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It's Super Bowl weekend, but in the world of live music, it's a super weekend for other reasons, including a pair of record-release parties, a blues reunion and a visit from a jazz trumpet monster. Let's roll. Casbeer's, the soulful joint on Blanco Road has long been a haven for fans of truck-stop enchiladas. Since music fanatics Barbara and Big Steve took over operating Casbeer's about a year ago, the place also has become a magnet for those in search of eclectic music. This weekend, Casbeers will be the site for a pair of album release celebrations… Saturday it's the Brenda Freed Band kicking out the jams to celebrate the release of its second CD, "Sort It Out". Show time is 9:30 p.m. Admission is $3. Tonight, the Freed Band will be at Saengerhalle in New Braunfels . Freed hails from the Midwest and and got to Texas the hard way — by bicycle. She spent her formative years gaining the traditional singer's education, singing in church choirs. After a stint with a religious folk group, Freed's Iowa college years were spent fronting a pop band called Brenda and the Wild Husbands. In 1989, she met poet/lyricist Bob Clark and got serious about her songwriting. The Clark/Freed duo toured the United States and Canada for nine months. Eschewing station wagons, rental cars and the vans of music legend, the pair toured via bicycle. When Freed pedaled into the Hill Country, she stopped. A regular at folk festivals, house concerts and other places where people gather to actually listen, Freed has earned a large, loyal following with a style that's part folk, part rock, part jazz, part blues, part pop and all engaging. In 1996, Freed hooked up with guitar ace Val Roessling, a well-traveled San Antonio/South Texas picker who cut his teeth playing flat-out rock 'n' roll before he decided to immerse himself in learning more about the instrument and pursue a less raucous path. But make no mistake; although Freed doesn't always rock hard. Roessling nonetheless almost always plays electric guitar. There's tasteful rock that's not bland. Roessling plays it. "Sort it Out" produced by Freed, Roessling and Merel Bregante, keeps the focus on lyrics by Freed and several co-writers, chief among them Suzanne Chesshire, but never lets the groove get lost. Freed is not the kind of singing songwriter who meanders. Her tunes are tight and to the point and there's space for the musicians Roessling, bassist Tim Harden and drummer/producer Bregante — to work Unless, of course, Freed decides to sing a cappella. And while the words are obviously important Freed and the band realize listeners also want to let their hair down and move now and again. Consequently, the Freed group has won over the aforementioned word crowd, but also appeals to patrons of lakeside joints, roadhouses and British bars and festivals. - Jim Beale |