As usual, Saturday afternoon for me was all about South Congress. Bands like Houston's own Allen Oldies Band - fronted by the High Priest of the Oldies and the State of Texas's official unofficial Minister of Fun - are traditions, as are people like Jon Dee Graham and James McMurtry at Mojo Nixon's party at the Continental Club.
Photo by Mark C. Austin
There are always a few revelations each year. For me, on South Congress anyway, that person was Amy Lavere. A somewhat rare female upright bass
[A review from the Magpies' January Continental show is here.]
Chris GrayMy son, a guitar plunker raised on huge doses of Rockpile and Joe Ely, tipped me to the Magpies. He saw them at Hayes Carll's Stingaree Festival about a year ago and pronounced them the hardest-rocking band of the whole soiree. Tooling over to MySpace, it only took a brief introduction to the band's work to convince me that he might be onto something.
Not only does the band rock, it has smart lyrics and, with keybo
Photos courtesy New West Records
Stephen Bruton, one of Austin's great pickers, songwriters, and good citizens, died Saturday of throat cancer, which he had battled for years, according to a press release by his label, New West Records.
The 60-year-old Bruton came out of the school of influential Fort Worth roots-rockers: Delbert McClinton, Jerry Lynn Williams, T-Bone Burnett and countless others. He was working on a film with Burnett in Los Angeles when his health deteriorated and he passed awa
Photos by Hope Peterson
It took Spring native Betty Soo a little while to get it rolling Tuesday night, but once she did she wowed the Mucky Duck's capacity crowd with her voice, lyrics and gentle personality. Working in fresh-off-the-road Jon Dee Graham bassist Joshua Zarbo for the first time, it took Soo's foursome a few tunes to warm up. But they finally gelled halfway through the first set, allowing Soo to fully open up and lean into her work.
And lean into it she did, most impressively.
In the third in our continuing series on the music of the five states of Texas, we examine the fictional state of New Texas, comprising Austin and the Hill Country. See Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
New Texas
Capital: Austin
Patron Saint: Willie Nelson
Lesser Icons: Roky Erickson/Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan, Fabulous Thunderbirds, Alejandro Escovedo, Jon Dee Graham, True Believers, Freddy Fender, Nanci Griffith, Marcia Ball, Big Boys/Randall "Biscuit" Turner, Fas
