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Tuesday, December 9, 2008
SAJB calling it quits
In a move that came out of left field, singer-songwriter James Hyland has announced that the South Austin Jug Band’s ten-year run is nearing its end. The popular local band’s final Austin performance will be New Year’s Eve at Momo’s. Then they’ll play a few gigs in Colorado then, in an email Hyland sent to fans, “we are turning the page and putting to rest the South Austin Jug Band.”
The band plays the next two Wednesdays at Momo’s, which has long been home base.
Hyland cryptically holds open the prospect of a possible reunion down the road. “What will we all do?,” he writes. “Nothin’. For a little while…I can only speak for myself but I have to let ya know I have no other skills than writing songs and performing them, so I imagine that’s what I’ll get back to doing.”
There have been seven SAJB lineups through the years, with fiddle/mandolin wizards Dennis Ludiker and Brian Beken in the band longest, besides Hyland. The group’s third LP “Strange Invitation” was the best-received of its career and has been getting tons of airplay on KGSR.
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Meet T Bird and the Breaks
T Bird and the Breaks, from left to right: John Allison, Damien Llanes, Stephen Beasley, Houston Rawls, Matt Price, Cody Furr, Sam Patlove
Sasha Ortiz, Jazz Mills, Stephanie Hunt and Tim Crane
Photo by Nando Lafuente
It didn’t take Massachusetts native Tim (T Bird) Crane, who sounds like he grew up on the same records as did Delbert McClinton, long to hit his groove in this town. On a coast-to-coast train ride in 2006, Crane got off in Austin, then got off on the downtown music scene. He vowed a quick return and true to his word assembled a band of crack locals and New England jammers to tear up clubs as T Bird and the Breaks. Not since the Scabs started packing Antone’s at $20 a head circa 2000 has a new local R&B/ funk band lit a fire under kids whose parents were toddlers when Otis Redding’s plane went down.
But the Scabs have not recorded a record as good as “Learn About It,” which suggests a collaboration of James Hunter and the Dap Kings.
This debut shows massive potential, with songs like the bluesy “Sunday On My Own” and supersonic sax-driven“Stand Up” notches above the usual dancefloor workouts. Led by Crane’s delightfully scruffy voice, the 11-piece Breaks breathe life into old charts, with even the rote funk of “Baby Bottle” getting a fresh spin. One can hear traces of Swamp Dogg in the propulsive standout “Take Time,” while “Esmerelda” has an unmistakable Nawlins feel. Pretty gritty stuff for such a young, fresh band.
Although this album won’t be released nationally until next month, T-Bird and the Breaks are putting it out locally this week, marked by a release party Friday at midnight at the Victory Grill. Didn’t take T. Crane (T Bird, get it?) long to find the best club in town for his chitlin circuit revival.
