Yard Dog News

Here we are with the 2nd installment in Jon Langford's Song Paintings Series: The Country Is Young. Jon's making a series of small prints of his song paintings, in editions of 15, priced at $200 each. You can find those on Jon's song paintings page, HERE.

And we made another video, together but on opposite ends of the country, which you can watch HERE.

Steve Wynn and I have talked on and off about doing a show of his paintings that employ fluorescent paint. I think we both love the idea of having a party in a room lit by black lights and the walls lined with glowing paintings. With Dream Syndicate or Steve's solo music pulsing out of the speakers, of course. Well, that isn't going to happen any time soon, is it? But he put his pandemic downtime to good use and made a smallish batch of paintings, and while we can't have a big party this is your chance to put one in your home, switch on your own black light, and groove. 

The new show can be found HERE.  And below is a video he made showing off and explaining his work. 

Painter extraordinaire Jon Langford also makes music. Here's a video for the song "Losers," from his last album "Four Lost Souls," which is available from Bloodshot Records. 

Everything's terrible, right? How about a little good news? We're putting out a special limited edition print of one of Jon Langford's song paintings: Dancing With Death. A little smaller and half the price of his other prints. Sort of like the small prints he normally sells at music gigs. Here's what he says:

“Jon Langford is currently not touring the planet playing songs and selling his art prints out of a little cardboard box - But he has been busy in his studio compiling new editions of his song painting prints to be released over the next few months alongside new online performances of the songs. First up is Dollar Dress (a song Jon wrote for the Waco Brothers) performed with Yard Dog owner Randy Franklin on mandolin and vocals” 

Fort Guerin's show of 40 paintings is over. 10 paintings a week for 4 weeks, and they all sold pretty much as soon as we put them up. Wow. 

Here's a slideshow of all 40 pieces:

Today, May 12, is Ian McLagan's birthday. Mac was an artist and musician who settled here in Austin, TX, and he chose Yard Dog for what I believe was his one and only art show. He had always painted for his own private enjoyment, but at some point he decided he'd try and sell some prints. We had a show, we had some drinks, we had a lot of laughs. It's really not an exaggeration to say that everyone who ever met him loved him. Everyone. 

Here's his page if you want to look at his art. He had migraines and he tried to capture in his paintings what he saw when he was having those migraines.

In case you think you don't know who he was, here's a short bit from Wikipedia, "Ian Patrick McLagan was an English keyboard instrumentalist, best known as a member of the English rock bands Small Faces and Faces. He also collaborated with the Rolling Stones and led his own band from the late 1970s. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012."

After Mac died in 2015, Jon Langford painted his portrait. 

It's for sale, right HERE, although I sort of hope no one ever buys it.

And here's a photo of Mac, Jon, & me, drinking margaritas and yukking it up.

Our online gallery remains open and we are shipping.

Our gallery in the all-too-real world is closed until further notice.

FYI: all of our art is either in our gallery or in a climate-controlled storage facility. Our gallery has been closed and locked up since March 14 and I'm the only person who has been inside since then. I am likewise the only person who has been inside our storeroom (that's a pic of me riding the elevator up to the storeroom). If something sells on our website I do the wrapping and boxing, create & attach the shipping labels, and drop off the package at the shipper. In short, I'm the only one who handles the art & packaging until it's shipped. I've been homebound with my wife & son since mid-March, too. 

We've been getting groceries & misc goods delivered to our house and have been unboxing and wiping things down before we put them away. You might do the same if you order something from us. If you've bought a piece of art it will be wrapped in bubble wrap, which you can wipe down with your wipes or sprays or whatever you're using. Or if you've ordered a t-shirt, drop it straight from the box into your laundry & make sure you've washed it before you wear it.

Times are hard for all of you. Please know that we so appreciate your business, and the artists we represent really, really appreciate it.

Stay healthy!  

Our 25th annual Yard Dog Parties never happened, thanks to Covid-19, but here's what we had planned. 

Thursday & Friday parties are now at the fabulous and wonderful ABGB, located at 1305 W Oltorf St, Austin, TX 78704

Thursday March 19
Brought to you by us, Yard Dog Art, & Tikly, the artist-focused, fan-friendly online ticketing solution.

SET TIMES SUBJECT TO CHANGE

12:00 - 12:30  William Harries Graham & Jon Dee Graham
12:45 - 1:15 Walter Salas-Humara
1:30 - 2:00  Dressy Bessy
2:15 - 2:45  The Dream Syndicate
3:00 - 3:30  Wild Seeds
3:45 - 4:15  Bob Schneider
4:30 - 5:00  Casey Neill & The Norway Rats
5:15 - 5:45  Churchwood
6:00 - 6:40  Jon Langford & The Far Forlorn 

Free! No cover! No wristbands!

Friday March 20
25th Annual Bloodshot Records Unofficial Day Party
at The ABGB
Fueled by Dark Matter Coffee,  Recording King (who will give away several guitars to lucky Bloodshot fans at the event!), and the music-friendly folks at Tikly
[Noon 'til past 6PM]
Including performances from (in no particular order):
Waco Brothers
Banditos
Sarah Shook & the Disarmers
The Yawpers
ROOKIE
Vandoliers
Jason Hawk Harris
Zach Schmidt
Big Cedar Fever

Free! No cover! No wristbands!

Saturday, March 21
Afternoon art & acoustic music at the new Yard Dog!
2 - 6 PM
916 Springdale Rd
Austin, TX 78702

Featuring acoustic music sets by Jon Langford, Ramblin' Deano, Laura Cantrell, and Jad Fair. Our neighbor Modern Rocks Gallery will be joining us. The music will start in their gallery and then continue in ours. 

Free! No cover! No wristbands!

We’re sorry to report that we’ve canceled our music festival-related events at The ABGB on March 19 & 20, as well as our in-gallery art reception with Jon Langford. This was to have been our 25th annual party and we hate to skip it, but we’ll be back next year, louder and prouder than ever.

One of our Thursday sponsors, Tikly, has agreed to let us pass their sponsorship money on to the musicians who were scheduled to play on Thursday. Those bands: Jon Langford & The Far Forlorn, Churchwood, Bob Schneider, The Dream Syndicate, Wild Seeds, Casey Neill, Dressy Bessy, Walter Salas-Humara, and William H Graham & Jon Dee Graham, could all use your support, now more than ever. Buy their music, go to their shows, share their clever posts on Facebook and Instagram.

How else can you help support?  Many of the musicians who play at Yard Dog parties are also visual artists. Below are 4 canceled souls. You could help them earn back some lost touring income by buying their art.

• Jon Langford is hard at work on a new painting for us to show next week. When finished it will be available in our gallery and on our website. Here’s a photo of the work in progress.

• Last week we opened a show of new collage/paintings by Bob Schneider. Check it out on our website or gallery. 
• Steve Wynn of The Dream Syndicate
• Walter Salas-Humara paintings of dog & horses. 

Thanks again to The ABGB. Delicious beer & pizza, as well as the best sound guy in Austin.

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Thanks again to Tikly,  the artist-focused, fan-friendly online ticketing solution. If you ever need to sell a ticket, manage reservations/RSVPs, or accept donations prior to an event, please keep them in mind. 

We’re looking forward to the day when we can all share big hugs and a rollicking good time with these hard-working musicians. Meanwhile, buy art and listen to music to feed your sequestered souls. 

Love,

Yard Dog Art