HWY 261

The Rev takes us on a trip in the Way-Back Machine to May 1977, The Armadillo World Headquarters, Austin. Doug Sahm & Augie Meyers played (and recorded) a show at the 'Dillo with members of Doug's bands Sir Douglas Quintet and Texas Tornadoes. The Rev played most of the concert, and augmented the episode with Funny cigarette by Asylum Street Spankers, The Valley of the San Joaquin by Augie Meyers, You're Gonna Miss Me by 13th Floor Elevators, and Whenever Kindness Fails by the late, great Joe Ely, who passed away this week in Taos at the age of 78.

Today The Rev is flying solo in the booth, and he's being visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past...musically speaking, that is! We kicked off with Christmastime in Luckenbach by Kent Finlay followed by White Christmas by Sterling Finlay and Merry Texas Christmas Y'all by Asleep at the Wheel. Then The Rev took us on a trip in the Way-Back Machine to the era of Hastings Entertainment Superstores, which was based in Amarillo, TX from 1968 until its demise in 2016. The Christmas playlist was curated by the Hastings corporate offices in Amarillo and was what got played in stores during the holidays in the years when all music was played off of physical copies. Classic Christmas tracks include: Jingle Bells-Rosemary Clooney; 12 Days of Christmas-N.Y. Stage Orchestra; Let It Snow-Bing Crosby; Blue Christmas-The Platters; It Came Upon a Midnight Clear-N.Y. Stage Orchestra; and Greensleeves-Winterborne. The show wrapped with a couple of tunes from some well-established Texas artists: Run Run Rudolph-Carolyn Wonderland & Guy Forsyth and Robert Earl Keen's cover of the Townes Van Zandt classic Snowin' On Raton.

Today, The Reverend kicks off with the quintessential Thanksgiving song, Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie (whose two daughters Cathy and Sarah Lee are both based out of Austin, TX), followed by a deep dive of the catalog of Stephen Stills, who was born in Dallas in 1945. Tracks played were Alice's Restaurant, Love the One You're With, Old Times Good Times, Song of Love, Soldier, Wooden Ships (Live), Everybody's Talkin' at Me (Live), Word Game, and For What It's Worth.

The Reverend welcomes rising Texas artist Ashton Naylor, fresh off the release of his debut album Foot in the Door. Ashton and The Rev spend some time talking about the record and his upcoming shows, and geeking out on their favorite music. Then Ashton played two tracks off the album (Foot in the Door, Barkeep) live in KZSM Studio. The show was rounded out with prerecorded tracks from Bob Dylan, Court Yard Hounds (featuring Jakob Dylan), The Trips, Nathan Hamilton, The Mothermold, and Terri Hendrix.

Sterling is back in the booth with The Reverend this week as we showcase tracks from Todd Snider, specifically songs from his new album featuring Sterling on bass (High Lonesome and Then Some) + the "Purple versions" of several of Todd's earlier songs that he re-recorded in stripped-down fashion and and released a few years ago.

Dennis Jay returns to the KZSM studio ahead of his debut performance at The Redbird Listening Room tomorrow night. Dennis and The Rev talk horses, and Dennis plays a pair of great original songs from his catalog (South of Seguin and Adios Moonlight). The Rev also leans to Texas-connected prerecorded tracks that have a spooky season theme. Artists played include Sammy Wells (covering Paul McCartney), Judas Priest, Willie Nelson, Edgar Winter Group, Shakey Graves, Ryan Culwell & Aubrie Sellers, The Black Angels, and Sam the Sham & the Pharoahs.

Sterling is still on "house arrest" while his immune system works itself back up, so The Reverend is solo in the booth again today to welcome Phenomenal musician Keith Davis back into the KZSM broadcast booth. Keith has been on the show several times as both a solo artist and a sideman for other guests, and he's plugging both his newly released EP and his first full band show as a solo artist in 16 years tonight at Geezerfest in Gruene, TX. The Reverend played a few heavier tracks, including tunes from Sabaton, Watchtower, and Pantera, then eased off the gas with some Nichole Wagner, followed by Keith's live in-studio performances, and we closed with a track off of George Ensle's forthcoming album Touchstones, chased by Lyle Lovett.

Sterling is laying low for health reasons today, so The Reverend hosts The Trips return to the KZSM studio as a solo DJ. The band talks about their new and upcoming projects, including the music video they recently filmed for February (featuring The Rev as a zombie, no less!), their live music calendar for October, and Sammy's self-imposed TikTok challenge to learn a cover of one song each from all 25 of Paul McCartney's post-Beatles releases and post one each day in the 25 days of October leading up to Sir Paul's concert in San Antonio on October 25th. The Trips played stripped down acoustic versions of their songs February and Falling Asleep in the back half of the hour.

Sterling is back in the booth after a few weeks on the DL, and he and The Reverend used today's episode to pay tribute to the late Al Barlow, a clever and influential songwriter, who passed away last week at the age of 71. Sterling knew Al for decades, and The Reverend got to interact with the man a few times too, so they share stories along with a highlight list of some of Al's most memorable songs: Matches, Cypress Creek Elixir, Jello, Squirrel Hunting, When I Retire, Songwriters' Night, The Anti-Navelite, Jack's Job, Lady's Room Wall, I Just Want to Fish, Stripes, S.T.O.P., and I Was a Seed.

The Reverend is flying solo today as Sterling recovers from a serious health issue. KZSM's Production Committee Chair, Chris Gardner, brought The Rev along to Austin last night for a Magnolia & Johnson Electric Co. show. The Rev figured this would be a great opportunity to feature the work of a prolific Texas-based artist in Will Johnson, and Chris graciously agreed to curate a "starter playlist" of tracks from Will Johnson's career, including tracks from supergroup New Multitudes, Will's solo career, the Jason Molina & Will Johnson team-up album Molina & Johnson, and a bunch of great songs from Will's first major project, Centro-Matic.