The return of sunshine

Well, if it wasn't noticable to you that people in this town were so anxious for the weather to clear up and get better, it sure has heck was to us last night on 6th street!

The evening started off, for me personally, on a high note when I stopped in on my friend Rob's 30th birthday party. My only intention of dropping by was to wish him a happy birthday, hang out for a bit, and head down to 6th street to get set up for our show at Shakespeare's. It's been a while since I'd seen him or his folks (where the party was at) and no sooner had I mentioned that I no longer had my booking agency, and had just released my own CD that Rob's mom took great care of me, and made sure that I was introduced to everyone at the party. She even loaded the CD into their player and played it for the better part of the hour or so that I was there. It was fun, but by the time I left I was still almost literally still gasping for air from talking to so many people in such a short amount of time. :) Today's Rob's official birthday, so let me wish him a very good one, and thanks again for a wonderful time. Rob just lost 100 pounds and looks great!

The tempo of the evening only precipitated one of our best shows on 6th street at Shakespeare's. By the time I got there, I was still recovering from the party, and we had plenty of time to load in, set up and get sound checked. John, Bill and I were all in great moods, and the energy level kept steadily increasing from there. My good friend Nate, who I've known since high school, came by as well as some very nice ladies from Arizona who bought 3 copies of the album. The shows keep getting tighter, the guys and I are having so much fun on stage, but the crowd last night really was what made it all come together. I draw so much of my energy from the crowd, especially when I'm getting alot of good response, that it's almost like a 4 hour rollercoaster ride.

We'll be back at Shakespeare's Pub this Friday night on the 1st of February, so come on out and see what you've been missing! This week, our friend and pedal steel guitarist Price Porter will be joining us on stage, and bringing (what I believe to be) a very rarely seen instrument on 6th street. I honestly can't remember the last time I was on 6th street and heard a steel guitar playing...judging by the packed house just about every time we play there, people really enjoy hearing our kind of music on 6th street again.

Oh, one other thing I almost forgot to mention that's pretty cool. I heard last week from XM Radio that they're going to be picking up 3 songs from the album to play in regular rotation on America, channel 10. The songs are "Day Job", "If I Could Just Get Back (into The Swing of Things)", and "Best Friend I Never Had". It's so cool to have that kind of benchmark this early in my career, and I'm very grateful for (who I'm honored calls me a friend) Dale Watson for helping to make the connection with XM.

Here's what's coming up:
2/01 - Shakespeare's Pub
2/06 - Fox 7's 'Good Day Austin' (day)
2/06 - Cindy's Gone Hog Wild
2/07 - The Pickled Pelican (Rockport)
2/08 - Hill's Cafe
2/09 - Tarrytown Farmer's Market (day)
2/09 - Giddy Ups

The boys in the band

I've been getting a lot of requests from people to explain the band name at shows, and I promised many of them I'd post it in a blog, so now (while my allergies are kicking my ass) I've got time. But first, a long overdue nod to the guys who I'm lucky enough to share the stage with.
We haven't been playing together for very long, (way less than a year) but it's a great experience to play with such talented guys. It's also rare to find 4 (let alone 1) different guys who share the same love of country music as I do, and also are focused in the same direction.

John Kuhns (rhythm guitar/harmony vocals) and I have been playing together the longest, and he's been primarily a rock guy, and this is his first country band. (You should see the pictures of him with long hair...scary.) He's got a great voice, and we always have fun on stage together horsing around during songs.

Carl Bounds (lead guitar) came on board late last year, and is one of the nicest, and most humble guys in the world. He's been playing for the better part of his life, and is the only lead player I know who doesn't mind being in the background. He's also got some great stories about opening up for Waylon Jennings back in the day. He and his band even opened up for Waylon when the song "Bob Wills is Still The King" was recorded.

J.C. George (bass) has been with us the shortest amount of time, but is a hell of a great player, and knows almost as many country songs as I do. :) And during our Rockport trip, we both realized just how cool it is to be able to play in a genre with so much history.

Last but not least, Bill Swearingen (drums) came on board right before Carl did, and his first audition was a live gig that we needed a fill-in for in Johnson City. He's played with Pauline Reese, Jason Marbach and a few others, and (like most drummers I know) he's the crazier one in the band...even more so than me!

So, anyway, we had been going back and forth as to what to name the band. George has his 'Ace in the Hole' band, Bob Wills had his legendary 'Texas Playboys', and even Tim McGraw's band is 'The Dancehall Doctors'. Finally we gave up because we couldn't come up with anything, and eventually decided to abandon the 'band naming' for a while. We had our New Year's Eve show out at Kim's Moonriver in Spicewood to get ready for, and more important things to focus on. Earlier in that week, John sent out a MySpace bulletin advertising the show (as a joke) as Brent Allen and the Super Ultra Mega Band. He'd used this once before in a band he had when he was younger, except it was the 'super ultra mega dudes', or somthing to that effect, but he didn't think it would get any attention.

Well, as I was surfing around that week, I noticed that our friend Janice Williams posted that name on her site advertising the show at Moonriver, and we all got a big laugh out of the fact that she picked up on it. Again, we were still thinking it wouldn't stick until something that happened as I was packing up my truck to head out to the show. I was listening to Eric Raines go over all the music that would be playing around the area, and I almost died lauging when he mentioned us, and referred to it as 'Brent Allen and his Super Ultra Mega Band'. We all had a great time and a lot of fun since then trying to work it subtly into a running joke, and even an easy to remember acronym (The SUM-B's). Who knows if it'll stand the test of time, but it sure is fun right now being able to do this full time.

Come out and see what you've been missing soon. We've got plenty of shows to choose from, and stay tuned for some upcoming news about the boys and me possibly making a trip out to France this summer! In the meantime, here's what's coming up:

1/25 - ABIA: John and Brent acoustic (day)
1/25 - Kim's Moonriver (spicewood)
1/26 - Shakespeare's Pub (6th Street)
2/01 - Shakespeare's Pub
2/06 - Fox 7's 'Good Day Austin' (day)
2/06 - Cindy's Gone Hog Wild
2/07 - The Pickled Pelican (Rockport)
2/08 - Hill's Cafe
2/09 - Tarrytown Farmer's Market (day)
2/09 - Giddy Ups

Back from the coast

Ok, so I've been trying to catch up from being gone for the last week or so, so forgive me for not being able to post anything since last Monday. I had planned on being able to blog a little bit during our downtime while playing several shows out on the coast last weekend in the Rockport area, but I had a hell of a time trying to get through on any wireless network. I don't have an external card, so I was very thankful to have my blackberry to check email when I needed to, otherwise I would've gone crazy. :) It's amazing how dependent we can become on technology, and I'm definitely much happier now that I have high speed access again.

So, the 5 day trip was a great success, and as it turns out, very productive for all of us. We played all weekend long at 3 different places, and all of them just LOVED us! On Thursday night over at the Paradise Key, they treated us to a very nice (and very expensive) dinner, as a way of saying thanks. If you haven't been to the coast in a while, the seafood is much better than we get up here in Austin, and it tastes so much better when you're not the one paying for it. :)

The show at The Pickled Pelican went over very well, too. It seems that they are pretty starved for good country music down there, because we made a whole LOT of new friends and fans (Reba, Diane, Stephanie, and John to name a few) while we were there. The guys and I were able to put together a bunch of new songs in the afternoon before the show, so we used all of them during the set, and they all went over great. I even pulled the crowd into a sing-along during "Fishin' in the Dark" and "Mamas Don't Let your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys".

I must admit, though, I did have a personal first that night. By the time the show was over, it was around 1am, and I didn't realize how much I'm used to the non-smoking thing in Austin, which (since I don't smoke) is hard to deal with outside of it. I went outside to catch some fresh air before starting to break down the gear and head back to Padre Island where we were staying, which was about an hour away. I came back inside and a very cute but very obviously wasted young girl and I struck up a conversation.

She was informed by some other women that night that she had to talk to me before we left. It was obvious she was looking for some company that night after the show, but I've never been one to take advantage of that situation, personally, so I tried to be cordial and get back to breaking down the gear and get out of there. She was determined, though, and refused to give up, and asked me for my phone number. I've already been getting late night calls from enthusiastic fans lately, and wasn't about to invite another one, so I told her that my phone was cut off because I haven't paid my bill yet (which isn't too far from the truth.) She accepted this and walked away again, only to return one more time instructing me to give her 'any number', and didn't even care if I made it up. I finally relented, but still wasn't going to give her my number so I went to talk to John and Carl, my guitar players, and have them help me with one. I started writing 512, and then magically (and almost seemingly by themselves) 459-2222 followed (Mr. Gattis, to the unaware.) I suspect that this probably won't be the last time that this kind of thing happens, but it will likely be the last time I blog about it. The phrase "what happens on the road, stays on the road" needs to be preserved, and I for one will be sure to do my part as best as I can. :)

Anyway, the rest of the weekend went pretty much about the same. We had another great show at Joker's, and even had some "Repeat Offenders" as the boys and I call them, from the night before. (Repeat Offenders being fans who we see at more than one show.) We also ran into Charlie Robison Saturday night too, which was a nice surprise, but it turns out that Charlie spends a lot of time down in Rockport.

That's all for now though. I've still got a lot of catching up to do, and the boys and I are playing out at Cindy's Gone Hog Wild tonight from 7-10pm. Why don't you guys come on out and have some fun with us? It'll be a great show, and we could use some fan support to show Cindy what kind of trouble we can get into. There's plenty of other shows on the calendar, too, but if you come out and mention this blog, I'll buy you a drink. :)

I've also been asked to expand on some of the other things I mentioned in my first blog entry, but not to worry - I'll get better at this, and work on adding more frequently.

Inaugural entry

I've been known to ramble quite a bit. Most of it tends to be in front of the microphone when I'm trying to fill the time by talking to the crowd between songs, or just general bantering, so I should be pretty good at blogging. I also have several other examples I try to pay attention to, (Janice Williams' and Duggan Flanakin's) are two great ones.) for guidance.

I hear it's a really great way to promote and publicize your inner most thoughts to perfect strangers, but, again, I'm so much better at it when I'm in front of an audience or trying to write a song. I really get on an adrenaline high when I'm really connecting with my crowd. And, most of the time if you've spoken to me, it's almost as if it's two different people. Case in point, the CD release party on November 28th at Hill's Cafe. Now THAT was an amazing night. I could blog the hell out of every last memory I have in amazing detail from that night because it was an incredibly validating experience.

This album was something that my friend and producer Stephen Doster and I had been working on since April of 2006. It came together in such a way that, if I never made another album, I could die a happy man. The names on there are people whom I've looked up to for so long, that to have them on my first 'official' album is already a career-high. I can blog about the studio sessions another time, but for now this is a rewind to the CD release party. I was very glad to see so many people there, but even more so when I saw some of the more recognizable faces, which belonged to many of my good friends. I also realize how busy many of them are, so to take time to come out and support me for the CD release was humbling.

My band is great - they all knew how important this show was, so we all had our 'A' game that night. Especially since we all knew that Dale Watson, who appeared on the album singing with me on the song of his that I covered, "Hair of The Dog". Dale's being there was a great "feather in the cap" for the night, and was certainly the highlight of the evening when he got up on stage with us to sing "Hair". He's been very kind to me this year, but again, that's another time. Others in attendance to help me celebrate were Janice Williams, Greg Roberts, Cash Edwards, along with my good friends Angela-Marie Lampton , Lucas Cook, Bill Rice, Cheri Fox, John Scott from KVET, John Michael Whitby (who is probably getting ready for his show right now with King George at the Erwin Center Thursday, and also appeared on the album), along with David Sanger and Elizabeth McQueen from Asleep at The Wheel, who lent their talents as well. Even more importantly though, my parents made it out to the show, and they love coming to my shows when they can, but it's hard for them to get out late sometimes after dark.

The whole night was magical, and to top it off, my last great memory was getting a standing ovation from the very large crowd, most of whom stayed for the whole show. That show has, since, been very hard to top but we've come pretty close a few times, and they're only getting better. Sure hope to see you out at one of the several we have coming up...

I have to run for now, though.. We're headed down play a bunch of shows in Rockport this week, and I need to finish up some laundry. :) I'm also enjoying a well-deserved LSU team beat up on Ohio State!

One last thing - please be patient with me as I learn how to become a better blogger. I'm a narrative writer by trade, and a musician, which almost always means a very short attention span... Hell, it took me almost 2 hours just to write this entry! Should get interesting...