I’ve been talking about the upcoming William Fitzsimmons concert in Abilene that we’ll be hosting in 6 days at The Historic Paramount Theater. If you can make it, this is a show that will blow you away.

I’m doing a little contest-giveaway. In an effort to promote the show, especially on Facebook, I have free tickets to the show that you can win.

HOW????

It’s pretty simple. All you have to do is Like us on Facebook. If you already have, then suggest The Appetizer to your friends and tell them to Like us too.

I’ll draw names on Wednesday and Thursday of this week and award the winners with the tickets.

What if I live out of town? How will I get the tickets?

That’s easy too. If you live out of town, you’re tickets will be available at the Will Call at the ticket window.

Now get to telling all your friends to Like us on Facebook.

And thanks for spreading the word.

Evolution is a part of all our lives and careers, regardless of what field or industry we’re in. The way my radio show The Appetizer has evolved since its inception in 2003 is pretty dramatic. Back then, it was just a crazy idea to do something out of the box. Over time, the parameters of the box I was out of got larger. My scope for music and realization of the variety of people making it grew in leaps and bounds. In the time between then and now, people have gone from being completely unknown on the regional, state and national level to being pretty well known across the board.


In 2003-2005, people like Ingrid Michaelson, Ray LaMontagne, Feist, Owl City, Iron & Wine, Citizen Cope, etc were either just starting out, or were just starting to make waves. Some of them really hadn’t been writing, performing, or recording at all. Fast-forward to now. Those individuals are not necessarily pop-superstars, but they have a growing following across the country. And these people I named are a microcosm of the emerging artists out there who are being discovered daily. Think about that for a second-daily.

Which leads me to just be so thankful of the time period we get to live in, where we can make these discoveries of talented, incredible artists on such a regular basis. Information travels so quickly that there are no limits. Someone in New York can be completely unknown in Texas. Someone hears their music online or in another place and starts featuring that music on the radio or online. The next thing you know, this unknown individual has a big following 2,000 miles away. That’s a little history and true story of a now good friend of mine named Lindsay Katt.


The transition and evolution of going from unknown to emerging is something I’ll be covering and showcasing over the next few weeks on The Appetizer. This weekend’s show features the beautiful music of He Is We, Green River Ordinance, Andrew Belle, The Head and the Heart, The Civil Wars, Joan As Policewoman, Jesse Thomas, Dodos, Runaway Dorothy and more.


If you don’t know much about He Is We, they have a really cool story, a storybook story really. Rachel Taylor and Trevor Kelly are a writer and musician who were working at a music store and decided it would be fun to just spend some time playing music together. The result is the band He Is We. Check out more info on their link.


Green River Ordinance is a Texas band out of Fort Worth that is named after some interesting laws that prohibit door-to-door sales in parts of the state. They’re about to start a tour with another emerging act called Courrier.


Andrew Belle‘s latest release The Ladder was featured last week and I can’t get enough of it. I wrote on Facebook that the album plays nonstop on my iPod. You can get into an artist because of 1 or 2 songs and happen to like another few tracks they do on some other albums. The whole enchillada of The Ladder is flavorful and tasty. I’ll feature two more tracks this week. Also Andrew will be performing in our town of operations (Abilene) later next month at Monks Coffeehouse. More info on that show upcoming.


Speaking of Monks, in 2 weeks we’ll host The Civil Wars at Monks for Abilene’s Artwalk. This folk duo is racking up fans in droves. I picked up their Barton Hollow album not really sure what it would be like. Similar to Andrew Belle, it’s cover-to-cover awesome. There’s a fluidity and creativity that’s hard to find in other acts, and their sound is a mix of something completely original with something else very familiar. They cover 2 songs on Barton Hollow, one a jazz classic and another a song made famous in the prime-time of Motown. I’ll feature that song to conclude the program this week. It has to be the most original and creative cover I’ve heard yet.


Let me know what you think. Check out the show. Hit us up on Facebook and let us know of some other unknown and emerging acts we should be showcasing.

Wow, it’s been a wild night. But I did listen to some new great artists including Lucy Schwartz (who’s album Life In Letters is amazing), Kelley McRae, Big Eagle, and Barefoot Truth.

You can access the facebook pages of each of these bands from our Facebook site. While you’re there, if you haven’t Liked us yet, please do so. I’d appreciate it.

More insights into music and artists coming up Friday.