Lost Highway Records has released several behind-the-scenes Ryan Bingham videos in advance of Mescalito's release next week.

This is his first album on the Universal label that's also home to Ryan Adams, Lyle Lovett, and Lucinda Williams, among others (including Hayes Carll joining that list with his next album). Bingham had previously released Wishbone Saloon and Dead Horses independently.

If you aren't familiar with Bingham's music, now's the time to get get started. He is bound for big things.

Thanks to Austin Collins for tipping me off to Bingham some months back.

Next Tuesday, October 2, will mark the 2nd annual HAAM Benefit Day. The Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM) is a non-profit whose mission is "to provide access to affordable health care for Austin's low income, uninsured musicians, focusing on prevention and wellness." More than 900 artists currently receive health, dental, mental health, and addiction treatment services through the program.

More than 150 businesses around Austin will support the cause by donating 5% of their day's proceeds or providing a flat cash donation. Many artists also will perform special sets around town, beginning with Brennen Leigh at 6 am in the downtown Whole Foods cafe and ending with Chris Gates' midnight show at the Saxon Pub.

Even if you can't make it out to one of the live sets or participating businesses, you can still help by pledging your donation to a special telethon set to air on METV. With a donation of $25 or more you could even win special prizes like VIP passes to the Big State Festival, free admission to Antone's for a year, or SXSW Music badges.

Be sure to check the HAAM site for the latest updates on artist appearances and participating businesses.

Joe Gross has a nice profile of Iron & Wine's Sam Beam in today's Austin American-Statesman.

From his long hair and beard, whispered voice, gorgeous melodies and slightly Southern-gothic vibe, Beam has cultivated (consciously or not) a bit of a low-key mythos about him. I've never had more people say to me, "Oh, what's he like?" after they found out I interviewed an artist.
 
What's he like? Probably a lot like you, frankly. A little like millions of other children of the suburban South.
 
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Beam and family moved from Miami to Dripping Springs two years ago. He released his third studio album, The Shepherd's Dog, on indie label Sub Pop this week.

Gross also reviews the new album, colorfully describing it as sounding "like Swedish reggae, equal parts folk-rock and spacey dub" and later as "Buñuel via the Band."

Lucky Tomblin and friends are back with another set of classic honky-tonk swing numbers (and a couple new originals that just might become classics themselves someday). Red Hot from Blue Rock again pays homage to the golden age of honky-tonk — the 1940s to 1960s — with songs from the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Hank Williams, Mel Tillis, and Moon Mullican. Tomblin may lend the band his name, but there's no ego involved in this project. Instead, he has shaped it as a true collective of local session players and honky-tonk heroes. The combo really cooks with John X Reed taking the lead on "Party Doll" and Earl Poole Ball fronting "Play One More Song." And there are excellent results both times Sarah Brown takes over vocal duties ("Don't Forget to Dip the Girl," "Good Lookin' No Good"). In many ways, Red Hot from Blue Rock sounds like a continuation of last year's In a Honky-Tonk Mood. But with such assured performers that isn't a bad thing. After all, if it ain't broke, there's no need to fix it.

(3 out of 5)

Listen: "Don't Forget to Dip the Girl," "Party Doll," "Play One More Song," "Red Hot"

Buy: Red Hot From Blue Rock (CD + DVD)

The Bryan-College Station Eagle reports that Big State Festival organizers haven't received county approval for the 2-day event. The public is invited to a hearing this Friday to share its thoughts on the planned festivities, which are now less than 3 weeks away.

County Judge Randy Sims said Friday that he is unlikely to reject the permit for Austin production company C3 Presents to host the festival, "unless there is something really bad" that comes up.
 
"But I want to give the people, if they are against it, an opportunity to talk," he said.
 
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I don't know how permit timelines usually work, and I'm sure the Big State Festival will get near rubber-stamp approval. But with 35,000 tickets already sold to people eager to see the likes of Tim McGraw, Dierks Bentley, Lyle Lovett, and Willie Nelson, it sure seems risky to forego formal approval until the last minute.

Good thing for C3 Presents that the festival is in Brazos County and not its more environmentally contentious home of Travis County.

Tomorrow night Doug Moreland is hosting a party at his Cattlelacs workshop/gallery in Manchaca, just south of Austin.

The 5th annual calf fry will feature music from Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses, Cody Shaw & the Rhythm Boys, and of course the Doug Moreland Show.

This year we're planning a grand event!!! The grand re-opening of Cattlelacs Chainsaw Art Gallery, a calf-fry cook-off with 5 teams and celebrity judges, calf fries and fixins while they last, BEvERages, horseshoes and washers, and good music!
 
Bring your own lawn chairs.

Tickets are $8 in advance or $10 at the door. The fun runs from 5-11 pm, with the music beginning at 7.

It's an all-ages event (kids 8 & under are free). I'll be there with my family. So come on out and join us in celebrating the last day of summer. After all, how often can you say you had a ball and really mean it?

New from the shameless Texploitation department: Lone Star Beer is running a contest to select a "National Anthem of Texas" (unofficial, of course).

50 songs are up for the vote (though I only count 49 in the list below). You can listen to samples from each and then pick your favorite. Each voter gets a free download from Lone Star Tunes, plus a chance to win one of more than 250 prize packages.

Here are the nominees:

• Boogie Back to Texas - Asleep at the Wheel
• Miles and Miles of Texas - Asleep at the Wheel
• Colors Are All the Same - Bill Pekar
• San Antonio Rose - Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys
• I've Been Everywhere (In Texas) - Brian Burns
• Llano Estacado - Cooder Graw
• Texas Time Travelin' - Cory Morrow
• That's What I Like About Texas - Dale Watson
• Way Down Texas Way - Dale Watson
• Lone Star Blues - Delbert McClinton
• Rolling Stone from Texas - Don Walser
• Beautiful Texas Sunshine - Doug Sahm
• Texas Me - Doug Sahm
• Yellow Rose of Texas - Ernest Tubb
• Waltz Across Texas - Ernest Tubb
• Ay Te Dejo En San Antonio - Flaco Jimenez
• London Homesick Blues - Gary P. Nunn
• What I Like About Texas - Gary P. Nunn
• I'm a Texan - Gary Stewart
• Deep In the Heart of Texas - Gene Autry
• Texas Cookin' - Guy Clark
• Down In Texas - Jerry Jeff Walker
• Dallas - Joe Ely
• Texas to You - Johnny Cooper
• 100% Texan - Kevin Fowler
• West Texas Heaven - Kimmie Rhodes
• God Blessed Texas - Little Texas
• That's Right (You're Not from Texas) - Lyle Lovett
• I-35 - Max Stalling
• Beautiful Texas - Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies
• Lone Star State of Mind - Nanci Griffith
• Songs About Texas - Pat Green
• Texas on My Mind - Pat Green
• Texas in 1880 - Radney Foster
• Screw You, We're from Texas - Ray Wylie Hubbard
• Amarillo Highway - Robert Earl Keen
• Texas Morning - Rusty Wier
• Come on Down to Texas - Steve Fromholz
• Texas Flood - Stevie Ray Vaughan
• Texas Moon - Stoney LaRue
• Texas (When I Die) - Tanya Tucker
• Gone to Texas - Terry Allen
• Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas) - The Outlaws
• Good Texan - Vaughan Brothers
• Luckenbach, Texas - Waylon Jennings
• Texas in My Soul - Willie Nelson
• Texas on a Saturday Night - Willie Nelson
• Northeast Texas Women - Willis Alan Ramsey
• La Grange - ZZ Top

The contest runs through September 30. The winning song will get bragging rights only. We already have an official state song: "Texas, Our Texas."

Steve Earle, who plays ACL Fest tomorrow, has taped 3 performances for its TV counterpart: in 1987 and 2001, and as part of a Townes Van Zandt tribute in 1998 (portions of which were also included in a 2000 anthology show).

Despite having appeared as often as contemporaries John Anderson, John Hiatt, and Lucinda Williams, Earle believes the TV braintrust hasn't given him due respect, according to outtakes from an Andy Langer interview for the Austin Chronicle:

"I always had sort of a love-hate relationship with the show," Earle contends. "I don't understand why I haven't done it more other than [ACL producer] Terry Lickona doesn't think I'm all that important. Ray Benson, Lickona, and I had our pictures taken at some event a few years ago, and I mouthed off at him the whole time. I smiled for the cameras while giving him hell. And I don't piss and moan about that stuff too much, but it's important to me."

Lickona responds that he respects Earle as a musician and free-speaking artist, and that he's not the only one who'd like to be on the show more often: "Welcome to the club." You can read the full details in this week's Off the Record.

The published interview contains some good nuggets too, including Earle's take on modern-day Austin:

It's so different now that I have to go east of I-35 to find anything that looks like Austin to me. And when a town you love starts to feel like a city that's just about money, real estate, and shelling out for a latte, it's a little heartbreaking.
 
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Earle's new album, Washington Square Serenade, is set for release September 25.

Grant Alden of No Depression has started an interesting dialogue on Texas music. And he captures some of what I've come to feel.

I started this site 3-1/2 years ago with the goal of bringing attention to deserving musicians with Texas ties. I hoped to cover Americana, country, rock, pop, jazz, etc. Name any genre, and one can easily identify some great artists who just happen to have Texas roots.

So I started out with this catholic mindset, but most of the artists I encountered and music I received came from this narrow "Texas music" genre I'd set out to expand. And I wrote about much of it, finding something to praise and enjoy about the music. Generally speaking, if I didn't like it, I didn't write about it.

Though I'd compromised my vision, I was still content. I've always done the site for fun, not money (there's none there). And I still enjoyed everything about it.

But last year, things started to change.

Around SXSW I gave in and provided a publicist with a blurb for an artist whose forthcoming debut I couldn't stand. I thought I could live with my decision if I worded the blurb with just enough snark for the careful reader to discern the praise was faint at best. Sure enough, the artist's press kit included the blurb unedited.

But why did I do it? Publicists may act like my friend, but they're not. It's how they conduct business. And though this particular publicist made repeated requests, there was really nothing on the line either way. She wanted a favor, and I felt bad saying "No, I don't like his music." There was nothing to gain, and nothing to lose — except for my own self-respect. I should have said no.

A few weeks later, I interviewed one of the scene's most prominent artists for another in a continuing series of profiles. But it was immediately apparent this person wanted nothing to do with me and was on the phone solely to fulfill his own publicist's request. His apathy was apparent throughout the call, and the interview proved frustrating and fruitless. I never wrote the profile, and I haven't set up another interview since.

Just hearing his voice on the radio reminds me of how the interview made me realize that my opinion doesn't really matter. After all, who am I to be dispensing advice on what music to buy? I may listen to lots of music, and I may specialize in certain genres, but in the grand scheme of things who really cares what I have to say?

Then a few weeks after that, I let the mini existential crisis loosen my editorial standards. Just before leaving on vacation, I posted a strongly negative review about a band releasing its debut CD. I was proud of myself, thinking that now I was slightly less emotionally invested I'd find it easier to be as ruthless as so many popular music bloggers. A few days into the roadtrip, I got a voicemail from that band's lead singer. He wasn't disputing the opinions expressed in the review, but he just wanted to know why I would post something like that after exchanging so many friendly emails in the preceding weeks and never hinting that I wasn't happy with the music.

I'd made a huge mistake. I tried to like the music, listening to it again and again to see if it improved with age. The polite thing would have been to just file it away with all the other CDs, and if he asked to then be honest with why there was no review. Instead, I'd posted invective that seemed to genuinely hurt his feelings. And it was completely unnecessary. I re-worked the review after arriving back home, softening the opinions without changing the overall assessment. The bandleader thanked me for the changes and still emails occasionally. He sent their follow-up CD earlier this year. I liked this one much better, but I never produced a review.

That's three blows in around three months' time. And things haven't been the same since. I haven't written reviews at anywhere near the previous pace. No new artist profiles. Just occasional posts here and the odd writeup when something catches my fancy.

Where to from here? I don't know. Occasionally I get re-inspired and think about what could be if I continue on with something approaching my former zeal. But even more often, I hear some variation on "Who cares what you think?" when I try to write a new review. And besides, I just haven't heard much that excites me. I fell too far into a genre rut, and way too much of what I hear strikes me as utterly unoriginal.

Professionals find ways to power through the burnout, and I can do that in my work life. But this is supposed to be fun for me.

I'm not ready to give up yet. Maybe I just need to refocus, or maybe some killer new release will totally re-energize me. I just don't know.

Just because you can't make it to ACL Fest doesn't mean you have to miss out on all the great music. AT&T blue room will again be streaming live audio and video plus exclusive interviews, archival performances, and more.

You can also register to win ACL Fest prizes:

AT&T wants to hook you up with 20 chances to win an ACL prize pack that includes the latest CDs from Bob Dylan, Bjork, The White Stripes, The Killers, Wilco, Muse, Artic Monkeys and a few band posters thrown in! Plus you'll also get an official Austin City Limits festival t-shirt, hat, and tote bag.

I've been to ACL Fest 3 years running, but the streak ends this year. I'll be checking the blue room with hopes of catching Steve Earle, Wilco, and other personal favorites.

The weekend's lineup will be posted inside the ACL blue room on Friday.

A couple months ago we found out that pop star and Abilene native Jessica Simpson may record a country album.

This week, when asked by People Magazine if his daughter will be accepted by country music fans, dad/manager Joe Simpson responded, "She's from Texas. How could she not?"

If only it were that easy. Musical talent aside, I'm sure "cowgirl" Jessica will sell scads of albums on reputation alone. But acceptance is another matter entirely.