Richard Cabesa’s Music Blog

King Cone and Brandon Bush entertained Saturday afternoon at The Garage in Denton, as part of the Fry Street Fair.  I attended, but really didn’t know what to expect.  I had never heard of this Fry Street Fair.  I had seen King Cone play once before, and Brandon Bush I had never seen. 

I made the trek to Denton to see King Cone play and he didn’t dissappoint.  The thing that I have noticed about King is that his personality overrides whatever flaws that his music may have.  It’s not that the music is bad at all, but it ’s a different mix and it’s sometimes confusing on what he wants his sound to be.  Or perhaps he wants it to be everything to reach a broader audience.  At any rate, he played some newer material that I hadn’t heard before from his new CD.  Go With Me was actually on a previous CD and was redone with a little funk, as he would say.  And my favorite off the new CD Hanging On The Vine.  My favorite King Cone song is Ask Me To Stay, which he played twice, so that in itself made it worth the trip.  Being this was a Fair, bands were rolling in and out, so King only played for an hour, but his audience interaction is that of a seasoned veteran.  He’s obviously comfortable on stage and has a commanding presence that will help him go places in this industry.

Since there was still beer to be drank, I decided to stay and watch Brandon Bush too.  This is not Brandon Bush, the piano player.  This Brandon Bush I honestly had never heard of.  This was an acoustic show and was quite entertaining.  Bush has a good sense of humor and played off that several times in the show.  He played some original music telling stories of high school and college experiences, but maybe relied too much on cover tunes.  However, he did very well on some, including Jason Boland’s My Baby Loves Me When I’m Stoned and Steve Earle’s Copperhead Road, but struck out trying to cover Cross Canadian Ragweed.  Without knowing much about Brandon Bush, I’d say he is in his young 20’s at most, so he has time to work on his craft.  He has the stage presence already, so he has a start on most who would never have the balls to get on stage in the first place.   One word of advice to the young Mr. Bush:  Play your music, and rely less on everybody else’s.

As for the Fry Street Fair.  Wow!  Somebody remind me of this thing when it rolls around next year.  It’s been along time since I saw so many scantily dressed women.  Well, ok, maybe they were girls.  Oh to be 20 years old again.  Until next time, take care everybody.

When Deryl Dodd hits the stage, fans of all kinds show up.  Last Saturday night at Cowboys Arlington was no exception.  Dodd’s voice sounded fresh and as great as ever as he played several of his popular hits and some material from his new CD to be released June 27. 

Deryl’s shows at Cowboys Arlington are always some of his more entertaining shows.  Even Joe Nichols stopped by for this show, coming over from Ft. Worth after his afternoon performance in the stockyards.  Deryl opened the show with one of my favorites, 13MWZ.  Deryl’s crowd covers all ages, genders, and personalities, and undoutedly, some of them don’t even know what 13MWZs are, but the song is still enjoyable to them.  Hit after hit followed, including Pearl Snaps, Love or Something Like It, John Roland Woods, Sundown, and Drinkin’ About You.

Watching a Deryl Dodd show is like watching a Willie Nelson show.  If you’ve been to several artist’s shows, then you know what I’m talking about.  There isn’t a whole lot of idle time on stage and pompous self promotion.  Deryl rolls from one song to the next, just as Willie does.  He did take a few minutes, like he always does, to introduce his band, The Homesick Cowboys.

Deryl tried out some material from his new Full Circle CD, including it’s first release, I’m Not Home Right Now.  The song will be released to radio on April 17, and should be another hit.  It’s a lovesick ballad, obviously written during a low point in Dodd’s life.  It’s a song that I think everybody can relate to you.  You hear Deryl sing this song, and you feel his pain, as it takes your back to a time in your own life when you were at that low point.  And we’ve all been there.  Another song from the new album is actually an older song recycled, It’s Only Cause You’re Lonely.  This song was previously recorded on his 1998 self titled Deryl Dodd CD.  It’s a more upbeat song about being the transitional guy for a girl.  And yes, we’ve all been there too.

Deryl also performed a couple of cover songs.  One being Ricky Skaggs’ Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’.  I’m not a huge Skaggs fan, even though I do like his work, so I may be in the minority on this, but Deryl does this song better.  Another cover was George Strait’s Unwound.  It takes some stones to try to cover George Strait, but Deryl does it very well.

Of course, no Deryl Dodd show would be complete with out fan favorites Things Are Fixin’ To Get Real Good, A Bitter End, and his signature That’s How I Got To Memphis.  There were probably some other songs played, but by the end of the show, the alcohol was kicking in and I just can’t remember.  And the excitement of meeting Joe Nichols clouded my recollection as well.  Once again, look for Full Circle on June 27, and listen for I’m Not Home Right Now on April 17.  You’ll like it.

That’s it for this week.  I’ll be doing another CD review soon, so check back.  And if you have a CD you would like to have reviewed, let me know, and we’ll check it out.  See ya next time.