I love being the Americana/Roots rock guy at this station… in this town… It’s been a big couple weeks for local music so today, it’s only local.

The pic above is Shiny Around the Edges… I just got their new album and dude…. I’ll play a couple off it next week… it’s REAL good. Strong to quite strong. The most important thing about having a good local scene is you all… get out there and go do it. Go see music. All these bands are 100% dependent on US to help them break. This is good music… go out and see some. (And okay, fine, I forgot… Noble Dog’s from Austin… close enough!

Also, please be sure to come check out the American Highway Birthday show this Saturday at the Granada Theater! Slobberbone, The Roomsounds and Noble Dog… it’s gonna be awesome! Come out!

Hope you enjoy the show… and as always, if you have any suggestions, hit me up on twitter!

Track list:

Midnight Drifter – Whiskey Folk Ramblers

You’ve Got Your Heart – The O’s

Easy – Somebody’s Darling

Licorice Night – Mount Righteous

Whatever Suits You – The Hope Trust

We Will All Be Changed – Seryn

It’s Her – Noble Dog

Clementine – Sarah Jaffe

Letters To A Young Danny Kennedy – RTB2

This Apocalypse – Shiny Around The Edges

Whiskey Talkin – Boys Named Sue

Pinball Song – Slobberbone

We have a HUGE announcement today… We’re throwing a birthday party for American Highway… August 7th at The Granada Theater… you really need to come check this out…

I can’t believe this has actually been on the air for a almost a year… you’d think I be better at this by now! Well, thank you, I’m thrilled that you all have stuck with me, and as our gift to you, we’ve got SLOBBERBONE!! They’ve agreed to play the American Highway birthday show and we couldn’t me more thrilled to have them! Today’s show we get into some, of course, Slobberbone… but also we tried to step back into some of the more “standard” Americana/Roots Rock bands like Whiskeytown, Drive-by Truckers, etc.

Mark your calendar! Be at the birthday party! I’m giving away presents! =)

Hope you enjoy the show… and as always, if you have any suggestions, hit me up on twitter!

Shake ‘Em On Down – North Mississippi Allstars

Pinball Song – Slobberbone

Whatever Suits You – The Hope Trust

Forget The Flowers – Wilco

Tilt-A-Whirl – Slobberbone

10 Reels & Wires – Telegraph Canyon

Birmingham – The Drive-By Truckers

Catfish Blues – Gov’t Mule

Hummalong – The Drams

Dreams (fleetwood mac cover) – Whiskeytown

Haze Of Drink – Slobberbone

Nico and I picked up a Dallas Observer and looked all through the ballot for this year’s Dallas Observer Music Awards, and we decided we wanted to highlight some of the bands for you. Listen to us every day this week around 2:15pm.

Oh, and the showcase is all through Deep Ellum on Saturday, July 17 ($10 to see over 40 bands) and the ceremony is Tuesday, July 20 at the Granada Theater (free and open to the public).

Click the jump to hear the show and to see our playlist…

Mount Righteous (Licorice Night)
 - Best Group, Best Avant Garde Act nominations

Neon Indian (Terminally Chill)
 - Best Album, Best Electronica Act nominations

Midlake (Winter Dies)
 - Best Indie Act, Best Male Vocalist (Tim Smith) nominations

Matthew & the Arrogant Sea (You Still Love Me Blondie)
 - Best Indie Act nomination

Air Review (Chasing Corporate)
 - Best Indie Act, Best New Act nominations

Teenage Cool Kids (Foreign Lands)
 - Best Indie Act nomination

Smile Smile (Labor of Love)
 - Best Indie Act nomination

Spooky Folk (Polaroid)
 - Best Indie Act nomination

Telegraph Canyon (Shake Your Fist)
 - Best Group, Best Album, Best Song, Best Roots Act nominations

Sore Losers (Bizarre Celebrations [Fizzy Dino Pop Remix])
 - Fizzy Dino Pop: Best Electronica Act nomination
 - Sore Losers: Best Hip Hop Act nomination

Ishi (Pastel Lights)
 - Best Song, Best Group, Best Electronica Act, Best New Act nominations

Seryn (We Will All Be Changed)
 - Best Song, Best New Act, Best Folk Act nominations

Sarah Jaffe (Clementine)
 - Best Song, Best Album, Best Folk Act, Best Female Vocalist, Best Solo Act nominations

Cast Your Vote

Showcase Info

I’m continually impressed with the Indie scene’s use of roots rock sounds in their new music. Today We’re going to focus on bands like Blitzen Trapper, The Black Keys, The Hold Steady, and even Dallas’ own Smile Smile to hear some of this americana/roots rock influenced indie rock!

Then we’ll play a couple of songs off of my personal soundtrack of last year, Crazy Heart. Hope you enjoy!

One quick note about Smile Smile… this is one of my favorite new local bands. The album is great, but when you hear the story about them, it’s even more fascinating. Their album is about them breaking up… yeah… so this incredible music is being made while they are ripping eachother’s hearts out, and then they turn it into an album an go on tour! Can you imagine?!?!? I have enough trouble running into an ex, let alone staying in the same hotel room…

Hope you enjoy the show… and as always, if you have any suggestions, hit me up on twitter!

Pancho And Lefty – Steve Earle

Black River Killer – Blitzen Trapper

Dragon’s Song - Blitzen Trapper

Bad Liver And A Broken Heart - Hayes Carll

Dust Of The Chase – Ray Wylie Hubbard

The Sweet Part Of The City – Hold Steady

My Lady And The Mountain – Avett Brothers

Boxcars – Joe Ely

Song Up In Her Head – Sarah Jarosz

Long Black Veil (Feat. Jeff Tweedy) – Rosanne Cash

I’m Not The One – Black Keys

On The Bus Mall – Colin Meloy

Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way – Waylon Jennings

The Weary Kind – Ryan Bingham

Cancer – Smile Smile

Again we’re going to run through some award nominations this week including the Americana Music Association’s 2010 Artist of the Year noms… that means there’s some awesome music to hear!

Tune in every Monday at 4pm CST a trip down American Highway.

We kick off the show with the Americana Music Association’s  2010 Artist of the Year. One of whom is Steve Earle… he’s also going to be the first artist to write a closing song for the new HBO series Treme, which is all about the music scene in New Orleans during and after Katrina. It’s a pretty great show…  totally worth a Tivoing. After that, we’ll get a little more local with the Dallas Observer Music Award nominations in the best Folk Act category.  Thanks for checking out American Highway! If you have any requests -  send me a twitter message.

Playlist

Wilco – Someday Soon

Patty Griffin – Love Throws A Line

Ryan Bingham - Southside Of Heaven

Ray Wylie Hubbard – Choctaw Bingo

Levon Helm – When I Go Away

Steve Earle – The Rain Came Down

Glen Farris – The Edge Of Town

Sarah Jaffe – Clementine

The Fox and The Bird – Home

Dust Congress – Sow A $58 Seed

Doug Burr – Mirror Ball

Seryn – We Will All Be Changed

We start off with the the title track off of Arcade Fire’s new disc, The Suburbs, which will be out August 3rd… And the big portion of the show is about the Americana Music Association’s announcement of their 2010 nominees. Today we’re going to run through those up for Group of the year and New and Emerging Artist of the year. The awards are in September, and over the next few weeks we’ll cover all of the nominees. This is the Americana show, right? Then we close out with some back to back Dylan. Enjoy! Click “more” for the playlist.

Elliott Smith – Everything Reminds Me Of Her

Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

Corb Lund – A Game In Town Like This

Ryan Bingham – Dylan’s Hard Rain

Hayes Carll – A Lover Like You

Joe Pug – Speak Plainly, Diana

Sarah Jarosz – Shankill Butchers

Avett Brothers – Head Full Of Doubt/Road Full Of Promise

Carolina Chocolate Drops – Cornbread and Butterbeans

Band Of Heathens – You’re Gonna Miss Me

Dave Rawlings Machine – 1024 Bells Of Harlem

Jakob Dylan – Nothing But The Whole Wide World

Bob Dylan – Tombstone Blues

Big shout out this week to Kelly from The Gobbler’s Knob. Please go check out his stuff, it’s www.thegobblersknob.com . . . He reintroduced me to this great band out of Jersey called Roadside Graves. This is the video I spoke about on the show…

Also . . . So, one of the most influential bands in my personal musical evolution was The Dave Matthews Band. I think the timing of their initial success was perfect for a 7th grader to move from Def Leopard into something more… musical. The best thing about them was that they were so… musical. They got me interested in all sort of sounds, because they were full of them. They also got me heavy into jam bands. And, like any good jam band kid, I love Phish. And Phish has one of the coolest events happening right now… they are doing a Limited run of a 3D movie of their Halloween show from last year. This is a 3 day 8 set show including the entire Rolling Stone’s album Exile on Main Street. It’s running for the rest of this week.

Check out Phish 3D Movie’s site: http://www.phish3dmovie.com/
Zebra – John Butler Trio
Pushing Strings – Macon Greyson
One Down – Ben Five Folds
Liv Tyler – Roadside Graves
I’m Broke – Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears
2002 – Bob Schneider
Kill Devil Falls – Phish
Rag Mama Rag – The Band
The Crane Wife – The Decemberists
Buena Vista – Cinnamon Band
You Heard What You Wanted – Cinnamon Band
Effigy – Andrew Bird

Dreamer In My Dreams – Wilco   
Tequila Sunday – The Maldives
Letters To A Young Danny Kennedy – RTB2
Hummalong – The Drams
Autumn Leaves – The King Bucks
Old Old Fashioned – Frightened Rabbit   
The Darkest Side – The Middle East
My Town Is Underwater – The Shants
The Gambler and His Bride – Daniel, Fred & Julie   
Heather (Dallas) – Ali Eskandarian
Lay Back Down – The Only Sons   
Home – The Fox and The Bird   
Breed (Nirvana Cover) – Steve Earle