Joe Ely News

Outlaw country pioneer Billy Joe Shaver, honky-tonk legend Joe Ely and Americana singer-songwriter Slaid Cleaves will be performing at the Paramount Theatre Feb.

Billy Mata & The Texas Tradition will perform Saturday night in Bandera. Quick picks A big Red Dirt/Texas Music concert will take place on the banks of the Guadalupe River at 3 p.m. Sunday at Whitewater Amphitheater, near Sattler.

Speaking of Seth James, he's part of a cool lineup tonight at John T. Floore Country Store.

Music was the only path for Colin Gilmore, even though he didn't totally commit to it until his mid-20s. Gilmore, the son of famed Americana singing artist Jimmie Dale Gilmore, grew up as his father did in Lubbock, Texas.

Local and national musicians came out to the Cabooze to help Willie's American Guitars celebrate a huge milestone.

Guitar master John Jorgenson is best known these days for sublime acoustic "Hot Club" swing, but he's just as well regarded for his Americana, roots-rock, country and pop work, principally with the Desert Rose Band, Elton John and the Hellecasters.

Dave Alvin, the former guitar player with L.A. roots-rock pioneers The Blasters and one of the forefathers of the alt-country movement with his band The Guilty Men, lost his best friend, Chris Gaffney, last year, and he got involved in two records released on the same day this past May that were related to Gaffney's death in different ways.

PRESTON JONES Telegraph Canyon had a pretty good June. Along with the officially official announcement that they'll be opening for the Old 97's at Bass Hall on Aug.

The venerable FitzGerald's Night Club in Berwyn is known for its outstanding live music, from singer-songwriters to jazz orchestras to rock bands and country.

The trio's latest album, Hills & Valleys , fits perfectly in the Obama era, one begun with a serious push to deal with the plethora of problems facing us the people.

Texas' original super group, the Flatlanders, unites acclaimed Lone Star singer-songwriters Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock.

Braced by the intellectual energy of a 40-year friendship, members of the Flatlanders set their impressive solo careers aside long enough to write and record their most moving and impressive album to date.

Last night a DJ saved my bank account The bad news: Joe Ely summed up the current economic situation 20-plus years ago, "Prices keep rising every day and I keep getting paid the same." The good news: there's so much free music on the Internet, you can go crazy trying to keep track of it, as long as you can afford to pay your Internet bill.

I f there was such a thing as a "supergroup" of west Texas singer-songwriters, the Flatlanders would have to be it.

The May 28 show with the Flatlanders - the trio featuring alt-country icons Butch Hancock, Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore - at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz has been canceled, according to the presenter, Snazzy Productions.

Every genre of music has its Ur-band, those lesser-known dudes who create the sound that goes mainstream without them.

If one measure of a great artist is the ability to transform topical themes into timeless statements, the Flatlanders are shoo-ins for the songwriters' hall of fame.

AUDIO: Listen to The Flatlanders perform "Homeland Refugee" The Texas band Flatlanders, playing Salt Lake City on Sunday, come by their name honestly.