Slaid Cleaves. Grew up in Maine. Lives in Texas. Writes songs. Makes records. Travels around. Tries to be good
Texas music icon Slaid Cleaves will be appearing at That Guy’s Coffee Listening Room on Saturday, October 6. Playing backup for Cleaves will be instrumental musician Chojo Jaques on the mandolin and fiddle.
Cleaves grew up in Maine and moved to Austin, Texas in 1991. In 2000, Slaid released the CD Broke Down, an ode to Austin’s 46-year-old Horseshoe Lounge. A turning point in his career, Broke Down transformed Cleaves from playing open mics and running sound at the legendary Cactus Café, to Americana chart-topping national touring artist. The 2001 Austin Music Awards named the title track Best Song of the Year. And New York Times lauded Cleaves as “One of the finest songwriters from Texas.”
With the Americana radio success of Broke Down, Cleaves began touring the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and the Netherlands. He developed a reputation for sincere and entertaining shows featuring his intimate songs.
Last September Cleaves released his first live album, a double disc titled Sorrow & Smoke: Live at the Horseshoe Lounge, on Music Road Records.
Sorrow & Smoke fully conveys the spirit of an intimate, jovial Cleaves concert: laughter, sing-alongs and good-natured heckling.
“The give and take, the sort of conversation I have with the audience,” Cleaves said, “that’s a big part of the show and I wanted to capture that as much as possible.” He adds, “I also wanted to give an honest depiction of what my show is like these days.”
The live album also gives Slaid a chance to fully exercise his yodeling skills, honed through tutoring by none other than his “mentor and hero,” the late Don Walser.
Gerald Hutchings, owner of The Listening Room, said, “Slaid gave a concert here just over two years ago, and our patrons loved him. We were thrilled when his agent contacted us and said Slaid wanted to perform in Paris again. Seems he liked our audience as much as they liked him.”
Tickets to the concert are $25 and can be bought online at www.thatguyscoffee.com. The Listening Room is located at 117 Clarksville in downtown Paris. Reserved tables are available for ticket buyers who purchase 4 or more tickets. The doors open at 7:00, and the music begins at 7:30. For information about the venue or concert call 903-272-9687.