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From the Highlands of Scotland to the Prairies of Americana adorning the finest part of your record collection, $outhpaw bring you sweet country music to soothe and satisfy your soul.
Ok, let's bring y'all up to date.......
Shortly after the last instalment, we headed over to Norway for the second year running to be met by 30 degree sunbaked heaven, beautiful viking women wearing chaps (the leather kind) and cow kickin, thigh slappin, heartbreakin country music. Yes folks it was the 10th anniversary of the Seljord Country Festival and boy did we celebrate!
As happened last year, we made some good friends & hooked with some old friends, our Goldrush label mates Buchanan were on fine form as they took to the boards for a blinding set then swapped instruments around and backed Austin madman Rick Broussard for a hollerin hellbilly stompfest.
One of the highlights of our trip was catching the Redlands Palomino Company. A great band with fantastic songs. It's a Godsend to know that they're flying the Americana flag down the other end of the UK, and believe me they are flying that thing!
But what of our gigs out there? I hear you cry. Well just be safe in the knowledge that we took no prisoners, and saved the best til last as we defied the the heat to bring it on for all present. Just check out the photos and you'll see for yourself, and remember that after our shows we had to live up to our reputation & title of "Aftershow Party Kings" and lead the merry bunch of performers through bottles of whiskey & every song they could still sing (and some they couldn't) back at the hotel.
It never ceases to touch us all deep down when we think of how well we and all the other artists are looked after by our good friends in Norway, we got a chance to catch up with the same drivers, kitchen staff, sound engineers and security guys and they all remembered us and were as happy to see us as we were them. We're going back as often as we can! Thank you guys.
After 5 days of this relentless party madness you'd expect some kind of break, medical checkups, rehydration etc etc. No, we had to ready & steady ourselves by limbering up for our hometown Southern Fried Festival which kicked off with a great show by our pal Nanci Griffith after which we headed backstage to have a drink with the band only to discover that she has a new road manager in the form of Phil Kaufman. I don't know if anyone reading this is aware of a certain story regarding Gram Parsons' body being stolen and taken out to the Joshua tree desert & burnt as the result of a friends pact? Well we shook the hand that lit the match.......allegedly!!
Our show was the following night at 01:15am and we observed some strict drinking rules to avoid being inebriated and maintain some modicum of professionality. This was quite a challenge as the music on show provided by our warm up acts Rachel Harrington) and in particular the hillbilly honkytonkin mayhem of The Wilders kinda lends itself to tellin the barman "just leave the bottle here"
Nevertheless we kept it stompin it's feet at the gate right up til the second we got on stage then BANG we were off, it's all a bit of a blur now but we had a whale of a time stompin on those well trodden boards in our beautiful old theatre. We even managed to get some of our new friends up onstage with us as Betsy of the Wilders came up to give it some serious elbow action with her fiddle and singing, then Rachel got up to sing Johnny Cash's Jackson with us and might I say what a fine little dance she did!
Once again, the gauntlet was thrown to the ground and the aftershow party title race ensued... who won?
- who d'ya think!
Review: Maverick Magazine
(issue 74. September 2008)
Review by Alan Cackett
This is the way homegrown country music should be presented to the record buying public. This five-track mini album comes in a quality looking slipcase and the music - four originals and an inspired version of Weather Prophet's Almost Prayed - is up there with the finest country-rock produced by the likes of the Eagles, Poco, Burritos, etc. The opening title tune is a classic honky-tonk barroom saga with a hard-edged vocal and chiming pedal steel.
Esmeralda Red is an infectious uptempo country number with impeccable steel and layered harmonies. All good stuff. I continually hear from the more discerning country/Americana music fans that they'd never go see a UK country-rock band. Well Perth's Southpaw is one band I urge them to go and see, but first they need to get hold of this CD.
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