R.G. Duo shows in April
Many thanks to you folks who came out to the Not-SX shows in March, we all had a blast. Kevin and I will be doing a couple of acoustic gigs in the next few weeks including a cool new venue in Round Rock called Star Co. Coffee & Cafe. Check GIGS for details.
"Music Fest Ends in Discord"
"This was the bad dream that I wish never came true..." -Vendor WUMF Fest. At least we got to play. Click on the photo for the full story.
Born in Austin and raised on the Blackland Prairie of Denton County Texas, Stark knows whereof he sings. Growing up, Stark was raised on the drone of a hot, dry southern wind, Church of Christ shape note singing, and the constant hum of AM country radio, with frequent visits to his grandparent's spread on the Guadalupe river in the Texas Hill Country. After moving to Austin to play trombone in the University of Texas marching band, Stark soon found his way into the bars and dancehalls where the redneck/hippie/alternative crossover was still in full swing. Inspired by the openly creative vibe and local legends such as Doug Sahm, Townes Van Zandt, and the ubiquitous Willie Nelson, R.G. soon layed down the trombone and started performing his own songs.
As chief singer and songwriter for the critically acclaimed band Blue Diamond Shine, Stark has put together an impressive musical resume, paying dues in the beer joints and honky-tonks of South Texas, touring and releasing three albums, and working as a side-man for Eric Hisaw, Ron Flynt, and Bonny Holmes among others.
"Shrimp Boat Town evokes a place where, in frontman R.G. Stark's elegant bayou poetry, "The jukebox is your only friend." His well-spent quarters pay handsome dividends... If Huey P. Meaux were still around, he'd hustle Stark into his Sugar Hill Studios double time..."
— Christopher Gray The Austin Chronicle
After too many years as a forklift operator on a warehouse receiving dock (earning the R.G. monikker: Receiving Genius), Stark purchased an R.V. travel-trailer in East Austin, quit the day job, and began writing songs for "Not Crazy Tonight". The album was recorded with Ron Flynt (20/20, The Bluehearts)
at his Jumping Dog studio, featuring BDS mates Eric Hisaw, Vicente Rodriguez, and Kevin Kelnar, as well as Austin guitar legend Scrappy Jud Newcomb. Neil Flanz who toured with the notorious Gram Parsons Fallen Angels Band makes an appearance as well.
The songs continue where the latest BDS release,
"Shrimp Boat Town" left off. (Selected as a top 10 for 2006 by The Austin Chronicle's Chris Gray). The new record continues exploring the human geography of the gulf coast and borderlands. "Not Crazy Tonight" moves farther west... "where the shooting stars and semi-trucks streak across the rolling plains" (Mineral Wells), examining the lives and tribulations of characters on both sides of the border... "Now the bright lights shine before us, like a thousand eyes of desperate birds of prey" (Coyote)... "I hear the pain in your Spanish serenade, the sin and dark skin, the trouble we're in" (Lorena). But there is a sense of hope on this journey, where... "with faith and conviction a place of redemption we'll find on our way" (Lorena).
"Stark twangs with the kind of gothic/desperate-men-do-desperate-things lyrics that haunt while propelling the boot-scooting..." — Jim Beal San Antonio Express-News
If you've ever heard the tire hum shift as you passed a county line marker, if you've ever spent a heartbroken night in a dusty honky-tonk where the jukebox was your only friend, if you have ever wandered past a pay phone in the driving rain without making a call, then you've entered R.G. Stark territory..
As chief singer and songwriter for the critically acclaimed band Blue Diamond Shine, Stark has put together an impressive musical resume, paying dues in the beer joints and honky-tonks of South Texas, touring and releasing three albums, and working as a side-man for Eric Hisaw, Ron Flynt, and Bonny Holmes among others.
"Shrimp Boat Town evokes a place where, in frontman R.G. Stark's elegant bayou poetry, "The jukebox is your only friend." His well-spent quarters pay handsome dividends... If Huey P. Meaux were still around, he'd hustle Stark into his Sugar Hill Studios double time..."
— Christopher Gray The Austin Chronicle
After too many years as a forklift operator on a warehouse receiving dock (earning the R.G. monikker: Receiving Genius), Stark purchased an R.V. travel-trailer in East Austin, quit the day job, and began writing songs for "Not Crazy Tonight". The album was recorded with Ron Flynt (20/20, The Bluehearts)
at his Jumping Dog studio, featuring BDS mates Eric Hisaw, Vicente Rodriguez, and Kevin Kelnar, as well as Austin guitar legend Scrappy Jud Newcomb. Neil Flanz who toured with the notorious Gram Parsons Fallen Angels Band makes an appearance as well.
The songs continue where the latest BDS release,
"Shrimp Boat Town" left off. (Selected as a top 10 for 2006 by The Austin Chronicle's Chris Gray). The new record continues exploring the human geography of the gulf coast and borderlands. "Not Crazy Tonight" moves farther west... "where the shooting stars and semi-trucks streak across the rolling plains" (Mineral Wells), examining the lives and tribulations of characters on both sides of the border... "Now the bright lights shine before us, like a thousand eyes of desperate birds of prey" (Coyote)... "I hear the pain in your Spanish serenade, the sin and dark skin, the trouble we're in" (Lorena). But there is a sense of hope on this journey, where... "with faith and conviction a place of redemption we'll find on our way" (Lorena).
"Stark twangs with the kind of gothic/desperate-men-do-desperate-things lyrics that haunt while propelling the boot-scooting..." — Jim Beal San Antonio Express-News
If you've ever heard the tire hum shift as you passed a county line marker, if you've ever spent a heartbroken night in a dusty honky-tonk where the jukebox was your only friend, if you have ever wandered past a pay phone in the driving rain without making a call, then you've entered R.G. Stark territory..