Thursday
For those of us who don’t have late nights anymore, getting up at 8am isn’t so bad. Also walking in a reasonable climate, 20 mins to a plush Hotel that probably wouldn’t allow me in the place normally, for charity. Well that seemed amazing. So off I went & paid my donation to “Make A Wish” charity & I was in the Van Zandt Hotel audience for Austin City Limits live morning radio broadcast with lots of music. Id done this before & although often the music isn’t to my taste, it has something for everyone. The host Andy Langer seems a jolly decent fella. You get free coffee & a breakfast taco too. Here what the live menu was today
Willow Avalon – When interviewed regarding adopting a baby possum, I thought this young lady is quite off the map. When she played her song on electric guitar not so (it was like Lana Del Rey). Still she had a very good sense of humour & I was astonished when the presenter finished with, that’s Willow Avalon from LA, the daughter of Jim White. I took her photo backstage & will show her Dad that I saw her in Austin when he comes to The Cluny !
Calder Allen – Yet another young artist with family heritage. His grandfather is the local legend Terry Allen & Charlie Sexton produced his debut album. He’s only 19 years old too & quite the rising star here. Both tunes he played with his band were excellent Americana music. However he said he prefers fly-fishing & rock climbing. Yes its worth getting up for the interviews as much as the music!
Fantastic Negrito – This guy got a standing ovation after performing his tunes . His interview was regarding his film/new album “White Jesus Black Problem” & his surprising ancestry. The music the trio played was modern soulful blues with a groove.
Houndmouth– As soon as this band played, they sounded absolute class. Four part harmonies & Americana music. I saw them for a few tunes later in the week & then they reminded me of The Felice Bros.
Neal Francis– again a bit of a soulful groove, albeit more 1970’s. He looked like Gram Parsons too but his music was more Elton John.
Daniel Johnson Exhibition – 7th Street
With a giant Daniel Johnson mural on the wall of the Contemporary museum you couldn’t miss this exhibition. Today they were making it a free event so the advance ticket I bought, they refunded me (win win). Daniel was a local unique one off musician/artist & gained legendary status a long time before he died in 2019. Indeed my friend George from Austin still has his original cassettes from early 80’s . I had the honour of booking him once & we organised his trip from Texas with his brother. The exhibition has loads of his drawings, his comic’s, his cassettes & moving video footage. It took me all my strength to hold it together after those videos.
Ramsey Midwood @ Lucy’s Fried Chicken. Ramsey brought out a brilliant album called “Shootout At The OK Chinese Restaurant “in the beginning of noughts, & we booked him in The Bridge Hotel around then. His music is simple three, even two chord jams & thankfully hasn’t changed one bit. If you never got to see JJ Cale well at least Ramsey’s still around.
Shinyribbs @ Lucy’s Fried Chicken. Funnily enough I saw one of Shinyribs first gigs (solo) at Sam’s Town Point in 2007 while he was still with The Gourds. He played with Ramsey that night too. Whilst Midwood has been stuck in his groove Kevin Russell (Shinyribs) has become the top man in Austin Texas, fronting his Shinyribs alt soul band with horns & backing vocals, the full enchilada. As well as great music, he’s such an entertainer & had a giant conga going around Lucy’s as a grand finale.
I just had to have the night off after all that. So I got a couple shiners on the way back to my Hotel. Then I started marking out what Id saw this week … just in case I’d forgot ?
