Robert Johnson's family returns to San Antonio, Miko Marks releases a blues album, and distillers work with Japanese chestnut, Texas heat and barrels bound for the Grand Ole Opry.

Ninety years after Robert Johnson recorded at San Antonio’s Gunter Hotel, his grandson is preparing to record those songs in the same room. In Austin, Antone’s has issued a single bringing Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood together with musicians from Texas and Louisiana. Miko Marks, meanwhile, is drawing on her own family history for a new blues album.

On the whiskey side, Four Roses is measuring finishing time in weeks, Milam & Greene has bottled nearly eight years of Texas maturation, and four barrels of Bourbon have found a temporary home at the Grand Ole Opry.

Back to Room 414

Steven Johnson plans to record his grandfather’s songs in Room 414 and the Gunter Hotel’s new recording studio during a November 12–14 anniversary celebration.

Robert Johnson’s November 1936 San Antonio sessions produced sixteen songs, including “Cross Road Blues,” “Sweet Home Chicago,” “Terraplane Blues” and “Come On in My Kitchen.” Further recordings followed in Dallas in 1937.

The anniversary program includes Robert Randolph, Ally Venable, Rory Block, Nicky Diamonds, Tomar & The FCs and the Steve L. Johnson Band. Family discussions, studio tours and concerts will accompany the recording sessions, with part of the ticket proceeds benefiting the Robert Johnson Blues Foundation.

The hotel recently completed a reported $57 million renovation incorporating a recording studio, vinyl libraries and live music programming. Steven Johnson’s recordings are intended for later release through the family and foundation.

Miko Marks brings her history to the blues

Released October 30 through Redtone Records, Miko Marks’ Hell or High Water places blues at the center of ten songs produced and co-written with longtime collaborator Justin Phipps.

The title track returns to her childhood in Flint, Michigan, and addresses the deaths of her mother and sister and the end of a long marriage. “Death Rolls Like Thunder” takes the Battle of Little Bighorn as its setting, while “It’s Alright” draws on the one-chord grooves associated with John Lee Hooker’s “Boogie Chillen” and Slim Harpo’s “Shake Your Hips.”

Marks’ earlier recordings moved through country, gospel, soul and Americana. Her first headlining tour is scheduled to begin in Seattle on January 19, 2027.

Sue Foley’s new record takes a quieter turn. Also released October 30, alone (together) A Holiday Companion includes AC/DC’s slow blues “Ride On” and “I’ll Take Care of You,” associated with Bobby “Blue” Bland. Solitude, care and companionship run through its seasonal repertoire.

Twelve songs, twelve deadlines

Eric Jerardi’s The Game began with a songwriting challenge: complete twelve songs in twelve weeks, each incorporating an assigned phrase exactly as given. A missed deadline brought a financial penalty.

The challenge started during the pandemic. The album that emerged addresses aging, family, grief and mortality. Jerardi wrote “Hard Being Here” in approximately five minutes after a close friend died of pancreatic cancer. He has also spoken about losing his brother to cancer and how those experiences changed his songwriting.

Produced by Michael James, the October 30 release features backing vocals from Cindy Walker and Marie Lewey.

Dudley Taft’s Fire Horse, released the same day, follows a different path. Inspired by a visit to the Arizona mountains and the Chinese zodiac’s Fire Horse, its eleven tracks move through electric blues-rock, funk rhythms and atmospheric guitar passages.

Alastair Greene is returning to earlier sessions. His remastered “Last Train Around the Sun” precedes the November 13 deluxe edition of Trouble at Your Door. The expanded album includes an acoustic “Drunk Again” and a previously unreleased studio recording of “3 Bullets,” with Erik Norlander on Hammond organ.

A Louisiana song for Antone’s

Antone’s has released a seven-inch single of Clifton Chenier’s “One Step at a Time,” performed by the Antone’s 50th Allstars.

Ivan Neville, C.C. Adcock, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood appear on the recording, with Jimmie Vaughan playing harmonica. The track previously appeared on Chicago Bound: Honoring Muddy, Cliff & Blue.

Founded by Clifford Antone in 1975, the Austin club brought musicians from Chicago, Louisiana and Mississippi to Texas audiences while giving younger local players a stage. The new physical single arrived October 30 as part of its anniversary releases.

Chestnut wood and Texas warehouses

Four Roses’ Experimental Series No. 003 starts with six-year-old OBSK Bourbon, then transfers it into 250-liter barrels made from Japanese chestnut wood. Different toast and char levels were used, with finishing periods ranging from five to eleven weeks.

Bottled at 104 proof, the release is scheduled for November 20 at the company’s Lawrenceburg and Cox’s Creek visitor centers. Suggested price is $55 for 375 milliliters.

Milam & Greene’s Wildlife Desert Marigold comes from three barrels distilled and matured entirely at its Blanco, Texas, facility. They were filled between December 2018 and January 2019 and aged on the south side of Rickhouse No. 1 before being emptied on October 5.

The release yielded 288 bottles at 124.2 proof, with a stated age of seven years and eight months and a suggested price of $149.99.

Garrison Brothers is preparing a second bottled-in-bond release for 2026. Drawn from 102 barrels filled on October 2, 2020, the six-year-old Texas Bourbon is bottled at 100 proof. It launches November 14 at the distillery’s Red, White & Bourbon fundraiser, with wider distribution planned later in the month. Suggested price is $89.99.

Four barrels at the Opry

Dierks Bentley’s ROW 94 has moved four barrels of Kentucky Straight Bourbon to a restricted storage location at the Grand Ole Opry.

Distilled at Green River in Owensboro, Kentucky, the whiskey will become Trespasser’s Proof. After at least four years of maturation, it will undergo finishing with white oak and sugar maple staves, the wood species associated with the Ryman Auditorium’s historic stage. The release is planned for early 2027 at approximately $100 a bottle; final proof remains undetermined.

ROW 94’s first tasting room is scheduled to open November 5 at Nashville’s Bode Hotel, with Green River historical material, guitars, tour memorabilia and whiskey cocktails. A three-hour Music Whiskey Trail begins November 7, taking in Music Row, Lower Broadway, the Ryman and the tasting room.

New finishes and single barrels

Penelope’s Madagascar, released November 3, adds a Cognac-cask finish to its four-grain Bourbon. It is bottled at 99 proof with a suggested price of $79.99.

15 STARS has introduced a private single-barrel program through its First West line. Retailers, restaurants and private groups can select Kentucky-distilled Bourbon aged six to ten years, bottled at cask proof with minimal filtration.

Larrikin’s new Foxtrot is a nine-year-old, cask-strength single-barrel Bourbon with a suggested price of $110.

At Jeptha Creed, Batch 5 of Red, White & Blue Kentucky Straight Bourbon arrives November 7 as the Shelbyville distillery marks its tenth anniversary. A portion of bottle proceeds will support K9s For Warriors. Suggested price is $74.99.

One grain recipe, two distilleries

Chattanooga Whiskey and New Riff are revisiting their Confluence Project with twelve cask-strength single barrels, now seven years and six months old.

Both began with the same wheat-whiskey recipe: 60% Red Turkey wheat, 24% Appalachian malted wheat, 8% dark malted wheat and 8% caramel malted wheat. Fermentation, distillation and barrel choices differed between the distilleries.

The new release returns to whiskey from the original runs after another year of maturation. Chattanooga’s barrels include variations in toast, char and entry proof. The first bottles are scheduled for release November 5 at $69.99.

Prices are suggested retail prices. Upcoming events and releases are listed by their announced dates.