Terri Hendrix, Lloyd Maines

One would be extremely hard-pressed to find a better grouping of authentic roots and Americana than what will be on display in Deep Ellum this Friday.

Lloyd Maines (father of Dixie Chick Natalie Maines) has been a producer and musician on some of the most seminal recordings of Texas music ever made. By working with the likes of Joe Ely, Butch Hancock, Terry Allen, Jerry Jeff Walker, Ray Wylie Hubbard and Robert Earl Keen (the list is honestly too long to mention everyone), Maines' impact on country and alt-country simply cannot be overstated. Rarely performing as a solo act (he remains involved with his siblings Kenny, Donnie and Steve in The Maines Brothers), Lloyd can still impart words of wisdom (and impressive guitar lines) to an audience who should already be familiar with his dossier.

One of Maines' most recent productions was The Spiritual Kind, the 2007 effort from South Texas singer-songwriter Terri Hendrix. Engaging, intricate and poignant, Hendrix's music was the perfect fit for Maines' fatherly guidance. The Spiritual Kind was one of the best country albums of last year, and Hendrix seldom disappoints in a live setting.

Together, Maines and Hendrix represent two generations of what Steve Earle correctly identified as real music: Folk and country not beholden to any notion of fashion or pop crossover potential, just pedal steel and honest passion.