One of the highlights of Willie Nelson’s Luck Reunion was witnessing the manic genius of The Texas Gentlemen. The Lone Star quintet of Beau Bedford, Nik Lee, Daniel Creamer, Matt McDonald, and Ryan Ake played a fantastic set then went on to prove even greater dexterity by backing Ray Wylie Hubbard, Ray Benson and Billy Joe Shaver during the Texas Review portion of the show.
Now the TG are set to share thier gloriousness with the world.
The Texas Gentlemen have signed to New West Records and are set to share thier gloriousness with the world by releasing their debut album ‘TX Jelly’ on September 15th, 2017.
The 11-song set was cut live in four days at the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL. This was paired down from 28 songs recorded in the 96-hour time span spent at FAME and moves between contemplative and raucous, encompassing the full breadth of the American music experience. The album was produced by band leader and organist Beau Bedford.
The 96-hour time span spent at FAME and moves between contemplative and raucous, encompassing the full breadth of the American music experience. Touching on blues, soul, folk, country, rock, and gospel, TX Jelly is real, raw, and righteous.
From the presser ‘The low-slung piece of vintage country-funk slams out of the speakers and announces The Texas Gentleman as a force to be reckoned with. Paste stated, “If its first track is any indication, Bedford and company’s TX Jelly is going to spread far beyond the boundaries of Texas itself. These Gentlemen are the real McCoy.†This September, The Texas Gentlemen will appear at Americanafest, Pilgrimage Music Festival along with Justin Timberlake, Eddie Vedder, Ryan Adams and more, and have also been tapped to support Eric Church’s Texas dates (see all dates below).
They take their cues from some of the most iconic acts of the past — the quicksilver brilliance of The Wrecking Crew, The Muscle Shoals Swampers (who backed everyone from Aretha to Wilson Pickett), Booker T. and The M.G.’s, and Bob Dylan’s one-time backers The Band are the most obvious examples. Bedford originally assembled The Texas Gentlemen as an all-purpose backing band for an eclectic array of singer-songwriters including Leon Bridges and Nikki Lane, among others. Last year, the Gentlemen were lured out of the studio to the Newport Folk Festival, where they were joined by iconic troubadour Kris Kristofferson, making his first Newport appearance in more than 45 years. Rolling Stone Magazine called it one of the festival’s “most exciting sets†and Kristofferson so enjoyed collaborating with the band that he enlisted them to reprise their roles in a series of critically acclaimed Texas concerts. Of Kristofferson and The Texas Gentlemen’s appearance at Bass Performance Hall, The Fort Worth Star Telegram stated “The piano, organ, guitar, drums and saxophone would slowly coalesce around Kristofferson’s gnarled but still potent voice, creating an electric sensation of the past fusing with the present. Time and again, the room would seem to bloom – a feeling of dawn breaking, just barely visible but discernible, behind some of the best songs ever written.â€
TX Jelly will be available digitally, on compact disc and vinyl LP, and is available for pre-order now via PledgeMusic.
See the video for the album opener “Habbie Doobie†depicting the band jamming in their Modern Electric Sound Recorders studio in their hometown of Dallas, TX.
TX Jelly Track Listing:
1. Habbie Doobie
2. Pain
3. Bondurant Women
4. Dream Along
5. Gone
6. My Way
7. Superstition
8. TX Jelly
9. Pretty Flowers
10. Shakin All Over
11. Trading Paint
The Texas Gentlemen On Tour:
September 7 – Austin, TX @ Austin360 Amphitheater*
September 8 – Woodlands, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion*
September 12-17 – Nashville, TN @ Americanafest
September 23 & 24 – Franklin, TN @ Pilgrimage Music Festival
*appearing with Eric Church