this week in music, etc.

Listening to
James McMurtry - Childish Things
Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives - Soul's Chapel
The Greencards - Weather + Water

Regretting having purchased
Nickel Creek - Why Should the Fire Die - darn you, No Depression!

Live music
James McMurtry in-store at Waterloo - 9/8 - After an awesome performance and getting the new CD signed, we learned that "Levelland" IS about Max Crawford of my hometown of Floydada, TX. Because his grandaddy did grow dryland wheat and Max thought it was a travesty when the high plains started growing cotton. And "Floydada" didn't fit the meter.

Reading
John Barry, Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 & How it Changed America
Grant Alden & Peter Blackstock, eds, The Best of No Depression: Writing about American Music
Carlton Stowers, Where Dreams Die Hard: A Small American Town & Its Six-Man Football Team

Eagerly anticipating
Album Releases
Iron & Wine/Calexico - In the Reins - 9/13 AND their show at Stubbs, 10/30
Old 97's - Alive + Wired - 9/20

Live Shows
Neighbors in Need Katrina Benefit - Willie Nelson & Lucinda Williams headlining, 9/21 at the Erwin Center
The Austin City Limits Festival at Zilker Park - 9/23-25
WILCO at Stubb's, 9/24
Fantastic jazz from the New Orleans musicians who've relocated to Austin

Church
The game of the century, Saturday night at 7 on ABC