Somewhere between Spicewood TX and Franklin TN . . .

. . . Luke Powers and Tommy Spurlock have collaborated on another record Texasee, to be released in October of 2008. 

Luke and Tommy have previously worked on Kakistocracy (2006) and Luke's debut album Picture Book (2007). 

Picture Book is the portrait of the artist as a young songwriter. Texasee is an Americana homage to a mythical land of music and imagination stretching (in the words of the title song) "from the mist of the Smoky Mountains to the dust of the hill country."

Luke is a Nashville-based college professor who writes songs.  He has degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill (where he was a Morehead Scholar) and Vanderbilt University. 

Tommy is a professional musician who has worked with Rodney Crowell, Roseanne Cash, The Band and Highway 101.  He has produced artists such as Rick Danko, David Olney and Chip Taylor.

Texasee is a mostly acoustic Americana album with a little sling-blade thrown in. 

"I tired of all these warbly, navel-gazing 'Americana' songs," Luke says.  "I wanted to take a more Sam Peckinpah approach."

"Billy the Kid Rides Again" resurrects the fabled outlaw who shoots a highway patrolman for stopping him for riding his horse without a license plate. 

"The Tower" focuses on Charles Whitman's 1966 shooting spree at UT-Austin, which took the lives of almost fifty people. 

In addition to the Coen Brothers' mayhem in songs like "I'm Too Young to Die" and "The Bounty Hunter," Texasee does reflect the gentleness and beauty of its half real/half mythic land.  Songs such as "Tops of the Trees" and "Tomorrow" offer a glimpse of redemption from a world that while mythical is possibly real.

Somewhere between Hank Williams and Wallace Stevens . . .

Being an English professor, Luke can't resist a concept. “Texasee” is a borderland of beauty and violence, sin and redemption, materialism and imagination.

Luke told Tommy that he originally wanted to call the album Thirteen Ways of Listening to Hank Williams. Tommy told him he was crazy. Actually he was more explicit than that.

Bradley Hartman (engineer for Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson) mixed the project.

Bradley, who was born in Houston, spent time in Austin and currently lives in Nashville, was more amenable. He said he'd live in Texasee if he could get a gig there. (BTW, Bradley engineered Willie's Stardust album—is there a better sounding record?). 

Bradley was also responsible for bringing Suzi Ragsdale on board.  Suzi (daughter of superstar Ray Stevens and a star in her own right) initially planned on singing a couple backup vocals.  But her presence quickly transformed her parts into full-fledged duets. 

Luke says, "She's the soul of the album." 

Also bringing a unique sonic warp to the sessions were Sam Powers, Luke's brother, and John Davis, who had formerly teamed in the powerpop band Superdrag. Sam and John played sang, played basses, guitars and anything else they could get their hands on. 

John was even willing to play sousaphone if Luke could get his hands on one.

Kenny Vaughan, Americana Music Association "Instrumentalist of the Year" for 2007, added his signature guitar touch.


For more information and free song downloads, see www.phoebeclaire.com

or http://www.indie-music.com/bands/bands/6709/music.php


For Luke's ramblings and to contact go to myspace/lukepowers

or become his Facebook friend at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=1577452087&hiq=luke%2Cpowers