>Never heard of Hayes Carll, I don't think. Will check.

He's an interesting dude - a bit heavy on the twang, sings a bit off-key, really lyrical but in the tradition of the sort of rough-and-tough singer/songwriter... throw in a real good dose of Dylan-itis, too. I've only heard his last two albums ("KMAG YOYO (and other American Stories)" and "Trouble In Mind"), but both are pretty great.

>I believe I talked you into going to see Ben Solee, right?
>He's the cream of the crop as far as I'm concerned.

Yeah, he's great. I've seen him twice now, both times were excellent (the first was a bit better I'd say - on the second outing it was just him and a drummer, which I didn't think worked *quite* as well but was still exceptional). I'm eager to see where his career takes him over the next few years - I saw Inclusions mentioned in a lot of year-end overviews for 2011, so he's getting some attention for sure...

>My wife really likes this guy named Adam Arcuragi...
>http://vimeo.com/12933069 - we have two of his albums and I
>like both fairly well, but not as much as she does.

I don't think I've heard of him - I'll definitely check.

>& we got out to see Ray LaMontagne last summer, and although
>he tends to get left out of conversations like this, he was
>awesome.

I still haven't seen him. His last few efforts haven't done too much for me - I think it's something about his voice, which I *used* to really like but now sounds a lot more... sappy? *shrug* I've heard he's pretty good live, though.

I'm pretty sure we've talked about him, but make sure you spend some time w/Sam Amidon if you haven't already, and definitely catch him live if you ever get the chance. & Damien Jurado's still on my list for active folks in that vein... he's got a new album dropping in a week, too.

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~