Katie Stuckey & the Swagger

Relative newcomer Katie Stuckey cleaned up pretty good in the Press's 2007 music awards, winning Best Female Vocalist and Best Folk/Acoustic Act. Since then, she's done what other newcomers to the scene have done: scratched around for gigs, trying to parlay that awards buzz into some kind of traction. Part of this year's Houston SXSW contingent, Stuckey has just completed a four-song EP produced by local bud Paul Beebe — who also happens to be the drummer in her four-piece band the Swagger — and it's not as squeaky-clean as her self-titled, L.A.-produced album. This all seems to line up with the plan Stuckey had when she relocated back to her hometown a few years back in order to build a country-music fanbase. But like Miss Leslie and Hilary Sloan, the lesson so far seems to be that it's hard to make a living playing honky-tonk in Houston, and that gigs are few and far between. Saturday's show is a fundraiser for Houston cycling team the Carney Men, riding in April's BP MS 150 Houston-to-Austin jaunt; proceeds benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.