by Blair Lovern

Check out his first full-length CD, which isn't the usual country-fried fare - and a couple of special shows this weekend.

Couple cool things stand out immediately from King Cone's first CD, Gallery.

Thing That Stands Out #1: The artwork and photos of Gallery. When I first saw the CD I thought, this is cool - who the hell helped out? It was the hell Kip Lott, is who. Who's that? In general, he's a fantastic photographer. Specifically, he's the guy who did some Dwight Yoakam covers - This Time, for example - that left indelible marks on my brain. Cone's former bass player knows Lott and introduced the two.

Thing That Stands Out #2: King Cone (real name, yes) doesn't sing like everyone else. There's a lot of music in this state and some of it is superb. A lot sounds the same, though, which is too bad. But I still have faith that original voices will continue to break through because this is Texas, and dang-it, the best country music is made here. The difference in Cone's voice compared to others' is subtle. Weird, but every now and then I hear bits and pieces of Cat Stevens in there. It's hard to pin down exactly how Cone stands out. It's not the strongest voice, it's not the twangiest. But I'm not complaining at all, you know why? It also doesn't sound like his vocal chords have been taking a bath in liquor and cigarette smoke since 1984. He's not trying to be everyone else. I'm looking forward to more from this guy.

Not too long ago, when Cone wasn't doing original material, he said he would pick up on a troublesome quirk in his sound.

"When I sang a cover tune, I would be emulating the person originally singing the song. So I said I've got to find my own voice, and I think I'm still doing that. It may sound silly but one thing I think of now is that you have to remember when you sing is remember how you talk. It has to come out naturally. You have to give the message and come across in the right pitch or correct format or whatever, but I think it has to come out kind of like you talk. Some people it doesn't work this way. Tracy Byrd is the perfect example. You ever heard him talk? He doesn't sound anything like he sings. But that works for him.

"You need to stay true to the way you sound, don't try to twist your voice into something it isn't. I found that after I did this CD and I listened to it I was worried that I don't fit into that typical Texas music sound that seems to be the movement down here now. But the more that I thought about it, the more I was OK with it."

It's good to hear this from musicians, because not all of them have similar integrity. A few years ago, when Cone first started taking music seriously, he said he was worried the music business would steer him into sounding like the latest fad band selling records.

"There's such a strong music movement down here, it's something that's unique to Texas. Now with the availability of so many indie labels and recording studios, anyone can get into music. As long as that continues, I think you will still have originality in Texas music."

Cone grew up with music. He's 24 now and has been writing songs since he was about 15. But not until he was about to leave the U. of Texas in Austin did he start to take music seriously, and never until the first half of 2005 did he take songwriting as seriously. He worked a little for his dad then and a lot for himself.

"From January to July I wrote songs all day every day. And boy did I write some terrible songs. But I was happy with some of the ones that came out, and we released some EPs as we continued to work on them. Eventually we got 11 for this new record."

Check out King Cone and his band, The Tailgate Philharmonic this Friday and Saturday night. They'll be recording both shows for their next project. On Cone's site it says: "Come have a beer with us, be obnoxiously loud, and immortalize yourself on a live recording so that your friends can laugh at you for years to come." And then it's got this photo underneath:

I mean, c'mon, man. You got this big dude chugging a beer, a nice dog looking at something, stuff on the wall, etc. King Cone's music is just an honest good time for honest and good folk, so get your sweet and magnificently large ass away from the TV, or wherever it's usually planted on the weekend, and enjoy it.