Artists Who Made Big Impressions at SXSW 2024
South By Southwest (SXSW) in Austin last week was an opportunity to scout for talent, see some important up-and-coming bands, and gauge who is on the rise. Here were some of the best.
South By Southwest (SXSW) in Austin last week was an opportunity to scout for talent, see some important up-and-coming bands, and gauge who is on the rise. Here were some of the best.
With a lineup that included Silverada, Reckless Kelly, Shinyribs, Rattlesnake Milk, and the legendary Willis Alan Ramsey, it truly was some of the best of Austin music. “Most of us can walk home from this gig,” Willy Braun said.
In 2024, everything that Dale Watson must have dreamed up as his ideal fantasy of what the Ameripolitan Awards could become was finally realized when it returned to Austin where it was originally held.
The moment perhaps most people were talking about when they were filing out of the venue, hanging out at an afterparty, or waking up the next morning, is the speech that Kaitlin Butts gave after winning.
Everything was bigger at the 2024 Ameripolitan Awards. The crowd was bigger, the production was bigger, the entire everything for a grassroots organization trying to offer an alternative to other awards was bigger.
The band’s new album Wandering Star comes at a time when so much is happening in country music independent of the mainstream, it’s hard to even keep up, and a band like Flatland Cavalry can almost get overlooked.
Pay attention, festival promoters. This is how you throw an independent country music festival. Up and down the roster you see names that other fests often overlook, and they booked Mike and the Moonpies as a headliner.
Flatland Cavalry is the latest independent country band from Texas to partner with a major label, and is readying the release of their new album called Wandering Star out October 27th.
It’s pretty telling of how busy of a news week it is in country music when you have a controversy involving Miranda Lambert that stimulates Whoopi Goldberg to walk off the set of ‘The View’ in disgust, and it’s the second biggest story.
One of the reasons independent acts have been rising in popularity to rival and even surpass their mainstream counterparts in popularity is due in part to events like the Jackalope Jamboree.
What Two Step Inn got right was that you can mix today’s independent country with country legends from the 80s and 90s, and even some of the cool up-and-comers in the mainstream, and have an event that breaks down barriers and cross-pollinates fans bases because it’s all great country music.
Over the last few years, Born & Raised Fest in Pryor, Oklahoma has distinguished itself as one of the leading festivals in the independent country music space with an emphasis on the Texas and Red Dirt artists that were born and raised in the region. The 2023 installment will be no different.
For two days before the awards show transpired, performances took place at the stately Guesthouse at Graceland in Memphis showcasing some of the greatest up-and-coming and independent talent from country, roots, and rockabilly—or “Ameripolitan” as we call it in this instance.
Well it wasn’t just a lark apparently, and competing egos ended up not getting in the way, because the Texas supergroup epicentered around Lubbock called The Panhandlers have announced they’re ready to release their second official album called “Tough Country.”
The Longhorn Ballroom was one of the most important venues in country music for many years. When it opened in 1950, it was known as Bob Wills’ Ranch House, and was one of the major venues in Western Swing. It was also once operated by Jack Ruby.
Mile 0 Fest has established itself as one of the premier destination events in all of country and roots music, especially if you’re into the Texas/Red Dirt side of things. Now after six years, Mile 0 Fest has its own traditions, it’s own nucleus of loyal patrons and regular performers, and a heap of fond memories.
It’s all happening for Kaitlin Butts, and it’s about damn time. Upon the release of her latest album What Else Can She Do, the country music world is finally waking up to what they’ve had in their midst for a while. Lots of folks are jumping on the Kaitlin Butts rocket ship.
In 2022, something happened at the Grand Ole Opry that is only fair to label as historic. More so than any other year in its nearly 100-year existence, the coveted Grand Ole Opry debut was doled out to deserving artists from across the panorama, checking off bucket list items, populating glowing resume points…
Similar to the Song of the Year category in 2023, the top finalists for Saving Country Music’s Album of the Year were so close, it only seems fitting to count them down from #4 to #1 just to take another opportunity to reinforce the best stuff once again. But there is a #1, and it’s one for the ages.
2022 is a very unique year when it comes to albums to consider, since there are no clear front runners as we’re used to. No specific album or albums feel like undeniable masterpieces, but the albums at or near the top of the heap are so numerous, it’s painstakingly hard to delineate them from each other.
It may not be as obvious of an example as the little shop down the street in a strip mall selling handmade scented candles and hippie soap, but your favorite independent music artists are all most certainly small businesses as well. So are many of your favorite locally-owned music venues, local festivals…
It’s been a couple of years since the Dale Watson-founded Ameripolitan Awards and the corresponding weekend of events have occurred due to COVID-19. But 2023 promises to be a rousing comeback with a stellar lineup of musicians slated to perform February 17th to 19th in Memphis, Tennessee.
With Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers headlining Saturday and Sunday, and other names from the independent country world like Charles Wesley Godwin, Kaitlin Butts, Paul Cauthen, and Austin’s Kathryn Legendre playing, it speaks to the independent aspect the festival organizers want the festival to take on.
The amount of country/roots/Americana releases coming at you each week has officially reached critical mass. And it will spill over like a school bus taking a dive into an above ground pool on Friday, October 28th. Luckily, you know about lil’ ol’ Saving Country Music, so at least you have a head start.