December in New Braunfels

We were going to wait till the start of 2014 to kick off this new feature, but we just couldn’t possibly wait! Brian Strickland of Music of New Braunfels will be writing a by-weekly/monthly piece on shows/artists going on around New Braunfels. There will be a list of upcoming concerts and a small feature on someone or something local that’s going on.

This week Brian talks to Jonny Burke about his successful Rooftop Ramble and the possibility of it continuing in 2014.

December Concerts

Dec 20th – Kelly Willis/Bruce Robison (Gruene Hall) Dec 21st – Reckless Kelly (Gruene Hall) Dec 22nd – Jonny Burke/Mike Harmeier (River Road Ice House) Dec 27th – Cory Morrow (Gruene Hall) Dec 28th – Roger Creager (Gruene Hall) Dec 28th – Midnight River Choir (Billy’s Ice)

New Year’s Eve!

Kevin Fowler w/Rankin Twins (Gruene Hall) Monty ‘Guitar’ Tyler (River Road Ice House) Statesboro Revue (Tavern in the Gruene) Javi Garcia & Dustin Welch (Phoenix Saloon) Whiskey Rodeo (PourHaus)

January Concerts

Jan 1st – Hair of the dog day: Guy Forsyth, Walt Wilkins & The Mystiqueros and Shinyribs (Gruene Hall) Jan 2st – Mario Flores and the Soda Creek Band (Phoenix Saloon)

Artist Spotlight: Jonny Burke

New Braunfels has an amazingly high concentration of talent within its walls for a “small town”. Many people have migrated here over the years because of legendary venues such as Gruene Hall and the number of folks here with strong songwriting chops that make amazing collaborators and even mentors. The other side of that coin is the number of New Braunfels natives that have joined the local, unofficial songwriter’s guild. One such talent is songwriter Jonny Burke. He was born and raised in New Braunfels, and was exposed to good music at a young age. His dad gave him the beginnings of his music education, feeding him with guitar fundamentals and great music. By the age of 15, Burke had already begun playing music in public, and even formed a band in high school that had a fair amount of regional popularity.

Jonny has spent many of his adult years on the road including a few years in Los Angeles, but has always considered New Braunfels home. Much of 2013, Jonny has been in Texas and has been writing and working on many songs in preparation of his as of yet unnamed full length album that is planned for a 2014 release. Jonny’s prior discography includes a 2009 EP “The Long Haul”, his first LP “Distance and Fortune” which he released in early 2011, and his latest full-length record “Cup Runneth Over” that was released in 2013.

Aside from touring and perfecting his new material, Jonny has been hosting a cool, new series at River Road Ice House in New Braunfels. His Rooftop Ramble series started out upstairs on Sunday afternoons, but when the chill of December hit, the ramble had to move downstairs where the doors could shut out the cold and keep the music playing. The guests that have joined Jonny so far read straight from the pages of “who’s who” in music over the last year.

Many great weeks have past so far with the likes of Kevin Galloway, Chris King, Evan Felker, Jamie Wilson, Rob Baird, The Damn Quails & Owen Temple, but you can still make it to the final 2013 Rooftop Ramble at River Road Ice House with Mike of Mike and the Moonpies, which will most definitely end the series for the year with a nice dose of real country. Keep watching the schedule, as Rooftop Ramble appears to be in the works again for 2014!