It’s like 2016 all over again, only centralized in its grief in the Live Music Capital of the World, Austin, Texas. In a span of a few hours, the city, and music, lost two titans that may not rise to the recognition of household names across America, but were seminal to the sound and influence that Austin music is known for.
Whitney Rose has relocated to Austin and can be regularly seen playing the famous haunts in the heart of Texas such as Austin’s Continental Club, and Luckenbach. Whitney Rose’s new EP ‘South Texas Suite’ finds her standing on her own two feet as producer, not just songwriter, and putting together what is tantamount to a love letter to her newfound home.
Legendary rockabilly and Western swing guitarist Tommy Allsup passed away on Wednesday, January 11th according to his son Austin Allsup. The 85-year-old had been placed in Intensive Care earlier this month. No funeral arrangements have been made at the moment, but the family is asking for continued prayers.
Famous director Terrence Malick is getting set to release a new movie on March 17th (when Austin’s SXSW is raging) called Song To Song starring Ryan Gosling and Natalie Portman. The movie is centered around the Austin music scene, with a heavy musical component to the film. Many big-time music names appear in the movie, but none from Austin.
One woman is dead, and four others are injured after a shooter opened fire in Austin, TX’s popular 6th Street district—the heart of the Live Music Capital of the World. The suspect is still at large. The suspect opened fire at approximately 2:17 a.m. Sunday morning, right after Austin’s bars close and 6th Street is usually at its most crowded.
It says a lot about where country music is, and where Wheeler Walker Jr. is going, that his show at Austin’s new Grizzly Hall was one of the most highly-anticipated country shows in Austin in months. Bloggers, radio DJ’s, and even Texas country artist Sam Riggs turned out to see what all of the hype was about surrounding the country’s newest raunch artist.
Sturgill Simpson embarked on the second night of a two-night sold-out stop at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin, on Friday (5-6). It was the second night on his current tour, and one of the first glimpses of what fans can expect from an expanded lineup, and a new sound that veers slightly away from the country style Sturgill’s career has been known for up to this point.
There’s no more hypothesizing what Austin might look like if the music scene is bled out of its system. All you have to do is walk down 7th Street or Red River to see it. So will the solutions be small baby steps that look to support the dwindling artists and infrastructure that’s still left? Or will there be big proposals and bold plans that not only fix Austin music, but fix Austin in general?
For the past few years, if you truly wanted to get a snoot full of an authentic Texas country experience, you sought out a show from the Austin-based country-fried Outlaw Conjunto band called the Crooks. Originally formed as a two piece in 2007 around the songs of frontman Josh Mazour, over the years it has slowly morphed into one of the coolest live country music experiences you can find.
David Rodriguez, a beloved and influential Texas singer, songwriter, poet, and part of an extended musical family, passed away on Monday (10-26) at his home in the Netherlands according to his family. He was 63-years-old. Word quickly spread around the Austin and Texas songwriter community, and the Rodriguez-influenced Lyle Lovett dedicated his final song to Rodriguez at his show at Austin’s Paramount Theatre.
Though decibel levels might be set-in-stone benchmarks, they can’t measure the historic precedent a music venue like Gruene Hall presents, or the spirit of the live performance, reading a crowd, and seizing the moment to deliver a memorable performance. It was Hank Williams playing six encores in 1949 on the Grand Ole Opry stage that launched his career, and country music itself, to superstardom.
A massive Waylon Jennings tribute show in Austin, TX has just been announced, and the lineup is something to salivate over. Set to transpire on July 6th and Austin’s Moody Theater (where Austin City Limits is taped), organizers Blackbird Music Group made use of the fact that many of the big names would already be […]
Traditional Texas country with a little bit of a Bakersfield spark is what Them Duqaines are all about. Rich with excellent guitar work, great singing, and those little elements of spice that make Texas country unique like accordion, backing chorus singers, and even saxophone, Them Duqaines capture an authentic country spirit that makes you go, “Yes, this is what I’ve been looking for!”
With a win for Best Picture and Best Director at the 2015 Golden Globes, and considered by many movie pundits as the favorite for Best Picture at the 2015 Oscars, it was a shock to many that Boyhood did not walk away with Sunday night’s top prize. Nonetheless, the independent and low-budget Boyhood arguably defines the grandest achievement of the great Austin, TX creative experiment.
The draw of traditionally-poor East Nashville as a haven for musicians looking to make it in music and collaborate with like-minded artists has been one of the ingredients not just to Nashville’s current output, but to its allure. But all that is in jeopardy now as development bulldozes much of the city’s affordable housing inventory, and rents and real-estate prices continue to spike.
In typical Austin fashion, the festival and live feed started 12 minutes late. Though iHeartRadio was touting the experience as a “festival”, the outdoor, multi-day and multi-stage discovery of new music that usually accompanies the music festival experience was swapped for a very structured environment centered around the most familiar names in the format…
After 2 people were killed, and 23 injured in a horrific incident during the annual South By Southwest gathering, it’s easy to overreact, and point fingers, and lay blame. But make no mistake about it, on Thursday morning, SXSW changed forever, as well as it should. even without this big, headline-grabbing accident, is, and has been for over a half decade or more, an absolute, colossal failure of logistics.
Actor, music lover, and armchair musician Johnny Depp, sporting a vest, round shades, a ripped canvas wide-brimmed hat, and his Danelectro guitar, sat in with Willie’s family band for the set Sunday night. He was simply introduced as “John,” and traded licks with Willie Nelson’s son Lukas Nelson who was also sitting in with the band. Johnny played songs like “Good Hearted Woman”…
One of the questions that comes up often in country music is “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes?” There’s a lot of industry country stars that would love to tell you they’re the ones, and they record songs, print up merch, and proselytize at every turn for their candidacy to fill in for the lost country greats. But beyond the glitz and the market-driven image campaigns …
Country music has lost one of the most tasteful lead guitar players to ever fill a break. Will Indian, lead guitarist for country legend James Hand, as well as the guitarist for The Nortons, The Cornell Hurd Band, and many others, has passed away after a long battle with Hepatitis C. He died Wednesday night (1-8-14) according to his family.
