If you get the opportunity, between now and August, please plan a visit to one of these fabulous venues to check out the exhibit.

AUSTIN

Gallery Black Lagoon | 4301 A Guadalupe St. Austin, TX 78751
Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony: April 6th 6pm-10pm
Exhibit runs April 7-8, 14-15

SAN ANTONIO

Agora (formerly Transit) | 1907 S. St. Mary’s Street San Antonio, TX 78210
Exhibit runs May 4-28, weekends only

HOUSTON

Heights Theater | 339 West 19 Street Houston, TX. 77008
Exhibit date June 7

DALLAS / FORT WORTH

Tractorbeam | 325 Cesar Chavez Dallas, Texas 75201
Exhibit runs July 7-15

NEW YORK CITY

AIGA National Design Center | 164 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10010
Exhibit runs August 3-25

Thank you! ¡Gracias! Merci! Domo Arigato! Danke shone! There aren’t enough translations of the two simple words, “thank” and “you,” to show the gratitude that we feel this week. THANK YOU to everyone who took time out of their day to vote for the Lone Star Music Awards, and a double thank you, thank you, to all of you that voted for “Good Luck & True Love” for Best Album Art! We are over the moon. It’s such a blessing to be able to do what you love for a living, with the people you love, for the people that inspire you. And, it’s because of all of you that we even have that opportunity.

Congratulations, not only to those who took home a trophy this year, but to everyone who was nominated. You’re a truly talented group of people, and you make The Lone Star State proud just by doing what you were all born to do. Thank you for taking pride in what you do, for making music for us to jam out to, and for giving us stuff to do on weekends (and M-F, 9-5, hint hint). You rock.

I know we’ve been blowing up our Facebook pages with our ‘oodling’ over them, but we’re going to take a few seconds to do it some more: This has to be the coolest trophy of all time. Each is a one-of-a-kind chainsaw carving by Doug Moreland. We’ve always wanted a DM original, and to now have one that’s a Lone Star Music Award, to boot . . . How cool is that? If you haven’t seen the video that they put together of Moreland making these guys, click here to check it out.

A massive thank you to Lone Star Music, The Texas Music Theater, and everyone else involved in putting on this spectacular event! You’ve made us all (everyone in this crazy scene), look and feel like rockstars. What a fantastic night! Whoever put together all the rad graphics and video clips for the presentation deserves a hearty pat on the back, and a raise. Too cool, guys. Too cool.

This Sunday, April 1st, marks the 1oth and final Tom Webb Benefit in Luling, Texas.

We’ve always felt a bit cheated that we never had the honor of meeting Tom Webb, IV, as he left long before we made our way to Austin. Though we never shook hands, nodded at an introduction or toasted to each other’s good fortune at a show, he feels like an old friend. His presence is one that is felt in the spirit of those who did know him, and who gather each spring to celebrate the memory of this bright and talented young man.

For 10 years, now, the Webb family has worked diligently to honor Tom with the annual “Tom Webb Benefit: A Celebration of Life & Music,” raising funds to help local students pursue their dreams. With the success of the 9 events held, to date, they’ve been able to award an amazing 87 scholarships, totaling $174,000 – a true testament to the verve of the Webb family and Luling Community.

For the past 6, we’ve had the privilege of collaborating with Tom’s sister, Tori, on the artwork for the celebration, resulting in 5 beautiful poster designs you see below, and the final poster design, above. We’ve always taken a great deal of pride in being a part of such an extraordinary event, and are terribly sad to bid it adieu.

We only hope that the Webb Family is proud of what they’ve been able to accomplish for the youth of Luling, TX, and of the investment they’ve made in the future of their community. We’re certain that Tom is, as are we.

Make plans to head down (or up, mind you) to the Watermelon Thump Pavillion in the heart of Downtown Luling, Texas this Sunday for one last dance, and to help raise money to keep the scholarship fund filled for years to come!

Click Here to visit the official Celebration website for more information. And, we’ll see ya there!

We’re rather proud to tattle that we have two pieces in the running for the 2012 Lone Star Music Award for Best Album Art: Reckless Kelly‘s “Good Luck & True Love,” and Ethan Messick’s “The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday.” Sarah and I are positively tickled pink to be considered for this award….especially for two designs!

We’re up against some pretty stiff competition, though. Also in the running are these admirable works (L to R): Mike McClure Band – “50 Billion,” Damn Quails – “Down The Hatch,” Hayes Carll – “KMAG YOYO,” Jason Boland & The Stragglers – “Rancho Alto,” and Whiskey Myers – “Firewater”

Though the Reckless album has gotten a lot of exposure on our site (especially recently), we don’t have as much up about about Ethan’s CD…Not intentionally, of course – we just never got around to posting about the projects that directly preceded our site going up this past year (or much of anything else that happened before November 30th). But, we’re going to remedy this, NOW! See below, or click here to read the post about our buddy, Ethan’s, record packaging design.

Now, I know that we’ve been asking a lot of all of you lately, but if you could do us one last favor (well, ‘last’ for the foreseeable future): Get thee to LoneStarMusic.com, login, sign up, check out all the contestants’ work, listen to the music, buy a CD (or 5), do what you gotta do and CAST YOUR VOTE!!! Voting closes on the 29th, so don’t dilly-dally!

Not only is Mike Ethan Messick one of our favorite people, in general, but he’s also an amazing musician, songwriter, singer, husband to the beautiful Codey Allen Messick, future father of the year (just 14 weeks to go) and all around great guy. Have we mentioned that we love this guy?

Any of you who somehow don’t know Ethan (crawl out from under your rock), may be familiar with his work. In addition to this fabulous record, “The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday,” his amazing songs are played by countless others on countless stages across the state every week, and his musings are found on the pages of almost every reputable publication covering the Texas music scene.

As such, we were over the moon to have been asked to work with him to create artwork to accompany his recent record.

The project began with the handing over of one of his most treasured possessions: a mosaic art piece by Tobi Ellis (commissioned by Gabe Wooton). Finding a way to incorporate this original artwork into the packaging design in a manner that, not only flows throughout the piece, but also does the original artist justice and include all the necessary information was a daunting task. But, we held true to Ethan’s original vision, and worked to blend the beauty of the mosaic with the functionality of a digipak. We hope that we achieved that in a way that made sense to all of you who’ve picked up your copy….and to those who haven’t: What are you waiting for?!?!?

Pick up your copy today at LoneStarMusic.com!

If you haven’t picked up a copy of this CD or have otherwise somehow not seen Caroline’s fabulous designs, please check out her site at Caroline-Robert.com. And, help us keep printed packaging alive in the digital age: run out to a real-life record store (yes, one that requires that you drive to it, get out of the car, walk in and physically make a face-to-face money transaction), and get your copy of the CD, TODAY!!!

Sarah and I, along with our handsome arm-candy, James King and Daniel Lewis and a few of the fellas from Reckless Kelly (Willy, Cody & Jay) have our finest garb ready to hit the Red Carpet this weekend, and want to share every moment with all of you! Not flying to Los Angeles this weekend, but don’t want to miss any of the action? No problem! The 54th Grammy Awards Pre-Telecast – during which a majority of the awards are presented, including our category – is now streamed live online. For the third consecutive year, music fans worldwide will have unprecedented access to VIP and backstage events leading up to and throughout the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards with GRAMMY Live, available on GRAMMY.com and CBS.com. Go ahead and bookmark those, now, and be sure to tune in on Sunday at 3pm CT to watch from home!!

And NOW, you can also download the App for you iPhone or Android, to stay up-to-date with all the live video footage on the go!

Get more information on Grammy Live by clicking here!

And of course, don’t forget to tune in to CBS to watch “Music’s Biggest Night.” The tattle is that there will be live performances from Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Adele, Taylor Swift, Kelly Clarkson & Jason Aldean, Coldplay & Rihanna, Katy Perry, and The Band Perry w/ Blake Shelton. Who’d want to miss it!?!

In the end, we were glad that Katy talked us into making it happen. We had a great visit, and hope we were able to share a more intimate look into Backstage Design Studio.

I know that we’ve been overloading everyone with ‘tune in’ commands, and I’d hate to throw another one at you, but I’m going to anyway! Everyone be sure to stay tuned after the Grammys Awards Concert on KEYE TV Austin (CBS) to see our little interview. Hopefully, we don’t look or sound like complete idiots….hopefully.

If you make it out to a The Band Perry show this year, be sure to stop by the merch stand to pick one of the brand spankin’ new Backstage Design Studio originals. Actually, why wait?! You can stop by their online store and grab one, right now! What better way to start off Grammy Week, than by placing an order for a sweet new shirt representing five of your favorite Grammy Nominees?

We’re thrilled to be collaborating with these guys – truly couldn’t ask for better clients. Looking forward to having loads more to show you for them in the future.

Oh Happy Day!!!! There are no words that can properly express how thrilled we are to have found ourselves as Grammy Nominees for the 2011 Best Recording Package late last night for the 54th Annual Grammy Awards! The amount of ‘happy’ that is floating around this studio is immeasurable. Though, I think that if Sarah keeps on screaming, we’re sure to also be finding ourselves with a noise complaint! ha.

A big (huge) THANK YOU to Reckless Kelly for choosing to collaborate on another album with us and for allowing us to go a little crazy on it….and for being crazy right along with us. It was such a great project to have been a part of – any time we get to work with these guys is an honor, in and of itself! If any of you haven’t gotten your copy of the CD yet – get after it! The packaging is only the wrapping paper for a fabulous album.

And, not to get all super sappy, but a big ol’ thank you to our doting parents, Chuck and Donna Dodds for supplying us with that bucket-o-crayons and an endless supply of artsy-fartsy craft gear … and for instilling in us the belief that we can do anything we set our minds to …We love you!!

We’re up against some pretty heavy hitters in our category – all of whom are more than worthy of the honor. We’re both humbled and thrilled to be counted among them. Check out the full list of nominees at by clicking here.

I suppose this is a good kick in the butt to get us started on completing this website, or at least get a good start on it! We’ll be back with more displays of the packaging design, and updates on the other goings-on for Backstage Design Studio!

In the meantime, hop over to RecklessKelly.com, and get your copy….NOW!!!!

Cheers! Shauna & Sarah