‘All the Dirt in Red Dirt’ with Rita Ballou on Radio Texas Live

Rita Ballou, blogger extraordinaire, joins Radio Texas, LIVE! each week to keep us up to date on all the dirt in the Texas and Red Dirt Music scene. This week Will Hoge announces he's teaming up with Wade Bowen, JB and the Moonshine Band are in Rolling Stone, Dan Rather blogs about Billy Joe Shaver plus more. Check out this week's Dirt.

Hear the Dirt Here

Will and Wade Dueting it in Texas

Will Hoge, the co-writter of EYB’s “Even if it Breaks Your Heart” is up for a Grammy this year and I am on the fence on whether or not to continue my Twitter stalking of  him in the hopes of making him my new best friend. Anywhoo… Mr. Hoge posted a video last week updating fans about what’ll be happening in the new year, in it he teases us with a new duet with his bud Wade Bowen. He says the new single that will be out to Texas radio in January… Give us a lil taste B Lo!

JB and the Moonshine Band Didn't Make the Cover of Rolling Stone

A huge congratulations to JB and the Moonshine Band who’s album Beer for Breakfast was named one of Rolling Stone’s Top 5 Country albums of 2012.. NOT Texas country… Regular country. Here’s what Rolling Stone had to say about “Beer for Breakfast”:

These East Texas country rockers are like a thousand other bar bands, with a crucial difference: Frontman JB Patterson can really write songs – balancing sentiment with low-key Music Row wit and driven home with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers-like chime and crunch.

Bart Crow's Get Well Play List

Well we all know Bart Crow recently underwent back surgery, so Bart’s Facebook fans put together a Spotify Playlist for him to listen to while he is recovering. The eclectic list includes:

No Kinda Dancer-Robert Earl Keen
As Long As You Love Me-Justin Bieber · Big Sean
Skyline Radio-Cody Canada & The Departed
Don’t Give Up Hope-Third Day
Another Like You-Hayes Carll
Somewhere Down in Texas-Jason Boland & The Stragglers

Get well soon Tarty Tart!

Dan Rather Reports: Billy Joe Shaver

So Dan Rather took to his blog to write about his pal, Billy Joe Shaver. Here’s a brief synopsis:

Caught my old friend Billy Joe Shaver’s gig last week at New York’s “Hill Country.”What a hoot. Sheer down-home grit, grin, groan and guzzle, Texas style. Only thing missing was the chicken wire… New York, of course, is too sophisticated for that — which may be one reason real honky-tonk music in general and the Texas genre in particular are so seldom performed up here in what the late Willie Morris dubbed “The Big Cave” (New York City).

There’s a link to Rather’s entire Blog on Billy Joe at my website… What a great read! Rather even tells Shaver to call him if he ever needs bail money.