"Brian Marshall's Texas Kapela plies the acoustic front-porch music of Marshall's Texas Polish musical ancestors from farm towns like Bremond and Chapel Hill. Although Marshall is best known as the leader of the Tomball-based Tex-Slavic Playboys dance band, the polkas and obereks here are all acoustic. Marshall, Rubin, and guitar/fiddle player Ron Kasowski play songs Marshall and Kasowski learned at the knees of their relatives and "village fiddlers" like Bremond's Steve Okonski and Bellville's Raymond Zievert. Presented in pure, unadorned fashion, songs like the lively "Krakowiak" and the raw, ribald drinking song "Tancowaly Dwa Michaly (Two Michaels Dancing)" give a compelling aural hint at what life might have been like when the day's work was done for Polish settlers in Texas." -Austin Chronicle, 8/29/02 More praise for TEXAS KAPELA! Brian, I listened to it again last night. That is one of the best versions of "Miala Baba Koguta" I've ever heard. It is pure soul. I never thought I would like polkas with a guitar, but it is really done tastefully. What I like, perhaps the best, is that you present the songs in a fashion that is pleasing to Polish polka fans, Polish music fans, Fiddle fans, Country fans, and so on. I can't say enough about it. Keep up the great work! Trzymaj sie! -Mark, Editor, Polish American Journal, 6 Mar 2003 Brian, My sincere thanks for the promo copy of TEXAS KAPELA. Several years back I did a piece for the PAJ News entitled, "Growing up Polish" where I related my years at my Uncle's (My Grandfather and Grandmother started this place) corner bar. Litwin's Blue room was the place where music could always be found, especially on the weekends. These weren't "organized sessions," but started when someone requested a tune and I dragged out the accordion, my Uncle Tony Siedlecki pulled out his fiddle and someone grabbed a washboard. The music came from my Grandparents and their grandparents. It was a time I returned to my Polish roots, following those "short" early teen years when I stopped taking accordion lessons. After the first track on your CD, I was immediately transposed back to those days when "Uncle Tony was on fiddle, I was on accordion and Litwin's backroom was filled with people on a Friday or Saturday night." Musically, Texas Kapela is exciting because it has its roots in those villages of Poland where people didn't play music from a piece of paper, but from their hearts. You have captured this perfectly in this session. Here's his reveiw: Brian Marshall is right in the midst of the Polish heritage of Texas. Places like Panna Maria, Chappel Hill and Bremond reflect a music that connects to the villages of Poland, with violin, bass and a noticeable lack of brass. With the release of his new CD, "Texas Kapela," the feeling and spirit of those early Poles in the great state of Texas has been captured for all to enjoy. This "live" CD, recorded without overdubs and in "real time," features music from the heart and not from a piece of paper. Marshall is on Fiddle, button box, Rubin on stand up string bass and Ron Kasowski on guitar and fiddle. It's down home style, but blends the down-home of a Polish Texas jam session and the flavor of the village music of Poland. As producer Mark Rubin wanted, it is Brian on a folding chair, a cooler of beer nearby, a fiddle in hand, and music that comes from an era of our grandparents and their grandparents. "Miala Baba Koguta," "Celia Polka," "Ojeic Wielki," "Parobek" oberek, and "Roman's" oberek are just a few of the 18 tracks on this first rate "Polish and Proud" product from land of the cattle, and the Alamo. Marshall's makes his fiddle sing as he makes these old tunes sound new in an old way. If you love the roots of today's polka music, this CD is belong in your collection. -Steve Litwin, Polka Editor, PAJ news, 3/14/2003