Riffs, Roams and Raves:
Riffs: Vin Mott
If you’re a fan of Chicago, Memphis, and Delta- style blues, remember this name: Vin Mott.
The Vin Mott Blues Band showed us how the harmonica-heavy blues style is played Saturday night at the Dark Skies Tavern in Woodcreek. Mott’s muscular, high energy cover of Jimmy Reed’s 1960 “Big Boss Man,” launched the audience into a deep groove that lasted the entire night.
Originally from New Jersey, Mott currently lives in Austin and is building a reputation lauded by worldwide airplay and top publications in the blues world. Making a Scene, an independent musician’s magazine, said it best, “Mott’s muscular harp is tough and heartfelt and complements his vocal clarity.”
During his original composition, “Werewolf,” a talking blues song, Mott delighted the crowd with a long wail on his harp that propelled the song from a slow, big-footed stomp to the urgency of a speeding train, stoked by the energy Mott blows through the diminutive reed instrument that he’s mastered. He was joined by Bob Boff on the guitar and Chris Tafton on drums.
It’s unusual to hear Chicago blues played like this around the Wimberley Valley. Harmonica solos in country or pop music are shorter, tamer and slower, without the dominating, driving quality of this style. On hearing “Have a Good Time,” by Big Walter, dancers assumed the pose. With lips pursed, shoulders pulsing and head bopping to the 4/4 beat, they executed the perfect ultra-cool shuffle on the dance floor. Pay attention to this guy, he is a bluesman through and through.
If you want to get the party going, Vin Mott is releasing a new CD April 1 titled, Blues Omerta. To learn more and to check gig dates, go to vinmott. com
Roams: Beyutiful Byooda Here’s a nearby ramble for your weekend. Thirty-five minutes east of Wimberley is Buda, known for Cabela’s, the mega sport outfitters. Don’t say “buddha,” though. Locals pronounce it “byooda.” A corruption of the word “viuda,” which means “widow” in Spanish, the town gained its name from a traveler’s inn run by two widows on the Camino Real that linked Mexico City to Texas.
Just west of Cabela’s on Buda’s tiny Main Street is the Cigar Vault. Housed in the town’s original bank building, the walk-in vault serves as its humidor, staunchly protecting boxes of Padrons, Stolen Thrones, Rocky Patels and Southern Draws.
In the 1930s, a University of Texas student visited the bank and asked to use the depository’s typewriter to type a school paper. Her real purpose was to rob the bank, which she did, but soon found herself on the wrong side of the law.
An authentic homegrown herf where fans gather to appreciate the leaf, the Cigar Vault opened in 2017.
“If you’re cigar curious or even cigar anxious, we’ll walk you through the process of trying a cigar,” says Brian Foley, general manager. “If you end up liking it, that’s great. If not, that’s great too. Sit out on the patio, enjoy the music and make some new friends.”
Aficionado Bobby Arnold is known to frequent the place and a photo of him hangs in the loo. After working as a recording engineer at Willie Nelson’s Pedernales Studio in 1982, he later moved to the Fire Station Studio on the Texas State University campus. Arnold counts Neil Young, Asleep at the Wheel, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Ray Charles and Carole King among his clients.
Beer on tap, a short list of wines, and a cow bell ‘welcome’ awaits customers who want to hunker down for the bonhomie and uber-wicked playlist. Veterans, police, teachers, first responders and hospital workers get a 10% break. For more information, visit their facebook page, TheCigarVaultBuda or call (512) 361-3289.
For a New Orleans sit-down meal that’s the real deal, there’s Mudbugs at the south end of Main. It serves elevated Cajun cuisine and, besides the food and drink, displays the hallmarks of a great restaurant: a well-stocked bourbon bar with finer cocktails, substantial silverware and plates, cloth napkins and red-aproned waitstaff in black shirts and slacks who know their menu. Oysters, Gumbo, crawfish boudin balls, crab cakes, Jambalaya and po’boys are on the menu that’s colorfully written in the French and Southern patois that is pure NOLA.
The brick-lined, high-ceilinged interior is flanked by a bar with upholstered, brad-nailed stools where customers savor their favorite drinks. According to bartender D’lacey, “’Coping Mechanism’ is our most requested cocktail.” By noon, the atmosphere at Mudbugs is lively and, on warm days, the excellent service extends to the patio. In Buda, it’s the place to let the good times roll. Visit peaceloveandcrawfish. com for more information.
Raves: Family Beer Brewing Company With more than 50 distinct breweries, wineries, and distilleries in Dripping Springs, there’s one brewery that stands out for reasons other than its beer. Family Beer Brewing Company purchases all the water they use in brewing and trucks it out after the brewing process is complete.
“One of our goals is to be as green as possible,” said Gino Graul, general manager and one of its owners. “There are a lot of good reasons to buy water in place of using the local well water. For one thing, our well water has a high mineral content that can impart a less-than-optimum taste to our beer. Besides that, we don’t want to deplete water in an area where it isn’t plentiful. The water we purchase from Austin is softer, with fewer minerals, and it tastes good.”
“Once the brewing process is complete, we truck the wastewater out,” Graul continued.
“Technically, it’s considered ‘industrial waste’ although all of the ingredients we use to brew are completely natural — grains, hops, yeast and water. But because we use small amounts of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) or phosphoric acid in concentrations between 1 and 4 percent to clean our tanks, it is considered industrial waste and subjected to a remediation process. It’s expensive to truck our water in and out but we wouldn’t want to do business any other way.”
Family Beer Brewing Company offers an impressive variety of ales, IPAs, pilsners, lagers and stouts. It opened in 2018 with brewer Nate Seale at the helm. Nine thousand square feet of their 13,000 square foot structure is set aside for production. Work is underway to increase production space to meet the demand for their beer because distribution has tripled in the last two years.
There’s something else that makes the brewery interesting. The family part of Family Beer Brewing Company includes actor Jensen Ackles, who co-starred with Jared Padalecki in the long-running television series, “Supernatural” and most recently, played a key role in Amazon Prime’s “The Boys.” He also married Graul’s sister, Danneel. Both are part owners of the brewery, along with Danneel’s and Gino’s parents, Ed and Debby Graul. Danneel Ackles, herself a well-known actor, played Vanessa in the Harold and Kumar film franchise and Rachael in the television series, “One Tree Hill.” Visitors are apt to get a glimpse of Jensen and Danneel from time to time, but their work often keeps them in California or on location elsewhere. To learn more, go to familybusinessbeerco. com.