Don’t forget that Chuck Pyle will be playing for Sundilla tonight, Friday February 17; consider it a late Valentine’s treat. And it gets even more special, as Burke Ingraffia will open for Chuck. Because we’re having more music, we’re starting a little earlier; Burke will take the stage at 7:00, and Chuck will follow at 7:30. So get to the AUUF earlier than usual; you WON’T regret it! Admission is just $12, and you can get $10 advance tickets at The Gnu’s Room. Children 12 and under get in free, and we’ll have free coffee, tea, water and food, though as always you are welcome to bring whatever food or beverage you prefer.
And remember that there is yet another reason to come see Chuck and Burke; people who attend this concert will be able to purchase extra-discounted tickets for next Tuesday’s Kinky Friedman/Kacey Jones event. On the day of the show they’ll be $30, and at the Gnu’s Room they’ll be $27, but at Chuck’s concert they’ll cost just $25; you won’t find them any cheaper on this, the Southern Discomfort Tour.
For more information, go to www.sundilla.org. You can also go to the individual websites: www.chuckpyle.com, www.burkeingraffia.com, andwww.kinkyfriedman.com.
Be sure to tune into Wildman Steve Radio today to hear Chuck Pyle perform LIVE in the studio; that starts at 2:30, only at www.wildmansteve.com. Keep it bookmarked, because you’re going to want to hear Kinky Friedman at 2:00 on Tuesday.
Here are a few quotes from fans and music critics about Chuck Pyle, followed by a short bio of Kinky Friedman:
“I’d say the biggest influence on my playing is probably [singer-songwriter] Chuck Pyle: playing bass notes where you bring the thumb back around and mute the string in time, so that not only do you get the rhythm of when the note starts, you get the rhythm of when the note stops. I just love that percussive bass thing. It has so much groove. The dynamics on the guitar have so little to do with how loud you make it and a lot to do with how soft you make it. To get the kind of feeling like there’s much more you have to give, you have to have that feeling of throttling it back. You have to have that feeling of controlling the power of the guitar. Chuck is so good at that.”
– David Wilcox – Acoustic Guitar Magazine
“Chuck Pyle’s songs, playing and singing are transporting. If you’re looking for top-flight alt-country-inflected contemporary folk… this is it.”
– Sing Out!
“… a collection of meticulously crafted songs, exquisitely executed and subtly produced. Pyle cloaks his compositions in a New Age Cowperson genre with themes of the southwestern landscape and the expansion of consciousness it engenders, but the framework is essentially classical in nature; the pieces have the measured feel of a Bach Musette.”
– Dirty Linen
“With his shaven head, custom-made white O’Farrell cowboy hat, and Tony Lama cowboy boots, Pyle has a light, charismatic voice and a virtuosic guitar style that is both refined and impressive.”
– Acoustic Guitar Magazine
“Pyle was one of my favorite songwriter discoveries of this year. Every song lover in town should make it a point to seek out this man’s music.”
– Music Row Magazine
“Between [Chuck Pyle’s] humorous patter comes the signature loping guitar and rural western intellect”
– Lubbock Avalanche Journal
Chuck is the whole package. . .melodic singing, witty lyrics and GREAT boots.” –Mike Pengra
A much-touted songwriter and musician, who is probably best known for his songs “Jaded Lover “and” Cadillac Cowboy,” Chuck has many “outside” cuts to his credit. Jerry Jeff Walker, Chris LeDoux, John Denver, Suzy Bogguss and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band have all recorded Pyle’s songs, and with good reason: Chuck Pyle is a master songwriter.
Famed country singer/songwriter known for his Zen cowboy mystique, virtuoso guitar and sly Will Rogerslike wit.”
-Carolina Coastal Weekly
“Current Favorite Music- Country Folk Artist Chuck Pyle”
-Bill Gates USA Today, September 2000
“His music makes me lonesome for places that I’ve never been.”
– Kaya Finkenberg
“Vivid landscapes flow from Pyle’s pen with grown up themes of the New West . . .[his] big campfire-smoked voice and solid guitar work anchor the song. . . it’s really quite impressive how full the orchestration sounds with only Pyle’s voice and guitar.”
-Eugene Weekly, Eugene OR
“[Chuck Pyle’s] music is kind, insightful, catchy, possessing a wry humor, full of life, imagery and stories of people and places he’s been.”
-InterMountainAcousticMusician SLC UT
“His singing is nakedly beautiful, the guitar work flowing and complex. The package is so stylish and enjoyable that his honesty and lyrical invention are easy to miss on the first few passes.”
-Andrew Calhoun, Waterbug
” . . . Pyle’s guitar accompaniment is particularly impressive. . . Each song gets a tailor-made arrangement that punctuates and underpins the lyric. Woven around his soothing mellow voice, beautiful finger-style embellishments are tied to his trade mark rock-steady hypnotic rhythm pattern. . . . While Pyle often deals with the well-worn songwriter’s themes, too (love, jealousy, etc.) he does so with a fresh distinctive approach ripe with hooks that never dip to the trite or commercial. This is the work of a journeyman writer. Pyle is cut from Jerry Jeff’s cow-folk mold but he combines country, folk, jazz and blues into his own hybrid sound. . .”
-SingOut Magazine
“Between [Chuck Pyle’s] humorous patter comes the signature loping guitar and rural western intellect”
-Lubbock Avalanche Journal
“Chuck Pyle’s about as fine a writer as we’ve got.” – Peter Rowan
“Chuck Pyle’s music is good medicine. It starts my thoughts turning, gets my heart breathing, sends my imagination flying. His wild, solid rhythm keeps me thankful I have a body to move. . . His songs take me to the horizons of the mystic southwest. Thanks to Chuck for making good medicine so delicious.”
-David Wilcox
“Chuck has the kind of voice that cuts right to your soul and the most striking style of acoustic guitar playing I’ve ever heard.”
-Michael Tomlinson
“After years of listening to literally hundreds of songwriters, I was refreshed and inspired by the poetic value of Chuck Pyle’s songs. . . his melodies stay in your head.”
-Rod Kennedy
“Chuck Pyle’s written an all-time favorite song of mine. We play Cadillac Cowboy most every night.”
-Chris LeDoux
“CHUCK PYLE’s Affected By The Moon is a quietly swinging delight … he’s one of country’s better-kept secrets.”
– Chris Neal, Country Weekly
“This is sophisticated western music with its slightly jazzy gypsy guitar swing.”
– Bill Groll, AustinAmericana.com
“Chuck Pyle’s songs, playing and singing are transporting. If you’re looking for top-flight alt-country-inflected contemporary folk … this is it.”
– Mark Moss, Sing Out!
“This is a mature but playful work by someone who crafts his songs over time. Employing what he calls his “Rocky Mountain Slam pickin,” style of finger-picking, Pyle puts forth a crisply produced album of ballads that are as musically sophisticated as they are refreshingly sparse. ”
– Buzz McClain, No Depression
“Most of the guitar is beautiful chordal work by Chuck on acoustic. On the last cut, though, look out; Spank is… a killer boogie with notes flying everywhere…Few singer-songwriter records crawl above the pack. But Chuck Pyle does.
– John Heidt , Vintage Guitar
“His gentle, jazz-laced country folk suits his… conversational voice perfectly. You may find yourself as easily affected by this record as Pyle is Affected by the Moon.”
– Michael Toland, HIGH BIAS.com
“Calm, timeless music, the flow of Pyle’s music will make the perfect romantic evening, or bring back to you memories of those wonderful moments when love is everything, when everything seems possible, when the sky is the limit, beyond the affected moon, beyond your dreams.”
– Moshe Benarroch, Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange
Another venue on this tour is calling Kinky Friedman “the most interesting man in the world,” and there just might be some truth to that, even if it is a line from a beer commercial. Kinky Friedman is a singer, a songwriter, an entertainer, the founder of an animal rescue ranch, the developer of his own line of cigars, salsa and tequila, a political correspondent for both CNN and Fox, and somehow found the time to finish third in the 2006 Texas Gubernatorial race. If Lewis Grizzard had been a Texan and a singer-songwriter, he would have been Kinky Friedman. (Other comparisons have been drawn to Will Rogers and Mark Twain!!)
Let’s take a closer look at Kinky the songwriter. His songs have been covered by the likes of Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, Tom Waits and Lyle Lovett. Those are four of the best songwriters on the planet, and they would usually have no need to cover a song written by someone else, since there’s a great chance that they could have written something better. The fact that they– and many others– have covered songs written by Kinky is a powerful testament to the quality of his songwriting.
Kinky’s multi-faceted entertainment career began when he formed a band while a student at the University of Texas. A second band after college found a great deal of success, mixing country rock, raucous satire, maudlin ballads, and social commentary. They toured extensively, taped an episode of Austin City Limits that never aired (the only time that has ever happened, according to the show’s producer,) played the Grand Ole Opry, were the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, and opened for Bob Dylan on his Rolling Thunder Revue tour.
When his musical career stalled, Kinky took to the typewriter, and began penning novels. Eventually he wrote sixteen detective novels (starring himself) and two other novels. He also wrote a column for Texas Monthly magazine, several collections of non-fiction, and a guide on etiquette. (That might deserve more exclamation points– or maybe question marks– than the comparison to Will Rogers and Mark Twain…)
In 2006, Kinky took a break from it all and ran for Governor of Texas. At one point he had raised more money than all but one candidate, though when all was said and done he placed third on the final ballot; it is unknown whether his campaign slogan, “How Hard Could It Be?”, helped or hindered his chances.
Safe to say, Kinky Friedman is not the typical Sundilla performer. By the time this night is over you will have laughed, cried, probably blushed, and who knows what else, hopefully all of it in the good kind of way. And between the CDs, books, cigars, salsa and so on, who knows what kind of souvenirs you’ll be leaving with.
As a very special added bonus, the hilarious and multi-talented singer-songwriter, Kacey Jones, will be opening for her old friend Kinky. Best known for her comedic-country trio Ethel and The Shameless Hussies, Kacey has appeared on A Prairie Home Companion, Woodsongs, The Bob and Tom Show, GAC, CMT and many other programs. As The Official Songstress of The Sweet Potato Queens, an organization with 75,000 members, born out of a half dozen best-selling Sweet Potato Queen books by Jill Conner Browne…Kacey Jones knows her way around the South.
(Repost from Bailey Jones. Sundilla)
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