Mailbox Music: Christmas Edition...

Free music has been a rising theme in the world lately - at least the one i live in. Bands have been experimenting with giving away creations in order to simply get their music out to more people. And what better time of year for this generosity than the Christmas season. i got a few leads in my inbox the other day that lead me to some free holiday downloads:

Frontier Ruckus - Driving Home, Christmas Eve
and a video

The Gougers - Just Because It's Christmas
here's the page link

Also, Hayes Carll's folks sent word that if you join his Lost Highway mailing list by December 17th, you'll get a link to download his festive tune I'm Grateful for Christmas This Year (on the 17th, naturally).

And while we're in the spirit here, i thought i'd share a few more Christmas tunes with you. i, of course, have many more... traditional Christmas songs in my collection, but just because it's a holiday doesn't mean i will forgo my usual posting standards nor step too far out of my preferred genre realm.

Randy Rogers Band - Please Come Home For Christmas
Old 97's - Here It Is Christmas
Fire Apes - Last Christmas
Asylum Street Spankers - Mele Kalikimaka
Bright Eyes - Blue Christmas

Merry Christmas

The Gougers - Free Download.......

The Gougers are a band out of the Austin/San Marcos area. Lead vocal duties are split between Jaime Wilson and Shane Walker. With voices as different as Sam Quinn and Jill Andrews, Jaime and Shane complement each other in a way that at first seems implausible. Jaime has an angelic, warbly yodel and Shane sings with a laid-back ease the likes of Gram Parsons. The duo is backed by Cody Foote on bass, John Ross Silva on drums, and most recently, Lance Smith on additional guitars.

The Gougers' sound (just like everyone else i talk about here) is quite difficult to categorize. This isn't because they are are extremely versatile, but more because they are extremely dynamic. With each album/EP they have put out, their sound, as well as lineup, has been completely different. The band's debut, Runaway Scrape, is most easily genre-fied as bluegrass - heavy on the fiddle, mando, and laden with extended solo's. Between that release and their newest - Long Day For The Weathervane - the group dropped the 'Sidehill' off their name, put out an EP, a live bootleg collection, and my favorite - Jaime's solo sampler. Each output has a feel slightly unlike the other.

For a band comprised of such a young group of folks, the writing consists of themes far beyond their time. References to John Henry, Sylvia Plath, and Mac Davis are just a few of the topics that help to fill out the well-crafted poems that are the songs of The Gougers.

Interested Yet?? Well you're in luck because after releasing Long Day For The Weathervane independently in October of '07, the band has decided to give away the album digitally for the summer. Simply go to http://www.freegougers.com/ and put in a couple of friends' emails and get your free download.

If you're into instant gratification (and free downloads at another site aren't instant enough), check these out:

mp3: The Gougers - Steal Away
from Runaway Scrape (2004)

mp3: Jaime Wilson - A Little Too Rough
from Jamie's Demo - previously available on their MySpace

Check out their Myspace