R Bar & Restaurant feels like a crowded night club, acts like a fine dining establishment. My husband and I were a few minutes late, but luckily we had made reservations for 7:30 on a Friday night. At that hour, the bar of R Bar & Restaurant was only one customer deep and easily navigable…. Read Whole Article.

Channel Williamsburg at the R Bar and Restaurant in the developing west Bottoms warehouse district. The dimly lit restaurant opened last fall and serves Prescriptions Juleps—rye whiskey, mint, cognac, and hand-crushed ice—in copper mugs.

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While adhering to most of the tenets of orthodox bluegrass, the Colonels also draw influence and energy from the entire melting pot of 20th century American Music. While the Colonels have been known to whip a rowdy barroom into a corybantic frenzy, they are also at home playing a relaxed set of traditional music. At a show one might expect 60% original songs 25% bluegrass standards and 15% tastefully executed covers.  NO COVER

Noah Earle was born in Topeka, Kansas, "a good place to dig potatoes." Surrounded by a musical family, he absorbed various strains of influence. His musical involvement began in early childhood when he would listen to the traditional country and country-gospel music that his family would play and sing at their gatherings. Between the ages of about 5 and 18 he underwent classical training for piano, voice and fiddle (his grandpa said "never let anybody call it a violin"). By the age of 10, he had decided that he wanted to write songs, like his uncle and grandfather. Throughout this time, he was also exposed to blues and jazz by his dad and uncle, both of whom performed in a number of bands. From these surroundings Noah has emerged as a formidable solo artist, displaying unmistakable talent through his deft and varied guitar style and an agile, soulful approach to his singing. Read more... 

Arthur Dodge is a man of many songs – many songs. So many that one night in 2000, he played 100 of his songs during a single show. Dodge first granted public access to his tunes with a cassette release in 1993. His longtime collaborator, Matt Mozier (ex-Truckstop Love) added impeccable lead guitar to Dodge’s melodies. A more formal album release, Arthur Dodge and the Horsefeathers, followed in 1997. The Horsefeathers consisted o...f Mozier with Guy Stephens on drums and Brock Ginther (ex-Homestead Grays) on bass. The band had been wowing audiences in and around their home base of Lawrence, Kansas and the album’s regional hit, “True Romance,” solidified Dodge’s status as the town’s resident songwriting genius. Some reviewers lumped the album in with alt-country acts but that did not account for the pop sensibility of Dodge’s writing – as much Alex Chilton as Townes Van Zandt.

 Their songs are right out of the Buck Owens songbook, and will break your heart, if you have one. They're decidedly reverent, but definitely not an aping museum piece, either. You have not heard straight up honky tonk done like this in decades. www.myspace.com/rexhobartandthemiseryboys