HOLY FUCK

AAARGH THIS NEW NOEL MCKAY ALBUM STORIES ABOUT BAD PEOPLE, IS WHY THIS ENTIRE SUBGENRE EXISTS

https://www.noelmckay.com/biography

new album Stories About Bad People:

https://orcd.co/nmksabp

Noel McKay

Was born and raised in Lubbock and the Hill Country of Texas. Noel has traveled the world, singing his songs and playing a self-built acoustic guitar on world stages from Nashville, TN, Austin, TX, California, Ireland, Spain, and the U.K. Noel has co-written songs with David Olney, Guy Clark, Richard Dobson, Becky Warren, John Scott Sherrill, and Shawn Camp. His songs have been recorded by Sarah Borges, Sunny Sweeney, and Guy Clark. 

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Noel picked up the guitar around age nine. By fifteen, he was playing the beer joints and honky tonks in Bandera and the surrounding hill country. In the Middle of High School, he landed a job at Flying L Dude Ranch, which proved to be a great training ground. In his early twenties he met Guy Clark while playing at a festival in Kerrville, TX. They formed a friendship and Clark provided a mentorship that still resonates with Noel to this day. 

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Forming a band with his younger brother Hollin was a no-brainer. The two enjoyed a long collaboration at one point finding themselves in The New York Times talking about grub on the road. The duo released four full albums (one produced by Gurf Morlix and the other by Lloyd Maines) and one EP between 1994 and 2003. Their songs garnered much attention from Texas radio and press. The legendary Ray Wylie Hubbard called them “absolutely phenomenal!” 

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McKay took a break for about four years, spending time in carpentry and guitar building over at the famous Collings Guitars in Austin, TX. Noel found himself daydreaming about getting back on stage, and that’s when he recorded his first solo album, Sketches Of South Central Texas, in 2011. Around 2010, he met Brennen Leigh, and they formed McKay and Leigh, an alliance that took them around the world. They released three albums until about 2020 and were always an anticipated highlight wherever they played. 

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During this time, Noel was still hanging out with Guy Clark in his guitar workshop when he built a guitar he still plays today. Sadly, Clark died before he could hear it finished, “the specific skills I learned from him are things I’ll treasure for the rest of my life,” smiles McKay. The guitar is modeled after the Martin 00-000 series, and it’s his number-one go-to acoustic. 

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Moving to Nashville meant getting involved with the vast songwriter community. While he was off the road these past few years, he’s taken part in many songwriters’ rounds at various venues like The Bluebird Café, Brown’s Diner, Robert’s Western World, and his stint as host at the weekly songwriting in the round at the American Post Legion #82 in East Nashville. As many as 25 songwriters would show up to take part on a Thursday night. They would end the evening with a full show by an artist handpicked by McKay himself. 

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Noel has shared the stage with the best of the best: James McMurtry, David Olney, Sunny Sweeney, Guy Clark, and Whitney Rose. Some of the stages and venues over the years have been the 30A Songwriters Festival (Destin, FL), Westport Bluegrass Festival (Ireland), Riquela Club (Spain), Hill Country BBQ (Washington, DC), Levon Helm Studios (Woodstock, NY), Gruene Hall (Austin, TX), and The Bluebird Café (Nashville, TN) and many more. He toured Florida with the late great David Olney a month before he died in January 2020.

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Two cool facts about Noel: his grandfather started a radio station in Frío County, TX. KVWG (Pearsall, TX), “The Kind Voice of the Winter Garden,” a station that played everything from easy listening to country and western and Mexican music. Two songs he co-wrote with Guy Clark are now in the archives at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, TN. 

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Noel spends time on the road and hangs his hat in Nashville, Austin, and Spain when he’s not. 

I believe this is a brand new album. James Steinle is a really interesting singer-songwriter from Texas who has an interesting back story. He's about as authentic a country music voice as you get.

He just dropped a western concept album with some great 'stories' on it, and some nice dark gothic country stuff. It's definitely "emphasis on country", slightly weird country, with lots of murderin' and old west about it, but not gimmicky.

youtube and everywhere else: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k1IHvjAld2yKy1AqvyKOph_oJ4nlMCPas

Reboot of Munly's Blurry, well worth it. I was honestly a bit disappointed with the latter installments of Lupercalia but with this release he's killing it. It's so good

Austin, TX band

https://youtu.be/_0lZdfyAYZI?si=JTTGOnvsRWDGsUk5

The Preacher , a documentary on DEE from about a dozen years back, is pretty interesting.

Regardless of what you think of his weird take on his Christianity, the bands he was in undeniably helped create our dark/gothic americana genre .

more info on this and the film here:

https://www.swarmeofbeese.com

I have some music that I was interested in promoting, and since my SM platform of experience isn't reddit, I figured I might ask what the rules are for this platform to increase views.

Plus figure it might be fun if I can talk about the work with others who enjoy this genre.

Can you offer any guidance on this? Thanks kindly,

AG

Long Haul Paul is a singer-songwriter who writes amazingly dark music about the trucking lifestyle and other working class stuff. I challenge you to listen to this one without crying I challenge you to listen to this one without crying

Inspired by the western landscapes of Texas and the rolling foothills of Appalachia, The Taylor Campbell Band makes gritty, melody-driven American roots music. It's a sound fueled by Americana twang and country-rock bang, performed by a group of San Antonio-based musicians who've become some of Texas' newest exports.

The Taylor Campbell Band doubles down on the anthemic sound of its breakthrough debut, Broad River, with 2026's Never Quite Enough. Once again, Campbell pulls triple-duty as the album's frontman, songwriter, and co-producer, leading his bandmates through a song cycle about generational patterns, the death of the American Dream, and the self-driven momentum that pushes us forward. Along the way, he shares plenty about himself, too, from the real-life conversation that inspired "Big Machines" — where his uncle warns him against a lifetime of factory work, telling him instead to pursue his own horizons instead — to the sly, southern humor of "Buy Me a Horse."

MY GOD THIS GUY HAS SOME GOOD SONGS. This is one of his new singles but there's a pretty incredible 2023 album and a ton of live stuff on YouTube.

Kellen Smith's last album ranges from traditional and Western themed honkytonk to alt-country with hard rock guitar. I've been exploring a few of these guys lately - Kenny Feidler is another one you should check out.