DALE WATSON Dale Watson has a lot to offer FPSF. You know he's affordable, considering the kind of price tags the fest has to be looking at for some of the other acts; he's got biker/greaser cred to burn thanks to that suave leather duds and silver-fox pompadour; decades of honky-tonk experience means he knows how to handle a rowdy, boozed-up audience; and FPSF has a successful track record of booking left-of-center country acts from Austin a la Junior Brown and Willie Nelson. But the real ace in the hole is that he and his band the Lone Stars are experts at that Bakersfield-style roadhouse twang that can kick up more dust that a stiff Texas wind.
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE Since The Decemberists are already spoken for the weekend of FPSF (damn you, Governor's Ball), I shall put my indie-rock dreams in the hands of Death Cab for Cutie, because it's easy to imagine they'll still be on the road supporting their new album Kintsugi. DCFC are a safe pick for any festival, really, but a really good one for FPSF; they have the songs, they have the fans, they have the "haven't been to Houston in a minute" factor. They're the perfect type of band to throw out on a late afternoon and let everyone get in touch with their old, embarrassing emotions. What could be more fun?
FIRST AID KIT If memory serves correct (one can never be sure at this advanced an age), First Aid Kit was one of the bands whose set was washed out by the great deluge of FPSF 14. I have a vague memory of the Swedish folkies being highly disappointed to have their set scrubbed, so I'm staking odds they'll get a return invite.
The duo frequently teams with Samantha Crain, an Oklahoma girl and a fine singer songwriter in her own right. Maybe she can dissuade any hard feelings the Kit might hold with Texas. The ladies may, in fact, be expecting a courtesy invite, at least. They have to be in Norway by June 11, but currently there's nothing on their agenda FPSF weekend.
FLORENCE + THE MACHINE My best guess at a headliner is Florence + The Machine, though it would take some orchestral maneuvers in the dark to make it happen. The band has a new album in the works, and its 2015 dates are festival-heavy. According to the Interwebs, FloMa is playing international fests like Rock Werchter (late June), Super Bock Super Rock (July) and Way Out West (August). They'll be at Coachella in the spring. But to headline a night at FPSF, they'll have to juggle some balls - or at least one: NYC's Governors Ball Music Festival, a three-day event that runs the same weekend as our own beloved festival. It might take more resources than the band could muster (or FPSF could afford) to have the band close either night here. But two festivals on back-to-back nights thousands of miles apart is the sort of thing that draws publicity, and making it happen would earn both parties some extra national ink.
HOZIER Hozier is almost a sure bet, right? He could be to FPSF '15 what Macklemore & Ryan Lewis were to FPSF '13. He's riding high on a sensational hit, just as just as the "Thrift Shop" duo was two years ago. He's recently been a Saturday Night Live musical guest, just as the Seattleites were a couple of months before their Summer Fest turn.
Macklemore played Bonnaroo a week after Summer Fest '13; guess where Hozier will be a week after FPSF? Best of all, by the first week of June, Hozier would have been in Houston twice - in March and April at Warehouse Live and Bayou Music Center, respectively - which is enough to feel at home here.
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