El Cid presents the best in live Americana, roots, and outlaw country music with its weekly Honky Tonk Hacienda Thursdays. Jazz Tuesdays-The Moonrise Club on Tuesdays and on Thursday January 30 and February 13 brings old time, hot jazz, western swing, and other acoustical iterations from the 20’s and 30’s to El Cid.

The venue began as a popular 1925 café / speakeasy originally called the Jail Café.  There is no cover before 8:30 p.m.; $5 thereafter. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. on Thursdays, 6:30 pm on Tuesdays and live bands from 7:30 – 11 p.m. Food and drink are a la carte and there is never a minimum. The new seasonal pre-fixe dinner menu which changes weekly is available for $20 with $20 bottles of wine and carafes of Sangria. Craft beer drafts and glasses of sangria are also available for $5. El Cid is located at 4212 West Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake 90029. There is ample street parking and valet parking is available. For more information please visit www.ElCidLA.com, or call 323.668.0318.

HONKY TONK THURSDAYS:

Jan 2 – Patrolled By Radar, Jason Heath & The Greedy Souls
"Patrolled By Radar (PBR) is a band surely making a name for itself by being honest in their rhythms and passionate in their words." (Grateful Web) The Los Angeles based roots-rock quartet blends alt-country, blues and soul with "equal parts British invasion, cow-punk and Americana songwriting respected as craft." (SoundSpike) "Jay Souza's full of character, melodic, yet rough around the edges vocals are perfectly suited to the music on these tremendously well written songs." (Americana Roots UK)

Firmly entrenched in organically American music, Jason Heath & The Greedy Souls mines elements of rock, country and folk coupled with rich storytelling and the poking and prodding of emotional contexts both personal and worldly.

Jan 9 – Greg Felden, Alias Means
Greg Felden’s music encompasses Americana, Folk, and Alternative Country. “This is some of the best, most impacting music that I’ve heard in a very long time. The songs are very powerful... He’s got this great vibe to him - it’s more Americana than country - and it’s just very genuine. I see a lot of really good things for him in the future. Greg Felden. Remember that name.” - Nico Martini, American Highway. “Felden's songwriting is firmly rooted in the tradition of the great folk poets, delivered simply and truthfully while reflecting back our own pathos through his music.” - Kat Griffin, Americana Matinee

Silver Lake native Alias Means brings his mix of folk, bluegrass, country, honky tonk and country rock to every show. His album — made after recovering from a life-threatening injury — features LA roots luminaries including Paul Marshall (I See Hawks in LA), Marty Rifkin (Glen Campbell, Dwight Yoakam, Bruce Springsteen), Darice Bailey (Eugene Edwards, The Coals), Jorden Levine (Ocean 11), Gene Micofsky and Matt Lucich (Queensryche, Pat Monahan).

Jan 16 – JD Bender, Sunday Morning Sinners

Honky Tonk music at its best with JD Bender, an American original born and raised in Los Angeles, he is the sole creator of the “Bakerbilly” sound which blends the old time Bakersfield honky tonk with classic 50’s rockabilly to create the kind of good time country music that makes you want to laugh at your worries and pour another drink. His music tells America’s story like the great songwriters of the past. It is pure Americana. It comes from the heart and it is meant to make you feel things, think things and laugh at things that are familiar to all of us.

From humble beginnings at honky tonk hole-in-the-walls and lot lizard-filled truck stops, the six-member army known as the Sunday Morning Sinners have been combing the country looking for lyrical salvation. Serenading both rioters and righteous, the one and only Sunday Morning Sinners mix nothing but a hundred year's worth of pain, sin, and sorrow into some of the most thought provoking and starkly satirical songs. With titles like "Burn In Hell", "Let's Get Divorced" and "Whiskey Dick", it is clear where the Sunday Morning Sinners are coming from, but hard to pin down where they are going.

Jan 23 – Andrew Sheppard, Izzy Cox (from Austin)
Andrew Sheppard grew up in the high desert plains of Hailey, Idaho. Now this up and coming singer/ songwriter cuts his teeth in Los Angeles. Former front man of the Gypsy River Haunts, Sheppard recently decided to go out on his own. Looking to explore new sounds and develop his own style, Sheppard now finds himself surrounded by a talented backing band of like minded musicians. His music has been described as a cockeyed medley of soulful Country, honest Rock N' Roll, with an outlaw mentality. Sheppard has recently shared the stage with several major artists including: Willie Watson of Old Crow Medicine Show, Shooter Jennings, and Jason Isbell among others. His latest release, a new E.P., "Trouble After Midnight" came out this last August. Currently Andrew is in the process of working on his first full length album which is due to be released in the spring of 2014. No matter how his music hits you, it’ll give you a glimpse of where you’ve been and where you’re going. Andrew Sheppard - A straight shot of life.

Miss Izzy Cox currently resides in Austin, TX, writing and performing her unique blend of rockabilly, mixed with a healthy dose of outlaw country, topped with a southern gothic punk jazz feel. Izzy tours internationally and is currently getting airplay on Sirius Radio's Outlaw country, as well as many college
radio stations and Podcasts Internationally. Is currently ranked number six on ReverbNation. 

Jan 30 – The Moonrise Club with The Benny Brydern Quartet  
Elegant and hot swing from the 1930s is more popular than ever. Celebrating the music of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli's innovative Hot Club Quintette de France, Benny Brydern's Quartet, a sassy, snappy ensemble, consisting of violin, two guitars and a string bass, delivers early jazz swing with punch and perfection.

Feb 6 – Sam Outlaw, Moonsville Collective
Sam Outlaw is a country singer living in Los Angeles. This year he released his debut LP produced by Kelly Winrich (Delta Spirit) and toured with Matt Costa. His latest video “Cry For Me” premiered recently on CMT.

Moonsville Collective is an Old-Time band whose sound is rooted in the various American musical styles found, and often left behind, in Pre-War (WWII) America. The various songwriters in the group work independently and collectively to create a unique batch of String Band, Folk, Country, Dixie and New Orleans Rag music that is sure to warm the soul and induce a jig good as any Cat Daddy batch on the market could. Each member of Moonsville has firm roots in this musical tradition and aim not to reproduce nostalgia of a time forgotten, but rather resurrect the ghost of America’s rich musical cultural history, which most importantly is rooted in community. Moonsville Collective plays community music. The table is large, the harvest is plenty and the drink is ripe. Break bread with us. Everyone is invited.


Feb 13 – The Moonrise Club with Dave Stuckey & The Hot House Gang
Dave Stuckey & The Hot House Gang is a hard-swinging, take-no-prisoners aggregation whose main objective is to bring the heat, get off your seat, and provoke you to move your feet. Stuckey has hunted up some of the most torrid Traditional Jazz and Old Time players in the wilds of Los Angeles tear through the night with a dose of that Django sound.  

Feb 20 – JD Crawford, (opening act tbd)
Honky Tonk music is everywhere! No one knows this better than veteran Singer/Songwriter JD Crawford, whose country music prowess and gutsy style has evolved from years of performing in country saloons, clubs and major casinos throughout Southern California and Nashville. With his music acting as a sort of homage to the classics, a distinctive middle-point between Ray Price and Dwight Yoakam, vocalist JD Crawford's honest crooning ranges from soft and stirring to fierce and foot-stompin' friendly. 

Feb 27 – Ben Reddell, Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants

You may recall Ben Reddell from his place on the bass behind L.A.’s Leslie Stevens & The Badgers — he’s the tall, mustachioed longhair who seems like he’d have been equally at home playing with Willie Nelson as with Roky Erickson. But Reddell has a guitar and a band of his own and a voice that comes out as weather-beaten and world-weary as any classic Texan troubadour. Hey, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, There's room for one more to share that bottle of the strong stuff.

Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants: While touring around Foo Fighters’ album Wasting Light, lead guitarist Shiflett was struck with an idea for his other band, The Dead Peasants: to tour as a cover band after learning as many classic honky-tonk songs as they could master. As a musician raised on a steady diet of AC/DC and KISS, who’s also a longtime fan of quintessential country and rockabilly artists like Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, and Johnny Burnette, the notion was rooted in a mix of reverence and revelry. Once he arrived home, the band got together and spent months rehearsing a set before performing a slew of shows through spring and summer 2012. Together with Shiflett on vocals and guitar, The Dead Peasants are Jeff Gross (bass) and Luke Tierney (guitar) – three friends who grew up playing in bands together – as well as Mitch Marine (drums), Marty Rifkin (pedal steel), and Derek Silverman (keyboards). Most of them also toured with Shiflett around the group’s 2010 self-titled debut, which introduced his skill in writing understated, infectious good ol’ Americana-laced rock songs.  They recorded All Hat and No Cattle live and together in one room at Studio 606 in Los Angeles with only vocals overdubbed.

JAZZ TUESDAYS / MOONRISE CLUB:

Jan 7 & Feb 4 — The Icy Hot Club

The Icy Hot Club is a Los Angeles-based group that plays modernized Gypsy Jazz music in the style of Django Reinhardt. They often include re-worked versions of contemporary pop and rock songs, alongside traditional Gypsy Swing, with 3 part vocal harmonies. Generally consisting of two guitars and upright bass, Icy Hot Club adds violin, clarinet, and/or drums as the situation calls for. Guitarists Ethan Emerson and Ray Bergstrom anchor The Icy Hot Club.

Jan 21 & Feb 18 — Janet Klein & Her Parlor Boys

With her sleek bob haircut (usually with a flower placed just so), vintage fashion sense, strikingly beautiful looks and artfully customized ukulele, Janet Klein might seem at first to be a simple novelty act, a 21st-century hipster "ironically" recreating the subtly naughty looks of a fin-de-siècle French postcard. Then she opens her mouth to sing. There's no Betty Boop hiccups or Mae West-style brassiness in her charmingly original voice. Bearing an ever-expanding repertoire of, as she puts it, "obscure, lovely and naughty songs from the 1910's, 20's and 30's," Janet Klein is a musical archeologist hiding in the body of an F. Scott Fitzgerald heroine. The Parlor Boys is a loose-knit conglomeration that can include from four to up a dozen musicians.