The Herald-Zeitung

We survived the Labor Day weekend, one that had a tremendous amount of live music choices, and now things have settled back down to a calmer pace. The good thing about September is that there are many great artists performing free shows to coincide with their new CD releases. First up is Seth James, who’s new CD, “That Kind of Man,” comes out this week. James will be at Lone Star Music in Gruene on Thursday at 6 p.m., then will head over to Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos for a live show.

“I’m just very excited (the new album) is finally coming out,” said James. “We’ve had it done for quite awhile and are ready for it hit the streets. We’ve been playing the new songs in our live shows and now the fans will be able to get the CD and take the songs home with them.”

James got his start as primarily a blues player and released two albums. On the new CD, his music leans more toward the Americana side but still stays true to his early blues roots. Add this one to your collection immediately.

Jason Eady was at Lone Star Music yesterday for an in-store appearance to promote his new album, “When The Money’s All Gone.” Eady let me hear it several months ago and to put it simply, I was blown away. It was produced by Kevin Welch, and I had the opportunity to talk to Welch as well. Both he and Eady put their heart and soul into this album and it definitely shows.

Eady explained his process of writing songs for the new record: “I had several songs written for this CD but since Kevin is such a talented songwriter, I took a hard look at them and decided to write a fresh batch just for this album. We rehearsed every song prior to recording them and worked very hard to get it on tape exactly how I heard it in my head.” Just one listen and you will agree, this is a fantastic collection of songs. This Friday, Eady and his band will be playing a free show at 7p.m. at the Gruene Hall.

Tom Gillam will be heading overseas next week for a month-long tour but will squeeze in two shows in town before he leaves. First he’ll be at Tavern in the Gruene on Saturday night for a full band show. He’ll be filming the show for his new CD “Had Enough,” so come out about 8:30 p.m., so you can be part of the video. Gillam comes back to town for an acoustic show on Sunday at 7 p.m. at Adobe Verde. He’ll be gone for a month so catch him now before he leaves.

Local singer-songwriter Ron Brietzke will be playing this week at the Faust Hotel. He’ll be part of the newly created Thursday Night Music Club, featuring an open-mic night for area songwriters. Music starts about 6:30 p.m. Brietzke has been writing and performing for many years and has more than three hours of original music to pull from, as well as covers by a wide variety of artists such as The Rolling Stones, Merle Haggard and Queen. His newer original music easily falls into the Americana format while his older tunes cover a wide berth from country to rock and roll. Stop by this Thursday and check it out.

Last but certainly not least, if you are in the mood for some live music tonight, check out Stewart Mann & Statesboro Revue tonight at Billy’s Ice or, head over to Adobe Verde to see The Ri. They are settling in for a month-long Wednesday night gig there. Both shows are free, so what are you waiting for?