After reading the Watchmans post about Michelle Branch, I listened to some of her music on the web site. Reminds me somewhat of Kasey Chambers, the Austrailian gal. Very nice. She seems to be attracting a lot of attention.

I get to hear a lot of free live music at a funky old record store in Richardson, TX called "Bills". A local radio station sponsers acts to preform at noon at Fridays.
Usually, acts that are in Dallas for the weekend or local performers. Most are professional 2nd and 3rd tier performers. You won't find Willie Nelson or Guy Clark there. A gal from Pennsylvania I saw last spring impressed me a lot. Irene Kelley, I guess she is middle 40's, is a songwriter from PA and has written a number of songs recorded by other performers. She has a perfect voice for her soft rock/country style songs. She has a CD titled "A Simple Path" which is really fine. See at www.irenekelley.com.

Another performer I heard last summer was Chip Taylor. He is also an older guy, probably mid 50's. Chip wrote a number of hit songs in the 60's including "Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning". He quit music and became a professonal black jack player and horse handicapper. A few years ago he gave that up to return to music. He has teamed up with a young fiddle player and singer from Austin named Carrie Rodriguez. Their new CD is "Let's Leave This Town". I think it is great! Their music is sort of soft rock, mostly duets. It's hard to describe because it's different that anything I have heard from anybody else. Another factoid about Chip is that Taylor is his professional name. He is a brother of the actor Jon Voight. If your interested check him out at www.TrainWreckRecords.com