February 2006

Brad’s Corner is a monthly commentary written by Brad about whatever he feels like. It’s supposed to be funny, interesting and thought provoking, but most geniuses are misunderstood. Check out the February 2006 edition of Brad’s Corner and see what’s on his mind.

The times they are a changin’. A famous songwriter once wrote that, I think it was Richie Brown or Rob Van Winkle…I’m not certain. Whoever it was, couldn’t have been more correct. That saying is appropriate every few years or weeks or months or cycles of music depending on what you’re talking about. For my purpose, we’ll just say that it relates to the cycles of music. Music tastes, fads and styles rotate in a seemingly endless and vicious series of cycles. Texas Music in its current state has been in this latest cycle since the late 90’s. The unrivaled leader of the charge was Pat Green. It’s disputable whether he was just in the right place at the right time or was truly and profoundly doing something new. Whatever the case may be, his updated take on Jerry Jeff Walker feel good country mixed with rock and R&B caught on in a big way. Steadily he rose from dive bars to selling out venues like Billy Bob’s and being the biggest thing at Houston Rodeo except for George Strait. A flood of imitators and originators appeared in his wake. In 2001, Pat was snapped up by Nashville and his ties to the scene he helped revive and reinvent have been slowly getting cut ever since. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it is the truth. I had been in denial about it for the last couple years. I loved 3 Days and Wave on Wave, but I was lost with Lucky Ones. It was a good album, but it wasn’t distinguishable from anyone else. Part of what attracted me and many others to Pat in the first place wasn’t necessarily the fact that he was singing songs about Texas and all that, it was the fact that he was a distinct alternative to the schmaltzy Shania Twain pop country we heard on the radio. I’m not flying the sell-out banner because I don’t feel as if that’s what has happened. Pat is still true to himself and he hasn’t compromised his integrity. He’s still making music on his terms, its just not music that moves or excites me like it once did. What drove this point home to me was watching his forum over the past couple weeks and seeing no chatter whatsoever about his upcoming concert in his hometown. Granted, he was the opening act for Keith Urban, but it’s still Pat territory, this is still a board named from one of his songs, he still has a strong fanbase on here. Yet, through it all there wasn’t a 5 page thread about it, nobody asking questions about it, organizing a pre party or anything. Instead, what we have had is more excitement about bands like Micky and the Motorcars, Brandon Rhyder, Ryan Turner, Josh Grider, The Dedringers, Wade Bowen, Django Walker and Stoney LaRue. What’s the point of this month’s corner? Well, I think we collectively as fans have moved on to new things. Pat will always hold a nice place in our hearts and souls. He’ll always represent in some fashion what we’re about. It is just that the time has come where we have reached the next cycle. Other artists are now more the embodiment of what we are about than he is at this point. Just as he did with Jerry Jeff and Robert Earl, artists are now reviving and reinventing what Pat Green started. Where will it go next? I’m not sure, but I look forward to the ride.

Minor Chords:

-When is Jason Boland going to start receiving royalties for the guy that impersonates him on the Dairy Queen commercials?

-We worked hard on the site upgrade. Special props out to Tank and Doc for all of the technical hubbub. When it comes to that sort of stuff I’m like Cole Trickle in Days of Thunder. Just like all he could do was drive but not work on the car…all I can do is produce mindless blotter disguised as website content and post it. Anything beyond simple HTML codes and I’m lost. The new design looks so good it actually looks like we know what we’re doing.

-GreenFest is this month. Our lineup is amazing. Legends like Walt Wilkins and Mike McClure on the same bill alone is worth $50 bucks. We’re giving you both of them and much more for $12. Be there or regret it forever.

-Speaking of Mike McClure, his rambles/blog are rivaling Bill Simmons for the funniest written commentaries on the ‘net. Check them out if you haven’t. They’d make a good book Mac, if you’re reading!

-I apologize if my corner’s come off as repetitive on the subject matter, it’s just funny the way “Texas Music” turns into Groundhog Day.

-LJT’s camping reservations are going on now…make sure you get your spot in time so that you don’t end up in the primitive stuff 2 miles from the stage. Not that you can’t have a good time out there, you just don’t want to track back to your site at 2AM drunk carrying an empty cooler of ice. Trust me, the barbwire hurts.

This month’s recommended movie is: Waiting. I vaguely remember this being released in theaters. I remember the trailers for it featuring a cast full of “those guys. Including: “The Van Wilder guy that’s banging Alanis Morisette”, “The weird fat kid on MTV that’s probably actually 35 years old”, “The chick who was in Scary Movie and was the surrogate mother on ‘Friends’ ”, the funniest character actor working David Koechner and Dane Cook. Check it out…if you’ve ever worked in a restaurant you’ll love it. It’s very Office Space.

This month’s recommended album is: In a Brad’s Corner First, we’re gonna give props to 2 cd’s in one month. Django Walker’s “Six Trips Around the World” and Wade Bowen ’s “Lost Hotel” are both really amazing records. These two guys are 2 of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. You’d never know they were veterans of the music business. I hope that these records knock open the doors so deserved for these 2 guys. Great work!

-Of all the things I’ve lost, I miss my mind the most.-Mark Twain