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One-minute video for the Ultimate Thumb Pick

Year ELEVEN saw Crossroads Music Company develop a thumb pick, to compliment its patented finger pick design! [patent pending].  The thumb pick features a cot material with more elasticity than the material used as the over-mold on the Ultimate FingerPicks.  It also features a ‘pick-pocket’ that allows the end-user to insert flat pick of choice and alter the angle of attack to the strings.  We tried a Kickstarter campaign, to raise the money needed for the final mold for mass production, but we were not successful.  We made quite a few prototypes that we’re happy with, and they are now for sale in the Crossroads online store, helping us raise the funds needed for further development.  We also plan “small” and “X-large” sizes fore the finger picks. Check out the short video we used for the thumb pick prototype:

Crossroads Music Company – Year #10 Re-cap:

In its TENTH year, Crossroads shifted the focus of its existence from concerts to developing the Ultimate Finger Pick invention.  With Gus getting hired back in Winnsboro, and departing from his duties in Sulphur Springs, it was logical to continue supporting what the Winnsboro Center for the Arts [WCA] had going on the Bowery Stage [formerly the Crossroads Music Company & Listening Room Stage].

As of October 1, 2015, Gus’ full time responsibility as Winnsboro’s Main Street Manager also included overseeing all the wonderful things happening in the Cultural Arts District, which is the same overlay downtown, and boasts the WCA as its ANCHOR for everything happening in the Cultural Arts District!  The Winnsboro Center for the Arts, with Jim Willis handling all the bookings for the Bowery Stage, is selling out performances right and left, and just hosted Judy Collins [Sweet (Suite) Judy Blue Eyes] on June 14th in little ol’ Winnsboro, Texas.  That’s right, you heard right!  Stay tuned for the next chapter as it unfolds, and help us keep live music ALIVE here in East Texas!

 

Crossroads Music Company’s 10th Anniversary Special Performance: 

Jonathan Byrd Band: Thursday, November 12, 2015

This marked the final show for 2015, and the last Crossroads Show inside the beautifully restored Sulphur Springs City Hall building [originally a U.S. Post Office].

Jonathan put an exclamation point on Crossroads’ ten year run, with fantastic talents ranging from Ralph Stanley, to Ray Wylie Hubbard, Billy Joe Shaver, Slaid Cleaves, and even Kinky Friedman!  The list is long, so we won’t attempt to name everyone, but suffice it to say that the talent ranged from young up-and-coming artists to Texas legends on the Crossroads Music Company & Listening Room stage, which was actually THREE different stages over the 10 year span, in two different cities!  There were even some special outdoor Wildernest concerts out in the Piney Woods just north of Quitman.

Stay tuned to see what lies ahead!

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Matt “Songbird” Jones: October 10, 2015 was a GREAT SHOW!

2013 ended on a high note for Songbird Jones with the release of the Christmas single titled “I’m Leaving Santa Lonestar”. It garnered a significant amount of airplay and a sponsorship from Lone Star Beer. 2013 also marked the album release of “Songbird Jones” to follow up the 2012 EP titled “My Lonely Guitar”. 3 releases in 2 years, including a  Christmas single and several songs off of the album “Songbird Jones” receiving radio airplay, has kept Songbird Jones very busy and looking to a bright 2014.

But it is the art of crafting a song from scratch and then singing that same song to an audience that is the beautiful challenge keeping Songbird Jones inspired. The communication that happens from pen to hand to paper and then from guitar strings to singing to listening ears is a place where he has found a home.

A new album–with new grooves and new lyrics–is coming soon. “Black Sky Day”, a song that will be on the upcoming album has already landed a spot in a feature film entitled Joey.

Adam & Chris Carroll; July 25, 2015

A Texas Songwriter born and raised, Adam Carroll takes the events of ordinary lives and turns them into deeply moving, often humorous songs.

Red Bandana Blues

With seven Indie CDs supporting regular tours across the USA, Canada and Europe as “one of the hippest songwriters on the Texas music landscape”, this engaging Americana guitar-picker has earned further critical acclaim with song placements in the Grammy nominated film, Country Strong and others.

The show that never happened:

• May 30th: Beppe Gambetta, w/Brad Davis: Note:  This show will be on the Celebration Stage-Downtown Square, in Sulphur Springs, during the Celebration Market.  That makes it FREE to the public!  Beppe & Brad will do one set at the start of the evening, about 6 PM; The Crossfire Legendary Country Band will continue for the balance of the evening, and it’s quite possible Brad Davis will join in with that awesome group, too!

BEPPE GAMBETTA

It is the smile that is the key for reading the musical universe of Beppe Gambetta. An open and disarming smile that is also the contagious and unresistable smile of a person who invites you to a musical journey with light heart and curiosity. The destination, as for any traveller, is not totally defined because it is beautiful, at the very last, to find ourselves where we never would expected to be.

With the horizon’s line as a challenge and attraction, Beppe is continually composing his personal mosaic of sounds and flavours. From his unique background as an Italian musician in love with both American roots music as well as the music of his native country, Beppe has travelled the world and even crossed the “Iron Curtain” to dazzle and charm music enthusiasts everywhere.

Grammy Award Winner BRAD DAVIS

Brad Davis is known for his original amazing Double-Down-Up guitar technique.  Brad Davis has worked with the likes of Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Earl Scruggs, David Lee Roth, Emmy Lou Harris, Pam Tillis, Marty Stuart, Dwight Yokam, Tommy Shaw, Travis Tritt, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Steve Earl, Billy Bob Thornton, just to name a few. Brad has also appeared on Leno, Conan, The View, Good Morning America, Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel.

 

 

 

 

 

Crossroads Music Company, short promo teaser:

Welcome to Crossroads Music Company & Listening Room!  We appreciate your support!  2014 marked our ninth year of existence, and we even changed cities during that time–from Winnsboro to Sulphur Springs.  Fall – 2015 will be TEN years!  We continue to evolve, as we keep live music aLIVE here in East Texas!  Look around, check out all the great entertainers we’ve had on our stage over the past nine years, and sign up to receive the occasional email that lets you know who will grace our stage next!

We also invented a new finger pick for stringed instruments, and were awarded an official U.S. patent.  We’re very pleased with the way this product is developing. The first generation, “one-size-fits-most” medium, is getting global attention, and we hope to have the next larger size available around April of 2015.  The Ultimate FingerPick.

Our online store allows you to purchase concert tickets, CDs, and other great merchandise!  You can purchase tickets for upcoming events in our new online store.  Click here to purchase tickets now.

NEXT UP FOR 2015 CONCERT SERIES:

• Jan. 31st: The Bowden/Early Experience
• Feb. 28th: Buddy Flett, w/Love & Grace [Snow & Ice caused a TBD re-scheduling]
• Mar. 14th: 2-Bit Palomino
• April 18h: Terri Hendrix/Lloyd Maines Concert
• April 19th: Songwriters Workshop, w/Terri & Lloyd
• May 7th: Robert Ellis
• May 30th: Beppe Gambetta, w/Brad Davis: Note:  This show will be on the Celebration Stage-Downtown Square, in Sulphur Springs, during the Celebration Market.  That makes it FREE to the public!  Beppe & Brad will do one set at the start of the evening, about 6 PM; The Crossfire Legendary Country Band will continue for the balance of the evening, and it’s quite possible Brad Davis will join in with that awesome group, too!
• July 25th: Adam Carroll
• Oct. 10th: Matt “Songbird” Jones
• Nov.12th: Jonathan Byrd Band

There’s room to squeeze a couple more shows into this schedule, such as Buddy Flett’s new date, and possibly some local talent, so join the email list and stay informed.  Crossroads Music Company does NOT share their email list with anyone else, and we keep the email updates to a minimum–usually a couple preceding each upcoming concert.

Terri Hendrix, with Lloyd Maines: Saturday & Sunday, April 18/19, 2015

Terri Hendrix; Mini Bio

Terri Hendrix is an award-winning Texas songwriter who spins sorrow into joy and wrings wisdom from the blues with a poetic grace and uplifting melodic flair that has endeared her to three generations of loyal fans across the country and around the globe. As the San Antonio Express-News observed in a review of her 2010 album, Cry Till You Laugh, “Part of the beauty of Terri Hendrix’s music is she’s among the best at recognizing, writing about and celebrating resilience and common ground, the things we can all cry, and laugh, about.” The classically trained vocalist and deft multi-instrumentalist (guitar, mandolin and harmonica) has released more than a dozen albums on her own Wilory Records label, dodging musical pigeonholes her entire career by weaving folk, pop, country, blues and swinging jazz into an eclectic style all her own. That playful mix of styles, buoyed by her energetic stage presence and the accompaniment of legendary producer/guitarist Lloyd Maines, makes for a highly energetic and spiritually uplifting live show in any setting, from intimate listening rooms and theaters to festival stages. In addition to touring and recording new music for four different album projects slated for release in 2015, Hendrix is currently writing her second book (her first being 2010’s Cry Till You Laugh — The Part That Ain’t Art, containing song lyrics and essays on life, health, and going your own way in the music business). She is also hard at work launching a nonprofit community arts center in central Texas called the OYOU (“Own Your Own Universe”), which will be an all ages multi-purpose facility which will promote art, dance, culture, and the power of music on physical and mental health.

ROBERT ELLIS [Tickets], The Musician’s Biography; Videos
The Lights From The Chemical Plant

“I want this record to be more about the Paul Simons and the Randy
Newmans and the other half of my upbringing,
which is very much rooted in pop.” – Ellis recently told Rolling Stone

Robert Ellis is the kind of songwriter who only comes along once in a great
while. With his first two albums, a promise was made. With his new
record, The Lights from the Chemical Plant, that promise has been delivered
and fully realized. The music, like the artist, refuses to accept the confines of a
box, and burns white-hot from the inside out. But what seems even more
striking about this record, this musician, even at a first glance, is that feeling
of unyielding authenticity.

With every remarkable cut, with every twist and turn, Robert’s life and his
experience, shine through. His days growing up in a small industrial town in
Texas, his move to Houston, and now as a 25-year-old man, when not on the
road performing around the world, living with his wife in Nashville.

The Lights from the Chemical Plant, produced with great care and precision by
Jacquire King (Tom Waits, Kings of Leon, Norah Jones), and recorded at Eric
Masse’s Casino studio in East Nashville for New West Records, is an album
that has a way of grabbing you by the hand and pulling you in so that it can
play with your soul.  –Read More–

 

Buddy Flett – Bluesman…New Concert date TBA.

Buddy covering “Statesboro Blues”

Bluesman Buddy Flett couldn’t compete with Mother Nature, so the Wintry conditions won-out.  Once we settle in on the reschedule, we’ll post the update.  Those of you familiar with Crossroads Music Company know that we always try to include some blues in the line-up.  Lindsey Gail is finishing up her latest CD, and Gus will accompany her as the opening act duet, “Love & Grace”.

Grammy Award nominated musician Buddy Flett resides in Shreveport, LA and started his career in 1975 at the legendary Lake Cliff Roadhouse and the infamous Bossier Strip where the likes of Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Sr., Gatemouth Brown and Hank Williams, Jr. all performed. Buddy was a founding member of A-Train, a very successful Blues/R&B band during the late 70’s and 80’s throughout the South. Buddy has written songs that have been recorded by John Mayall, Percy Sledge, and many others. He is also featured performing an acoustic solo of LeadBelly’s “No More Cane on the Brazos” in the Music Documentary on Louisiana, Robert Mugge’s “Rhythms n Bayous”. Buddy toured with Kenny Wayne Shepherd on his “Ten Days Out: Blues From The Backroads” Tour featuring collaborations with the greatest names in blues: Jerry “Boogie”McCain, Cootie Stark, Neal Pattman, Buddy Flett, B.B. King, “Gatemouth” Brown, Bryan lee, John Dee Holeman, Pinetop Perkins, Henry Gray, Calvin Jones, “Wild Child” Butler, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, “Cool John” Ferguson, “Steady Rollin” Bob Margolin, Lazy Lester and Noah Hunt.