock and amplified Americana. Recorded in both L.A. and Nashville, it nods to both sides of the group’s geographic and musical roots.
James McMurtry
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY JAMES McMURTRY “James McMurtry may be the truest, fiercest songwriter of his generation” – Stephen King James McMurtry will release The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy on June 20 via New West Records. The 10-song collection was co-produced by McMurtry & Don Dixon (R.E.M., The Smithereens) and is his first album in four years. It follows his 2021 acclaimed New West debut, The Horses and the Hounds, which Uncut Magazine said “lifts storytelling-in-song to meticulous new levels” and Pitchfork awarded an 8.0, saying “James McMurtry stands out even among the Lone Star State’s finest songwriters…” The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy features appearances by Sarah Jarosz, Charlie Sexton, Bonnie Whitmore, Bukka Allen, and more alongside his trusted backing band—BettySoo on accordion & backing vocals, Cornbread on bass, Tim Holt on guitar, and Daren Hess on drums. As varied as they are, McMurtry’s new story-songs find inspiration in scraps from his family’s past: a rough pencil sketch by Ken Kesey that serves as the album cover, the hallucinations experienced by his father, the legendary writer Larry McMurtry, an old poem by a family friend. A supremely insightful and inventive storyteller, McMurtry teases vivid worlds out of small details, setting them to arrangements that have the elements of Americana but sound too sly and smart for such a general category. Funny and sad often in the same breath, The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy adds a new chapter to a long career that has enjoyed a resurgence as young songwriters like Sarah Jarosz and Jason Isbell (who is namechecked on the new album) cite him as a formative influence. BettySoo It’s the voice that gets you first. “BettySoo may well have the most gorgeous voice in Texas …if not in all contemporary folk – its purity and strength can be downright devastating.” – ACOUSTIC GUITAR BettySoo’s vocal prowess is a thing of wonder. A world-class instrument of deft phrasing and purity, a voice that knows when to hold back and when to dive in. At her own live shows, taking a verse onstage with friends or singing harmonies in sessions with Austin’s finest, BettySoo sings with consummate loveliness and self-assurance. A voice that knows the roots of American music inside and out; coming from a most unexpected place – a diminutive Korean-American with a deceptively girl-next-door demeanor. Then the performance reels you in. “Truly remarkable. BettySoo’s sharp, often self-deprecating humor skillfully wove the songs together. Her clear, evocative voice and poignant lyrics recall Patty Griffin and Joni Mitchell, and did I mention she’s a hell of a guitar player?” – NO DEPRESSION, live concert review
Grayson Capps & Corky Hughes
– ALL AGES- SEATED SHOW- PREMIUM SEATING AVAILABLEGrayson Capps is relaxed. You can hear it in the tone of his voice when he speaks, in the thoughtful, laconic way he reflects on the sometimes-tumultuous course of his life and work. It’s not the sound of complacency or comfort, but rather of personal growth and understanding. Capps is not without worry or darkness in his life, but he’s reached a kind of peace with it, an unhurried acceptance that enables him to write with unflinching honesty and remarkable humanity. His long-awaited new solo album, ‘Scarlett Roses,’ is his first in six years, and it showcases the kind of understated brilliance that can blossom when creativity is detached from expectation, when songs are truly given the space and time to find their writer. Grayson Capps is relaxed, but it wasn’t always this way.“Up until 2011, I was expecting myself to come up with a new record every year,” says Capps, “but then something just clicked. I told myself, ‘Man, you don’t need to worry about the timing. Just let these songs and your career catch up with you.’”——–Corky Hughes began his professional career playing throughout the South in the 70’s with R&B artist Theodore Arthur Jr. and then later with his own rock group, Excalibur.In 1984, he became lead guitarist for legendary rockers, Black Oak Arkansas and toured throughout the U.S. After moving to Atlanta Georgia the next year, he played and recorded with Tone Poets, Chris Edmonds, and Darryl Rhoades and the Mighty Men From Glad (with whom he appears on the Brendan O’Brien produced album No Glove, No Love).Since returning in 1992 to his home in Mobile, Alabama, Corky has played guitar for a diverse group of artists including Kung Fu Mama, Carlos Washington’s Giant People, Star Cullars, Molly Thomas, Jimmy Hall and Wet Willie, and Bo Diddley.Corky can also be heard on Beverly Jo Scott’s Coming Home CD, Lisa Mills’ I’m Changing, and violinist Tom Morley’s recent release, Raven’s Wing (A Curious Collection of Fiddle Tunes), as well as various projects with former Kung Fu Mama band mates, the Lost Cause Minstrels.
