Special Show - Jackson Browne
The Arlington Theatre
Friday, October 3, 2008 8:00 p.m. 
Tickets $63.00 premium section with Sings Like Hell subscription. More

Sings Like Hell, Series #24
Six shows for $180 at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara.
Same seats for each show! Subscriber discount for added shows!
Party with artists after the show!

ORDER FORM


Saturday, October 18
Carrie Rodriquez + The South Austin Jug Band
Not yet 30, and with a critically-acclaimed solo record and several well-received duet records with Chip Taylor in her wake, Carrie Rodriguez has just begun flexing her artistic muscles, still figuring out how far her talents will take her. If you’re looking for someone playing it safe and sticking to tried-and-true ways of music making, as the title of Rodriguez’s daring new album, produced by Malcolm Burn, aptly states, SHE AIN’T ME. “Because I took some chances, wrote with some new people and actually co-wrote most of the songs on the album, it’s very different,” Rodriguez notes.  Yeah, it rocks and rocks HARD! www.carrierodriguez.com  

    Let’s just get it out of the way right now: There’s no jug-playing in the South Austin Jug Band. And the bluegrass connotation that name carries should be spilled down the drain along with any other moonshine-preconceived notions. Sure, there’s fiddle, mandolin, an upright bass … but there’s also drumming, occasional electric guitar and even digital looping. And Beck. Comparisons, if they must be made, might meander more toward a low-intensity Grateful Dead (which, it should be noted, started out as a real jug band) or something with an even more melodic and laid-back vibe. Lead singer/acoustic guitarist James Hyland, whose tenor redefines mellow, would be quite happy if you’d just go with “bitchin’ tunes.” www.southaustinjugband.com

Saturday, November 15
Eef Barzelay + Jason Isbell
Eef Barzelay is an American musician, born in Tel Aviv, Israel. Most notably known as the principal songwriter and singer of alt country band Clem Snide, he has performed in a number of Boston-based bands, as well as toured as a solo perormer.   “Eef Barzelay continues to write tender, wounded but witty indie-pop.” The Los Angeles Times www.myspace.com/eefbarzelay

Jason Isbell may still be young, but he’s packed an enormous amount of musical experience into his 28 years. Growing up in a family of musicians, he absorbed everything he heard and began channeling it into guitar at age six and piano at 12. For the past six years, Isbell was one of three frontmen for the critically acclaimed Drive-By Truckers (DBT)—and although fans may have been shocked by his leaving the band in April, once you hear the new music from his solo debut Sirens Of The Ditch , it will only confirm that Isbell has his own unique voice.
www.jasonisbell.com

Saturday, December 13
An Evening with Po'Girl & Friends
The beauty and mystery of Po Girl's music - a sound that has beguiled fans the world over - springs from the dynamic, improbable, mesmerizing bond shared by its two principle singers and writers - Allison Russell and Awna Teixeira. Hailing from Montreal and Toronto respectively, both women left untenable home situations at fourteen, found music instead of bad ends, and lived to sing the tales. The interplay between these two stunning performers is truly something to behold - and after honing it relentlessly in 13 countries in the last 12 months, Po’Girl is set to release a true testament to their bond and to their tremendous growth as writers in the last years. Casual Po' Girl fans may not be ready for what they will hear…  This evening they will be inviting several of their great and good friends to share the stage for a night of moving and exhilerating music.

"With enough sultry ambiance to be at home in either cocktail lounge or New Orleans street corner, Po' Girl features a simple, polished production of wistful, plaintively slurred vocals over a sparse yet warm jazz-folk accompaniment of guitar, stand-up bass, harmonica, banjo and clarinet. Americana can seem like a language from a forgotten era, but Po' Girl's sentiment never feels forced, the lyricism never cliche or false. They manage to maintain that traditional and nostalgic sound while the breathing fresh life into an old-fashioned genre."  -Rolling Stone
www.pogirl.net

Saturday, January 10
Fred Eaglesmith Band + Blame Sally
Award-winning singer-songwriter Fred Eaglesmith inspires comparisons to icons like Woody Guthrie and Bruce Springsteen, tops the roots music charts, and boasts devoted fans that include a slew of his fellow songwriters. High-profile tastemakers in the know - fellow musicians like Toby Keith and The Cowboy Junkies as well as film folks like Martin Scorsese and James Caan, to name a few - consider him one of the stellar musical and lyrical talents of our day. Though a decidedly grassroots artist in the thematic focus of his songs and how he pursues his career, playing some 180 shows a year across North America as well as Europe and Australia, Eaglesmith boasts an impact that far better known musical acts can only dream of.
“Eaglesmith (who sadly remains largely undiscovered) is one of the best new songwriters in recent years.” - Rolling Stone
www.fredeaglesmith.com

San Francisco folk sirens Blame Sally have had enough of all that lying and BS'ing—whether it's coming from a no-good lover or the Commander in Chief. The four-piece effortlessly goes from spunky kiss-offs that bring to mind Lucinda Williams at her most decisive to political barnstormers that come off more as lyrical smackdowns than folkie polemics. The band's spirited, take-no-prisoners attitude is a welcome contrast to traditional folkie navel-gazing, and the band has the songs, chops and pipes to back up their tough-talking, clear-minded folk rock.
www.blamesally.com

Saturday, February 21
Blue Rodeo + Tim Easton
Since the release of their debut album, Outskirts, in March 1987, Blue Rodeo has established themselves as one of the premier bands in Canada with Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor ranking among the best songwriters in the country’s history. Over the course of their stellar career Blue Rodeo has has been nominated for an astounding 24 Juno Awards, taking home 11 of the prizes - 5 of which acknowledged the band as Group Of The Year.  They have released 11 studio albums, one live album, a Greatest Hits collection and an award winning DVD, selling in excess of 4 million copies around the world.
“Toronto's Blue Rodeo has tons of shimmering hooks and harmonies in songs such as "What Am I Doing Here?," its brilliant set-starter at Smokin' Music. But the band focused on the roots side of roots-rock, firing up tunes with hard-core pedal steel and honky-tonk piano.” -HARP
www.bluerodeo.com

“Sometimes a young man has to wander,” sang Tim Easton on his acclaimed label debut album The Truth About Us, and upon closer inspection, one discovers a songwriter characteristically telling the truth about himself. Easton’s wanderlust is a fact of his life and a major factor in his art, one that is vividly apparent in the stories and characters that populate his new album, Ammunition. Not only was it recorded over two years in locations as diverse as Cleveland, Minneapolis, Alaska and Joshua Tree, California, it draws upon a broad-minded point of view developed over years of globe-trotting.
www.timeaston.com

Saturday, March 21
Oh! Susanna + Martha Scanlan
Every artist rides the switchbacks of direct comparison before they earn the right to step into their own musical shoes.  At first, Canadian singer-songwriter Oh Susanna might have been Dylanesque with her stark intense narratives. As she developed, she was sometimes called (Gillian) Welchesque for her mountain-air monologues. Oh Susanna has one of those really great voices that are so expressive and affecting; a powerful voice, that can sound piercing then break with tenderness in an attractive vibrato, which she uses to tell sweetly poignant tales about people who are damaged by love or bullies, take off on a Greyhound bus to look for their long-lost daughter or fall in a heap on the floor, shot dead. The only description now can be Oh Susanna-esque.
www.ohsusanna.com

It can be argued that all great music is a communal creation. It might boast a leader, conductor or some guiding presence. But the resulting sound is inevitably a conversation. As proof, let us view the music of Martha Scanlan. She was raised on old-time music and bluegrass, and the very traditional heart of her musical labor has taken her from Montana to Johnson City, Tenn., and from prestigious gatherings like Colorado’s Telluride Bluegrass Festival to the stage of the Grand Ole Opry.
"Martha Scanlan's cracked and quavering voice is a taste that, once acquired, is nigh on impossible to satiate.  It's completely addictive." - Utne Reader
www.marthascanlan.com


Is that enough information? 
You can call me with comments anytime, but please take a minute to phone in your subscription and your Jackson Browne ticket order to the Lobero Box Office at (805) 963-0761 right now.

We are going to have one Hell of a night on October 3 and you must be there with us!

Very, very warm regards,
The Devil & Miss Jones