Friends Rally For Deryl Dodd Benefit Show/Auction
Friday, July 7th, 2006
On Sunday, June 25, I ventured west to the White Elephant Saloon in Ft Worth for the Deryl Dodd benefit show. Ten bands for ten dollars? How could I pass that up? My whole day was booked for this event, and was quite surprised that there were so many people there at 2 in the afternoon. I thought most people would show up later in the day, but there was a steady flow of people all day.
Level Route, a nice little band from Paris, Texas opened the event in the Beer Garden, while the Travis Mitchell Band played inside the White Elephant. Level Route fancies themselves as High Performance Outlaw Country, and they did delivered on that. I’m not sure what their close was because I was running back and forth between to the two stages, but the last song I heard from them was a cover of Workin’ Man Blues and it was awesome! I had heard of the Travis Mitchell Band, but had never seen them, but the UT Longhorn was quite entertaining. Texas Girls is a pretty cool song, as is Bitter. I think I need to see them again when I can focus on them and I’m not in and out.
Following Level Route in the Beer Garden was Zane Lewis, and man is this guy good! Zane is another I hadn’t see before, but knew some of his songs, including the hit This Town. In an event that was put together for Mr Dodd, Zane carried the stage like the man himself. I Hate To See Her Go and Beer Drinkin’ Women are crowd pleasers. It was obvious the people there had seen him before because they ate up his show. I wish I had seen more of it. King Cone played the inside stage around 4:00. I missed part of his show because I was watching Mr Lewis, and since I have seen King many times, I wasn’t in a great hurry. But I did make it inside to hear Ask Me To Stay and Folsom Prison Blues. An older fan jumped on stage with King and played harmonica and sounded great. King himself enjoyed this and told the elder statesmen “I don’t know who you are, but I like it. I wish you were my grandpa.” It fell right in line with the feel of the day since everybody was here for a good cause.
Back in the Beer Garden, Michael Klien took the stage. He’s another I had seen before, but it had been awhile. He too was very enjoyable. I guess Stamp of Fate is his signiture song, or at least the most popular, but It Won’t Be Me is a good song too. He also played his latest single Stayin Young, which I think could make song noise on the Texas Music Charts. 3 Ring Rodeo, led by Jon Magill, lined up next on the inside stage. Unfortunately, I had to get something to eat around this time so I missed a lot of their show, but Don’t Send The Invitation If You Don’t Want To Party is just a kick ass song. They also performed a cover of Mr Dodd’s That’s How I Got To Memphis, which they probably should have avoided. But Mr Magill and Mr Dodd apparently go back a ways, and being as this was Mr Dodd’s benefit, we’ll cut them some slack.
By the time I finished eating, Spur 503 was already started up on the Beer Garden Stage. These guys were really enjoyable. I honestly don’t know any of their songs, but I liked what I heard. It makes me want to find out more about them and see them again. The fact that they are from the Sherman/Denison area gives them a few bonus points too. Ed Burleson, also from Denison, was scheduled to play the inside stage at 7:00 but didn’t show up. This was very disappointing to a lot of us, but we assumed he probably got too drunk to drive over. Since he wasn’t there, I went back outside to see more of Spur 503. I really like their sound.
Tommy Alverson was next on the Beer Garden stage and the Texas legend delivered. Ray Wylie Hubbard even showed up and played a little bit with him. Somebody mentioned that 3 Ring Rodeo was back on stage in the inside, so I hustled back over to catch some of them, but they finished up shortly after, so I didn’t see much again. So back I went to the outside. Mr Alverson was, well, Mr Alverson. And the audience loved him. When he sang Una Mas Cerveza, he got great audience response and participation. Mr Dodd surprised all and showed up to play with Mr Alverson. Mr Alverson joked with Mr Dodd when he was using his guitar, “be careful with my guitar. Don’t let it get stolen or something”, which got a good laugh out of everybody. Mr Dodd sang One Ride In Vegas and his latest single I’m Not Home Right Now.
Jamie Richards was on the inside stage to close the show. He too was very entertaining and played several hits including They’ve Never Been To Texas and Last Time Till The Next Time. The event turned into a huge party when Mr Richards, Mr Dodd, and Mr Alverson all sang together on stage. They took turns singing each others songs and looked to thoroughly enjoy themselves.
Several artists from around the state and country who didn’t play at the event donated merchandise to be raffled/auctioned off. I can’t remember them all, but I’ll try. Cooder Graw, Wade Bowen, Darren Kolzelsky, Martina McBride, Sonny Burgess, Micky and The Motorcars, Max Stallings, Cory Morrow, Randy Rogers Band, Jordan Micozkie, Roger Creager, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Eli Young Band, Robert Earl Keen, Radney Foster, No Justice, Andy Griggs, and Gary P Nunn. There were probably more, but I can’t remember. Poor David’s Pub in Dallas also donated a $100 gift certificate and Billy Bob’s donated Willie Nelson 4th of July tickets. Items that were auctioned off were a Pearl Snap Shirt and Tony Lama Boots (after all, this was a Deryl Dodd benefit), a women’s leather jacket, some signed Cowboy Hats, Autographed Guitar by Neal McCoy, Autographed Guitar by Little Texas, and an Autographed Guitar by everybody that performed at this event.
It was a long day, but well worth it. And it just goes to show what good people live in Texas and how tight knit the Texas Music Industry is. For as many people to give up a free Sunday and/or merchandise to help a fellow man, shows how great Texas is and how popular Deryl Dodd is amongst his peers. Great job by Texas Nites Entertainment, the White Elephant, and 95.9 The Ranch in putting this thing together.
In the next few weeks, I’ll be reviewing Wade Bowen’s Lost Hotel CD and Deryl Dodd’s Full Circle CD. Check Back. Till next time…
