Texas Music Journal » Honky Tonk

Larry W. Jones completes 6,000 song lyrics

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:12:28 +0000

Larry W. Jones, aka Kingwood Kowboy, has completed his writing of 6,000 song lyrics. Two collections of songs are currently available.

Real Country Lyrics is a collection of 2,000 classic and vintage country, cowboy and western songs, published in eight volumes of 250 song lyrics each. Island Song Lyrics is a collection of 4,000 island-themed songs written in the vintage style of “Territorial Hawaii” and other Pacific islands, which was popular in the early 1900′s when tropical dreams came true, published in eight volumes of 500 song lyrics each.

All his lyrics are properly copyrighted and the titles are registered through BMI, therefore ready for YOUR editing, arranging, music, recording and marketing. To view one or all, visit his website Kingwood Kowboy Song Lyrics

Copyright © TexasMusicJournal.com, All Rights Reserved.
This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. The commercial use of this feed without the express written permission of TexasMusicJournal.com is prohibited. If you are not viewing this content in your news reader, the web page you are viewing may be infringing on this copyright. Please contact TexasMusicJournal.com to request license rights or to report a suspected violation of this copyright. (Digital Fingerprint: 99fbb508a0ef45a3f8979540b294ba14 (38.107.179.230) )

Rodney Atkins Takes Southern Junction by Storm

John South — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:00:53 +0000

The storms hit pretty hard in North Texas this past weekend. At the leading edge of those storms was the thunderous performance of Rodney Atkins and his band at the Southern Junction. Over the course of about 90 minutes, Rodney brought the audience a mix of his hits often interacting with members of the audience.

Rodney brings an infectious enthusiasm to the stage. You can tell that this is much more than a performance for him; he really enjoys what he is doing. Whether he feeds off of the enthusiasm of the crowd, or the crowd feeds off of his, the show is a powerful experience for all.

Southern Junction is a place that allows a performer like Rodney to really interact with the audience. Rodney likes to reach out to the people physically as well as to have them to complete a chorus, or even a complete verse. At one point, he held the microphone stand out over the audience to pick up their voices.

Though a large facility, at the Southern Junction there are no bad places to watch a performance. Whether seated at your table enjoying one of their fantastic steaks, or standing near the stage, you are close enough to the performer to get the real impact of the show.

Rodney has a number of songs that reach out to the audience. Some are humorous, like “15 Minutes”, some more down to earth (pun intended) like “A Man on a Tractor” “15 Minutes” brought raucous audience participation when Rodney hit the chorus,

‘Cause I gave smoking, women and drinking last night
and it was the worst fifteen minutes on my life

But the serenely real notes of “A Man on a Tractor” allowed the audience to reflect on what is most important in their life. As big as a Southern Junction is, you could feel the inward reflection of the crowd and Rodney’s heartfelt message as he sang,

There I was watching and wondering
My wife came down and sat beside me
She said, “it’s not about living another man’s life
It’s about seeing your own differently”
Oh this home that I love and my children
What more could one man hope to yield
Then she touched my face
And said, “there’s more than one way
To be a man on a tractor with a dog in the field.”

Rodney and the band hit a number of the fan favorites, “Wasted Whiskey” , “These are My People” and “Tell a Country Boy”. But, one song that brought the fans out of their seats was “Cleaning This Gun (Come on in Boy). How many of us have either had a Dad give of us this message, or should have!

Come on in boy sit on down
And tell me about yourself
So you like my daughter do you now?
Yeah we think she’s something else
She’s her daddy’s girl
Her momma’s world
She deserves respect
That’s what she’ll get
Ain’t it son?
Hey y’all run along and have some fun
I’ll see you when you get back
Bet I’ll be up all night
Still cleanin’ this gun

Southern Junction turned out a wall-to-wall crowd to see a great show from one of today’s great performers. The storms were brewing in Texas and Rodney Atkins was on the leading edge.

Pictures from the show can be seen in our photo section, or by clicking HERE.

For information about Rodney Atkins and upcoming shows, visit RODNEY ATKINS.

For more information about Southern Junction and their upcoming shows, visit SOUTHERN JUNCTION

Desdémona – A Love Story

John South — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 04:46:40 +0000

The Texas Music Journal screened the film “Desdémona : A Love Story” for both the film itself as well as for its connection to Texas music. A recent submission to the AFI Dallas International Film Festival, Desdémona is a movie that challenges the audience to look beyond the story to understand the multi-dimensional love story being told.

Desdémona is a journey into the dark world of human nature. Through the use of flashbacks to fill in the back-story, the film follows the lives of its four main characters. At the beginning of the film, Gil (Jorge A. Jimenez) collapses into a church confessional looking for a place close to God to finish his life, perhaps more as a challenge to God. Through two graphically portrayed incisions into his wrists, Gil starts his journey to the end. A priest, Father Wade (Glenn Morshower), seeing an occupant in the confessional steps inside expecting just another confession; instead he receives Gil’s reflection of shipwrecked loves.

To the casual observer, the film is the story of Gil who was sent to live with Dustin Whitaker (Brad Maule) upon the untimely death of his own father (Luis Cadeira). Over the years, Gil and his Texan brother Rod (Denton Blaine Everett) grew close to each other (though growing up tough in a tough environment). When their father passed away, the boys were shocked to find that the funeral would cost them $6,000 more than they had in funds.

They hatched a plot to kidnap the wife of a rich man in order to raise the money needed to bury their father. What Rod didn’t know was that Gil had located a past love, Desdémona (Cindy Vela), who was tied up in a loveless and abusive marriage. After successfully kidnapping Desdémona, the brothers became anxious when the husband didn’t respond to any of their ransom demands.

The story line adopts very much a modern Romeo and Juliet-like plot, but there is much more inside it than just the love story between Gil and Desdémona. The writer and director, Phillip Guzman (”2:22″, “The Lawless”), has woven a brilliant and intricate multidimensional love story that highlights many loves – the love between Gill, Rod and their father Dustin, the love between Gill and his brother Rod, the love between Gill and his own father, and the aborted start of love between Rod and the captive Desdémona. If one wants to be inclusive about the love stories reflected in the film, one might also include the encompassing love of God for one of His wayward sons (reflected in Father Ward’s final act).

“Desdémona: A Love Story” is a very complex and dark film, but enjoyable in the challenge that it presents the viewer. The theme music supports the low key, dark presentation of the movie. From a Texas perspective, the Bart Crow Band played an integral part in the development of Gil’s character. In a bar scene, Gil, originally of Hispanic descent, intentionally walks into a small “redneck” bar knowing what was going to happen to him. The rednecks play directly into Gil’s plan to get closer to his own father by experiencing the same abuse at the hands of ill-tempered prejudice. One has to believe that Gil didn’t care if, like his father, he died at the hands of that abuse.

The Bart Crow Band (Bart Crow, Paul Russell, Drew Campbell, Joseph Drew) backed the honky-tonk scene with a song that fit perfectly into the theme and mood of the film, “Choice” and “Gordon’s Song”. The haunting lyrics of the latter set the mood for the scene.

It’s a dead end on an eight-mile road/It’s a shot rings out in the dark/
It’s the sharp side of the a stinging sword/ It’s kind of like a broken heart.

The reader should check out their two albums, “Finally” (2007) and “Desperate Hearts” (2008). The Texas Music Journal will be covering the band and these albums in a future article.

A character of note in the film is Brad Maule’s portrayal of the dying Dustin Whitaker. Between his growling dialog, smoking cigarettes and sucking down oxygen, Maule’s character binds the two brothers in a love that is as strong as it is tragic.

“Desdémona: A Love Story” is a film that should be on your list of films to see this year. Expect to walk away from the film challenged to absorb the deep emotional themes that Guzman has brought to life on the screen.

Billy Bob’s Texas – Special Announcement

John South — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:57:46 +0000

Pam Minneck from Billy Bob’s announced this morning on WBAP that there will be a special showing at Billy Bob’s Texas on Thursday, March 19th of Bill Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters along with ZZ Top! This is an earlier show than normal starting at 9:00 PM.

The tickets go on sale at 10:00 AM on Monday, March 16th at Billy Bob’s box office and on Ticketmaster. Ticket prices are $50 for reserved seating and $20 for general admission.

www.billybobstexas.com/index.htm

This one is going to go fast!