2 BUDDY NOVEMBER 2015

Willie Nelson IS HITTINGWthe road again, and one ofthose stops will be at Billy Bob’sTexas in the Fort Worth Stockyardson November 28. He’s sharing ahandful of dates with Alison Krauss& Union Station before hitting thehighway with Old Crow MedicineShow.

Nelson is slated to receive theLibrary of Congress’ Gershwin Prizefor Popular Song on November 18 atthe DAR Constitution Hall in Wash-ington D.C. Nelson is the Eighthmusician to be honored this way.The program will be televised on PBSstations on January 15, and informa-tion received is that it will includeperformances by Rosanne Cash,Jamey Johnson, Alison Krauss, TheMavericks’ Raul Malo, Paul Simon,Neil Young, and Nelson. TheGershwin Prize is named after broth-ers George and Ira Gershwin, whoteamed up during the 20th centuryto pen some of America’s most en-during standards. Nelson, who sangthe Gershwin staple “Someone toWatch Over Me” on his 1978 coversalbum, Stardust, has left a similarmark on American music. Withnearly 70 studios albums under hisbelt, he’s become a rare figure incountry music. “It is an honor to bethe next recipient of the GershwinPrize. I appreciate it greatly,” he saidin a brief statement.

Prior to Nelson’s show at BillyBob’s Texas, on November 8, theiconic venue is hosting a “Back TheBadge Benefit,” with Jacob Furr,Grady Spencer, and the KeithMitchell Band playing. The doorsopen at 2 p.m. for this event. Forthese and all their concerts, go onlineto BillyBobsTexas.com . . . . . . . . . . .

EventsTEXAS WAS WELL REPRESENTEDat the 49th annual Country MusicAssociation awards this week. A bigol’ Texas congratulations to TexanMiranda Lambert for taking the tophonor as the CMA’s Female Vocalistof the Year for 2015. Two otherTexans, Lee Ann Womack and KaceyMusgraves, were also nominatedalong with Oklahoma’s CarrieUnderwood and Tennessean KelseaBallerini. Musgraves also received anomination for her CD Pageant Ma-terial, being beat out on that tophonor by Americana songwriter ChrisStapleton. Lambert, Womack, andMusgraves are all from East Texas.Also, congratulations to Texas’ ownWillie Nelson and his recordingbuddy Merle Haggard for beingnominated as CMA’s “Musical Eventof the Year” for their recording ofDjango and Jimmie.

Shiner Rising Star, the KHYI andShiner Beer-sponsored band contestnow in its 11th year, will hold itsfinal throwdown on November12, atLove & War in Texas’ Plano location.KHYI, upon careful consideration of

several factors, invited Rhythm &Beards as a Wildcard band for thefinals, after the Matt Nix Band beatthem out in Round 2 by a slim mar-gin. Vying for the top prizes, includ-ing a recording contract with ShinerRecords, are the Whiskey Prophets,the Darrell Goldman band, the MattNix band, Rhythm & Beards, and theBig Joe Walker band. . . . . . . . . .

KHYI is also holding its yearlyCanvas for Kids Charity Auction,with original artwork created by na-tional and regional music artists.These are auctioned off online atKHYI.com and kicks off November27. The list of artists helping thiseleventh annual event hasn’t yet beenreleased. This year’s benefit will aidSons of the Flag, a non-profit organi-zation aiding burn victims, and morespecifically their Water Brigade pro-gram assisting child burn victims.

And speaking of contests, it’s alsokick-off time this year’s Love & Warin Texas’ sponsored Rusty Wiersinger/songwriter contest. Try-outsare being held at 7:30 p.m. everyTuesday night through December 1at the L&W Plano location. The con-test then moves onto Sundays whenthe first round begins December 13and runs through the finals on Feb-ruary 28, taking off February 7 (Su-per Bowl Sunday). Brett Dillon(KHYI) coordinates this contest andinquiries for entry can be made bypersonal message on his Facebookprofile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Honoring Veterans Day, PoorDavid’s Pub, on Lamar Street in Dal-las, is hosting the November 11 Vet-erans Day post-parade party, withthe South Austin Moonlighters,Tracie Merchant, Helene Cronin,Mark Wayne Glasmire, CrystalYates, Texas Legacy, and DanMauldin performing — maybe evenmore. There will be, as descrbed onPoorDavidsPub.com Wensite,“commaraderie, visiting dignitaries,food, spontaneous outbursts of pa-triotism, laughing, crying, and com-ing together.” Great way to celebrateour vets. This runs from 1-9 p.m.

KNON will host a cooking classwith its own Celebrity Chef DJ, theaward winning Obie from Tuesdays’Texas Renegade Radio. Obie will beshowing folks how to whip up anincredible holiday dinner. The lasttime Obie did this, the class sold outwell in advance. Cooking Class isNovember 14, cooking smoked tur-key, pork lion, and smoked ham,and participants get to eat everythingcooked up. This will happen at thePremier Grilling, 477 S. El DoradoParkway in Frisco, and there’s lim-ited seating. In other ‘Voice of ThePeople’ KNON News, the station willalso be taking its Thanksgiving livebroadcast with Blue Lisa Thanksgiv-ing morning to the Sons of HermannHall in Dallas. Tune in Blue Lisa onThursday mornings 9 a.m. to noonfor more info. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BLAH By Bellicose Bullfeather

BLAHThe 2015 Steve Martin Prize for

Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrasswas awarded to Danny Barnes, eclec-tic clawhammer, and three-fingerpicker from Texas. From his timewith Bad Livers in the 1990s throughstints with Tim O’Brien, Bill Frisell,Jeff Austin, and alternative stringbands of every kind and his own soloprojects, Barnes has demonstrated avision for the banjo unencumberedby preconceptions about how theinstrument should be used in con-temporary music. The prize comeswith a $50,000 cash award. Barnes’10th anniversary re-recording of GetMyself Together, newly re-titled GotMyself Together (10 Years Later), isdue in November from Eight 30Records.

New ReleasesTOPCAT RECORDS HAS RE-leased two new CDs - Working Muleby Louisiana Red - previouslyunreleased live performances featur-ing special guest appearancesby Johnny Nicholas and BobBrozeman and the newly remasteredre-release of She’s Lookin’ Good -by Mitchell T. & the HB’s(Mitch Palmer with The Hash BrownBand), originally released in 1997on the Browntone label. Formore information, visittopcatrecords.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Calamity Janes, fromWaxahachie, have been in the studiorecording their version of Bob Wills’Christmas song, “Christmas On TheRange.” They explained that theywanted something that wasn’t a tra-ditional Christmas tune, the kindyou hear over and over again eachyear. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Texas troubadours Shane Smith& The Saints just released theirsophomore full-length album,Geronimo. Drawing from a mix ofstyles and influences, Geronimo is astylistic departure from the band’sprevious work, combining elementsof rock, Cajun folk, Celtic/Irish andAmericana music. Musicians includeSmith , Chase Satterwhite, BryanMcGrath, Tim Allen , and BennettBrown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

New from Austin-based DavidHamburger is Pennsylvania StationBlues. The author of two dozen in-structional books and videos – his–“Beginning Blues Guitar” has soldmore than 100,000 copies – getshelp from the other two members ofhis trio , bassist Mark Epstein (who’splayed with Johnny Winter and JoeBonamassa) and Kyle Thompson(Suzannah Choffel, Dupree), andproducer Jeff Plankenhorn (Joe Ely,The Resentments, Bob Schneider).Hamburger has toured with JoanBaez and Freedy Johnston and per-formed with Pete Seeger and BruceSpringsteen. He also scored the CNNdocumentary series “High Plains” andhis music is in several A&E and PBSvideos. ■