In addition to the list of notable headliners, Bowen MusicFest will also add Randy Rogers, Kevin Fowler, Cody Canada, and Suzy Bogguss to the “Wade Bowen & Friends Jam” that will close out the night, giving fans a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see their favorite artists jam alongside Wade Bowen live. Previously announced artists include Joe Nichols, Josh Abbott, and Aaron Watson.

Tickets are currently available online at Prekindle.com and locally at Cavender’s, George’s Bar (both locations) and the Backyard- advance tickets are $25, day-of tickets are $30, plus applicable service charges.  This year marks the 20^th anniversary of Bowen MusicFest, which has raised over $2.5 million for charities in and around Waco.

About Bowen Family Foundation

The annual Bowen MusicFest and Bowen Classic golf tournament celebrates its 20^th anniversary in 2018. Over the years, $2.5 million dollars have been raised to benefit children and families in need in Waco, TX. The Bowen Family Foundation has become a vital organization that ensures that all monies raised go to the worthy causes in and around Waco who work tirelessly year-round. At the Bowen Family Foundation, we believe that Music Heals. With that in mind, we’re dedicated to the mission of helping to heal the children and families in and around Waco. Together, we can help them get the love, support, resources and opportunities they need to create better lives for themselves. Because we believe that is what community is all about.

The post 2018 Bowen Musicfest Adds Hubbard, Eady, Rogers, Fowler and More appeared first on Radio Free Texas.

On Friday, March 10^th, Watson will make his national television debut on Fox & Friends morning show live from New York City.

Aaron Watson continues to dominate as a true independent in the country music arena. Marking off major milestones along the way, he’s gearing up to headline the opening night of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo on March 7^th at NRG Stadium (home of the 2017 Super Bowl). Watson will be recording a live CD/DVD to capture the evening as the first artist permitted by HLSR to do so since George Strait in 2001. Watson recently performed for a sold-out crowd (70,000+) at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo in the AT&T Center and he will be among the star-studded lineup for the Academy Of Country Music’s Party For A Cause Festival in Las Vegas, NV on April 1^st.

Vaquero has released to overwhelming support from press, including Billboard, Rolling Stone Country, Noisey, The Boot, Taste Of Country and more. All have praised Watson’s well-crafted songs; his impressive path carved outside of the Nashville establishment and his steadfast commitment to his Texas roots. See more press highlights HERE.

“Above all, he is authentic. What you see is what you get. At a time when everyone and everything seems overly marketed, when we’re being constantly manipulated and sold to, the music of Aaron Watson can be awfully appealing. There’s no gimmick, no pretension, there’s certainly no irony.” – Texas Monthly

“Watson’s knack for shaping sharp, hooky choruses makes this eleventh edition to his catalog not just a worthy complement to ‘The Underdog,’ but a textbook example of his talents in a genre overflowing with shapeless, cookie cutter ‘bro country,’ little of which is half as enjoyable or well-crafted as the majority of ‘Vaquero’.” – American Songwriter

 “…the most sprawling work Watson has ever done, blending country-rock, R’n’B-tinged love ballads, backwoods stories, an epic instrumental track and traditional country twang with ease.” – Austin American Statesman

Watson shared a snapshot of the last 18 years and his slow-and-steady climb to the top with fans via Facebook in a video that has gone viral, racking up over 6 million views, HERE. For more information, visit www.alleyesmedia.com/aaron-watson.

The post Aaron Watson Goes Top 10 on Billboard appeared first on Radio Free Texas.

You can visit the campground website to get all the info you need on amenities, tube rentals, campsites, RV sites and different cabins available. Please call the office at 512-213-0112 to book your site or cabin. It’s important that you mention you’re coming in for Radio Free Texas Rowdy Float Trip when you call!

Thursday night Pre-party is BACK! The Pre-party, brought to you by Big Red Drum Entertainment, will be Thursday Sept. 6 at Leisure Resort.

Pre-party wristband $10.00 at the event.

Everyone on-site will need an event wristband. If you’re a registered overnight guest, you will need to purchase a wristband in addition to your lodging/camping. Event wristbands can be purchased in advance at a discounted rate or you can purchase at the event at regular price. Lodging fees will be paid directly to Leisure Resort.

Event wristbands

• Friday Sept. 7: $10 per person (presale)/$15 per person at the event
• Saturday Sept. 8: $10 per person (presale)/$15 per person at the event
• Weekend (Fri & Sat) pass: $20 per person (presale)/$25 per person at the event

*presale wristbands will not be shipped but will be available as will-call at the event.

Purchase pre-sale wristbands here.

Annual potluck supper

Potluck will be on Friday Sept. 8th beginning at 7PM. Anyone that brings a dish to share is welcomed to participate. Please bring your dish to the pavilion area beginning at 6:30PM.

Golf Cart Rentals

Leisure Resort has golf cart rentals, inquiry on rates with the resort office. Golf cart rentals are also available from Affordable Golf Carts (512-878-1550). Regular weekend rates per cart are $225. plus tax. They have agreed to offer us a special discounted rate per cart of $195. plus tax if we can get 6 golf carts rented for our event. These prices include rental, delivery and pickup. Golf carts will be delivered on Friday and picked up on Monday. Sunday pickup is not available.

Remember to mention Radio Free Texas Rowdy Float Trip when you call!

*Personal golf carts are also allowed on premises. A waiver will need to be signed in the campground office whether you rent a golf cart or bring your own.

Helpful reminders

• There is a day rate/parking fee charged by the campground for non-registered guests.
• We ask that there be no amped music on any site or cabin at Leisure Resort. Please also refrain from playing music during show times. Campground quiet time begins at 10PM.
•  Event will be held no matter the weather. No refunds or exchanges will be issued under any circumstances.
•  All posted campground rules will be in effect during the event. Leisure Resort reserves the right to ask anyone to leave their premises without refund. Please review the campground rules here: http://www.leisurecamp.net/amenities/guidelines/
• This is still a BYOB event but remember, no glass is allowed in the campground or on the river and no Styrofoam on the river.
• Ice will be available on-site for purchase in the office.
• Recommended: Sunscreen, towels, hats, chairs, coolers, bug spray, tip jar $, raffle ticket $, flashlights, cheap sunglasses you won’t mind losing in the river, water shoes to maneuver rocks in the river
• Please leave Leisure Resort as you found it…clean. Please put your trash in the dumpsters daily. Dumpsters are located at the campground entrance.

See you on the river!

The post Rowdy Float Trip 2018 Announced appeared first on Radio Free Texas.

The post Legendary Guitarist, Tommy Allsup Passes Away appeared first on Radio Free Texas.

“Knowing that Cheatham Street’s legacy will stay in tact under the love and care of Randy Rogers fills all of our hearts,” eldest daughter Jenni Finlay says. “Randy came up performing at Dad’s beloved Songwriters Night and it’s only fitting that he takes the helm. We’re so excited about the next chapter for Cheatham Street.” “I plan on honoring Kent in every way with my plans and vision for Cheatham,” Rogers said to the family. “This means so much to me personally.”

Finlay’s beloved Cheatham Street Warehouse has always existed for creation. Songs begin on Cheatham’s stage. They grow. Breathe. Live. Earn more miles. Finally, they mature into shape. Finlay’s songwriters night, an open mike for original songs he hosted for nearly every Wednesday night at the venue for more than four decades, nurtured singular songwriters and storytellers with stunning frequency during his lifetime. For instance, the celebrated “Class of ’87” included Americana all-stars Todd Snider, James McMurtry, Terri Hendrix, Bruce Robison and Hal Ketchum learning their craft.

“Kent and his great little honkytonk with indoor toilets gave me and a whole host of others a place to learn our craft and to learn how to be, sing and play music onstage,” Strait says. “[I thank] Kent for believing in the up-and-coming Ace in the Hole Band with a totally unknown singer who had big dreams and for helping make those dreams a reality. I’ll never forget those days.”

Literally bucketsful more – including celebrated guitarists Eric Johnston and Monte Montgomery, deep-browed songwriters Owen Temple and Walt Wilkins, fiery live acts Joe King Carrasco and Charlie and Will Sexton – have emerged from his humble honky tonk stage. Additionally, legendary singer-songwriters such as Marcia Ball, Guy Clark, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Willie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver, Ernest Tubb, Townes Van Zandt and dozens upon dozens more regularly stepped on the Cheatham stage throughout the 1970s Cosmic Cowboy heyday.

“Randy Rogers’ career began on the Cheatham Street Warehouse stage,” says Gregg Andrews, Cheatham Street Music Foundations board of directors president. “His devotion and loyalty to Kent as a songwriting mentor has never waivered and he’s fully committed to perserving Kent’s outstanding legacy. Through the years, Kent and his family transformed the creaky old warehouse along the railroad tracks into a songwriters’ oasis of world renown and integrity that has left an incredible mark on Texas music.”

The post FINLAY FAMILY SELLS CHEATHAM STREET WAREHOUSE TO RANDY ROGERS appeared first on Radio Free Texas.

The post Guy Clark Compilation Coming In March appeared first on Radio Free Texas.

You only have to pay mild attention to Miranda Lambert’s music career to know her support of true American songwriters is far from skin deep. Her latest record The Weight of These Wings has […]

Source: Miranda Lambert Shows Support for Fellow Texas Songwriters on Hard Candy Christmas Tour | Saving Country Music

The post Miranda Lambert Shows Support for Fellow Texas Songwriters on Hard Candy Christmas Tour | Saving Country Music appeared first on Radio Free Texas.

“‘Vaquero,’ which means the ‘original cowboy,’ is an intensely reflective and personal set of songs filled with compelling narratives,” says the Aaron Watson team in an […]

Source: Aaron Watson Announces New Album “Vaquero” | Saving Country Music

The post Aaron Watson Announces New Album “Vaquero” | Saving Country Music appeared first on Radio Free Texas.

“You working on anything new?” Cheatham Street Warehouse owner Kent Finlay asked the question almost daily for four decades. Songwriters immediately responded with their latest tune. They sang and hoped while Finlay listened closely. He heard every word. Considered every angle. At close, he reviewed thoughtfully: “Work on the third line.” “The chorus could be stronger.” “Maybe add more detail in the second verse.” Sometimes songwriters simply received the nod and nudge they always looked for: “That’s a nice little song.”

Finlay, a sharp songwriter in his own right and arguably the most respected lyrical editor in Texas, died early morning Monday, March 2 at his home in Martindale, Texas. He was 77. He was surrounded by family and friends on the day of his death. Finlay’s survived by his former wife Diana Finlay Hendricks and her husband Mark Hendricks; his three children, Jenni Finlay and her husband Clay McNeill; Sterling Finlay; and HalleyAnna Finlay; a granddaughter, Annie Finlay; his three brothers and a sister. The last song he sung Sunday afternoon was his own high watermark “They Call It The Hill Country.” “He died on Texas Independence Day,” Jenni saidMonday morning. “He would have loved that.”

During his life, Finlay made no bones. His beloved Cheatham Street Warehouse has always existed for creation. Songs begin on Cheatham’s stage. They grow. Breathe. Live. Earn more miles. Finally, they mature into shape. Finlay’s songwriters night, an open mike for original songs he hosted for nearly every Wednesday night at the venue for more than forty years, nurtured singular songwriters and storytellers with stunning frequency during his lifetime.

Clearest evidence: The Class of 1987. “That was the most exciting year,” said Finlay, who opened the legendary San Marcos, Texas-based venue in October 1974. “The regulars at songwriters night were me and a bunch of nobodies: Todd Snider, James McMurtry, Terri Hendrix, Bruce Robison, Hal Ketchum, john Arthur martinez and sometimes Tish Hinojosa. Those were the basic regulars and nobody had every heard of them.” However, those young writers understood the gig’s value.

“Cheatham Street would let me play my songs,” McMurtry says today. “That took balls back then.”

By that year, Finlay was already well seasoned at giving breaks. After all, he’d already helped launch legendary blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, incendiary punk rockers The Skunks and several dozen other familiar names including country music icon George Strait, who played his first show with the Ace in the Hole Band at Cheatham Street on October 13, 1975. In fact, Finlay effectively changed modern country music history – all music history, frankly – the day he drove the King of Broken Hearts to Nashville to record his very first demo tapes shortly thereafter.

Literally bucketsful more – including celebrated guitarists Eric Johnston and Monte Montgomery, deep-browed songwriters Adam Carroll and Walt Wilkins, fiery live acts Joe King Carrasco and Charlie and Will Sexton – have emerged from his humble honky tonk stage. Additionally, legendary singer-songwriters such as Marcia Ball, Guy Clark, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Willie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver, Ernest Tubb, Townes Van Zandt and dozens upon dozens more regularly stepped on the Cheatham stage throughout the 1970s Cosmic Cowboy heyday.

Several music historians acknowledge Finlay and his venue’s indisputable importance in shaping modern Texas music as well. “When the annals of Texas music are finally written, I have no doubt that Cheatham Street Warehouse will be compared to Washington-on-the-Brazos,” said noted biographer Joe Nick Patoski (Willie Nelson: An Epic Life, Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire). “A humble little shed by the railroad tracks, it has nurtured, raised and showcased the greatest musicians this state has had to offer for the past [four] decades.” “I’m proud of the great writers that have come out of there,” Finlay told Jenni late last year. “Tom Russell and Doug Sahm played there in the 1970s, right up through Randy Rogers in the 1990s. So many have cut their teeth here.”

Russell fondly framed his tenure. “I recall funky wood floors and cheap sweet wine in Mason jars and great music at Cheatham Street,” the El Paso, Texas, resident said. “Laid back. Down home. For me, the ’70s were the highpoint of great music in Texas and Kent was on the front lines. He knew songs and loved songwriters and he had that old Texas drawl, a warm, big hearted guy. Cheatham Street ranks with [Austin’s] Armadillo World Headquarters and the old Split Rail on Lamar. It had the soul and the vibe: casual and crucial. They don’t make venues like that anymore. You can’t invent it.” Undoubtedly, the infamous railroad tracks behind the venue add atmosphere. “It’s so unique when you’re in the middle of a song and a train comes roaring by,” Strait recalled. “Since Cheatham Street Warehouse sits right beside a railroad track, that’s what you get. You just start playing louder.”

Kent Finlay, born on February 9, 1938, in Fife, Texas, owned the same soul and vibe himself. Proof emerges in his songs. Finlay’s finest narratives – earthy vignettes such as “They Call It the Hill Country,” “I’ve Written Some Life,” “Plastic Girl,” “Reaching for the Stars” and “Comfort’s Just a Rifle Shot Away” – measure proudly against the songwriters he’s consistently championed over his lifetime. Additionally, he co-wrote album cuts with several artists including Slaid Cleaves (“Don’t Tell Me,” “Lost”), William Clark Green (“Hangin’ Around”), the Randy Rogers Band (“You Coulda Left Me”), Todd Snider (“Statistician’s Blues,” “24 Hours a Day”), and Walt Wilkins (“Blanco River Meditation #2”). (Plus, Rogers has recorded both Finlay’s “They Call It the Hill Country” and “Plastic Girl.”) Accordingly, Finlay kicked off songwriter night every Wednesday with his own high watermark “I’ll Sing You a Story, I’ll Tell You a Song.”

In the end, Finlay maintained a singular focus his entire life. He wrote songs. Discovered and mentored promising songwriters. Created art every way possible. Kent Finlay constantly rose his thoughts through clouds. Fittingly, a swift glance across his business card immediately showed the hand held behind his eyes. The words simply read: Kent Finlay, Dreamer.

CLICK HERE for more info.

In leu of flowers, please donate to the Cheatham Street Music Foundation

The post Kent Finlay Memorial Concert Scheduled appeared first on Radio Free Texas.

I really love typing those words. New music means the potential for new favorites. And this batch is a great opportunity for just that.

But not only are there some new favorites, we’ve got music from some long-time RFT favs as well.

So, take a stroll below and get to requesting. Consider it your civic duty.

The Crooks

Wildfire

Released: 

2015

Added: 

05/04

Warhorses

Heart Like Mine

Released: 

2015

Added: 

05/04

Paul Thorn

Too Blessed To Be Stressed

Released: 

2014

Added: 

05/04

Saints Eleven

I Told You

Released: 

2015

Added: 

05/04

Jarrod Sterrett And The Hired Guns

Honky Tonk Hero

Released: 

2015

Added: 

05/04

Joey Green

Summertime Lovin’

Released: 

2015

Added: 

05/04

Josh Fuller

On the Radio

Released: 

2015

Added: 

05/04

Josh Ward

Highway

Released: 

2015

Added: 

05/04

Judson Cole Band

Time To Run

Released: 

2015

Added: 

05/04

Pat Ryan

If I Don’t Have Your Love

Released: 

2015

Added: 

05/04

George Ducas

4340

Released: 

2015

Added: 

05/04

Cody Joe Hodges

One More Drink

Released: 

2015

Added: 

05/04

Coffey Anderson

Your New Boyfriend

Released: 

2015

Added: 

05/04

Cory Morrow

The Good Fight

Released: 

2015

Added: 

05/04

Erick Willis

What Did You Expect

Released: 

2015

Added: 

05/04

Chubby Knuckle Choir

Reveille

Released: 

0

Added: 

05/04

Chuck Hawthorne

Silver Line

Released: 

2015

Added: 

05/04

Breelan Angel

Dirty Little Secrets

Released: 

2014

Added: 

05/04

The post Brand Spanking New Music! appeared first on Radio Free Texas.