Romance novel

The video from Hank Thompson's single "Gotta Sell Your Chickens," cut with Junior Brown and off his upcoming Duets album, started off last week on medium rotation on CMT and TNN; tickets for the big record release party--to be held at the fabled Longhorn Ballroom October 18, with Bill "the Midnight Cowboy" Mack as host--go on sale September 17...Soak will play Trees Saturday, September 27...Wilco has all but confirmed a show at Trees November 6...

Alan Wooley--he of essential local country-rock bands Killbilly and the Cartwrights--has been tapped by Jack Ingram to replace lead guitar player Chris Claridy, who reportedly is eager to do his own thing. Wooley--who had never even met Ingram, but is reportedly enjoying himself hugely--was flown up to Toronto to practice and ended up sharing a rehearsal space with some English lads who call themselves the Rolling Stones...

Chatting with a sweaty Fred LeBlanc after Cowboy Mouth's opening slot for Sammy Hagar, we happened to mention the excellent demo of his solo work that's floating around and that we'd recently heard. The Crescent City Madman--who several times expressed his appreciation for the New Orleans band's loyal contingent of fans here in Big D--denied any intentions of following other band members like guitarist Paul Sanchez into a parallel solo career. "Naw," he said. "It's too much like what we do with Cowboy Mouth and would only detract from our momentum." Perhaps LeBlanc should open up a counseling center; his first day he could max out his Daytimer and schedule appointments for STP's Weiland, Prince's long-ago cohorts Dez Dickerson and Morris Day, David Lee Roth, Suede's Bernard Butler, Izzy Stradlin, Susanna Hoffs, and any Jackson siblings not named Michael or Janet...

In a shocking incursion into the afterlife, The Lone Star Country Club has started importing bands from across the river Styx (pun intended), following a Badfinger show September 12 with an October 11 appearance of Kansas and a show by the Marshall Tucker Band on October 26. Surely the gods of the underworld will not let this trespass on their turf go unpunished...

Street Beat values more than the summery smell of freshly mown grass your input, comments, and tips at Matt_Weitz@dallasobserver.com.