Austin Posts
Why Swampland Sports Loves the BCS
Despite winning back to back national titles in football, the SEC susre seems to hate the BCS. Lately, this hatred has been read more...
Billy Bob Thornton's Boxmasters Signed to Vanguard
Billy Bob Thornton and The Boxmasters have signed read more...
Shooter Jennings Rocking On Video
I just spent an hour on YouTube listening to some mighty great music. In keeping with my
The Lost Shooter Jennings Interview
Shooter Jennings rocks. There's no doubt about it. read more...
Snowflakes: Southern Sweet 16
Here a quick primer for our teams in this weekend’s NCAA Tournament. East – This is read more...
Snowflakes: Big 12 Tourney as Expected, but Change on the Horizon
The least surprising of all conference tournaments this March has been the Big 12 Tourney in Kansas City. Both Texas and Kansas have read more...
Snowflakes: Big 12 Hoops
* The Big 12 is looking quite solid as the postseason approaches. There is a strong possibility that half of the league gets an read more...
Snowflakes: Big 12 Hoops
* Texas’ stellar play throughout the season has put them into
Chris Cagle Debuts at Number One on Country Charts
My LIife's Been a Country Song, the fourth album from Capitol Records Nashville artist
Buddy Miles Dies at Home in Texas
GRITZ has lost another good friend. The legendary drummer
Latest Releases From James McMurtry & Otis Redding
Latest Releases From James McMurtry and Otis Redding 2/27/08
Snowflakes: Big 12 Hoops
* What a great game Monday night between Texas and Kansas. In my opinion, it was ‘highest quality’ contest I have seen read more...
New CD's from Delaney, Bonnie and Whitlock
This may be the only time in history that the stars have lined up like this. Literally. If you check out the GRITZ CD read more...
Adventures In The (Pig) Skin Trade On Super Bowl Sunday
Roving Notes On Super Bowl Sunday 2/3/08
Snowflakes: Big 12 Hoops
by Patrick Snow * The best storyline in the conference this season has easily been the Baylor Bears. At 16-3 overall and 4-1 read more...
Honeydripper Star Plays Hometown
Gary Clark Jr. Plays Austin 12/21/07
New Willie Nelson Album Out January 29, 2008
New Nelson CD, Moment of Forever, Hits Streets Early 08 12/19/07
John Sayles Interview
Mystery & Manners John Sayles Interview 12/8/07 On Thursday I interviewed
...Into The Deep...
Mystery & Manners Dispatch 12/05/07
Willie Nelson: Dogs Best Friend
Dogs Best Friend: Willie Nelson 11/24/07
TF Rivalry Week Preview
Rivalry games define college football. More than bowl games or even conference championships, a win against your rival means read more...
TF Saturday Preview: The Year of Transition Nears An End
The wild year continues. In many ways this was just a sign of the transition college football around the Footprint has read more...
Jerry Wexler Talks Bob Dylan, Doug Sahm and Muscle Shoals
Jerry Wexler Talks Dylan, Doug Sahm and Muscle Shoals 11/15/07
Coen Brothers Adapt Cormac McCarthy's Book No Country For Old Men Into Film
Coen Brothers Adapt Cormac McCarthy's Book No Country For Old Men Into Film 11/11/07
TF Saturday Preview: Everything's Still To Be Decided
Patrick Snow has it right. This year's
TF's Saturday Preview: Act Like You've Been There Before!
It's the old saying when a player celebrates a little too much - act like you've been there before. This rules seems to also read more...
Ryan Bingham And The Drive By Truckers Hit the Road
Ryan Bingham and The Drive By Truckers Hit The Road 10/17/07
TF's Saturday Preview: The History Behind SEC Dominance
Tribal Fever would like to start this weekend's festivities by directing everyone to a fantastic series on
Tribal Fever's Weekend Slate (10/6/2007)
Let's start with this week's College Football Preview from Athlon. Swampland's own Patrick Snow hosts each read more...
Upset Saturday, or not?
Patrick Snow mentioned in his last column read more...
Swampland welcomes Tribal Fever!
It was only a matter of time before Swampland Sports starting covering the colleges in earnest. Today marks the start of Tribal read more...
CD and DVD releases for week of September 18, 2007
New Releases Doyle Bramhall
Uncle John Turner Dies:Legendary Drummer Played with Johnny Winter
CD and DVD releases for week of July 24, 2007
New Releases Billy Bob Thornton
Swampland Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 7/1/07
1. The NBA Draft was this week’s big sports story. The Draft is all about hope for the future. Despite recent expansion in the read more...
CD and DVD releases for week of July 3, 2007
Reissues Asleep At The
CD and DVD releases for week of June 26, 2007
CDs New Releases Charlie Daniels
Ninety is the New Forty-five
I hope each of you read the newspaper article by James Lewis of Newhouse News Service published on May 26th. Lewis wrote about four read more...
Uneasy Rider
Last weekend I traveled to Austin, Texas, for the 90th birthday celebration of Dr. Elva Mclin, my mentor, friend, and longtime read more...
Waterloo Record's 25th Anniversary Concert (in the Waterloo Parking Lot!)
Waterloo Record's 25th Anniversary Concert (in the Waterloo Parking Lot!) On Sunday, April read more...
Warrants Issued For Billy Joe Shaver
Police have issued arrest warrants for country singer Billy Joe read more...
Amoeba To Release Vintage Gram Parsons Performance(s)
3/20/07 On March 15, through invitation only, a listening party was conducted at South By Southwest to debut the Flying read more...
Willie Nelson Partners To Launch Label
Willie Nelson has partnered with longtime manager Mark Rothbaum and veteran producer/label exec James Stroud on Pedernales Records. The read more...
Willie Nelson Records Anti-War Song
Willie Nelson may oppose war in Iraq, but also supports the troops with his recently released single, "Whatever Happened To Peace read more...
Austin Reviews
My Life's Been a Country Song
(Capitol) With this, his fourth release,
The Band of Heathens
The Band of Heathens The Band of Heathens BOH Records By James Calemine The Band of read more...
One Hell of a Ride
(Columbia/Legacy) Willie Nelson is a Southern music icon. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who has read more...
Little Grey Sheep
Little Grey Sheep Danny Schmidt Waterbug WBG79 It isn't enough that Danny read more...
Just Us Kids
Just Us Kids James McMurtry Lightning Rod Records By James Calemine Austin, Texas, read more...
Brothers of the Southland
Brothers of The Southland is one of the best of the plethora of “all star” bands playing today, and their debut CD is a read more...
Solos, Sessions and Encores
(Epic/Legacy) When Stevie Ray Vaughan died in 1990, the world of Southern blues and rock and roll was dealt a read more...
Lovers
(www.bobbywhitlock.com) Joined by a stellar group of musicians, music icon, Bobby Whitlock and wife, CoCo Carmel, have read more...
Lantana
Caroline Herring Lantana Signature Sounds SIG-2010 Caroline Herring knows exactly who she is, though her read more...
Pride and Joy (DVD)
(Epic Legacy) Released just after his death, Pride and Joy was a must-have VHS compilation of Stevie’s read more...
Death Proof
Death Proof Quentin Tarantino Genius Productions By James Calemine Quentin Tarantino always read more...
Live From Austin, Texas
Live From Austin, Texas Doug Sahm New West Records By James Calemine This essential DVD retains read more...
Song of America
Song of America Various Artists 31 Tigers Records By James Calemine This 50-song, 3 CD read more...
Blood Meridian Or the Evening Redness in the West
Blood Meridian Or the Evening Redness in the West Cormac McCarthy Vintage Books By James read more...
Mescalito
Mescalito Ryan Bingham Lost Highway By James Calemine This CD ranks as one of the best releases read more...
Runnin' With The Big Dogs
Part of [beating Texas] is that old Okie inferiority complex. There’s no better cure for that than whipping Texas’s read more...
Under The Influence of Buck
(Palo Duro) The Derailers are one hot band. Brian Hofeldt, Ed Adkins, Scott Matthews, Sweet Basil McJagger and Chris read more...
Angel In Disguise
Angel In Disguise Leon Russell MRI Records By James Calemine Angel In Disguise read more...
Honky Tonk Hero by Billy Joe Shaver
Honky Tonk Hero by Billy Joe Shaver (University of Texas Press) Billy Joe read more...
Live From Austin, Texas Cash, Hiatt, Yoakam, & Tex
Johnny Cash John Hiatt Eric Johnson Dwight Yoakam Texas Tornados Live From Austin read more...
Heartworn Highways
(Catfish Entertainment/Snapper Music) In the early 1970’s outlaw country music came onto the scene to read more...
What's Wrong With Right
Hacienda Brothers What’s Wrong With Right (Proper) The Hacienda Brothers, led by read more...
Taking The Long Way
The Dixie Chicks Taking The Long Way (Columbia) Since the release of their read more...
Austin ArticlesSouthern Sporting "Events"
by Patrick Snow As I attended a Kentucky Derby function this past Saturday, it was never more evident that Southerners must throw a pretty good party. We are probably more known nationally for our college football crowds and pageantry, but the spring read more...
Gritz Legends of Southern Rock
A handful of bands from the Southern Rock Era have earned the title of "Legend." These are the bands that defined the genre and set the bar for all other bands in their wake. These are the few, the originals, the Legends of Southern Rock.
The BCS: A Friend to the SEC (and the Rest of the Footprint)
We at Tribal Fever find it odd that it would be the SEC who would call for a playoff system. We wonder how the SEC can be so blind to the fact that the BCS has been great for that conference. For those that love the idea of a playoff, we will list the reasons why most every proposal for a college playoff is a horrible idea for college football at large and especially read more...
Snowman's 2008 Draft Wrap Up
The annual NFL Draft is now over, and the critics will have a field day with opinions on who did well and who faltered with their choices. I thought I would take a look at the Draft from the collegiate view and see who from our region will have the biggest impact on their new read more...
Record Stores of the Swampland Footprint
ALABAMA CD Cellar Anniston AL Oz Music Tuscaloosa AL ARKANSAS Sound Warehouse Fayetteville read more...
Jim Dickinson's Best Memphis Barbecue & Favorite Meals On The Road
When I interviewed the High Priest of Memphis Mojo—Jim Dickinson—I asked him if he’d be interested in submitting his inimitable insight on barbecue, music and movies. Mr. Dickinson sent along some very interesting details on these cultural topics. His expertise in these read more...
SEC: Conference King Once Again
By Patrick Snow It’s an argument that will never end-whose Conference is better? Fans will debate this topic vociferously every season, and the answer always tends to lie close to your address. I’m not sure that the Bowl games are the best way to evaluate league strength across college football, but it is basically all we have. Here’s my opinion read more...
Way Down South With John Sayles
Way Down South with John Sayles By James Calemine John Sayles’ films command respect. His latest film, Honeydripper, takes place in Alabama during the 1950s. Honeydripper counts as Sayles’16th film which read more...
Coaching Carousel
By Patrick Snow The end of the college football season always brings with it unfulfilled goals which translates into coaching changes. There has been quite a bit of movement in our region. Some of the firings were inevitable while others showed us just how unrealistic certain fan bases are with their expectations. I thought I would examine each job, and how it matches up read more...
Enjoy the Season
By Patrick Snow Another college football season--another initial release of the BCS standings. This annual ritual seems to send everyone running to call a local talk show to scream about a Playoff system and how the middle letter should be removed from ‘BCS’. Enough already. If all that you’re worried about is how January turns out, you’re read more...
A Modest Proposal: Southern College Conference Realignment
Now that Swampland Sports has launched Tribal Fever (TF), our dispatch dedicated to college sports in the South, we figured it was time to do weigh in on the current state of college football conferences. The college football conference landscape in the Footprint has become downright confusing. It used to be that there were three main conferences, the read more...
Athletic Directors: Be Ready To Ante Up
Southern college football-we live it and breathe it year-round, and it has become abundantly clear that the stakes of the game have been raised with some of the recent coaching hires. The ‘price of poker’ is increasing steadily, and if your school is not ready to ante up, your team will be left behind. We’re witnessing a changing of the guard when it comes to read more...
Kinky Friedman
"I won't be bullied and I can't be bought." PUSHING THE MIDDLE FINGER VOTE AND A NEW CD by Derek Halsey November 2006
Reflections on Willie Nelson: The Complete Atlantic Sessions
WILLIE NELSON: THE COMPLETE ATLANTIC SESSIONS …A JOURNEY TO THE RESERVOIR OF AMERICAN COUNTRY & SOUL… by James Calemine “If America had one voice, it would be Willie’s…” - Emmylou Harris Willie Nelson’s music crosses many generations. His life’s work includes 50 read more...
Shooter Jennings
Ol’ Shooter : Are you ready for the country? Are you ready for him? November 2005 by Michael Buffalo Smith At the age of 25, Shooter Jennings, the only son of legendary country music icon Waylon Jennings and his wife, Jessie Colter, is riding high on the country charts with a hot single “4th of read more...
The Late Great Townes Van Zandt
A deluge of Townes Van Zandt releases flood the market since his death on January 1, 1997. A bitter legal battles ensues over Van Zandt's prolific song catalogue. Various related projects recently became available such as Norah Jones' Handsome Band: Live 2004, Margaret Brown's great DVD: Be Here To Love Me, and Townes in Amsterdam, a 1991 live performance. The following article read more...
Billy Joe Shaver
ODE TO BILLY JOE - AN INTERVIEW WITH BILLY JOE SHAVER by Derek Halsey Spring 2003 Billy Joe Shaver is one of the best and most prolific songwriters that America has ever produced. He is known to a lot of people for being a huge part of the so-called 'outlaw movement' in country music that took place in the early 1970's with the read more...
Lucky Oceans (Asleep At The Wheel)
Asleep At The Wheel by Derek Halsey July, 2002 Lucky Oceans, along with Ray Benson and Lerroy Preston, were the founding members of the western swing, roots band called Asleep At The Wheel. In this interview Lucky talks of the crazy days back in the 1970’s when the band was formed, about the read more...
David Ball
Checking in with Our Amigo, David Ball by Michael Buffalo Smith November 2001 I can remember seeing David Ball, along with Champ Hood and the late Walter Hyatt as Uncle Walt's Band here in Upstate South Carolina during the seventies. The guys were all great musicians, and in later years I would read read more...
Bobby Whitlock
Layla, and Many Other Songs of Love Bobby Whitlock Talks About Derek & The Dominos, Duane Allman, Gram Parsons, Eric Clapton and more... by Mitch Lopate Winter 2000 I see you released a new album on the Grapevine label, and it's called "It's about Time." Tell me (about) "It's About read more...
Lonnie Mack
The Guitar Player's Guitar Player Gritz Speaks with Guitar Hero Lonnie Mack by Michael Buffalo Smith (June, 2000) Lonnie Mack is a roadhouse blues-rock legend - modern rock's first true guitar hero. His playing has influenced the course of rock and roll and had an impact on many of modern rock's read more...