Texas Monthly: Jesse Dayton by: Jeff McCord
USA Today: Jesse Dayton & Brennen Leigh, Holdin’ Our Own by: Brian Mansfield
Austin Chronicle: Jesse Dayton and Brennen Leigh are Holdin' Their Own by: Doug Freeman
Austin Chronicle: Jesse Dayton & Brennen Leigh Reviewed by: Jim Caligiuri
Hardchargers,
After an intense weekend of running around Tejas playing shows, (big thanks to all the two-steppers @ the Crawfish Festival in Spring TX....what a BIG rowdy kick-ass crowd!), and finishing up last night for a round of drinks w/ the Solid Chrome Dancers in Austin @ Roadhouse Rags, we start preparing for our month long tour of the good ol' USA. Speaking from experience, you never really finish that "checklist" of things you have to do before ya hit the road on a tour. It could be anything from buying new tires for the bus, to scoring that Hunter S. Thompson book that saves your ass for the long-boring ride between Detroit to Chicago, to loading fresh-jams on the Ipod..."the list goes on forever and the spending never ends"...qualtiy problems mi amigos.
THURS. NIGHT we play the legendary BROKEN SPOKE, (2 step lessons from 8 to 9...JD band from 9 to 12), in South Austin. Someone asked me how long we planned on keeping our residency (or weekly show we do in Austin when we're not on tour) at the Spoke? It's a question I'm asked all the time. My answer: we've built this thing up beyond all belief, but ya just can't take it for granted, so I never look past the next Thurs. night show of new songs and good times.
FRI. NIGHT @ THE CRITON THEATER in CONROE TX. starting @ 8 pm myself and BRENNEN LEIGH (aka the Hillbilly Princess). We'll be sharing the bill w/ country music legend Marty Stuart. Yep it's true, Hardchargers have known for a loooong time what recently interested record label guys, young new music critics and radio geeks alike are just finding out...the JD Band can play w/ ANYBODY...one week Marty Stuart the next week Social Distortions' Mike Ness....Country, Punk, Rockabilly, Folk, Blues and even Cajun fans continue to invade our cult-following from all over the world...all I can say is: BRANG IT!
mucho amore amigos, JD
p.s. Happy 75th Birthday to my spiritual gypsy guru and musical daddy Willie Nelson. Wanna know why he transcends the Country music genre and has opened his arms to a whole wide world of fans? Buy and read his book "The Tao Of Willie". You'll blow thru it in one night and it has more pearls of wisdom for living life than you can imagine.
Chris Gaffney....one of the great California honky-tonkers and a personal friend to the JD Band passed away last week. Chris, along w/ his band the Hacienda Bros., and I just shared a bill together @ a festival in Holland not too long ago and of course we talked about nothing but obscure George Jones records (Gaffs' love for Jones was every bit as fierce as mine). The JD`Band will perform one of Chris' songs for a memorial CD, (along w/ Lucinda Williams, Alejandro Escovedo, James Inveldt and many many more), that should be out before long...I'll miss ya Gaff!
This week I'll be playin a special acoustic show @ PUFFABELLYS' in SPRING TEXAS w/ my guitar pickin' breax Davin James starting @ 8:00 'til 10:00...if ya wanna see some acoustic guitar-shredding, this shows for you.
Then we return to the legendary BROKEN SPOKE on THURS. NIGHT in AUSTIN, (2 step lessons from 8 to 9 and the JDB plays from 9 to 12), for our Solid Chrome Dance Party...this Spoke show is gettin out-of-hand! Also look for an after-party @ Club Saloon located next to Roadhouse Rags on Fortview St. w/ Rick Broussards' Two Hoots and a Holler. This place has a great dance floor, full bar, and is twice as close to the Spoke than Egos' AND the band plays all the way 'til 2 AM!.
SAT. AFTERNOON @ 6:15 we go onstage back in SPRING TX. @ THE CRAWFISH FESTIVAL just outside of HOUSTON...this is a kick-ass throwdown for all you transplanted Cajuns...ahhh-yeeeee....brang it.
Your 'ol son, JD
ps thanks to all the hardchargers who came out and saw us Fri. in Denver and Sat. in Salt Lake City....killer crowds both nights...look for us back in those markets w/ Mike Ness @ the Gothic in Denver and the Depot in SLC in May!
Just got out of the studio w/ Johnny Bush...we just finished recording my song "Shipping Out To Iraq Blues" for a new benefit CD for our troops that have been wounded in action...in the next few weeks we plan to head over to the new veterans hospital in San Antonio to hang out w/ those guys and sing some songs...look forward to meeting some of the original hardchargers!
This THURS. we return to the dancehalls of dancehalls, THE BROKEN SPOKE in South Austin....Pete Turners 2 step lessons start @ 8 and the JD Band starts @ 9 and goes 'til 12...our bag of tunes is getting deep off of this show, so ya never know what we'll pull out for the ol' set list.
FRI. NIGHT we're playing in DENVER COLORADO w/ the RAILBENDERS @ THE 3 KINGS TAVERN, (show starts @ 9), and this show will definitely be a killer double-bill.
SAT. NIGHT we play BAR DELUXE in SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH starting @ 9:00...this show will be a cool Sat. night primer before our return on the MIKE NESS TOUR....brang it!
Adios Mi Amigos! Jesse D-
ps the studio stuff is poppin right now...new RoadKings record,a new JD solo record and a new record I'll start producing for Johnny Bush in July....look for these releases at the end of the summer...if ya can't wait,throw in the new duets record and let me and the Hillbilly Princess sooth your country soul!
Just recovered from the Lonestar Roundup Car Show in Austin...the gig at Trophys' for the Round-Up, w/ Billy Dee on bass was quite the throwndown and a big thanks to my friend Katherine Willis, (actress from Friday Night Lights TV Show), for bringing legendary music producer, Shel Talmy, (Beach Boys, The Who, The Kinks, the list goes on forever), out to see us...after a few whiskeys' w/ Shel, it looks as though he might be producing some tracks for the JD Band in late summer and to say we're excited would be an understatement!
This week we're back oooon it....THURS. NIGHT in AUSTIN we're @ the BROKEN SPOKE,(dance-lessons from 8 to 9....JD Band from 9 to 12), and NO it can't get anymore packed in there....last week was yet another record crowd.
SAT. NIGHT we play the Goodes' honky tonk in HOUSTON TEXAS, the ARMADILLO PALACE starting @ 9:00 on Kirby St. next to Goode Company BBQ....last time we played here I took a hit off of a bottle of Jim Beam, passed it onto the crowd and it came back EMPTY....easssy tigers, Kentucky has a whole bunch left....needless-to-say this is one hell of a rowdy place.
SUNDAY we return to our hallowed stomping grounds for a KHYI SHINER SUNDAY SHOW @ LOVE AND WAR IN PLANO TEXAS starting @ 4:00....this show has become a one-of-a-kind experience and don't forget,(even though the Dallas/Ft. Worth planes are sold-out), the Love and War people are the co-host for our Mexico trip and there's still seats left on other flights....well, you know what I'm gonna say next?....braaang it!
JDs' Travelin' Medicine Show- (for whatever ailes ya)
p.s. Also a reminder that even though the tour w/ Mike Ness won't be hitting California in June, we will be out for sure to play our friend Trace Edwards' Ink & Iron Festival in Long Beach Ca. on the Queen Mary June7th...this show will go off!