I've got a left coast alarm clock and a right coast mind--I've yet to adjust to my new surroundings which actually was a blessing because I watched the most beautiful sunrise over the mountains this morning. It made me think of Rodney Crowell's "Song for the Life" which I've loved for many years now and saw him perform live last weekend.

It's moments like these that help me realize that all my youthful running around and running from things never had a destination in mind. Today all the running is for a purpose and when things don't jive with my purpose I simply don't do them. That's given me time to notice things like nice sunrises and the quietness of the tide easing in. It's given me time to notice how sweetly a song is when it comes together over days instead of slopping one together through my beer-goggles. Having that purpose in life is what Rodney's song is all about and I finally think I understand him.

I have a brief layover on my way to Las Vegas today in Dallas/Fort Worth. After just a few minutes in the airport I've decided that I should rent a car and skip my connecting flight to Las Vegas. Of course I can't really do that or I'd be letting some other people down for nothing more than selfish reasons.

It's been several years since I've been in Texas and I can say that as soon as my plane leaves this morning I'll miss it again. The food, music, and people are always fun in Texas. The sights and sounds are overwhelming and comforting at the same time. Hell, the views from the air even reminds you things really are bigger in Texas.

Regardless, I'll savor a few hours and be off again.

Yesterday I made a harrowing last-minute trek to the Suwannee Springfest to take in Rodney Crowell and the Outsiders, the Duhks, Bela Fleck and Guy Clark with my buddy JB. Randy and Beth Judy put together a great show and my new pals, the Fire Brigade, helped us with all the logistics and showed great hospitality during our trip. Despite the rain that had dampened nearly all the outdoor venues, the spirt was far from soggy as the festival was alive with some of the best music Florida will hear this year.

The highlight for me was catching up with my pal Will Kimbrough. Will is playing guitar for Rodney Crowell but managed to convert a few of his own fans during his unscheduled appearance during the songwriter's circle with Guy Clark, Verlon Thompson. Seated beside the venerable trio, Kimbrough managed to steal the show with crowd-pleasing versions of "Champion of the World" and "Yo Yo Ma." After each of his turns in the spotlight the legendary trio all commented on Will's knockout job. When Guy Clark laughs and says he wouldn't want to follow Will you know he's good.

After having a little dinner with the boys and catching up on the new developments in Will's busy career we took a little break to see the Duhks work the crowd into a frenzy between Bela Fleck and Rodney Crowell's mainstage blowout. As always, the Duhks exciting brand of genre-splitting had the fine folks dancing in the aisles, much to the dismay of security who were doing their best to keep the capacity crowd free of the fire escape lanes. Good intentions aside, security were not going to keep these people from dancing and the Duhks certainly had them kicking their heels.

Crowell took the mainstage to a rather whipped crowd. They were more than willing to get back up and dance a little more when Crowell put on the most exciting rock show of the night. Rodney gave his band, including Kimbrough, plenty of room to step out but in the end it was his relentless smile and songwriting accumen that made the folks shake their collective rear. By the time he got to a rousing version of Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone" the entire joint was rolling in the sunshine Crowell brought to what had otherwise been a rather rainy day.

I'm a techno-geek when it comes to my musical gadgets. Of course I have a host of electronics goodies to go with my guitars, lots of spare parts, plenty of software and hardware to complicate my life (all of which was purchased with the excuse of simplifying my life.)

At the center of my electronic musical universe is my iPod. On it I carry the absolute essentials of my musical collection--the Will Kimbrough and Kris Kristofferson albums are there but you'll nary find a Madonna tune. Without it my long hours driving, flying, and beating the streets would be torture.

Today I have the most simple addition to my little iPod universe--an iPod sock. It's a simple knitted sock that snuggly protects my little white friend--no fancy leather or sleek form-fitted plastic. It's a little nerdy and looks something like that nasty sweater my friends always say makes me look like Mr. Rogers. I don't care about any of the comments because it does such a good job keeping my iPod clean and scratch-free.

It came with 5 other socks and was $29 at the Apple Store. Of course you can always get one from the Apple Store online.

Roving Sharkbitten associate and guest reporter Keith Merckx graciously spent last week inbibing Austin's charm and music. Keith reports back that the hit of this year's festival was none other than our pal and favorite bad influence, Todd Snider.

Here's Keith's report:

---

(AUSTIN) - Nashville based singer/songwriter Todd Snider showed up Friday at the annual South By Southwest music conference and festival. To say he spent his time wisely might approach understatement.

Over the course of two days he played no fewer than six mini-gigs (some mini-er than others). If that weren't enough he also appeared on a panel of artists giving advice to up and comers.

KGSR
Not long after the sun came up Friday morning Snider and his ever present road manager "Dave" arrived at the posh Four Seasons Hotel. The gathering occured on the back lawn overlooking Town Lake during a live broadcast of KGSR RadioAustin's "Kevin and Kevin" morning show (with none other than Texas Music icon Lyle Lovett sitting in for the week as a co-host). As a crowd of around 150 early risers enjoyed gourmet omelets and coffee, Snider performed "The Ballad of the Kingsmen" and "Tillamook County Jail", both from his latest release "East Nashville Skyline".

Quickly following that was a live television interview with Austin's ABC television affiliate.

Snider graciously met with fans, posed for pictures and signed autographs after his performance then had a window of several hours before his next appearance. He said that a nap would be included in his plans for the immediate future. "I went to bed too late. I blame Robert Earl and I blame Lyle Lovett," Snider said, "Just irresponsible I think as older, uh, guys. They should've looked after me a little better"

Snider flew in from Nashville the day before and reportedly jumped on stage for a quick number Thursday night during the Robert Earl Keen performance at Antone's. Meanwhile "Dave", who had just driven 22 hours from his home in Detroit, was headed out on a search for a music store at which he would purchase guitar polish to restore the shine to a pair of Epiphone guitars.

ARTISTS PANEL
Some seven hours later Snider and his entourage ("Dave", wife Melita and publicist Vickie Lucero) made their way into the restricted, credentials only area of the Austin Convention Center for a panel discussion, "Artists Give Advice". Snider shared the stage with, among others, names that included 25-year industry veteran Robyn Hitchcock, genre jumping diva Nona Hendryx and guitar virtuoso Eric Johnson. Snider got the least mic time of anyone on the panel yet made the most of it. For every rambling and non-sensical piece of wisdom shared by veteran busker Mary Lou Lord, Snider offered consise and well-timed nuggets.

The panel was moderated by musician, artist advocate and one-time label owner Jenny Toomey.

"I find it very difficult for people to do humor well in music and to do politics well in music. That those are extraneous forces that undermine the quality of music. They'll think its a joke song or they'll think its just...a rant," said Toomey, "So I'm wondering, Todd, you know, your music, there's a lot of sadness in it but there's also a lot of humor in it. And I'm just wondering how you strike a balance so that your songs aren't considered to be silly."

"Yeah, I like to try not to say 'fart'," Snider said to much audience laughter, "That's my opinion of it. I have a line and everybody's line is different and I know I cross it for some people and for some people I don't. For myself, I've heard other people sing about how they went to the bathroom or they'll sing about boobs and that doesn't make me laugh very much.

"I don't even know if I know what I'm doing when I'm fucking with stuff like that. I just think, the people that I like did it. I've never had that thing in my heart that said 'that's wrong' or 'that's gonna be thought of as funny'. I just liked it to begin with."

Later, Toomey asked for Todd views on playing live versus sitting down with a guitar at home

"(Talk about) the intersection of the privacy of songwriting and then the publicness of having to be a persona... to perform."

"Yeah, okay. Sometimes I'm at my house working on songs," said Snider, "and sometimes I'm out singing them."

The retort won Snider an approving round of applause from the panel and audience.

"That's pretty good, I think," said Hitchcock, "He got it exactly. That just sums it up."

"I'd like to be in his mind," said a chuckling Nona Hendryx.

KLBJ
Shortly after the conclusion of the panel discussion Snider was due across the street at Austin's new downtown Hilton Hotel which also serves as the headquarters hotel for SxSW. Local rock station KLBJ was broadcasting remotely from the coffee shop in the hotel's lobby and Snider was to follow a radio interview with Harry Shearer (The Simpsons, This is Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind). Snider seemed honored to briefly shake hands with the man who was Derek Smalls and then was quickly seated for his own brief segment. He did a short interview, played a quick version of "Alright Guy" and as quickly as it started, it was over.

THREADGILL'S
It was just as well. He was expected shortly across Town Lake at the famous Threadgill's "Thrilla at the Dilla" where he was to tape a segment of the XM Satellite program, "The Armadillo Radio Hour".

His start time was bumped back a slot. He had been scheduled to begin the evening's festivities but instead took the stage after The Greencards. Around 7:45 Snider was welcomed by a mostly enthusiastic crowd. Unfortunately for many interested in listening to music, it was also apparenly social hour for those who weren't. Loud conversation easily drowned out the public address system at Threadgill's leaving many in the crowd yelling, "Turn it UP!" Snider gamely told the soundman to turn it up and that they would now start over for the people in the audience who had not been able to hear to that point.

A light-hearted moment occured during Snider's recitiation of "The Ballad of the Kingsmen." As he was reaching a key point in the explaination of the lyrics in "Louie, Louie", the approaching sirens of an Austin-Travis County EMS amublance made it increasingly difficult for the audience to hear the weak sound system and increasingly difficult for Snider to concentrate on the the matter at hand. So he kept strumming as he looked off to his right over the hedgerow watching the ambulance pass on Barton Springs Road. As the siren's faded Snider quipped, "That guy's work is a bit more important than ours, I think," to the loud approval of all present.

Those who could hear and were actually interested in the music as opposed to the beer and conversation appeared to very much enjoy the show. Cheers rose up when sometime Snider sideman and in-demand Nashville session player and producer Will Kimbrough jumped on stage halfway through the penultimate song. Kimbrough did what he does best, escalating the guitar activity tenfold and providing a rich backing voice to Snider's lead vocals.

It was Snider's third and by far longest set of the day. He had made a mark on SxSW already but had yet to even arrive at his official showcase.

MOMO'S
The dive located above the landmark Katz's Deli was fairly packed by the time Snider and Kimbrough (sporting a red Gretch Tennessee Rose he'd bought that day) took the stage around midnight. The pair meshed nicely on a set of both old and new Snider tunes in front of an attentive and enthusiastic crowd for a tight 40 minute set. As quickly as Snider had taken the stage he was gone leaving Kimbrough to mingle with the crowd and "Dave" to pack up the gear. "Dave" forgot his table fan, later chalking it up to, "the cost of the road".

That was it for what had been a long day.

WATERLOO
Austin's legendary music outlet Waterloo Records hosted a full slate of in-store performances for four straight days. 5 o'clock Saturday was Snider's turn at the mic. The crowd was packed elbows to assholes on both sides of the bifurcated record shop and the temperature was easily a full 20 degrees warmer than it was outside where an early spring rain had just fallen. The sun came out as Snider took the stage and the emcee remarked that only Todd Snider could arrange for a rainbow to appear outside when the time rolled around for him to take the stage.

A half-hour and 7 songs later the crowd was left cheering for more. After a few autographs Snider and the entourage again hit the road, bound for the University of Texas campus.

KUT
The taped session at UT's radio station would turn out to be the longest set Snider would play at SxSW. Perhaps somewhat ironically, it also had the smallest audience. The small entourage, the engineer, the host and a single reporter were the only souls present for Snider's taping of the program called "Live Set".

This particular edition was/will be hosted by Larry Monroe and will air on KUT in late June, around the time Snider is to return for a full show in Austin.

Snider ran through every song on "East Nashville Skyline" and he also shared a couple of new songs planned for an album Snider says he may being work on this summer.

With at least an hour's worth of music on tape and the session deemed a great success, Snider's SxSW run came to an end. At least as a performer.

He was now about to take the role of fan. Snider and his entourage were headed across town to check out a set by the legendary Willis Alan Ramsey.

---

THANKS KEITH!
You can see Keith's photos from his near lawless streak through Austin here.

Rather than lamenting this year's crop of inductees, I thought I would offer my own list of acts that should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but as of yet, are not. I won't mention those past inductees who in my opinion were not suitable for inclusion--that I shall leave to your own imagination.

1. Gram Parsons
   Gram may have been the reason acts like the Eagles even made it to the Rock Hall. His work, including that with the Byrds, has been hailed by today's rockers and country elite alike. His exclusion to this point is astounding.
2. John Mellencamp
   John may be too pop for the Hall's tastes, but his unrelenting country-rock act followed trends to that point untouched by mainstream music. His contemporaries such as Seger and Tom Petty clearly drew from his sense of storytelling.
3. Patti Smith
   Punk rock wouldn't be punk without Patti Smith. She is at least as worthy as some other inductees in sub-genres such as the abundance of R&B acts.
4. Grandmaster Flash
   We can fill the hall with R&B's secondary best but not honor the source of hip-hop's swagger? What's wrong with this?
5. Randy Newman
   Good lord have we missed the boat on this one. Newman may be the quintessential 70s songwriter. We've relegated him to cutesy Pixar soundtracks these days, but the man is the very definition of "influential" which the Hall so boldly claims as one of its criteria. Newman for President!

You may not agree but I can't imagine a Rock Hall without these guys let alone music without their contributions. Shouldn't that be the real criteria for inclusion?

Somewhere between the surreal memories of life in the 90s and that timeless country sound that now only exists on oldies stations and in my mind lies Peter Cooper. With a nod toward Don Williams and a foot firmly planted in the irony of our more recent musical past, Cooper writes music as if he were witness to things most of us ignore.

The five song EP, The Clown Juice EP, relies heavily on Cooper's ability to tell a story but couples nicely with analog production of simple arrangements. The album was recorded at Eric McConnell's studio in Nashville--the studio of choice for Loretta Lynn, Will Kimbrough, Adrienne Young, and Todd Snider. The songs are laced with a simple acoustic guitar and the legendary Lloyd Green's steel guitar and little more. The play between these two instruments, Eric Brace's harmony vocals and Cooper's easy-going singing leaves room for the album to focus on the stories.

It is Cooper's knack for packing a little novella into a three-minute song that will keep them coming back. All five tracks were written by Cooper with some help from Baker Maultsby on "Nirvana Was Better Than Pearl Jam" and "Thompson Street." "Gospel Song" kicks things off with a little rolling barroom fun that shows off Peter's lyrical mastery. "Andalusia" really kicks up Green's steel playing and keeps the travelling song between the lines. The aforementioned "Nirvana" will be a huge flashback for those of us who survived grunge. It mocks the folks that just weren't Nirvana and even squeezes in Peter's best Eddy Vedder impression. By the time you get to "What's the Use" it feels like you've been listening to Cooper your whole life. Laid back and expressive of a feeling we've all had, the song laments making an effort when perhaps an effort was a mistake. The last song on the EP however steals the show. "Thompson Street" cements Cooper as a real songsmith by painting the scene that most small town people have lived. Listening to the song I was back in Rosedale, Indiana--population 600 on a busy day. Despite these five short songs, the album succeeds at providing a full meal for the price of a snack due to Cooper's exacting pen.

The album is available now through the old-fashioned method of distribution--send Peter some cash! Peter says this is a "deliberately low-key" release--a special edition of sorts. Should you all send him lots of money and see every show he plays we might see a full album from him this year. If you'd like a copy drop $10 in the mail to:

Peter Cooper
1417 Fatherland Street
Nashville, TN 37206

For those of you care, that is indeed East Nashville so you know that Peter must be good.

The best things in life are free--except in radio. You get what you pay for with your local radio station unless you're fortunate enough to have one of Americana's best stations near you.

In this case, XM Radio has two good reasons to open your wallet. First, you can catch a Will Kimbrough broadcast Thursday, Friday or Saturday this week! Second, you can catch our pal Jack Ingram's show "Jack's Tracks" on the satellite station. If that's not enough to get you to make the switch I don't know what is.

With St. Patty's Day nearing I'm conditioning for the big sprint toward the finish line with a strict regimen of beer, cabbage, and brisket. Let's hope I get there. Until then, here's some random thoughts on the latest in Americana:

• I've gotten great feedback regarding the new Amy Loftus disc from radio. Word has it that after playing a track or two requests have started coming for more of Amy on our local Americana station.
• Yes, the Jayhawks are no more. One of my favorite bands and clearly the most influential Minneapolis export in this genre has called it quits. At least we had 20 good years to appreciate their talent. Something tells me most of us missed the majority of their run and wished we hadn't.
• Nanci Griffith has ascended to the top of the AMA charts these days on the strength of her new album, Hearts in Mind. Remember when I said Jimmy Buffett's support of Americana artists on his last album would be influential? Well he included Nanci and returned the favor by appearing on her album. Now she's on top too! Congrats to Nanci who really deserves this.
• Likewise, Magnolia Fest favorites The Duhks are doing well in the charts. These guys are also a favorite of their producer--Bela Fleck. They've got so much energy and style. I look forward to their appearance at the Suwanne Springfest in a few weeks.
• Hayes Carll is rocking the charts with his new release. I think he's got one of the best voices in the business. Something about it really suits his style.
• Shooter Jennings seems to be on his way these days too. Waylon's son certainly has some of the same legendary swagger his father possessed but more importantly, he's got a touch of his talent as well. Of course if you had dated starlettes like Drea de Matteo you'd probably be inspired too.
• My AMA award ballot is filling up. Todd Snider, Charlie Robison, Will Kimbrough, The Devil Makes Three and Amy Loftus have earned their nods. I know I say it every year, but this year just seems like the best we've had in this genre

Until next time!

I don't do this often, but I can't help but promote Wilco. I'm still a little bitter about Jeff Tweedy's turncoat attitude toward alt-country--but hell the guy's a genius with some eccentric habits. So I'll let him slide.

Anyway, the boys at Wilco have a new EP available only to those who purchased the obscenely bizarre A Ghost Is Born...and those of you reading this today.

Here's a link to download the album free: give me free stuff!

UPDATED: The fine folks at Wilco have closed the offer! Hope you got it!

Jeff--please understand that I love you and I hate you. Just play "Screen Door" once for me already!

It's been a crazy week in Americana. With so much news to spread, I've had to double up on the java this morning!

• Chely Wright is back with a new CD which I'm anxiously awaiting. The Metropolitan Hotel has landed at number 18 on the Billboard country charts. The folks at Dualtone must be pleased to see mainstream success!
• Will Hoge has a new disc out as well featuring live material from the Workplay Theater in Birmingham. There's no ham like Birmingham for Hoge whose During the Before and After can be ordered here
• I met the promoters of Magnolia Fest and Suwanne Springfest in Live Oak, Florida this weekend. They've got a superstar lineup for Springfest in a few weeks that includes Rodney Crowell, Guy Clark, Bela Fleck and the Duhks. Also, they're planning their first festival outside of Florida for Bill Monroe's farm in Bean Blossom, Indiana.
• Merle Haggard and Bob Dylan kick off their two-month tour today in Seattle. I don't know about the rest of you but I can't imagine a better tour unless you managed to convince Elvis Costello and Willie Nelson to join the show.
• FYI--anyone who wants to pull a prank on me should definitely include a bit about Tift Merritt. Some pals got me to bite on a story featuring one of my favorite artists--JB and Mike officially are dead to me. Fortunately for them, Florida gets another shot to see the Americana phenom in early April at Jacksonville Beach's Freebird Live. They can redeem themselves by scoring me a pair of free tickets.
• My pals at American Roots Publishing are releasing a tribute to Kris Kristofferson to honor the legend on his 70th birthday in June. I don't know who will be featured but I would imagine you can bet on John Prine making an appearance--or so I hope.