Texas Music Revolution VI

KHYI 95.3 The Range Radio hosted its 6th Annual Texas Music Revolution on Sunday, March 17th. This event has been touted as "bigger and better" every year. Maybe so. This year it was definitely bigger, but not necessarily better, in this writer's opinion.

This was the first year that the revolution was held at the Plano Centre instead of Southfork Ranch. Both venues have their pros and cons, but I'll get to that later.

First, let me say, that the line-up KHYI put together was stellar, as usual. Starting from the opening acts of the Domino Kings to the final act featured as "The Super Show" with Mark David Manders and Max Stalling, the artists that KHYI put together for this festival was as good as any I've seen.

The problem is that the shows overlap and having to move from one room to the other every 15-20 minutes and fight a crowd to do it gets rather old quickly. It might be worth it if you could see the whole show, but with the shows overlapping, you're bound to miss a few.

With acts like The Domino Kings, The Hangdogs, Kevin Deal, Davin James, Jim Lauderdale, Ed Burleson, Austin Cunningham, Larry Joe Taylor and Chris Wall on the Hippie-Tonk Stage and Don Edwards, Slaid Cleaves, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Trent Summar, Bruce Robison, Jack Ingram, Gary Stewart and Mark David Manders/Max Stalling on the big stage, it's hard to make a choice of where to be when. These shows didn't use to overlap, but the past couple of years, it has been a problem.

Every act I saw did a fantastic show, but I wasn't there for all of it. I did see The Domino Kings, Eleven Hundred Springs, The Hangdogs, Kevin Deal, Davin James, Trent Summar, Bruce Robison, Jack Ingram and Ed Burleson. Of those acts, I would have to say that Davin James and Ed Burleson's shows got the most crowd reaction. Davin with his rendition of "Red House" almost brought that big brick house down. Ed and his band ALWAYS play to a big crowd at TMR and this year was no exception. His fans were really hyped since Ed had ridden and won the bareback riding at a rodeo the night before.

Of course, Jack Ingram, Bruce Robison, and Ray Wylie all had a big crowd at the front of the stage in the big room. It seemed that most of the younger crowd stayed there for most of the day, and some of the older crowd hung out at the Hippie-Tonk Stage for the most part. The thing was that there was music for every generation to enjoy. I didn't see many children there this year like in years past though. Although I'd have to say, it's not really the atmosphere for children like it used to be either.

The disappointment of the day was the "no show" of Heather Myles. I have never seen Heather live, but I have all of her CDs. I was really looking forward to her show. I was pretty bummed out, but this was the only "no-show" of the day so I guess KHYI got lucky.

Now, more about the venue…Plano Centre. It could work, but it needs some tweaking. First of all, the room where the Hippie-Tonk Stage was located is way too small, the big room is too big (and too dark), and it doesn't feel like Southfork did. It has outgrown Southfork, but I'm not sure Plano Centre is better. There should definitely be more choices of beer besides "Bud" and "Bud Light". I know they sponsored the event, but can't we have some sort of choice besides Bud?

Restroom facilities were much better at Plano Centre, basically because there are more of them there than at Southfork. The food choices could have been better, too, and the prices a little more reasonable. The hallway where the vendors were set up was convenient for patrons and it was nice having the outdoor area to eat, drink, smoke and visit with friends. I just don't think most people felt as comfortable at Plano Centre as they did at Southfork, but it didn't have anything to do with the quality of the music.

All in all, with 10 members of MissLana.com's web team there as well as many other friends and family, it was a fun day of music and fellowship. Most of our crew left before the festival was over, but most got to hear who they came to hear (except me)...but it was still a great day!

So here are some of my observations of TMR 6 as seen in the eyes of Miss Lana:

Best Received Act of the Day: A tie between Davin James and Ed Burleson

Disappointment of the Day: No Heather Myles

Surprise of the Day: Austin Cunningham (I've never seen him live and he was impressive)

Best New T-Shirt: Texas Music Revue's "You either get it or you don't!", with Brett's "I Hate Brett Dillon" and "No Monkies" logo coming in a close second.

Beer of the Day: Budweiser (no other choice)

Line-Up: One of the best ever for TMR

Miss Lana