Brief Guest Interview featuring TBA
A Gruene Hall tradition, now in its 22nd year, where hipsters, oldsters, suits, locals and drifters mix it up to start their weekend rite (pun intended!) Come enjoy the quintessential Friday happy hour with great beer prices, prize giveaways and the best in Texas tunes broadcast live by KNBT 92.1 FM Radio New Braunfels. There’s even a very special guest interview each week. Some that have stopped by for a chat have included Ray Benson, Steve Earle, Delbert McClinton, Radney Foster, Hayes Carll and Ray Wylie Hubbard. Good times!
Brief Guest Interview featuring TBA
A Gruene Hall tradition, now in its 22nd year, where hipsters, oldsters, suits, locals and drifters mix it up to start their weekend rite (pun intended!) Come enjoy the quintessential Friday happy hour with great beer prices, prize giveaways and the best in Texas tunes broadcast live by KNBT 92.1 FM Radio New Braunfels. There’s even a very special guest interview each week. Some that have stopped by for a chat have included Ray Benson, Steve Earle, Delbert McClinton, Radney Foster, Hayes Carll and Ray Wylie Hubbard. Good times!
(Opening Band - TBA)San Antonio-born country singer-songwriter, Mike Ryan mixes contemporary country melodies with rock & roll guitars, reinforced by his soulful and passionate vocals. Ryan was born in 1988 and was raised in a musical family — his grandfather spent more than two decades leading the Texas National Guard Band, and Mike’s dad played bass in a bluegrass group while also performing in local musical theater. While Ryan graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in criminal justice, his passion for music proved stronger in the long run, and he began performing around Texas and the Southwest. Ryan cut an EP, The First One, in 2010, and in 2012 he teamed up with Smith Music Group to release his full-length debut, Night Comes Falling. Ryan’s first two releases earned him radio airplay in his home state, and 2014’s Bad Reputation followed suit, with the tunes “Girls I Date” and “Dancing All Around It” both receiving significant radio exposure in Texas. Ryan’s resume also includes winning Song of the Year for “Dancing All Around It” with Texas Music Pickers in 2014 and New Male Vocalist of the Year at the Texas Regional Radio Awards in 2015. Mike Ryan released his latest album, Blink You’ll Miss It, in October 2017.
TICKETS: $35 | DOORS: 9:30 AM
The Gospel Brunch is led by Bret Graham, one of Gruene Hall’s favorite country musicians. Bret sings his cowboy style Gospel tunes and is accompanied by The New Soul Invaders, an uplifting gospel band. The New Orleans-style gospel brunch also features a buffet catered by Gristmill River Restaurant & Bar.
Brief Guest Interview featuring TBA
A Gruene Hall tradition, now in its 22nd year, where hipsters, oldsters, suits, locals and drifters mix it up to start their weekend rite (pun intended!) Come enjoy the quintessential Friday happy hour with great beer prices, prize giveaways and the best in Texas tunes broadcast live by KNBT 92.1 FM Radio New Braunfels. There’s even a very special guest interview each week. Some that have stopped by for a chat have included Ray Benson, Steve Earle, Delbert McClinton, Radney Foster, Hayes Carll and Ray Wylie Hubbard. Good times!
(Caleb Young Band opens)Growing up during a time when mainstream radio could still show love to throwbacks, Kyle Park was soaking up the tunes of Roger Miller, Merle Haggard, George Jones and the list goes on. It was his Dad that introduced him to classic country, the lyrically driven storytelling of Opry legends that would eventually help mold him into the artist that he is today. After the loss of his dad in 1998, Kyle found healing in country music. He picked up a guitar at the age of 14 and never looked back, with his first paid gig coming one year later. By the time he had released his debut album (‘Big Time’) in 2005 at the age of 20, Kyle was performing hour-long shows with more than fifty-percent of his own music. He’s impressively had seven #1 singles on the Texas Regional Radio Report and eleven singles on the Texas Music Chart’s Top 10. His limited edition ‘Fall EP’ (now part of the “Make or Break Me full-length album) peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers South Central list. He was direct support for numerous notable and legendary artists including George Strait, Clint Black, Mark Chestnutt, Gary Allan and more. Kyle’s latest project, his sixth studio album Don’t Forget Where You Come From leans exactly in the direction you would expect. Inspired by the style of music he grew up listening to, this new album is a return to Kyle’s signature neo-traditional country sound brimming with honkytonk-fueled fiddle, pedal steel and searing guitar riffs punctuated by his most honest and contemplative lyrics to date.
Tickets: $50 | Doors: TBA
A celebration of Americana music featuring exceptional artists of the genre. Each year’s event benefits a local charity. Co-sponsored by Gruene Hall and KNBT 92.1 FM Radio New Braunfels. For more information call (830) 629-5077 or toll free from the San Antonio area at (830) 606-1601.
Brief Guest Interview featuring TBA
A Gruene Hall tradition, now in its 22nd year, where hipsters, oldsters, suits, locals and drifters mix it up to start their weekend rite (pun intended!) Come enjoy the quintessential Friday happy hour with great beer prices, prize giveaways and the best in Texas tunes broadcast live by KNBT 92.1 FM Radio New Braunfels. There’s even a very special guest interview each week. Some that have stopped by for a chat have included Ray Benson, Steve Earle, Delbert McClinton, Radney Foster, Hayes Carll and Ray Wylie Hubbard. Good times!
(OPENING BAND - TBA)Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis are each renowned for crafting some of the most enduring music on the vast country and Americana landscape. But when this Texas couple combines their talents, something especially powerful happens. Willis has reigned as a critically acclaimed roots music singer and Robison has made his mark as both a writer of smash #1 hits like “Wrapped” (George Strait), “Angry All The Time” (Tim McGraw & Faith Hill) and “Travelin’ Soldier” (Dixie Chicks) and an artist in his own right. When playing together occasionally over the years turned into a real collaboration, this couple in life, love and parenthood now unite as a band all its own. It’s more about the promise and thrills of the new than their considerable solo legacies and the laurels they’ve already earned.
Tickets: $12 | DOORS: 8 PM
Dale Watson is a honky tonk hero and country music maverick, a true outlaw carrying on where Waylon Jennings left off. A member of the Austin Music Hall of Fame, he stands alongside Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and George Strait as one of the finest country singers and songwriters from the Lone Star State. Commercial country did not fit the fiercely independent songwriter, so after relocating to Austin, Dale wrote several songs poking fun at the industry side of Nashville. Dale released The Trucking Sessions in 1998. Including 14 original driving songs, the album received high praise and caused critics to compare him to chart-topping writer Red Simpson, who was responsible for some of the most iconic trucking tunes in country music. Just two years after this success, Dale’s fiancee died in a car accident. He turned to drugs and alcohol to cope with her loss and nearly died of an overdose. Dale then checked himself into a mental institution and left a year later, releasing his tribute album to her called Every Song I Write Is For You (2001). Back in Texas and on the road in 2006, Dale has been trucking ever since. Dale released his 20th album called The Sun Sessions. Hailed as “one of the best country albums of the year”, it was recorded at Memphis’ legendary Sun Studios with The Texas Two in the stripped-down style of Johnny Cash’s earliest recordings. He followed this with El Rancho Azul, 14 fresh honky tonk originals about marriage, heartbreak and honkytonkin’, which propelled Dale into the national spotlight with multiple appearances on late-night television and NPR.
(OPENING BAND - TBA)Once you’ve seen Shinyribs’ Kevin Russell on-stage and heard his band’s music, it’s impossible to forget. Known for his outrageous outfits and antics, he’s a regular fashion icon, liable to turn up in anything from his lime-green sherbet leisure suit to a flashing LED cloak, which he recently donned for a soulful performance of “East Texas Rust” on the award-winning PBS show Austin City Limits. Born and raised in Beaumont, East Texas, Russell’s been variously dubbed (mostly by himself), the Baryshnikov of the Big Thicket, the Pavarotti of the Pineywoods, the Shakespeare of Swamp Pop, or the Shiniest Man in Showbidniz. One of the pioneers of Americana as a member of The Gourds, Russell took his musical inspiration from the fertile Ark-La-Tex turf. In the immortal words of the title track to their most recent album, “I Got Your Medicine,” Shinyribs have the cure to whatever ails you, moving that ass until you’re a helpless member of the Kevin Russell-led “all-in” conga line which snakes through the audience at the close of every show. As Austin royalty, Shinyribs are one of the music world’s best-kept secrets, but not for long. The eight-piece outfit was recently named Best Austin Band for 2017, while I Got Your Medicine was tapped as Album of the Year at the Chronicle’s prestigious Music Awards. Kevin Russell might not take himself too seriously, but he is dead-on serious about the eclectic blend of music he favors, combining Texas blues, New Orleans R&B funk, horn-driven Memphis soul, country twang, border music, big band swing, roots-rock, Tin Pan Alley and even punk into a raucous mix that includes out-of-the-blue cover nods.
Brief Guest Interview featuring TBA
A Gruene Hall tradition, now in its 22nd year, where hipsters, oldsters, suits, locals and drifters mix it up to start their weekend rite (pun intended!) Come enjoy the quintessential Friday happy hour with great beer prices, prize giveaways and the best in Texas tunes broadcast live by KNBT 92.1 FM Radio New Braunfels. There’s even a very special guest interview each week. Some that have stopped by for a chat have included Ray Benson, Steve Earle, Delbert McClinton, Radney Foster, Hayes Carll and Ray Wylie Hubbard. Good times!
TICKETS: $25 | DOORS: 7 PM
Still “Comin’ Right At Ya!” – Celebrating 50 Years of Asleep at the Wheel. The number of individual artists and bands who have sustained a thriving career for a half century is infinitesimally small. Against all odds, Asleep At the Wheel is one of these. The stars aligned in 1970 when three friends Ray Benson, Lucky Oceans and Leroy Preston moved to Paw Paw, West Virginia (it’s not a made-up place, you can look it up). It was there that their dream of forming a band began after a mutual friend gave them access to his uncle’s cabin on an apple orchard just outside of town. The three friends began to – quite literally — woodshed and found others who would join them in their mission to play old style Roots/Americana music. This was long before the genre/movement even had a name. After a trip to the outhouse, Lucky lived up to his name and suggested the band be called Asleep at the Wheel and so it was to be for the next 50 years. Since inception, Asleep at the Wheel has been received 10 GRAMMY® Awards, was cited by the Country Music Association as 1976 Touring Band of the Year and were given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Americana Music Association in 2009. They have released 31 albums, charted more than 20 singles on the country charts. Billboard commented on the band’s catalog most succinctly: “Everything this act has ever released is simply spectacular. Most recently, Asleep at the Wheel has been invigorated by a fresh new lineup and the release of New Routes, their latest album that is a bracing blend of original songs and vibrant cover material along with some unanticipated new musical tangents. Asleep At the Wheel have demonstrated convincingly, that they are more relevant, enjoyable and musically nimble than at any time in its 50-year history. The 6’7” Ray Benson has been the one constant in Asleep At the Wheel since 1970. He notes, “I’ve been told that I’m relentless, so I guess I am…. I’m just doing what I believe I’m meant to do — I’m singing and playing and writing better than I ever have. My role and concept of leading a band has never changed, It’s gathering the best musicians I can find or convince to play to the best of their ability, and I just try and make the best decisions possible and kick some ass every night onstage. I’ve made it this far and don’t feel like I or the band will be slowing down anytime soon.”
TICKETS: $25 | DOORS: 8 PM
Still “Comin’ Right At Ya!” – Celebrating 50 Years of Asleep at the Wheel. The number of individual artists and bands who have sustained a thriving career for a half century is infinitesimally small. Against all odds, Asleep At the Wheel is one of these. The stars aligned in 1970 when three friends Ray Benson, Lucky Oceans and Leroy Preston moved to Paw Paw, West Virginia (it’s not a made-up place, you can look it up). It was there that their dream of forming a band began after a mutual friend gave them access to his uncle’s cabin on an apple orchard just outside of town. The three friends began to – quite literally — woodshed and found others who would join them in their mission to play old style Roots/Americana music. This was long before the genre/movement even had a name. After a trip to the outhouse, Lucky lived up to his name and suggested the band be called Asleep at the Wheel and so it was to be for the next 50 years. Since inception, Asleep at the Wheel has been received 10 GRAMMY® Awards, was cited by the Country Music Association as 1976 Touring Band of the Year and were given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Americana Music Association in 2009. They have released 31 albums, charted more than 20 singles on the country charts. Billboard commented on the band’s catalog most succinctly: “Everything this act has ever released is simply spectacular. Most recently, Asleep at the Wheel has been invigorated by a fresh new lineup and the release of New Routes, their latest album that is a bracing blend of original songs and vibrant cover material along with some unanticipated new musical tangents. Asleep At the Wheel have demonstrated convincingly, that they are more relevant, enjoyable and musically nimble than at any time in its 50-year history. The 6’7” Ray Benson has been the one constant in Asleep At the Wheel since 1970. He notes, “I’ve been told that I’m relentless, so I guess I am…. I’m just doing what I believe I’m meant to do — I’m singing and playing and writing better than I ever have. My role and concept of leading a band has never changed, It’s gathering the best musicians I can find or convince to play to the best of their ability, and I just try and make the best decisions possible and kick some ass every night onstage. I’ve made it this far and don’t feel like I or the band will be slowing down anytime soon.”