Tommy Alverson's 9th Annual Family Gathering

October 4-7th, 2006

Tommy Alverson's Family Gathering is one of our most favorite events. The music is great, the crowd is relatively small and friendly, the camping is close by, the price is right for 4 days of music, and you can bring you chairs and cooler filled with your favorite beverages.

This years event was held at Tres Rios Campground which is a mile north of Glen Rose. You can read our review of Tres Rios in the Parks section of Texas Outside. Tres Rios has a over 200 water and electricity sites and cabins. The cabins are usually booked a year in advance for Tommy's event and the campsites are first come, first serve and they usually start to fill up 5 days before the music starts. The is plenty of room for dry or tent camping. Tres Rios is only a mile from Glen Rose which offers plenty to see and do when the music's not playing, some of our favorites include: Fossil Rim, biking or hiking at Dinosaur Valley State Park, golf at Squaw Valley, or playing in any of the three rivers at Tres Rios. To learn more about each, read our Thank God For Weekends trip to Glen Rose. We usually play golf one morning or on the way back to the Big D -- click here find a course and read reviews of the courses in the Texas Outside Golf Section. In the past, Tommy Alverson has also sponsored a golf tournament as part of the music event. You can find some other accommodations in Glen Rose in the Discover Texas section.

Tommy's event starts on Wednesday and consistently gets rave reviews for some excellent music, unfortunately, we have never made it for Wednesday's performance. This year featured Steve Tenpenny, Trent Summar, Johnny Gringo, Jed & Kelley, Walt Wilkins & Sam Baker, Mike Blakely, and the Luckenbach All Stars -- an evening of great musicians.

We arrived Thursday and caught the first act which started at 1:55. Thursday's lineup was Eric Day, Very Handsome Men, Kyle Bennett, Steve Tenpenney, Amos Staggs, Bob Livingston, Brian Burns (his story telling songs explore both the poignant and the humorous sides of humanity), Chuck Pyle (outstanding, his infectious melodies with some straight from the saddle poetry are unmatched), Moot Davis, Cooder Graw (it doesn't get much better when Cooder plays the wash board), and Jason Borland (a crowd pleaser with their driving outlaw sound) closed the show around 1:00 PM. Then off to the various campfires for some more outstanding pickin', singin', and socializin'.

Fridays music kicked off around noon (most the crowd was absent, could this have been caused by to much fun and beer the night before?) for another great day of music from: Brad Hines, Randy Brown, Eleven Hundred Springs (you can't help but love these guys playing 'old school country music'), Brandon Rhyder, Blacktop Gypsy, Snuffy Elmore, Michael Hearne and SxSW, Kevin Deal (he keeps getting better each time we hear him), Miss Leslie & Her Jukejointers, Davin James, smooth Max Stalling, David Ball, good 'ole Rusty Wier, and the legend Johnny Bush. Michael Hearne is one of our favorites and he never disappoints you with his unique sound that bounces from country rockers and pedal steel ballads to straight-up swing. Davin, as usual, really got the crowd rocking. We had never heard Brandon Rhyder and he was outstanding with music that is equal parts realism and hope, experience and dreams - keep an eye out for him. Then off to the campfires around 1:30.

By now you're probably thinking 'all that for only $50 and there is still another night, how can it get much better?' Saturday started with Maren Morris (what a voice and stage presence for a 14 year old!), Steve Fromholz, Terry Rasor (Terry sponsors Raz on the Braz, another great outdoor music event), Joe Pat Hinnen was scheduled but wasn't able to make it, Ryan Turner Band, Jamie Richards, Ed Burleson (nobody writes and sings Honky Tonk like Ed), Cornell Hurd, and Tommy Alverson. Cornell Hurd and his wild bunch band are a real hoot to watch - we need another word besides unusual to describe Cornell and his 9 piece C country boogie band that plays everything from western swing to classical 40's and 50's country to the "hippie country" of Commander Cody. Far and away the best performance of Saturday night was Tommy Alverson. He started around 8:30 and was still playing at 12. What made his set outstanding (besides his great voice, excellent band, and outstanding songs) was that he kept bringing out some of the previous musicians to join him, and at times had 3 to 5 other entertainers on stage singing with him.

The Ninth Annual Family Gathering was a resounding success and fours days of fun and magnificent music. The crowd at Tommy's events are always friendly and out to have a good time as they enjoy the music. Tommy and Joe Dye (Joe is the best behind the scenes guys around and makes sure that everything runs smoothly) claim that #10 will be really special. Don't Miss It!!!