We are in some difficult times for sure, BUT, music is still some of the best medicine to heal the soul! Since ALL of our venues are temporarily shut down, my immediate reaction was... every musician I know is now instantly out of work...is live music shut down completely? Fortunately, the answer turns out to be no! Music, much like love, always finds a way to win! People from all segments and genre's have started to stream LIVE music events online on various different platforms! Some are free, some ask for tips via Paypal, etc and some are ticketed events.
I have spent quite a bit of time online watching these and they are spectacular!! One fantastic source I found was https://cabinfevertunes.weebly.com. There is some great stuff on here and what makes it even better is that many of the acts I have never heard before. I now have some new favorite groups to follow. Facebook, of course, is another great place to find events online. Find, like and follow your favorite bands and artists. Billboard.com has a full list of big time acts streaming live. I am sure you will find a treasure trove of great music to watch live! For the duration of this viral episode, I will be updating new streaming events that I find and post them here! I hope you and your loved ones are well and stay healthy. Hopefully, with a little music, we can bring some calm to this storm in front of us!! And when we come out the other side of this, it will be more important than ever to GET OUT there and support LIVE MUSIC once again at all of your favorite venues...in New Braunfels!
Here is list of Live Stream Concerts For Today...This list will be updated regularly until it is no longer needed...
May 29
CLASSICAL
Opera Philadelphia Digital Festival: Missy Mazzoli's Breaking the Waves Digital Premiere Time: 8 p.m. ET Link: YouTube
New York City Ballet: 21st Century Choreographers Time: 8 p.m. ET Link: NYC Ballet
Third Coast Percussion: New Composition by Danny Elfman Time: 8 p.m. ET Link: YouTube
Metropolitan Opera: Bellini's La Sonnambula Time: 7:30 p.m. ET Link: Met Opera
The Violin Channel Live - Pianist Nathan Lee: 4 p.m. ET Link: YouTube / Facebook
Lang Lang Foundation Play It Forward: Yaron Kohlberg Time: 12 p.m. ET Link: Instagram
Slay At Home Fest: Del Judas, Spotlights, AA Williams, Silvertomb and moreTime: 3 p.m. ET Link: YouTube For more details, check the schedule on the festival's website.
Knotfest: Slipknot, Underoath and Code Orange Time: 6 p.m. ET Link: Knotfest
City Hearts: Dj Tennis, Enamour, Tim Engelhardt and more Time: 12 - 11:59 p.m. ET Link: Twitch For more details, check the festival's Facebook event page.
Hello Folks, Let's Kick 2020 off with a host of awesome music at The Brauntex Performing Arts Theater! The month of January looks amazing at the historic downtown landmark! First up, on Friday January 10th the legendary Peter Noone returns with Herman's Hermits. Peter Blair Denis Bernard Noone is a multi-talented entertainer, who has been delighting audiences nearly all his life. He was born in Manchester, England, where he studied voice and acting at St. Bede’s College and the Manchester School of Music and Drama. As a child, he played “Stanley Fairclough” in the long-running British soap opera Coronation Street. He was also featured in the television series Knight Errant, Family Solicitor and Monro’s Saki Stories.
At the age of fifteen, Peter achieved international fame as “Herman’s Hermits”, lead singer of the legendary Sixties pop band Herman’s Hermits. His classic hits included: “I’m Into Something Good” “Mrs. Brown, you’ve Got A Lovely Daughter”, “I’m Henry VIII, I Am”, “Silhouettes”, “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat”, “Just A Little Bit Better”, “Wonderful World”, “There’s A Kind of Hush”, “A Must To Avoid”, “Listen People”, “The End of the World” and “Dandy”. Ultimately, Herman’s Hermits sold over sixty million recordings. In all, fourteen singles and seven albums went gold. The Hermits were twice named Cashbox’s “Entertainer of the Year”.
As “Herman”, the photogenic Noone graced the cover of nearly every international publication, including Time Magazine. He performed on hundreds of top-rated television programs and appeared with such luminaries as Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason, Dean Martin and Danny Kaye. He also starred in ABC’s musical version of The Canterville Ghost, Hallmark Hall of Fame’s presentation of the classic Pinocchio (in which he played the title role) and three highly successful feature films for M-G-M: Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter, Hold On! and When The Boys Meet The Girls.
Throughout the seventies, Noone performed, composed songs and produced recordings with such artists as David Bowie, Debby Boone and Graham Gouldman. His album with the Tremblers, “Twice Nightly” and his solo effort “One of The Glory Boys” were both critically and commercially successful. With characteristic zeal, Peter took on leading roles in full-scale theatrical productions of Dick Wittington, Aladdin, and Sinbad The Sailor. These live stage spectaculars were mounted at major theatres throughout Great Britain and Noone was highly praised for his outstanding work.
The eighties found Peter starring on Broadway in the New York Shakespeare Festival’s production of The Pirates of Penzance. He won rave reviews for his superb portrayal of the dashing, young hero, “Frederic”. His performance was so well received, that he went on to reprise the role at the world-famous Drury Lane Theatre in London. Noone charmed audiences worldwide as he continued to play “Frederic” with both the U.S. National Touring Company and the International Touring Company of “Pirates”.
Peter’s acting career flourished with guest-starring roles in prime-time television shows such as: Married With Children, My Two Dads, Quantum Leap, Dave’s World, Easy Street, Too Close For Comfort and Laverne and Shirley. He also starred in the Los Angeles stage premiere of Topokana Martyr’s Day and the U.S. National Tour of the smash Broadway hit Romance, Romance.
For four years, Noone served as the winsome host of VH1’s My Generation, the highest-ever-rated half hour retrospective of popular music. He also hosted the informative PBS Special The British Invasion Returns and recorded the title song for the Kirk Douglas film Diamonds. He created two unique websites (peternoone.com and hermanshermits.com) that have become so popular, the New York Daily News dubbed him the “King of The Sixties on the Internet.”
Accompanied by his band, Herman’s Hermits, Noone consistently plays to sold-out venues the world over. He has a legion of faithful fans (known as “Noonatics”) whose loyalty is unparalleled. Today’s teen girls scream just as passionately as their mothers did back in 1965, prompting VH1 to select Peter as their viewer’s choice for the “Sexiest Artist of the Year”. Most recently, Noone starred in the recurring role of “Paddington” on the CBS daytime drama, As The World Turns. His colorful performances instantly made him a favorite of the soap opera magazines and online message boards. There is no doubt that Peter Noone’s extraordinary talent, disarming wit, handsome features and compelling stage presence will bring the audience to its feet once again on Friday night! Tickets still available bye contacting www.brauntex.org
Friday January 17th, another favorite, returning for their 4th time to the Brauntex, The Oakridge Boys will bring their basket of hits and amazing vocals to downtown New Braunfels. Theirs is one of the most distinctive and recognizable sounds in the music industry. The four-part harmonies and upbeat songs of the Oak Ridge Boys have spawneddozens of Country hits and a Number One Pop smash, earned them Grammy, Dove, CMA, and ACM awards and garnered a host of other industry and fan accolades. Every time they step before an audience, the Oaks bring three decades of charted singles, and 50 years of tradition, to bear on a stage show widely acknowledged as among the most exciting anywhere. And each remains as enthusiastic about the process as they have ever been.
“When I go on stage, I get the same feeling I had the first time I sang with the Oak Ridge Boys,” says lead singer Duane Allen. “This is the only job I've ever wanted to have.”
“Like everyone else in the group,” adds bass singer extraordinaire Richard Sterban, “I was a fan of the Oaks before I became a member. I’m still a fan of the group today. Being in the Oak Ridge Boys is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.”
The two, along with tenor Joe Bonsall and baritone William Lee Golden, comprise one of Country's truly legendary acts. Their string of hits includes the pop chart-topper Elvira, as well as Bobbie Sue, Dream On, Thank God For Kids, American Made, I Guess It Never Hurts To Hurt Sometimes, Fancy Free, Gonna Take A Lot Of River and many others. They've scored 12 gold, three platinum, and one double platinum album, plus one double platinum single, and had more than a dozen national Number One singles and over 30 Top Ten hits.
The Oaks represent a tradition that extends back to World War II. The original group, based in Knoxville, Tennessee, began performing Country and Gospel music in nearby Oak Ridge where the atomic bomb was being developed. They called themselves the Oak Ridge Quartet, and they began regular Grand Ole Opry appearances in the fall of ‘45. In the mid-fifties, they were featured in Time magazine as one of the top drawing Gospel groups in the nation.
By the late ‘60s, with more than 30 members having come and gone, they had a lineup that included Duane Allen, William Lee Golden, Noel Fox, and Willie Wynn. Among the Oaks’ many acquaintances in the Gospel field were Bonsall, a streetwise Philadelphia kid who embraced Gospel music; and Sterban, who was singing in quartets and holding down a job as a men’s clothing salesman. Both admired the distinctive, highly popular Oaks.
“They were the most innovative quartet in Gospel music,” says Bonsall. “They performed Gospel with a Rock approach, had a full band, wore bell-bottom pants and grew their hair long... things unheard of at the time.”
The four became friends, and when the Oaks needed a bass and tenor in ‘72 and ’73, respectively, Sterban and Bonsall got the calls. For a while, the group remained at the pinnacle of the Gospel music circuit. It was there they refined the strengths that would soon make them an across-the-board attraction.
“We did a lot of package shows,” says Bonsall. “There was an incredible amount of competition. You had to blow people away to sell records and get invited back.”
Their Gospel sound had a distinct Pop edge to it and, although it made for excitement and crowd appeal, it also ruffled purist feathers and left promoters unsure about the Oaks’ direction. Then in 1975, the Oaks were asked to open a number of dates for Roy Clark. Clark’s manager, Jim Halsey, was impressed by their abilities.
“He came backstage and told us we were three-and-a-half minutes (meaning one hit record) away from being a major act,” says Bonsall. “He said we had one of the most dynamic stage shows he’d ever seen but that we had to start singing Country songs.”
They took his advice and the result was a breakthrough.
“Those who came to Country music with or after the New Traditionalists of the mid-eighties cannot possibly imagine the impact the Oaks had in 1977, when they lit up the sky from horizon to horizon with Y’All Come Back Saloon,” wrote Billboard’s Ed Morris. He added “... the vocal intensity the group brought to it instantly enriched and enlivened the perilously staid Country format. These guys were exciting.” Within a year, Paul Simon tapped them to sing backup for his hit Slip Slidin’ Away, and they went on to record with George Jones, Brenda Lee, Johnny Cash, Roy Rogers, Billy Ray Cyrus, Bill Monroe, Ray Charles and others. In 2007, they recorded with the son of an old friend. Shooter Jennings, the son of Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, invited the Oaks to perform Slow Train, a song on his sophomore CD.
Their career has spanned not only decades, but also formats. They have appeared before five presidents. They produced one of the first Country music videos (Easy, in 1977, although not released in the U.S., it reached the 3 slot in Australia). They participated in the first American popular music headline tour in the USSR. And they have become one of the most enduringly successful touring groups anywhere. They still performing some 150 dates each year at major theaters, fairs and festivals across the U.S. and Canada.
They did it with a consistently upbeat musical approach and terrific business savvy.
“We always look for songs that have lasting value and that are uplifting,” says Allen, who has co-produced the Oaks’ last seven studio albums. “You don’t hear us singing ‘cheating’ or ‘drinking’ songs, but ‘loving’ songs, because we think that will last. We also don‘t put music in categories, except for ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ When we get through with it, it’s probably going to sound like an Oak Ridge Boys song no matter what it is.”
They proved their business acumen in any number of ways, including such steps as declining the chance to sit on the couch during their many appearances on the Tonight Show.
“We said, ‘If you‘re going to give us four minutes on the couch with Johnny, we’d rather have four minutes to give you another song that lets people know what got us here,’” says Allen. “We didn’t get here talking; we got here singing.”
They also proved themselves to be capable and tireless advocates of charitable and civic causes, serving as spokesmen and/or board members of fundraisers for the Boy Scouts of America, the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse (now known as Prevent Child Abuse America), Feed The Children, the National Anthem Project and many more.
The group’s first personnel change in many years occurred in 1987 when Steve Sanders, who had been playing guitar in the Oaks Band, replaced William Lee as the baritone singer. Late in ‘95, Steve resigned from the Oaks and exactly one minute after midnight on New Year’s Eve, Duane, Joe and Richard surprised a packed house at the Holiday Star Theatre in Merrillville, Indiana, by welcoming William Lee on stage and back into the group. The hit makers were finally together again!
The Oaks’ high-energy stage show remains the heart and soul of what they do, and they refine it several times a year, striving to keep it fresh well into the future.
“We‘re not willing to rest on our laurels,” Golden says. “That gets boring. As a group, we do things constantly to challenge ourselves, to try to do something different or better than the last time we did it.”
“I feel like I can do what I do on stage just as good now as I could 20 years ago,” says Bonsall. “I plan to be rockin’ my tail off out there as long as I’m healthy. The people who come out, who bring their families to see us, deserve everything I’ve got.”
“We’ve experienced a lot of longevity,” adds Sterban. “I think the reason is the love we have for what we do—the desire, the longing to actually get up there and do it. We love to sing together... to harmonize together. It’s what our lives are all about.” I have worked with these guys on several occasions and every time, the amaze me...go get some of the few remaining tickets for this one, it WILL sell out.
The Limeliters will take the stage on January 30th. The Limeliters launched their career in 1959 at San Francisco’s famous “Hungry i”…and before long, founding members Alex Hassilev, Lou Gottlieb and Glenn Yarbrough emerged as one of the dominant voices of the early 1960’s folk music scene. For three years they were the musical representatives for Coca-Cola, and their rendition of the jingle “Things Go Better with Coke” became a national hit. A string of best selling albums for RCA Records and frequent appearances on every major TV show quickly made them a household name.
Time Magazine summed up their appeal with the following memorable quote: “If the button down scrubbed looking Kingston Trio are the undergraduates of big-time folk singing, The Limeliters are the faculty.”
In the ensuing years, the lineup of the group has featured several spectacularly talented new members, but The Limeliters have never deviated from the integrity of the fabulous sound that they pioneered. With their energy and enthusiasm undiminished, current members Andy Corwin, Daniel Boling and Steve Brooks remain as exciting an act as the genre has produced. Now more than ever, the surging vocals, thrilling harmony, and whacked out sense of humor of this unique trio continue to earn them their title as…The “Slightly” Fabulous Limeliters!
Rounding out the month of January at the Brauntex, One of my personal favorites...Radney Foster will perform. The position that Radney Foster enjoys in the country music landscape is remarkable. For 30 years, Radney has thrived as a songwriter, recording artist, live performer and producer. His songs, solo and recorded by other artists, have topped the country, Americana, and AAA charts alike. At the same time, he’s earned the respect of his peers and a devoted audience as intent on listening as they are eager to dance. Radney grew up in two worlds: herding cattle on horseback at his grandfather’s East Texas ranch in the summer and hunkering over a transistor radio in his West Texas hometown, listening to border radio that played country to conjunto. That hybrid of influences may be why Radney has always been tough to categorize. His first success was with the seminal country/cowpunk duo Foster & Lloyd, whose first single, Crazy Over You, went straight to number one. His subsequent solo albums told tales through a honky-tonk lens and yielded enduring hits, Just Call Me Lonesome and Nobody Wins. Considered an elder statesman of Texas singer/songwriters, Radney has written and produced songs for Randy Rogers, Jack Ingram, Kacey Musgraves, Wade Bowen, Josh Abbott, Pat Green, Cory Morrow and many others. His songs are regularly mined by superstar acts like Keith Urban (Raining on Sunday, I’m In), Sara Evans (Real Fine Place, Revival) and the Dixie Chicks (Godspeed). Radney has performed with Charley Pride and Asleep at the Wheel and performed at the Black Tie & Boots Inaugural Ball in Washington, DC, during President Obama's inaugural festivities. Just to give you a little taste of this mans songwriting, I'll just wrap this up with a little video...Until Next Time...CHEERS!
Hello Folks! New Braunfels has a number of great venues that host shows all week long with NO COVER! These musical treats offer some real big name musicians, providing top quality music free for your listening enjoyment! So let's dive in to a few of my picks for FREE shows 'in New Braunfels'. First up is one of my favorite singer songwriters, who has also played with a number of other great musicians during his stellar career. Jeff Plankenhorn or 'Plank' as he is known among his peers, has been a staple of stellar musicianship for decades in this area. He will be performing at Gruene Hall on Saturday November 23rd from 1-5pm. Jeff Plankenhorn’s life in music has taken him from a childhood in Ohio as a boy soprano, to battling addiction, to two decades as a first-call session guitarist in Austin. Now a successful solo artist, the slide guitar virtuoso is collaborating with his musical heroes and rocking festival stages all over the country.
Commenting on “Tooth & Nail” (song): “(Ray Wylie) Hubbard’s deadpan and Plankenhorn’s crackling guitar go together like thunder and lightning, a combination consistent with the song’s ominous energy.” —ROLLING STONE COUNTRY
Commenting on “Love Is Love” (video): “The ray of love this video, and the song, will inevitably shine down on you.” —AMERICANA HIGHWAYS
"Over the course of the last two decades, Jeff Plankenhorn has worked tirelessly to earn his rep as one of the most reliably can-do, right-dude-for-the-job musicians in Austin, Texas. As an exceptionally talented acoustic, electric, slide, and lap-steel guitarist with a keen understanding of the importance of playing to and for a song rather than all over it, he’s been called on countless times to back a veritable who’s who of Texas and Americana music’s finest singers and songwriters, including Ray Wylie Hubbard, Joe Ely, Eliza Gilkyson, Ruthie Foster, and the late Jimmy LaFave.” —Lone Star Music
Jeff Plankenhorn plays a soulful, distinctly Austin brand of roots rock that, over the past several years, has gained him a devoted national following and a seat among the very best contemporary Americana songwriters. His confident, catchy-as-hell fourth studio album, Sleeping Dogs was released to rave reviews (Rolling Stone Country, the Boot, Twangville, among others) and spent a good chunk of 2018 on the Roots Rock and Americana radio charts (#5 and #44). The four-piece band that bears his name has become a favorite on the festival circuit, scoring spots at Old Settlers Music Festival, Kerrville Folk Festival, Telluride Americana Music Festival, and Austin’s annual New Years Eve blowout at Auditorium Shores.
Well before he started rocking festival stages as a solo artist, Plankenhorn was already in the musical DNA of his adopted home of Austin, Texas. His bluesy, slide-driven guitar style was born out of jam sessions, residencies and house shows played for local audiences eager for the electricity and edge-of-your-seat musicianship that makes Austin the live music capital of the world. “In Austin,” he says, “few players rehearse. You show up and you play, for better or for worse.”
That freewheeling philosophy, and the disciplined songwriting craft that underpins it, is the result of Plankenhorn’s almost ten-year run as a member of the Resentments, a supergroup of sorts that hosts one of the longest running residencies in Austin. Every Sunday for the last 20 years, a rotating cast of Austin’s best songwriters has brought their newest tunes to debut at the Saxon Pub, an Americana stronghold on the famous Lamar Street. The group walks a tightrope between improvisation and songcraft that is thrilling. This musical bootcamp sharpened Plankenhorn’s writing process and gives his songs a lived-in ease.
Over the course of five solo albums, Plankenhorn has drawn on a wide range of styles, combining influences from electric blues, progressive bluegrass, sacred steel, and power-pop to create a musical identity all his own. A big part of it is his voice. Plankenhorn grew up in Ohio singing choral music as a boy soprano. The vocal clarity and power he developed in those early years is evident in the soulful baritone he employs now.
The biggest contributor to Plankenhorn’s sound is his virtuosic touch on anything with strings - ranging from electric and acoustic, guitar to dobro and lap steel. His most distinctive sonic paintbrush is the custom electric dobro he invented, appropriately called the Plank. If you’ve listened to roots music from Austin in the last couple decades, you may have heard it - a sharp, crunchy slide sound derived from the instrument's combination of a lap steel neck and electric guitar body. That distinctive burn is all over Plankenhorn’s 2016 album, SoulSlide, in addition to recordings from Austin greats like Ray Wylie Hubbard and Joe Ely. (In between solo gigs, he’s a first-call session guitarist.) Word of mouth at his shows has even resulted in a few one-off orders for the Plank, including from members of Wade Bowen’s band and Blue October.
Plankenhorn’s early musical upbringing was as eclectic as his career might suggest. In his 20s he was as likely to be found arranging horns in a 12 piece funk group as playing guitar in a progressive bluegrass band. But his biggest musical influence by far, he says, is Stevie Wonder, whose positivity is all over Plankenhorn’s songs. Stevie’s mastery of instrumental harmony can also be heard in the jazzy, descending chord progression of “Further to Fall.”
Plankenhorn is a magnet for diverse ideas and collaborators, and his genius is in bringing them together. Sleeping Dogs merges styles effortlessly, juxtaposing sweet-hearted anthems like “Love is Love” (a response to the Pulse nightclub shooting) against ominous, weathered tunes like “Tooth & Nail”, which he co-wrote with Ray Wilie Hubbard. Several of the album’s standouts are the result of collabs with Americana royalty, including “Holy Lighting”, which features a duet with Patty Griffin. Tying it all together is a big-heartedness that speaks to a worldly approach to Americana music.
Plankenhorn came to Austin by way of Nashville. The way he tells it, he met outlaw-country great Ray Wilie Hubbard on a Nashville sidewalk, sat in with him that very night on dobro, and, before he knew it, had a long-term gig crashing on Hubbard’s couch in Texas hill country. From there, he launched a new chapter as a solo artist, and Hubbard is a mentor to this day. The last few years have been a time of outstanding creativity and commercial breakthrough for Plankenhorn - success for which he credits his sobriety. “I’d toured the country and played the world, but it wasn’t until I got clean and went to rehab that things really started to come together.” Since getting clean seven years ago, Plankenhorn has channeled his addictive energy into songwriting. He lives half the year now living with his wife on Vancouver Island, Canada, where he spends idyllic days writing and playing with their dogs. The other half he spends in Austin, where he remains in demand as a session player, cowriter, and producer. The success of his last two albums have brought international interest in his music, and full tours of Europe and Canada! I am sure only more great things are in store for this fine musical troubadour ! This is just one example of live music that costs you nothing, but your attendance to support! I, of course, recommend a little money go to the tip jar for the musicians in this scenario. Other great New Braunfels venues that offer free music most every night of the week are Billy's Ice, Pour Haus, Phoenix Saloon, Krause's Cafe, Pale Horse and Tavern in the Gruene! Check local listings and websites for days and times! So, get out there, enjoy some live music at local venues and take in all New Braunfels has to offer! Until next time... Cheers!
