By Chip Chandler — Digital Content Producer
Chip.Chandler@actx.edu
Revisit a celebration of some of the region’s top songwriters with a special encore presentation of Live Here.
The special “Yellow City Sounds Live” episode features the Red River Songwriters, a collective of performers including Amarillo native Susan Gibson and others. The six songsmiths team up annually for a winter music festival, as well as a summer songwriting camp, in Red River, N.M. En route, they frequently do a few shows together, including one we were lucky enough to capture in our studios in January.
If you like what you hear, here’s the latest on all six:
- Susan Gibson, best known for writing “Wide Open Spaces,” will next perform in Amarillo on June 16 as part of Amarillo Botanical Gardens’ Music in the Gardens concert series. Currently, she’s conducting in-person or Skype songwriting coaching sessions in addition to performing.
- Josh Grider maintains a heavy touring schedule, though his next closest concerts to Amarillo will be in Midland on April 28 and in his hometown for the Las Cruces (N.M.) Country Music Festival on April 29. His most recent album, “Brokedown,” was released in 2015.
- Drew Kennedy, whose most recent album was 2014’s live double-CD “Sad Songs Happily Played,” will launch a Kickstarter campaign today to crowd-fund a new album. He most recently returned to the area for a March 13 show in Lubbock with The Trishas (see below).
- Kelley Mickwee, who’s spending the week performing at South by Southwest gigs around Austin, brought her occasional band The Trishas – also featuring Savannah Welch, Liz Foster and Jamie Wilson – to Lubbock for a March 13 show at The Cactus Theatre. Her most recent album is 2014’s “You Used to Live Here.”
- Elder statesman Walt Wilkins continues touring the state as a solo artist and with his band, The Mystiqueros. He also works as a producer, with credits including Amarillo singer Zac Wilkerson’s 2014 self-titled album.
- Brandy Zdan continues to tour in support of her first full-length album, a 2015 self-titled release. A Nashville resident, she returned to Texas this month for The Trishas’ “Spring Fling” mini-tour ahead of SXSW shows in Austin.
Live Hereairs at 7 p.m. Thursday.
