September 13, 2018 500 AM
MARFA – This past Thursday, September 6, the Marfa Municipal Alliance for Dead Country and Folk Singers raised over $1,000 for the Casa Hogar Orphanage in Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico at their live memorial tribute to Ernest Tubb. The show was at The Lost Horse Saloon in Marfa.
The Marfa Municipal Alliance is a musical group comprised of a rotating cast of local musicians. Founding members Ross Cashiola, David Beebe and Pat Keesey created the band unintentionally when the trio got together spontaneously for a pick-up jam for Pat’s 50th birthday. Although they had never played together previously, the three played into the wee hours of the night with guest singing along to their renditions of country music’s most classic tunes. Since then the band started to play at local venues and invited guests and other musicians to join the band for a show or just a few songs. Membership to the group is obtained by playing or singing a song with the band. The band now has over 25 members including folks from all parts of the community. Each performance is a memorial tribute show dedicated to a legend of country or folk music, and is limited exclusively to the songs of that musician, and played on the day of their death.
Despite having played less than a handful of shows, the new band has already raised almost $2,500 for nonprofi ts and charities in and around the region, including $1,200 for the Marfa Nutrition Center this past June at their tribute show to Conway Twitty.
The Marfa Nutrition Center provides Meals on Wheels and hot lunches for senior residents at the MAC Building.
For this show, new band members included “Scrappy” Jud Newcomb fi lling in for Greg Enlow on lead guitar, Joe Cashiola on drums, and “Action” Jackson Wisdorf who stepped in on bass while Beebe focused his efforts on his unique vocal interpretation of Tubb’s classic “So Long Darlin’”. As usual, Nick Bustillo’s braids and mustache were often seen playing the drums.
There were many guest singers, including Chris “Dad” Cashiola (the father of the Brothers Cashiola), Tina Hejtmanek, Xtal Funke, Jamey Garza, and Primo Carrasco.
The band closed out the night with a unique bilingual version Tubb’s Waltz Across Texas. Garza sang it through once in English with Carrasco stepping in to sing it through again in Spanish. This fi nale to the tribute was a fi tting way to honor the unique diversity of this great state and displayed the warm, open-hearted nature of this fl edging band.
Yvonne Beltran of Salsa Puedes offered her homemade meals in the kitchen that evening, and donated $100 of her sales from the night.
It has not been determined when or who their next tribute show will be for, possibly Gary Stewart on December 16, or a New Year’s eve show honoring Hank Williams. Whatever the choice, the band hopes to see you for “Another Story, Another Time, and Another Place.”
