CONGRATULATIONS To Hash Brown!
chuck n.
WON this years Dallas Observer's Music Awards in the catagory of BEST BLUES MUSICIAN. This, if I recall,
is his 2ND time to win. Here is what the Observer
has to say about his win:
>from the newest edtion of the dallas observer...
-----------------------------------------
Hash Brown
Winner for: Blues
There's no musician in town more worthy of courtesy than Brian "Hash Brown" Calway, if only because this Yankee transplant has spent so long paying the bills by playing host to some of the rottenest "blues" musicians you've ever been smart enough to stay the hell away from. Recording with ZuZu Bollin, Marchel Ivery, and Henry Qualls or mentoring Todd Deatherage and preteen wonder Andrew Baxter Jr.--all that good stuff is out of love and respect, the benevolent pursuits of the blues scholar who knows deep down it don't get any better than yesterday but who doesn't shy away from taking the competition under his broad wings. But how on earth Calway can stand hosting blues jams (the scariest two-word combo in the English language, save perhaps "open mike" and "rock opera") is beyond the most rational mind. There's got to be nothing worse than setting up shop at The Bone or Hole in the Wall and inviting every two-bit liquored-up Skynyrd fan with a Stevie Ray fetish up on stage for !
!
a little rudimentary A-A-B guitar-slinging. Calway has the constitution of a combat surgeon: He's seen it all, till finally he has become inured to the blood and guts his blues too often get reduced to during Tuesday-night throwdowns. Fact is, the guy could beat the hell out of Kenny Wayne Shepherd, but Calway's such a nice guy, he'd probably give him lessons instead.
Here's a guy who lends his talent and his band (the righteous rhythm section of bassist Terry Montgomery and drummer Bobby Baranowski, beloved ever since his days keeping Reverend Horton Heat on a leash) to the most workaday of projects, yet never loses the faith. Not that Mitch Palmer's 1997 debut She's Lookin' Good--
co-credited to the H.B.'s and released on their Browntone label--was dreadful. It was simply so obvious, R&B standards (among them "Can Your Monkey Do the Dog" and "Three Time Loser") and lesser-knowns rehashed one more time, till the music became an echo of a genre that has evolved as much as a corpse. God bless the bluesman who infuses his term paper with a little soul, but there comes a point when blues bands are just swing bands without the wardrobes. Sorry, but it all sounds like that Deep Ellum theme park to me.
It's a shame Calway and his boys haven't released their own record since 1994's Rollin' Blues. That disc, which is now a little hard to find, offers proof enough that Hash Brown's a smart player who knows when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em--meaning, he stays the hell out of the way long enough to let the sidemen and guest stars take center stage more often than not. You'd have thought Hammond B-3 player Nick Connelly was part of the band on Rollin'; he gets more solos than Calway, who proves himself time and again the most generous player this side of assists leader Jason Kidd. Wish we could give him more than this lousy statue.
--R.W.
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Jeff Brandt
cne...@hotmail.com writes:
<< It's a shame Calway and his boys haven't released their own record since
1994's Rollin' Blues. That disc, which is now a little hard to find ... >>
Anybody know where I can get that cd?
JB.
Ron Weinstock
<< Fellow zeller and all round good guy HASH BROWN has
WON this years Dallas Observer's Music Awards in the catagory of BEST BLUES
MUSICIAN. This, if I recall,
is his 2ND time to win. Here is what the Observer
has to say about his win: >>
Just got home and in my mail was a package from Cannonball with the new
Johnny Bassett album and Hash Brown's Texas Blues Revue!!! Congrats Hash!.
Won't have a chance to listen to it for a few days. But look forward to
hearing the record along with Sam Myers, Zulu Bollin, Darrell Nulisch and
others. It will be a gas!
Ron W.
Teri J. Velazquez
Thanks for this post. And Brian--Congratulations!
Teri V.
***************************************
"chuck n." wrote:
> Fellow zeller and all round good guy HASH BROWN has
> WON this years Dallas Observer's Music Awards in the catagory of BEST BLUES MUSICIAN. This, if I recall,
> is his 2ND time to win. Here is what the Observer
> has to say about his win:
>
Gordon Baxter
>
> In a message dated 4/29/99 8:25:57 AM US Eastern Standard Time,
> cne...@hotmail.com writes:
>
>
> Anybody know where I can get that cd?
>
> JB.
I don't know about that, but Hash Brown does play on Barrelhouse Chuck's
"Salute to Sunnyland Slim" which is very good, and came out this year.
Gordon
Maurice Flood
Another CD where Hash plays I would highly reccommend is Willie
Willis 1998 release 'Can't Help But Have the Blues'.
This one has been mentioned before on Blues-l (I personally would never
have heard of it otherwise), but it's definitely worth another mention.
Maurice