February News
Hello everyone,
February means FOLK! The Folk Alliance International conference this year is in Montreal. Matt The Electrician, Nels Andrews and I will be representing. We can't wait to see old friends and make new friends. I will be hosting a private showcase room once again. If you are wandering the halls, please drop by the ComboPlate Booking, Rm.520 and hear the wonderful musicians we are exciting to be hosting.
Before I forget... BIG thanks to everyone who came to the FAI reception in Austin. There were many of you, close to 70 people or so. Matt and I had a good time welcoming Jennifer Roe, Director of Operations at FAI, to Austin, and we've received really nice feedback from people who attended.
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Time for another edition of our occasional feature,
Friend In Music. This is where I ask a friend in the music community doing something that I think is cool to share their story with you. This month's
Friend In Music is Steve Ray with the
Texas Music Office. Last year, I heard about the Texas Music Trails from Steve. Being a native Texas and someone working in the music industry, I LOVED what I heard. I've asked Steve to share about this project, please meet our friend Steve Ray and read his words here:
The Texas Music Office is curating a set of Texas Music Trails to explore the musical contributions of communities around the Lone Star State. Each self-guided Texas Music Trail will focus on a region or genre and highlight its contribution to Texas’ musical landscape. Part history lesson, part travel guide; each music trail features an interactive map of museums, historic venues, memorials, music stores, archives and more that help to tell the story of Texas Music. An accompanying Spotify playlist curated for each specific trail provides a regional Texas music soundtrack. Follow along on the Texas Music Office’s first trail, “Amarillo By Morning,” and explore the panhandle’s music legacy through the eyes and ears of Buddy Holly, Bob Wills, Woody Guthrie, Waylon Jennings, Jimmy Dean and others. Discover not only the history of the region, but find plenty of places where their music and influence live on at https://gov.texas.gov/music/trail/texas-music-trail-panhandle-plains. Be sure and follow TXMusicTrail on Twitter and Facebook for updates.
And if the Texas Music Trails wasn't cool enough, Steve and the team at the Texas Music Office make sure that Texas musicians have a place to showcase at the Folk Alliance International Conference by sponsoring several showcase rooms, six showcases all together. Posters below and be sure to watch the
TMO Facebook for bigger versions. Thank you to Steve, Marc, Brendon and all of the TMO team for taking care of our Texas artists at conferences on the road!
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News from the roster:
- JM Stevens has a new single & video release on February 5th. The only thing I'm going to tell you right now is that the video was filmed in Blönduós, Iceland.... and that it's super cool! Be sure to go to his
FB page on the 5th and check it out.
- Matt The Electrician will be enjoying cold places this month. Immediately after FAI in Montreal, Matt has decided to tour in Alaska! This will be his first time in Anchorage and Palmer, and he will of course return to his Alaskan home town of Ketchikan. Details below.
- BettySoo will be the special guest at Peter Mulvey's writing workshop at Blue Rock Artist Ranch & Studio in Wimberley, TX. Go to the
Blue Rock web site to learn more
and sign up, you'll be happy you did!
- Freshly back from Alberta, David Berkeley is now off to Holland and Germany and Belgium with Son of Town Hall (dates on their
web site). This will sadly keep him and his behatted duo from being in Montreal, but he and his partner Ben will be thinking of all of you and performing bedroom serenades from across the seas. David released a political EP at the end of 2018 called "The Faded Red and Blue." It was on Yahoo Music's list of the best releases of the year. You can watch the video for his environmental hymn that closes the collection at
http://www.davidberkeley.com
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Thank you for reading as always. I hope to give many of you hugs soon.
xo Laura & The Roster
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ComboPlate Booking February Shows
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