Today's Country

By Deborah Orazi

AUSTIN, TX - You’ll hear it at least once a night somewhere in the audience during a James Hand show:  ‘Why isn’t this guy really famous?’

Some country music lover will stumble upon Hand in one of Texas’s legendary dance halls or honky-tonks, lured in from the street by the sound of that trembling voice  - or perhaps checking him out on a friend’s recommendation - and act like they alone have discovered the second-coming of Hank, Lefty, and Cash all rolled-up in one tall, thin Texan.

Hand’s CD release party on Sept. 4 at Austin’s venerable Broken Spoke dance hall was no exception.  Celebrating the release of his wonderful new Rounder Records CD, ‘Shadow on the Ground,’ Hand made believers of the uninitiated despite a rough start.

He came strolling in with his entourage an hour later than the advertised 8 p.m. CD signing time, settled in with a shot of vodka, then took the stage at 9:30 p.m. and proceeded to make jaws drop and hearts flutter with his unbeatable combination of hard core country and rockabilly. 

The dance floor filled up quickly from the first notes of Dottie West’s ‘Here Comes My Baby Back Again’, and all was forgiven. Shades of Hank Williams, Sr. and George Jones, both on and off stage.   

His crack band of Will Indian on lead guitar, bassist Speedy Sparks, and drummer John McGlothlin, joined tonight by Don Raby on fiddle, complimented Hand perfectly through a mixture of 38 original and classic country numbers.

Surprisingly, only four songs are from the new CD, produced by Lloyd Maines and Ray Benson.

 The longing is palpable in one of Hand’s best compositions, the ballad ‘Just a Heart’, and he does it twice during the evening.  The CD’s opener, the raucous ‘Don’t Want Me Too’ is the perfect example of Hand and Co.’s versatility. They are just as comfortable doing one of Hand’s self-penned weepers as they are injecting new life into Jimmy Reed’s  bluesy  ‘Take out Some Insurance’. Stonewall Jackson (‘Wound Time Can’t Erase’) shows up in Hand’s sets as does Hank (‘Cold, Cold Heart’, ‘Ramblin’ Man’).

 However, unless you are fairly well-versed in traditional country music you’ll be hard-pressed to tell which Hand’s songs are and which are covers – that’s how good his originals are.

Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson (who both offer some mighty complimentary quotes on Hand), and Billy Joe Shaver all acknowledge Hand’s talents. He’s appeared on the Grand Ole Opry and at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

So why are you probably reading about Hand for the first time? You can point to incompetent  management ( he sure has had plenty of that), bad timing (traditional country isn’t exactly burning up the Billboard charts these days) or  bad luck.

But, ultimately, Hand has no one to blame but himself.

Hand signs a copy of his latest Rounder Records release, 'Shadow on the Ground' for Judy Satcher.

Lead guitarist Will Indian and James share a laugh at the Spoke.

James and bassist Speedy Sparks, who counts Doug Sahm and the Texas Tornados among his previous bands.

Broken Spoke owner James White shares the mic with Hand on 'Rollin' in my Sweet Baby's Arms'.