Y'ALL: We are thrilled to announce another leg of THE HOME FRONT WORLD TOUR 2008 February and March went so great and seemed to gain intensity with each show. Everyone is getting some rest (except maybe Brad) and gearing up to make May our best tour yet. BRIGHTER THAN CREATION'S DARK is still moving towards being our best selling and most acclaimed album yet. Word is that it will be coming out on vinyl (180gm) in the very near future and Late Night with Conan O'Brien will be re-broadcasting our appearance on May 29th. Now we're ready to go ahead and announce shows for June. As always check with our website for updates and the latest info. Order tickets early because most shows have been selling out this year. Stay tuned for announcements of support and future dates and as always See You at the Rock Show. Patterson Hood Drive-By Truckers Sun June 15 - Bellvue CO - Mishawaka Tue June 17 - Santa Fe NM - Santa Fe Brewing Company Wed June 18 - Flagstaff AZ - Orpheum Theatre Thu June 19 - Tuscon AZ - Rialto Theatre Fri June 20 - Solana Beach CA - Belly Up Tue June 24 - Sacramento, CA - Empire Room Wed June 25 - Bend OR - Midtown Ballroom Thu June 26 - Spokaneo, WA - Big Easy Fr June 27 - Vancouver BC - Biltmore Cabaret Sat June 28 - Calgary ALB - Sledd Island Festival Sun June 29 - Edmonton ALB - Starlite Tue July 1 - Winnipeg, MB - The Garrick Wed July 2 - Minneapolis MN - First Avenue Nightclub Thu July 03 - Milwaukee WI - Summerfest Fri July 04 - Rothbury, MI - Rothbury Festival Sat July 5 - Des Moines IA - Western Gateway Park --------------------------------------------------- Y'ALL: Please to announce that I'm out doing a short solo run this weekend, beginning tonight in Athens at The Fabulous 40 Watt Club. As anyone who has seen my solo endeavors knows, it pretty much changes each time. This time I'm taking John Neff to play some guitar and pedal steel and David Barbe is coming along to play bass. If I'm not mistaken, this may be the first time Barbe has toured since Sugar in 1994. New to my lineup this time, I'm taking Jay Gonzales to play keyboards. Jay is a veteran of many different great Athens bands and we collaborated for the first time last year when we did the Springsteen Tribute Show in Athens. He is an amazing musician and a super cool guy so it ought to be a lot of fun all around. Hopefully I'll have a surprise guest or two popping up along the way this weekend also. As it is with The Truckers, I don't really use a set list on my solo sets, but I'm aiming this show towards songs from my two solo albums (Killers and Stars and the unreleased Murdering Oscar) as well as DBT songs that haven't been receiving much live play of late. I also just wrote a new one and hope to whip it out for a little road testing. This is a short little run, as DBT is hitting the road again in about two weeks. These may be about the only solo shows I play this year, so come out if you're in the area and we'll do our best to entertain. See you there. Patterson Hood

While Robert Randolph may throw in the occasional cover or two, they're far from a cover band. And to me, there's a huge difference between "jammy" and "jamming". As a huge Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers fan I have a certain tolerance for "jammy" but when it devolves into wankery or noodling, they lose me. Same for the Black Crowes, Widespread Panic and any other artist that has been saddled with the "jamband" label.

I'm not sure any other artists can say this but the fee for R.E.M.'s fanclub is $10 and it hasn't gone up since the fanclub began back in the early 80s. In recent years being a member has given us pre-sale concert sales privileges where you can have access to the first 5-6 rows. I have been extremely lucky in obtaining front row seats for the last several tours. Few other artists look after their fans like that, they're far more interested in getting more money out of them instead.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog has an album? Who knew?

I very seriously doubt Bill Cosby will make "rap go away forever" and furthermore, why should he? As I've said many, many times on this board I'm not a fan of rap but I'm also not so musically ignorant as to say it's "not music" or other such comments that are full of shit. I may not be a fan of it but it's not like I'm being forced to listen to it either. It's a very valid form of music that will continue for a very, very long time to come.

I'm not sure if it's the same artist but I saw someone featured on MTV's The Week In Rock several years ago (you know, back when MTV actually included music as part of their programming) that did the same thing. He also did portraits of Jim Morrison, Janis and others. During a setbreak at Woodstock '94 he came on with a Doors song blasting over the sound system and did a portrait of Morrison. Someone came up to me during this time and with a totally straight face asked, "is that the Doors playing down there?"

They recently played in my area and were charging $30 a ticket to see 'em. I love the Marshall Tucker Band but there's no way in hell I'm paying that much to see a facsimile of what once was. Same thing for Blackfoot (there is no Blackfoot without Rickey Medlocke) and Molly Hatchet (who toured for the longest time with no original members, I think they have one now).

I remember MTV's Martha Quinn once describing Jim Dandy Mangum as a cross between The Beverly Hillbillies' Jethro Bodine and David Lee Roth. She hit the nail on the head with that one.

Pour House--Saturday 2:30 doors 3:30-4:30 Patty Hurst Shifter 4:45-5:30 Glory Fountain 5:45-6:30 Tandy 6:30-7:00 Alex talks/raffle 7:00-7:45 Tres Chicas 7:45-8:00 raffle 8:00-8:45 Chris Mills 8:45-9:00 raffle 9:00-9:45 BJ Barham 9:45-10:15 Alex talks/set change/raffle 10:15-11:00 Quarry Hill 11:00-11:15 raffle 11:15-12:00 Chip Robinson and Heavy Beat Outfit 12:15-1:15 The Silos 1:15-? All Star Whatever/Irish wake/throwdown/take your pants off Sadlack's--Sunday 2:45-3:30 Joe Swank & the Zen Pirates 3:35-4:20 Kenny Roby 4:35-5:20 Lou Ford 5:50-6:35 Chip Robinson & Heavy Beat Outfit 6:50-7:35 Cartridge Family

They're actually still around and just released a new album called Funplex.

Apparently not. I've heard some people say what they played wasn't "music" and that they have no place in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. I'm not a fan of the Ramones or punk rock myself but I firmly believe they most definitely deserve a place in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. Thank goodness for bands like the Sex Pistols and the Ramones for coming along when they did and returning rock n' roll to it's primitive roots. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be many folks out there that can appreciate groups like them, yet not be a fan of that type of music. I know of lots of artists that are like that to me, I can see and readily acknowledge their contributions to music but I may not necessarily be a fan.

Maybe because "Classic Rock" radio only plays something like two of their songs and that's the only tunes anyone knows them by? Who knows but I'm glad to have seen them a couple of times. The first time in their prime when Foghat Live! was still knew. The second when they were trying to fit into the New Wave scene with Zig Zag Walk. Both shows were great but I'll take the first one over the second any day of the week. With all due respect, they should have called it quits when "Lonesome" Dave died. Without him there is no Foghat. I'm sure they qualify but personally I never saw them (other than on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert).

Even though Robert Randolph and the Family Band can be a little too jammy for my tastes, it's cool to see such good players as him and slide guitarist Sonny Landreth being mentioned here. So many think there's no good musicians out there today and that there's no players left with any sort of technical prowess. Both Robert and Sonny are a huge fuck you to that statement. There's probably not two better musicians out there today. Robert Randolph Sonny Landreth

The link I posted earlier has these exact same dates, they were cut and pasted from the link you posted (which is the site I was looking for, thanks). Still, there's some misinformation there regarding the billing at the Fayetteville, NC concert I attended. Cheap Trick weren't "co-headliners" and Nantucket didn't open the show. The order was: Cheap Trick / Nantucket / AC/DC.

I love the Meters ("Funky" and otherwise), the Neville Brothers and the Wild Tchoupitoulas but have only seen the Neville Brothers in concert (Woodstock '94). I have some older brothers that did have the good fortune to see the Wild Tchoupitoulas in concert in Texas many years ago though. Speaking of which, I highly recommend any and all of these records if ever you happen to run across any of them: Wild Tchoupitoulas The Meters Fire On the Bayou Neville Brothers Treacherous: A History Of The Neville Brothers Neville Brothers Fiyo On the Bayou

With few exceptions I've never been able to get past his voice, which was once described in a Life magazine article by one of his high school teachers as, "a dying buffalo in heat". Then again, I have never been bothered by Dylan's voice.

I saw them on the Powerage tour in 1978 at the Cumberland County Arena in Fayetteville, NC. Cheap Trick opened followed by Nantucket who were just back from a successful run out west in support of their debut album on Epic Records. I knew who AC/DC were but thought I was seeing some sort of punk rock band at first. Fans down front were spitting on them, which I understood was done as a sign of appreciation for punk bands overseas. I also thought it was a bit unusual that Cheap Trick were opening for Nantucket when Nantucket seemed relatively unknown at the time. In the years since I've found out Nantucket were given priority since they were Epic's pet project at the time. In regards to dates I found this site but I'm not sure how accurate it is since it says Cheap Trick were "co-headliners" and Nantucket were "supporting" at the show I saw which wasn't the case at all. Not so long ago I found another site with vintage AC/DC dates but can't seem to locate it now.

Click on the link below for some kickass photos from SXSW 2008: TurnItUpOrTurnItOff.com

Really? I'm surprised you responded at all considering your aversion to such alt.country artists as Alejandro Escovedo and Joe Ely.

http://backstreets.com/news.html APRIL 14: HOUSTON, WE HAVE... NO PROBLEMS A phenomenal show tonight for the second of two in Texas. Just outside of Amarillo, the Cadillac Ranch sits there gleaming in the sun... tonight in Houston, that song started us off -- making 11 shows running with a unique opener. A good bit of setlist shuffling followed, one of those nights where things really felt free-form, and you didn't quite know what was coming next: "Gypsy Biker" dropped out for the first time, replaced by "Atlantic City"; "Reason to Believe" was gone, too. So what made it in? "Out in the Street" -- which has both opened and closed the main set on this leg -- turned up in the middle. "The E Street Shuffle," in its first performance of 2008, was played by request for a kid in the crowd; Bruce said he probably wrote the song before the boy's grandaddy was born. Next up, a world premiere, Bruce saying those magic words: "We haven't done this." It was "Terry's Song," the moving, unlisted track from Magic, played in honor of Terry Magovern. Bruce said, "A friend of mine for 23 years... today would have been his 68th birthday." Roy led it off on the piano, with just Charlie, Max, Bruce on acoustic, and Nils on backing vocals for a sparse and reverential performance. Musically and thematically, it was a powerful lead-in to "Devils Arcade," which found Bruce on his knees to begin the song. A note-perfect "Thunder Road" closed the set in style after the five-pack, but it was the encore where things really cooked. Not one but two special guests in the encore: at the previous show, Dallas got "a double shot of Jersey" in the form of Jon Bon Jovi, but Houston got a pair of true Texans, both Austinites. "I've always been a fan of the Texas songwriters," said Bruce, and he demonstrated it by playing with two of the best of his Lone Star State contemporaries: Alejandro Escovedo and Joe Ely. First off, man, what an absolute thrill to finally have Alejandro -- a longtime Backstreets fave -- on stage with the Boss. "He's been putting out good music for so long," Springsteen said, and we agree -- Escovedo's former bands include the Nuns, Rank & File, and the True Believers, and he's been offering up incredible solo records since the early '90s. (Also of note, he very recently signed with Jon Landau Management). For Alejandro, the E Street Band learned "Always a Friend," the lead single from his forthcoming album Real Animal. "One of the best he's ever made," Bruce said, plugging the album twice, "Due June 10th!" And then, "There's got to be some other Texans around here..." and out came another of our heroes -- Flatlander, Clash tourmate, and all-around bad-ass Joe Ely -- for "All Just to Get to You" (which he and Bruce recorded together on Ely's 1995 album, Letter to Laredo). And it rocked. With those two barnburners kicking it off, energy stayed high for the rest of the encore, featuring "Rosalita" and "Tenth Avenue Freeze-out." For the Freeze-out, Springsteen held a backbend from the mic stand so deep and long you thought he might have actually frozen there; on "Rosie," he was channeling Curly of the Three Stooges: "Whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop!" Couldn't have said it better ourselves. A brain-meltingly good show. Just ask Alejandro, who told Backstreets at the end of the night: "It was my best musical experience, ever."

David Menconi's On the Beat blog

From Billboard.com: New Pornographers John Benson, Cleveland With stateside touring winding down for the New Pornographers' latest effort, "Challengers," principal member Carl Newman tells Billboard.com he's already looking ahead. "I think the next Pornographers record will be fairly rock," says Newman. "I think with 'Challengers,' we moved as far in this direction as we can go, unless we turn into M. Ward or something. The songs I find myself writing these days are a little bit more rock, but that's as far as I can say." Newman, who says he hopes to have demos ready for band consumption by the end of the year for a possible 2009 street date, is also writing material for a solo album, which in a perfect world would be released this fall. As far as what differentiates a solo song from a New Pornographers' song, that answer isn't clear-cut. "That's the confusing part," Newman says. "In a lot of ways they're similar, but in a lot of obvious ways, they're not similar. The Pornographers have all of these different people in the band and different voices, which makes a big difference. On my own records, I'm kind of left to my own devices. That can be both good and bad." The New Pornographers, which are scheduled to perform today (April 14) and tomorrow in Washington D.C., have a Pacific Rim tour booked for Australia and Japan later this year. Newman says the band's current set, which includes a cover of the Electric Light Orchestra's "Don't Bring Me Down," is a career retrospective, while showcasing "Challengers" material in a new light. "I think the songs have a little bit more rock power live, across the board," Newman says. "A song like 'Challengers,' which has pretty much no drums on the record, is a little louder. And that's the kind of stuff that happens when you play them live and they have a little bit more weight to them, I guess."

One of the best festivals I've had the pleasure of attending, hands down.

Who is "Gillain"?

His new album, Same Old Man isn't due out until May 27th but you can hear the whole thing now courtesy of New West Records: Same Old Man