My apologies to Cory Cross & The Burden for getting this news out the day-of, but on Wed, Jan 7 (a.k.a. tonight, if you’re reading this paper the day of its release), the local honkytonk heroes begin their new, monthly residency at Magnolia Motor Lounge (3803 Southwest Blvd, Fort Worth, 817-332-3344), and I highly recommend blocking off your calendar for it.
Whiskey Bent Wednesdays will happen on the first Wednesday of every month. These shows are free to attend and start at 7:30pm with Western dance lessons from country music preservationists Honky Tonk Traditions (@honkytonktraditions) before Cross and his band take the stage.
In a social post promoting this inaugural show, Cross’ exhortation pointed out that a city nicknamed Cowtown “should have the biggest, baddest country music dance/honkytonkin community in the state. My hope is this residency will grow into a cool regular party for Fort Worth to come together and dance and celebrate live music, eventually bringing in different acts and dancers. Let’s make it happen.”
Sounds pretty fun, right? All he and his band need to realize this ambition is for you to show up and have a good time.
Courtesy Honky Tonk Traditions
Jambaloo Is Back
Speaking of big ambitions centered on growing North Texas’ live music scene, the Mullen & Mullen Music Project is bringing back Jambaloo for a second year, now with even more bands and even more stages across Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, and Dallas between Feb 7 and Feb 15. Biggest-font headliners include Tripping Daisy, Low Cut Connie, and Catie Turner (I am personally very stoked about Low Cut Connie), but what moves my meter in particular is just how many local bands are booked for this — Christian Carlos Carvajal, Matthew McNeal, Levi Ray, Sheprador, Carly Tate, and Gracen Wynn are but a few out of the 30 or so listed — as well as a symposium moderated by KXT program director Benji McPhail. Check the website, mark your calendar accordingly, and stay tuned!
Friday Lovin’
In other news, the cockles of my Epitaph-/Fat Wreck-/Lookout-loving heart are warming like a morning in mid-July as a new punk venue called Stage 28 is opening Friday with a show by long-running punk bands Noogy, Samuel Caldwell’s Revenge, From Parts Unknown, and the Weigh Down. Stage 28 is located at 2671 28th St in the space formally known as Insomnia — I think that used to be a dance club — in the part of town near the border between Fort Worth and Haltom City. Doors open at 8, bands start at 9, and the cover to this 21+ show is $10.
Another option for this Friday: Local production company Green Audio presents a show at Tulips FTW (112 St. Louis Av, Fort Worth, 817-367-9798) headlined by a band called Guilford Manor, with Playtime Rabbit, Yandere, and Pleasr in the opening slots. I have not yet listened to/watched any of these bands, but I am telling you about this show specifically because one of the dudes in Guilford Manor literally handed me an actual paper flyer about the show, and I was so touched by this decidedly antiquated move — a physical advertisement given in conjunction with a real, human interaction, something that bands used to do all the damn time until social media babbled and gibbered itself into its current mental-landfill-core existence, where show promotion has devolved into hasty Instagram posts featuring pee-pee-hued AI slop — that I felt that his effort absolutely deserved its flowers.
It was Saturday night, and I was having a drink with my fiancée at Low Doubt’s bartop when this longhaired dude wearing a beanie waited for a break in our conversation to tell me about his band (influenced by Soundgarden, but with Weezer’s pop sensibility) and their upcoming show and hand me the aforementioned flyer, a literal handbill with all the relevant information. Do I enjoy being interrupted on a night out? Or ever? Not really, and by not really, I mean almost never, but it’s a new year, and I’m trying to be a “yes, and?” person rather than one who would prefer to live inside a forcefield made of frowns and scowls. This guy was very nice and informative, and he cared about his band’s show enough to approach a grumpy-looking stranger and tell him about it. The late, great Mitch Hedberg once joked that when someone hands you a flyer, it’s like saying, “Here, you throw this away,” but here I am, telling you that doors to Guilford Manor’s all-ages Tulips show open at 7pm, and the cover is $10. Hope to see you there!
