JUNE 2018 BUDDY 3

ON MAY 17 THE TEXAS MUSI-Ocians Museum closed afterthree years in Downtown Irving dueto a contract dispute with the land-lord. Home to friends and family ofall genres of Texas traditions, it wasnot only a museum but a bar & grillplus a live music venue with an out-door beer garden. Owner and opera-tor Tom Kreason acknowledged thatthe move will better serve the fans ofTexas music and the care of preserv-ing the actual artifacts. At this timeeverything is in storage and waitingfor the next home. There have beenmany offers from around themetroplex and beyond to host a newlocation.

EventsON MAY 29 BIG BEAT DALLASwhich included five clubs and twooutdoor stages supporting live mu-sic suddenly stopped all operationsand canceled all the acts booked inthe month of June and beyond. Openfor only eight weeks, the problems ofparking inefficiencies, various mate-rial factors, and landlord interfer-ence were cited as reasons that con-tributed to the inability to operatethe plaza. All other restaurants andbars remain open around the ToyotaMusic Factory.

Helene Cronin, of Plano, was oneof Top 6 co-winners in this year’sKerrville New Folk Competition.Helene and Ezra Vancil, also fromNorth Texas, were the only two Tex-ans that made it into the prestigiouscontest’s Top 32. Though Vancildidn’t make it into the Top 6, he gavea performance at the festival thatwould make North Texas proud.There were about 500 songwriterswho originally tried out in the con-test. There were two from Canada in

BLAH By Bellicose Bullfeather

BLAHthe Top 32 finalists, and the otherswere, as Woody Guthrie sang, “FromCalifornia to the New York Island,from the Redwood Forest to the GulfStream waters.”

Jackie Don Loe will celebrate hisbirthday at A Step Up Lounge onJune 9.

Sherman, Denison and VanAlstyne (all in Grayson County) arekicking off their free summer musicconcerts. Van Alstyne’s Music in thePark is being held on the third Tues-days of June, July, and August, withTanner Sparks Band, Tony Ramey,and Big Joe Walker band playingthose nights respectively. Sherman’sHot Summer Nights is held eachThursday through late July with avariety of musicians bringing a vari-ety of genres to audiences. Denison’sMusic on Main is on early Fridayevenings, and also features manystyles of music and features, also, anopening act each night.

Meanwhile, Fort Worth’s radiostation 95.9, The Ranch, is sponsor-ing a Texas music series on Wednes-days at The Yard, 3017 Morton Street.They are bringing in the best re-gional Texas artists and accentingthe shows with more local bands.For a complete schedule of these andother concerts, go toSceneInTown.com’s Official TexasMusic Calendar.

Dallas native Michael MartinMurphey is finishing work in Austinon a new release of some his earlyhits including “Cosmic Cowboy” and“Geronimo’s Cadillac.” He will per-form the at Poor David’s Pub onJune 20

KNON will present Rosie Floresat Poor David’s Pub on June 15. Fortickets and more information go toknon.org

New releasesIT’S BEEN FOUR DECADES SINCEKinky Friedman has released a newalbum. But, at Willie Nelson’s urg-ing, he has recorded and is releasingCircus of Life. Due out July 6, Circusof Life will be supported with a circusof another type – Friedman’s incom-parable live show – which kicks offJune 20th in Nacogdoches and circlesthe country. He will perform at PoorDavid’s on July 30.

Grammy-winning roots trouba-dour Rodney Crowell announced theJuly 13 release of his new AcousticClassics. Exclusive pre-order bundlesfeaturing the new cd and vinyl can befound on website, rodneycrowell.com.A creative powerhouse with no offswitch, the acclaimed songwriter,musician, author and poet is addingyet another title to his already es-teemed pedigree; label head. Asprolific today, as he was in his twen-ties, Crowell has released six albumsin the last ten years. There’s even arevised version of his most commer-cially successful song, “Shame on theMoon,” said Crowell.

Renowned folksinger ElizaGilkyson will release her 20th album,Secularia, on July 13 via Red HouseRecords. The album features a duetwith her friend, the late JimmyLaFave, as well as two poems writtenby her grandmother and adaptedinto songs.

Austin-based artist ArkansasDave has released his new cd featur-ing a wide range of blues-rock, the13-track album was recorded overeight days at FAME Studios with theSwampers, and horn arrangementsby Charles Rose and Jim Horn.The album was produced byJamie“Gypsy” Evans and Arkansas Dave.