HWY 261

This week The Reverend and Sterling welcome Lynn Crossett back into the KZSM booth for his 3rd time as our guest. His new album, Autumn to August has just been released; produced by the great Lloyd Maines, the album is fantastic, and Lynn plays a couple of the songs (the title track & Coulda Been the Wine) live in the studio during this week's episode. The Rev and Sterling also plug the upcoming Young Songwriters Workshop that the Rev directs annually at The Redbird Listening Room in New Braunfels, TX. Prerecorded tracks included songs from Butthole Surfers, Missoula Slim, Melissa Engleman, Hank Weaver, Bri Bagwell, Dennis Jay, and Sam Downing.

Sterling is traveling to a gig today, so The Reverend has his youngest daughter, Layla, in the booth to co-host a salute to funk and soul musicians from Texas. Sly Stone (born in Denton in 1943) passed away in L.A. this week at the age of 82, so The Rev has curated a playlist to shine a bright, colorful light on some of the great funk/soul artists to have come from our great state. Artists played on this episode: Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, Sly & the Family Stone, Barry White, Billy Preston, Edgar Winter's White Trash, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, Blues Brothers 2000 ft. Erykah Badu, and The Suffers.

Last week, The Rev's daughter curated a playlist of up-and-coming artists that the young generation is listening to a lot. This week Sterling and The Rev go the other direction, spinning tracks that we heard in the house or in the car growing up with our dads. Artists played include Simon & Garfunkel, George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson & Johnny Cash, James McMurtry, Hal Ketchum, Terri Hendrix, and George Strait.

Sterling is on the way to play a gig at The Old Quarter in Galveston with Dallas Burrow, so The Reverend has his oldest daughter, Alice, in the co-host's chair. Alice has curated a playlist of up-and-coming Texas artists the she and her young peers are really into, several of whom have not yet come to the attention of The Rev and Sterling. After kicking off with tunes from The Dixie Chicks and Harry Connick Jr. (the reason we spun a NOLA artist's track is explained in the episode), The Rev and Alice run listeners through Alice's playlist, which includes tracks from Kat Hasty, Braxton Keith, Turnpike Troubadours, Ty Myers, Cameron Sacky Band, Tyler Halverson, J.R. Carroll, Charley Crockett, and Miranda Lambert.

Local high schools are having graduation ceremonies this weekend, and local universities held ceremonies a couple of weeks ago, so The Reverend and Sterling salute the accomplishments of all local graduates with songs from artists who were educated--high school, college, or both--in Texas. Artists played included Alice Cooper, William Clark Green, John Denver, Bill Whitbeck, Michael Martin Murphey, Blue October, Los Spark Notes, Polyphonic Spree, and George Strait.

The Reverend is flying solo in the booth today while Sterling retrieves a '61 Ford Falcon he bought in Austin. The Rev spends part of the show on a shoutout to moms, during which he played track from Sons of Fathers, Okkervil River, Big John Mills, and Randy Travis. The rest of the show was a musical mixed bag, with tracks from The Trips, Dustin Welch, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Johnny & Edgar Winter, Nathan Hamilton, Steve Miller Band, Boz Skaggs, and Matt the Electrician.

The Reverend and Sterling celebrate Willie Nelson, who turned 92 this week, by deep-diving his catalog for songs not generally heard on the radio. Tracks played included Matador, She is Gone, Mr. Shuck & Jive (Willie & Waylon), Alice in Hulaland (Willie & Haggard), Whiter Shade of Pale, Always on My Mind (David Beck's Tejano Weekend), Hands on the Wheel, Bach's Minuet in G, Stuff the Works, You Show Me Yours and I'll Show You Mine, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (Instrumental), The Devil's Right Hand (The Highwaymen), and The Great Divide.

The Reverend and Sterling welcome local artists Tracy Weinberg & Gretchen McMahon into the KZSM studio to talk music, discuss their latest release Tracy Weinberg & Friends: Another Saturday Night, and the duo plays a pair of great live tracks off of the record (Side Effects of Love and Blindspot). Prerecorded tracks included songs from Dustin Welch, Lynn Crossett, The Texas Sapphires, Jeff Plankenhorn, Slaid Cleaves, Tracy Weinberg, and Shaver.

No guest artist in the KZSM studio today (The Rev's 46th B-Day), so the fellas spin tracks from Austin artists Bad Livers and James McMurtry. James and Danny Barnes of bad Livers both work professionally with Sterling's older sister, Jenni Finlay, so there are a few stories shared between prerecorded tracks. The show closes out with a Tom Waits cover of Kinky Friedman's song Highway Cafe. Kinky (RIP) was another artist who worked with Jenni Finlay until he passed in 2024.

No guest artist in the KZSM studio today (The Rev's 46th B-Day), so the fellas spin tracks from Austin artists Bad Livers and James McMurtry. James and Danny Barnes of bad Livers both work professionally with Sterling's older sister, Jenni Finlay, so there are a few stories shared between prerecorded tracks. The show closes out with a Tom Waits cover of Kinky Friedman's song Highway Cafe. Kinky (RIP) was another artist who worked with Jenni Finlay until he passed in 2024.