Lots Of Great Choices For Ringing in New Year's To Live Music By Dale Martin December 31st, 2008, Herald-Zeitung
As the year comes to a close tonight, it's time to take a look back at the highlights and low points of 2008. If you are in the mood to enjoy some live music tonight to help welcome in the New Year, you have many options. Let's take a look at what your choices are.
First up, there's two great blues bands ringing in the new year at Billy's Ice on Loop 337. All-In Blues Band will open for Devil's Hollow for this free show. If you caught their set last week at Gruene Hall, you know just how good this young band is.
"This week is our one-year anniversary as a band," explained singer and guitarist Adam Johnson. "I was a huge fan of the blues, and when I met bassist Jacob Christian and we formed the band, we just stuck with the blues."
Once they added guitarist Curtis Clogston and drummer Brianne Willis, they started writing original tunes and learning more classic cover songs. Everywhere they played, the crowds loved it. "Depending on how long we get to play," said Johnson, "we can do about half originals and half covers. For our show at Billy's, we'll get started around 8 p.m. We'll hang around and jam with Devil's Hollow."
Speaking of Devil's Hollow, I spoke with Justin Murray, lead vocalist and guitarist for the group. "We're really looking forward to the show at Billy's Ice; it's going to be a lot of fun. We have written some new songs, and this will give us a chance to try them out. We have some special guests that are expected to drop by and jam with us."
The band recently added guitarist Tom Young, changing the original trio to a rocking four-piece band. They are working on a new CD that they plan on releasing early next year.
All-In Blues, Devil's Hollow Lighting Up The Holiday Season By Dale Martin December 24th, Herald-Zeitung
Devil's Hollow and the All-In Blues Band have become two of the hottest bands in the area. Rather than sticking to the Americana format, these bands are leaning more to their blues and classic rock influences. On Friday, All-In Blues will play their first full band electric show at Gruene Hall starting at 1 p.m. Their previous shows at the hall have been acoustic sets, so this marks a major milestone for the band. To celebrate the show, members of Devil's Hollow plan on sitting in for a few tunes.
The holiday season is often a slow time for bands, but not these two groups. They are booked solid for the next few months. This proves my theory that if you start a good blues rock band in our area, the fans will come.
Devil's Hollow started in Canyon Lake as a trio, but recently added Tom Young as a second guitarist. Keyboardist Matt Cain often joins the band and will be with them on Saturday night opening for Del Castillo at Sam's Burger Joint in San Antonio. This will be one of their biggest shows of the year so they are pulling out all the stops and invite all of their fans to come out and party with them in the Alamo City. You'll get another chance to see both of these young blues bands on New Year's Eve when they play at Billy's Ice. The Gruene Hall show and the New Year's Eve show at Billy's Ice are free, so there's no excuse not to go.
Check it out tonight! Devil's Hollow (9pm), All-In Blues (8pm) and special guests like Matt Cain from Spank will be hosting an official World United Music Festival Afterparty this evening in San Marcos at Jack's Roadhouse!
The show is free of charge, open to the public, and welcome to anyone attending or performing at the World United Festival!
Jack's Roadhouse is located at 1625 W. Hopkins, down near Wonderworld and Bishop.
THE SOUND: Soulful blues with some funk and rock mixed in. "We're trying to go for the head-bopping, booty-shaking thing," Murray said. "I don't want to bring anybody down or get too deep. We want to make sure everybody's having a good time."
The guys get the crowd going with catchy party songs such as "Down To The Guadalupe" which includes the line "Let's go down to the Guadalupe / We'll get high and have a real good time." But they also have darker material, such as "Whiskey," which is about "personal demons and addictions," Murray said.
THE BACKGROUND: Murray, Howe and the trio's original drummer were playing in another band — "kind of a Nickelback thing, it wasn't really us," Murray said — when, drinking beers and listening to live music in Gruene Hall one night three years ago, they decided to start their own project.
"I think we had one rehearsal and decided to quit the other band," Murray said. They named themselves after a creek behind Murray's Canyon Lake home.
Robinson joined the band just a few months ago after the original drummer quit. The trio had been recording in the home studio that belonged to Dub Robinson, guitarist for the Drugstore Cowboys and father of W.J. "I'd just hear them all day, and Justin was really shredding the guitar. As soon as they called me, I knew I'd fit in the band just right," W.J. Robinson said.
THE ALBUM: The band is finishing up an EP, which it plans to release at Sam's on the Fourth of July.
WEB SITE: myspace.com/devilshollowtrio
CHECK THEM OUT: You can usually find the guys jamming outdoors near a river, like the River Road Icehouse in New Braunfels, where they'll play on Thursday, July 3.
They also will headline the Fourth of July festival at Sam's Burger Joint and play at Main Street Bar on Saturday, July 5, before going a mini-tour of the West Coast in mid-July.
