“A Man Named Cash®” delivers unmatched authenticity as the ONLY Johnny Cash Tribute to feature a vocalist chosen by the Johnny Cash Estate. Frontman Eric Hofmanis was selected by John Carter Cash as lead vocalist in “Johnny Cash The Official Concert Experience” – a 7 month concert tour spanning 100 cities and premier venues throughout the US and Canada. 

AMN$ is the GOLD STANDARD of Johnny Cash tributes.

Internationally recognized by Cash fans as one of the most honest and true representations of Johnny Cash live in concert, join Eric as he takes you on an exciting musical journey through the music and legacy of Johnny Cash – spanning nearly 50 years of music from his earliest days at Sun Recording in the 1950’s through his final days and musical rebirth with American Recordings in the 2000’s. Eric’s astonishingly deep voice and even deeper embodiment of Cash’s character often has audiences utterly transfixed in their seats – performing classics as varied as his first 1956 Billboard #1 hit “I Walk The Line” to the 2004 Grammy Award winning ‘Hurt.’

Eric is joined by Megan Houde (as June Carter) who’s natural presence alone adds an essential brightness to The Man In Black. The two’s on stage chemistry (much like the real Cash and Carter) is undeniable, at times unpredictable and genuinely charming and up lifting. The room does indeed LIGHT UP each time Megan walks on stage though out each performance – bringing with her the perfect embodiment of hope, joy, love and lightheartedness that Cash’s music often spoke of as what was missing in the world.

In February of 1974 Asleep at the Wheel made the move from the Bay Area to Austin, Texas. After playing the Armadillo World Headquarters with Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen in 1973 – and receiving encouragement from Willie Nelson and Doug Sahm to relocate – the band settled in and made Austin their home, where they remain 50 years later.

“Austin was and has been everything I could have ever wished for and more,” says Ray Benson, the band’s leader and only original member. “It’s been 55 years for AATW as a band, and 50 of them have been spent in Texas. We are known worldwide for being a Texas band and playing Texas and Western Swing music. It brings us great pride to carry this torch and responsibility. We don’t take it lightly!” 

Asleep at the Wheel’s lineup is ever changing. Since 1970 the band has had over 100 members come through. In the past, when a new member or two has joined a new album has emerged. In 2025 that still remains true. “We had some more line up changes after the pandemic and our 50th anniversary tour,” says Benson. “We had some folks who had been with us for a while move on. But, like always, we kept playing live shows and searching for the next members to identify themselves – here we are!” 

One key and important role in Asleep at the Wheel and in Texas and Western Swing music is the fiddle. “It’s crazy to think that Ian Stewart, our newest vocalist and fiddler, grew up five minutes away from my house and that had nothing to do with the reason he is in the band,” says Benson. “Ian had a residency at the Broken Spoke as his own act. Danny Levin, who was there at the start of AATW in West Virginia and was in the band through the 70’s and early 80’s, had a relationship with Ian and a group with him and suggested him for the gig. Danny’s word was enough for me – he knows the gig as much as anyone.”

“Having grown up in Austin, Texas, Asleep at the Wheel is a name that has always commanded respect and it’s an honor to join their ranks,” says Stewart. “It’s an invaluable education working with a team that brings a fresh twist to the traditional music that I love and grew up listening to. I feel lucky every time I step on stage – it’s a ride I’m thankful to be on.”

What has followed the recent lineup change is a steady dose of touring the world – and now the band’s 32nd record Riding High In Texas, featuring Stewart and Benson as the band’s lead vocalists. This marks AATW’s first new release since their 50th anniversary project Half A Hundred Years in 2021.

“I have always wanted to do a ‘Texas’ record – a thank you and love letter to this state that has given me and the band so much. I also thought it was the right project to take on with the new faces we had in the band, who had never been on record before,” says Benson. “Within these tracks there’s an unmistakable musical tradition that you can’t get anywhere else – except deep in the heart of Texas,” says Stewart.

“Just like the state of Texas and Asleep at the Wheel, this album is bold, soulful, and rooted in a rich heritage guaranteed to keep toes tappin’!” adds Stewart.

Joining Stewart for their very first Wheel album appearances are Michael Archer (bass), Curtis Clogston (steel guitar/dobro) and Lyon Graulty (horns). AATW former members Danny Levin (piano/fiddle), Joey Colarusso (horns) and David Sanger (drums) round out the group for this new record, Riding High In Texas. 

Stewart and Benson share the attention on this new record, with Stewart singing the title track “Riding High In Texas” – a Peter Rowan penned tune – that features “some hot pickin’” from Billy Strings. “I’ve been a fan of Billy’s for a long while now and got to hang with him and check out his shows. He’s such a wonderful guy.” says Benson. “I appeared briefly in one of his music videos, but we’d never had done anything musically together – until now. When it came time to lay down a solo on ‘Riding High,’ I couldn’t think of anyone better, and unsurprisingly, he played amazingly like he always does.” 

AATW are no strangers to guests on their albums, including longtime collaborator Lyle Lovett – who joins in on the song “Long Tall Texan.” “I’ve known Lyle now for almost 40 years,” says Benson. “To me, he’s the best Texas songwriter, stylist and person. I love Lyle and getting to make music with him. We couldn’t do a Texas record without him!” 

The record blends well-known Texas tunes like George Strait’s anthem “All My Exes (Live in Texas)” to Guy Clark’s “Texas Cookin’” with more obscure selections like “Still A Lot of Love in San Antone” plus songs by non-Texans such as The Carter Family’s “Lonesome Pine Special” (which Benson says Hazel Dickens version was an influence for this album) “T For Texas (Blue Yodel No. 1)” by Jimmie Rodgers and “Texas” by Charlie Daniels. 

“We weren’t trying to make Texas’ Greatest Hits,” says Benson. “That would have been too on the nose – and daunting. We picked songs that fit this group the best and that Ian and I felt we could do justice to.” 

“Texas In My Soul” was written by Ernest Tubb and popularized by Willie Nelson. “Beaumont Rag,” the Texas fiddle tune and instrumental, rounds out the 10 song album. “ET and Willie are probably my biggest Texas influences,” Benson adds. “And AATW always includes an instrumental on our records – ‘Beaumont Rag’  just felt right for this one.” 

“This album is an introduction to the current and future of AATW,” says Benson. “I know another 55 years isn’t in the cards, but I want to keep pushing and creating as much as I can, for as long as I can. Ian and the new guys give me the motivation and energy to keep this going. I hope everyone enjoys this eclectic collection of some of our favorite songs about Texas. The future for AATW is bright – and we’ll keep on Riding High In Texas!”

photo credit: Andrew Dalton

Jake Speed & the Freddies, Cincinnati’s long-running folk/Americana band, host a night rooted in toe-tappin’, foot-stompin’ original tunes that muse on Cincinnati’s unique past & present. Known as the Woody Guthrie of Cincinnati, Jake Speed uses a traditional folksy delivery to compose timely and timeless songs that tell great stories with a bit of a lyrical edge. This special Queen City-centric concert celebrates 25 years of music-making, storytelling, and deep ties to the region, featuring cameo appearances by Mike Oberst of The Tillers, Ed Cunningham of The Comet Bluegrass Allstars, and Chris Cusentino of The Turkeys. The concert also marks the release of the band’s sixth studio album with 12 new songs, some of which pay tribute to Cincinnati musical icons Katie Laur, The Comet Bluegrass Allstars, dancing with daffodils at Washington Park, and their roots in Ohio. More than a performance, this 25th Anniversary concert is a celebration of Cincinnati’s music, stories, and community. Proceeds benefit Cincinnati Public Radio, helping sustain the local voices and institutions that preserve the past, enrich the present, and guide the journey ahead.

Hailed by The Washington Post as “one of Nashville’s finest song interpreters,” Kathy Mattea has enjoyed much success and acclaim during her 35-year career in Country, Bluegrass and Folk music, including 2 Grammy wins, 4 CMA Awards, 4 #1 country singles, and five gold albums (plus a platinum Greatest Hits collection). Her latest album is “Pretty Bird”, produced by her old friend, roots music wizard Tim O’Brien. The wide-ranging collection of songs chronicles a period of rededication to singing, digging back in with a vocal coach and emerging with a poignant and eclectic CD. In addition to creating and recording music and performing live on tour, Kathy is increasingly involved with public broadcasting, consulting and contributing on screen in Ken Burns’ 2019 documentary for PBS “Country Music”, and recently replacing founder Larry Groce as the host of the long-running NPR show “Mountain Stage”.

www.mattea.com

When it comes to songwriting, less is more, and simplicity is strength. Just ask Paul Thorn, who’s spent three decades turning soulful grooves and small syllables into songs that pack a big wallop. Maybe he learned the power of minimalism from his years as a pro boxer; maybe it just comes naturally. But whether he’s targeting heads, hearts, hips or the occasional funny bone, he somehow manages to condense large nuggets of wisdom into tight little mantras, the kind embroiderers stitched onto pillows before internet memes existed.

Thorn’s new album, Life is Just A Vapor, contains some beauties: “Life is a vapor, let’s live it while we can”; “tough times don’t last, but tough people do” (from “Tough Times Don’t Last”); “any mountain up ahead is just a hill” (from “Old Melodies”). They’re words of advice, comfort, support, encouragement, often meant to uplift, especially in times of struggle.

“I like for people to be touched by music and get something from it, something that they can take with them throughout the day,” Thorn says. “Every song on this album, there’s a message in it of some sort about how to live life.”

American Blues Scene writer Don Wilcock calls Thorn “an everyman (who) addresses things we all think about, but few can articulate with the kind of candor, humor and folksy truth that immediately endear him to almost everyone lucky enough to hear his music.”

Whether he’s expressing love in “I Knew,” warning an ex’s new conquest about the dangers ahead in “She Will,” extolling the value of holding off on sex in “Wait” or listing the ingredients for making a marriage work in “Courage My Love” (“a half-acre on your daddy’s land / and a little luck / a load of white gravel in our driveway / so we don’t get stuck in a rut /a 3-horsepower lawnmower and courage my love”), Thorn delivers his messages with consummate skill — and pinpoint precision. One minute, he’ll unwind an outrageous tale full of wild characters (often accompanied by his own cartoonish illustrations); the next, he’ll tug at heartstrings with confessions of love, loss or failed dreams, balancing wit and pathos with an ease only the best storytellers can pull off. One of Thorn’s favorites was his friend and mentor John Prine, who inspired the title tune.

We’ll discuss that one in a bit, but first, we should mention that in “Wait,” a commentary about dating in the Tinder era, the fella who buys his dates dinner with a two-for-$20 coupon is someone Thorn actually knows. “Geraldine and Ricky” is based on real people, too — well, a real person and her hickory-headed dummy. Whether written solo, with longtime manager/collaborator/album producer Billy Maddox or with Chuck Cannon, Scotty Brassfield or Denny Carr, nearly all of these songs are inspired by or reference actual events or people; Geraldine was a traveling evangelist who couldn’t connect with children until she tried ventriloquism. When she spread the lord’s word through Ricky, kids were mesmerized — including 5-year-old Thorn, who requested, and got, a ventriloquist doll for Christmas.

“I would get up and tell jokes at church, and I’d take it to school and tell jokes at school,” he says, with that Tupelo, Miss.-formed accent and instantly charming, matter-of-fact delivery he has. “I had my mind up that when I grew up, I was going to be a ventriloquist.” (His singing career actually began at 3 — in church, of course; Thorn’s dad was a Pentecostal minister.)

Over a snaky rhythm enhanced by guest guitarist Luther Dickinson, Thorn fictitiously paints Geraldine as “a toxic opportunist looking for anything that will better her situation.” When she lands a dying old sugar daddy, she dumps Ricky. But karma catches up to Geraldine, while Ricky, thankfully, gets rescued.

But Life is Just a Vapor is not all homilies and humor. “I’m Just Waiting,” a catchy, funky tune featuring blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa, deftly examines relationship insecurity. In “Chicken Wing,” over a cool melody on which guitarists Michael Graham and Bill Hinds (on slide) merge T. Rex with Southern rock, a former pimp and scam artist admits: “I’m in the winter of my life / I love my dog, I like my wife / I wash the dishes, I sweep the floor / I keep a 12-gauge behind the door.”

For the record, the song is not about the uncle Thorn introduced on Pimps and Preachers, one of a dozen albums he’s released on his own Perpetual Obscurity Records since founding the label in 2000. (Thorn made his recording debut on A&M Records in 1997, after ex-Police manager Miles Copeland III heard him and had him open for then-client Sting, one of A&M’s top talents.) And just to be clear, Thorn’s definition of pimp includes “anybody that manipulates people and doesn’t give them nothing in return.”

“I’m around pimps every day, especially in the music business,” he adds. “A pimp is a larger word than just somebody on the corner with a gold chain. ‘Chicken Wing’ is an overview of a bunch of pimps that I have known in my life and I melded their stories together. … all that song is about is different seasons of life.”

Speaking of seasons of life, two of the album’s most poignant songs contemplate the passage of time. “Old Melodies,” the kind of song a retro-country-loving couple might dance to after renewing their wedding vows, suggests challenges are easier to face with a partner by your side.

“It’s about being together through life, and that’s where I’m at,” Thorn says. “I’m 60 years old, and the stuff I’m writing about and singing about is for people that get what being 60 years old is.” Then he reveals the song’s sobering origin, which adds a different perspective.

“We had a family problem a long time ago, a relative that ran off the tracks with drugs and everything,” he explains. “When my dad was dealing with the pain of the heartache that somebody he loved was in a dark hole, he was just standing there, crying. And he said, “Man, ‘Amazing Grace’ used to be my favorite song, but now it’s ‘We Shall Overcome.’ Boy, that just hit me right between the eyes. They’re both great songs, but ‘Amazing Grace’ is more like a praise song. ‘We Shall Overcome’ is, ‘We got something we gotta deal with, and we’re gonna deal with it, and we’re gonna get past it.’ I thought that was a beautiful thing he said.”

Thorn, a brilliant gospel stylist, could sing the heck out of either of those songs. If you haven’t heard his version of the O’Jays’ hit, “Love Train,” from Don’t Let the Devil Ride, his 2018 album of gospel covers, you haven’t experienced the song the way it truly should be heard.

On this album, he’s backed occasionally by Tupelo gospel group New Testament, or Muscle Shoals session singers Cindy Richardson and Marie Lewey (aka the Shoal Sisters) — who sing on “Life is Just a Vapor,” a phrase adapted from scripture.

It’s safe to say no one but Thorn would start a song with the lines, “Me and John Prine was eating ice cream / at the Double Tree Inn Suite 1019.” And no one but Thorn would follow them with, “Don’t tell Fiona she won’t understand / Life is a vapor. Let’s live it while we can.”

Of his late friend, Thorn says, “He’s one of the greatest songwriters of all time, and one of the nicest people, too. I can’t even count the times I’ve opened up for him, which was a great opportunity for me.”

As he will do for countless audiences, Thorn narrates the story behind those lyrics: “One night after I opened up for him,” he recounts, “John invited me and a few other friends to come to his hotel room and have some ice cream after the show. So I went, and it was a big thrill. Then the next morning I went on Facebook and I wrote about my encounter, and I said to the world what a moment it was for me to get to hang with John and have this ice cream and everything.

“Right when I posted it, his manager called my manager and said, ‘Take that post down immediately. John is a severe diabetic, and his wife Fiona is going to kill him for eating ice cream.’”

In total straight-man mode, Thorn nonchalantly adds, “Yeah, I got him in trouble for eating ice cream.”

And that’s how the finest troubadours do it: Set ‘em up with humor, then hit ’em in the feels with lines like, “Every day’s a gift, breathe in and hold it. / Every day’s a gift, it’s gone before you know it.”

Gorgeous, moving words. Simple, straight-forward and, if you’ve lost a loved one, or a hero like Prine, very likely tear-inducing.

“I’m just trying to put out a good body of work that will be remembered like John’s music,” Thorn admits. “I’m trying to carry on his tradition, to keep it alive.”

Prine, the heavyweight champ at spinning humor and heartbreak into gold, would have loved this song, and this album. Maybe the lyrics he inspired will motivate someone to grab some thread and start stitching.

“Shoulda, woulda, coulda, I’ll do it someday, / Turns into time just slippin’ away. / The hour glass is runnin’ out of sand, / Life is a vapor. Let’s live it while we can.”