Playlist

With all of the decentralization and cold-shouldered attention that the local pop music scene's been enduring lately, this development might be a sign that important folks are finally beginning to realize how rich it actually is:

DowntownDallas has partnered with the Granada Theater to present the AT&T Main Street Live Music Festival, a series of day-long, festival-style concerts to be held every other Saturday in Pegasus Plaza. Most of the acts are some of North Texas' top pop, rock and blues attractions, sprinkled around some Texas-wide bands and a couple of moderate national-level bookends.

The series, which will also feature food and drink vendors and a Farmers Market, uh, market, will run from 2 to 11 p.m. beginning Sept. 20, and admission will be free until 5 p.m. and $10 afterward.

Headliners for the first (Louis XIV) and last (Mae) dates don't have Texas ties, but everyone else does. Examples: The Orange, Calhoun and the Crash That Took Me (Sept. 20); Loaded Moses, the Feds and Fair to Midland (Oct. 4); the Drams, Record Hop, the Riverboat Gamblers (now in Austin, but formed in Denton) and the Reverend Horton Heat (Oct. 18); and Burning Hotels, the New Frontiers and Black Tie Dynasty (Nov. 1). Braaa-vo!

Country-pop pin-up Billy Currington releases his third album, Little Bit of Everything, Oct. 14. The disc, which follows 2005's million-selling breakthrough Doin' Something Right, features the first single, "Don't." Everything boasts a dozen tracks and production by Carson Chamberlain and Mr. Currington. The sound? We'll let Billy tell you: "People kept asking what kind of music they'd hear on this next album, whether it was going to be R&B, pop, country or rock, and I seemed to keep saying the same thing. It's going to be a little bit of everything, I guess!"

Well, alrighty then. Mr. Currington is best known for his steamy video of "We Must Be Doin' Something Right," where he's scantily clad and writhing on the sand with a voluptuous model.

Photo: Cover of Little Bit of Everything courtesy of Mercury Nashville.

Beaumont native Edgar Winter, the rock 'n' roller who fused classic rock with synthesizers back in the '70s when it wasn't so common, has this to say about his new CD, Rebel Road, and the state of the music industry today:

"The idea of Rebel Road, the concept behind the title, came from a lot of biker shows that we do. Bikers and rockers have a good deal in common. We're not 9 to 5-ivers. The open road is a symbol of freedom. That's what music is all about. That's what the '70s were all about. I'm not going to be told who I am and how I'm supposed to live. ...It's not just a biker song. It's a perfect metaphor for the music that's being created. The thing that makes the '70s so special is the idea that it wasn't commercial. That makes that time very different from what's going on today. I was trying to set aside all those considerations and make an album that I wanted to make. I get tired of hearing artists today complain about being so commercial because as far as I'm concerned it is up to the artist to maintain the integrity of their music."

For more on Edgar Winter, who performs at the House of Blues Friday, check out my story in GuideLive tomorrow.

Photo: Edgar Winter circa 2008 (Neil Zlozower).