A Houston-based, southern roots/rock band, The New Offenders was formed in August of 2014. Although there were a few renditions of this band in the years before, 2014 was the year the band solidified it’s line up and took to the streets. Fronted by a Houston native, Hunter McKithan (vocals/guitar), whom once he started playing acoustic shows around the Houston area would come to meet Jason Nelson (bass) from St. Louis, Missouri. Hunter and Jason would go on to form ‘Hunter McKithan & the Offenders.’ Not long after the band’s inception, a craigslist ad netted T.Ray Porche (vocals/guitar) from Edna, Texas. These three went on to record a couple of albums and played numerous shows across the state. In early 2014, the band looked to friend, Dustin Edwards (drums) from Athens, Texas to fill the void of drummer. Dustin and T.Ray had met and became friends in 2008 while playing together in another band earlier in their careers. The two kept in touch after that particular band dissolved. This was a unique opportunity to join forces again. With this new lineup being more collaborative in musical arrangements and songwriting, in August of 2014 the band decided to change the name from ‘Hunter McKithan and the Offenders’ to simply ‘The New Offenders.’ With the new members and a reinvigorated attitude, the band set out to record it’s debut album “Stones to Throw” in December 2014 in Austin, Texas at 512 Studios with producer Omar Vallejo. With influences spanning from guitar greats such as Warren Haynes, Anders Osborne and Mike Campbell from Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers to songwriters among the likes of Ryan Adams, Ben Harper and Jack White, this project promises to be of the eclectic variety. With the album ‘Stones to Throw’ set to release in March 2016, The New Offenders are ready to add to the story.

Jimmy Lee Deen has been on the forefront of the Texas music scene since the 70’s and in the trench’s opening for and headlining for groups such as Jerry Jeff Walker, Tom Petty, Doctor Hook, AC/DC, The Ramones, Pat Benatar, and Joan Jett to name just a few.. He also contributes his guitar work and stage presence to Sam the Sham & and the Pharaohs [Woolly Bully] The Drifters [Up On The Roof], and even the “Killer” Jerry Lee Lewis. Jimmy has gone from rock legend to his latest project in Acoustic “Americana” and he’s not through yet. Jimmy Lee Deen -70’s Survivor-Ultimate Showman.

Arkansauce is a genre-hopping, four piece string band from northwest Arkansas, bending the rules and blurring the lines between bluegrass, newgrass, folk, americana, country, blues, and funk. With a loyal following growing every day in the Natural State and along their tour routes, the band is proud to be stepping into a hard-driving sound unique to the Arkansas quartet.

The third album (If I Were You, released April 2017) of all original material finds the palate expanded with more complex melodies, intriguing rhythms, and hard-hitting hooks that leave the songs whirling around your head long after the listening experience.

The hard-working musicians are filling the calendar with upcoming appearances at premiere music festivals and venues in and around Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi, Colorado, New Mexico, and Missouri.

The band’s roots go back to 2011 when founding members Ethan Bush, Zac Archuleta, and Stephen Jolly began writing together after becoming acquainted through mutual connections in the close-knit Fayetteville music scene. After a couple of years building a repertoire of original music and releasing their first album (Hambone) as a trio, they were joined by Tom Andersen on the upright bass and Adams Collins on the five-string banjo. The road-tested chops Andersen and Collins brought to the table helped to cultivate the mature, well-rounded sound needed to accommodate their sophomore release “All Day Long.”

An Arkansauce show is riddled with improvisational guitar, banjo, and mandolin leads, paired with powerful harmonies and heart-felt songwriting, all held together by deep foot-stompin’ bass grooves. There’s an undeniably intimate connection between the band and their fans that’s contagious and leaves everyone in front of, and on the stage wanting more. Arkansauce holds their head high, as they look forward to enjoying everything life and music has in store for them and their fans.

The Hightailers have been performing distinctively Houston music at Last Concert Café for a quarter century now. They have been known to play into the wee hours of the morning. While Little Screamin’ Kenny Blanchet brings a wealth of influence from the earliest days of rock and blues, Alan “Dogman” Miller has been known to pen thoughtful, melodic songs which never fail to bring the crowd to its feet. The band is rounded out by veteran Houston drummer Randy Woodard, Randy Wall on keyboards and the inimitable Jimb Jackson on bass.

Austin, Texas-based musician, singer, storyteller, and songwriter Guy Forsyth was Born in the Denver City Hospital in Colorado on November 30, 1968 to. After a short time spent discovering that he and collage didn’t agree Forsyth joined the circus, or at least the closest thing he could find, The Renaissance Festival. He got a job as a stuntman playing Robin Hood, getting beat up by an actor playing Little John in a act that ended with Forsyth getting his but kicked and thrown into filthy water. He has tried to work his way up in showbiz ever since. Wile on the road he would spend the weekends performing and the week days healing. He would spend his time practicing guitar, and listening to music in the places they would go, New Orleans, New York, Memphis. On January 10th, 1990, he packed anything that would fit in a U-Haul trailer and drove south on I-35 from Kansas City, Kansas to Texas to make his fortune in the music industry. He found himself playing at Joe’s Generic Bar down on Sixth Street in Austin, busking on the West Mall of the University Of Texas Campus and anywhere that would listen. Years later and he has played around the world, made 20 or so records, won many awards and helped define Austin music.

Forsyth is a one-of-a-kind original. He not only writes and sings his own songs, but he enjoys telling the stories. He is a modern American Songster. Not one song is the same, but they share the same care and craftsmanship. No matter the tune, no matter the rhythm, Forsyth’s music will bring a smile and and make the body move. One could even argue that he was made for this lifestyle—one of endless music and lyrical storytelling.

It was the Blues that made him want to play. Forsyth’s first works were electric, raw blues that held nothing back. When he showed up in Austin, he had with him a bandolier of Harmonicas and a carnival barkers voice that could cut through the noise of the busiest night on Sixth street. In 1999 Forsyth & Artie Gold recorded their recorded first Blues album,”Scalpel & Sledgehammer” on Cassette tape. “It was recorded at Erik Blakley’s home studio (for $8 an hour), where Artie produced, recorded and paid for it all himself,” said Forsyth. “We sold it at Gigs, took some to the Antone’s record shop, there might be a couple still there.”said Forsyth “I was the Sledgehammer”.

Undeterred, he started The Asylum Street Spankers; an irreverent band that followed him in ecstatic, eclectic, theatrical acoustic display of American musical history, as if Rock and Roll had never happened that took Austin by storm, which was awarded best none of the above band and performed at the Austin Music Awards. While all of this was going on, Forsyth released a live record in Holland on a Dutch Label (High Temperature, Lizard disk) that made such an impact that Forsyth tours Europe almost every year, with North Europen Blues bands routinely covering his songs. Forsyth’s most recent musical project, The Hot Nut Riveters, is a band that holds their own in a pure acoustic sound mix of eccentric bluegrass-Bluespop/Country Folk and they will be releasing their second album early in 2018 (Torches & Pitchforks part 1: Politics). And, if that wasn’t enough on his plate, Forsyth has been leading his award winning Blues Band. Over the years, Forsyth’s music had been featured, both live and recorded in favored pubs and bars of Austin, to movies (Waking Life and Hands on a Hard Body, to name a couple). He has been on tour nationwide and internationally, from festivals to shared stage time with the big boys (BB King, Ray Charles, Ben Harper, and John Hammond to name a few). To top his accomplishments, he won the Austin Male Vocalist of the Year Award (2005) and is nominated again for the same title in 2018.

Forsyth’s life is not entirely focused on music, however. He is a firm believer of working together to bring about solid goals and happier times. He played for Bernie Sanders, and sang This Land is Your Land with him during the Presidential Election of 2015-16 when he was campaigning in Austin, and is a firm and active supporter for HAAM (Health Alliance for Austin Musicians). To sustain his community on the most fundamental of levels he has taught Tai-Chi in Austin for 10 years to disabled vets, children & anyone else who wanted to learn for free giving lessons to those who wanted to learn, believing that it is a solid way to help center oneself and create balance in life. “I learned yoga in the park, the community can take care of itself. If you can afford to contribute, you should; when I can, I do.” He frequently visits schools to teach music for children, from instruments to lyrics; not just teaching them to play, mind you, but to understand the magic that is at their fingertips.

Great music begins with great songs, and great songs are what the Honey Island Swamp Band is all about. The band came together after 4 friends were marooned in San Francisco after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. Formed on the strength of timeless songs from Aaron Wilkinson and Chris Mulé, HISB’s “Bayou Americana” sound has been compared to the music of such forefathers as Lowell George, Earl King, Taj Mahal, Jerry Garcia, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Gram Parsons and Jimmy Reed. Their eponymous EP was recorded in 2006 at famed studio The Plant in Sausalito, CA, and was received so well that they all decided to continue the band upon moving back home to New Orleans in 2007. Wishing Well, the band’s first full length album won “Best Blues Album” of 2009 from OffBeat Magazine, which has also honored Honey Island Swamp Band as “Best Emerging Artist” of 2009 and “Best Roots Rock Artist” of 2010. And most recently the band was awarded “Best Roots Rock Artist” at the 2011 Big Easy Awards, widely considered the “Grammys of New Orleans”. HISB’s newest offering – Good To You – was nominated by OffBeat Magazine as “Best Roots Rock Album” of 2010, was named to numerous “Top 10 CDS of 2010” lists, and has become a staple of most DJs on the Crescent City’s legendary radio station WWOZ, as well as on Sirius/XM satellite radio’s Bluesville and traditional stations from coast-to-coast. Featuring the southern strut of songs such as “Country Girl”, “300 Pounds” and the album’s first single “Chocolate Cake”, Good To You illuminates the mix of country-inflected rock and New Orleans funky blues that makes Honey Island Swamp Band’s music so familiar and unique at the same time.