Got a favorite cover band?

I've been fascinated in recent months with the fascination with the various tribute and/or cover bands that are out there ... and by "out there," I mean in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and I should probably apologize for the overuse of the word "fascination."

I found it interesting -- or, dare I say it ... "fascinating" -- (sorry, that's the last time. Swear to God!) that the 2009 Richardson Wildflower! Festival's Sunday concert line-up was predominately dotted with cover bands.

There was Swan Song (the tribute to Led Zepplin), Bebe Le Strange (the tribute to Heart), Badfish (featuring the music of Sublime) and a couple of others.

If you take a look through the concert calendar for Dallas and Fort Worth on any given weekend, you'll see all sorts of cover bands out there. Some of them are really, really good. In fact, the Real. Texas. Festival. is considering a tribute band or two to invite to perform on one the two main concert stages for 2010.

Anyone out there got a personal favorite? If so, let us hear from you and we'll see what we can do to book them.

I have a couple I've heard that I really enjoy. Back in Black ... the tribute to AC/DC is just excellent.

It's one thing to feature the music of a particular group, but folks like Back in Black and Swan Song take it the extra mile. They even look like the bands to which they are they are paying tribute. Swan Song folks look just like Robert Plant, Jimmy Page et al. The lead guitarist from Back in Black plays the same Gibson SG and wears the same schoolboy suit that Angus Young has made famous.

I also like Hard Night's Day (Beatles), Queen for a Day (Queen), Petty Theft (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) and Naked Lunch (Steely Dan).

I've also heard of a new tribute band that's forming and rehearsing, preparing to unleash itself on the masses -- Second Hand News (Fleetwood Mac).

There's also a couple of ZZ Top tribute bands that are pretty good ... Tres Hombres and Eliminator.

So, if you've got a favorite cover band that you'd like to see at RTF, or any place else for that matter, let us know. We'd like to see if we could book some of these tribute bands that are out there and that seem to be riding a great wave of popularity right now.

E-mail us at info@realtexasfestival.com.