Austin Texas for the first time through Windmill Bob's eyes
Tom Ovans and Lou Ann Bardash were my Austin hosts and they were the
perfect induction to a city that boasts itself as the live music capital
of the world.
Everybody told me that I would love Austin - either from their own experiences or from appreciation of where I was coming from and what I
was going to. My priority was to get there and it had taken me 3 unsuccessful attempts to get to the roots music Mecca.
Within 60 minutes of arrival I found myself enjoying a beer with colleague Mike Chapman in the famous Continental Club. I had a tip off
from a must see gig was Roger Wallace on a Monday night. Once we'd
landed my main concern was to taste live music in Austin regardless of who was playing. This desire lasted with me
throughout my stay. This was pre-SXSW and the music business in their masses were plotting their
meetings miles away. I had my first real taste of Austin - a club that exists purely on its name and its reputation and by 11 o'clock the club
was full of people to see a real country act (file beside Dale Watson and Wayne "The Train" Hancock). This is Monday night. London would be
dead.
What followed was a series of events that will remain indelible on my mind for the rest of my life.
SXSW (South By South West) as a musical festival is relatively new in the wider scheme of things. Word has it that it was created to plug an
economical hole around the time that all the college students scarper off to Florida on their spring vacation. This is something I can believe
- as live music and the quality of artists that travel through and live
in Austin goes on 365 days a year. The same day we arrived Richard Thompson was playing at La Zona Rosa and not long after SXSW Matthew
Sweet was due to play there.
Over 40 clubs register as official SXSW venues and they consequently cram in a mini festival in their own right for the duration of the SXSW.
It is immense. Over 1050 artists and bands paid to play. Over 7000 people registered as delegates (those wearing those fancy breast level
laminates) and I don't know many people bought those orange wristbands -
but I was one of them.
By Wednesday (the first official day of SXSW) the vibe was picking up. 6th Street by 11pm on Tuesday was filling up with people and pre-SXSW
shows were packed. The show I missed (well - I missed many!) was Hole in
the Wall: The Fifth Annual Swollen Circus with Gurf Morlix, Jim Roll, Hazeldine,
The Silos, Ryan Adams, Jon Dee Graham and Beaver Nelson.Two stages and a list of artists I would love to see in the UK.
Austin people are extremely warm and hospitable. I met many of them and to name but a few would be an injustice to many I have yet to meet.
Sue and Mike Donahue run a funky record shop on 5th Street called Local Flavor. The shop stocks CDs by artists only from Texas. Nearly 1000
artists are represented in here - and you are greeted by a warm "Howdy Folks - let me show you round my shop." Very hard to get away (!!) but
unfortunately the shop will relocate on the web based out of their new house in nearby Corpus Christi. I am re-assured they'll keep the Austin
flame alive.
Doolittle Records are one of my favourite record companies in the world
releasing albums by Trish Murphy, Slobberbone, Todd Thibaud, Mount Pilot
and The Bottlerockets. It was a delight to finally meet Michael Herst and the beautiful Miss Bonnie
Spanogle. They threw a party on the Thursday afternoon and caught the excellent Mount Pilot play live. They
are writing songs for their third record at the moment.
Larry Monroe is a legendary DJ. He's been spinning his own selection of tunes
on KUT for 19 years now. He's been a jock for near 30 and is the Austin equivalent of Bob Harris. For example his Saturday night to Sunday
morning overnight show is called "Segue City" - I guess that says it all. Tom Ovans and Lou Ann Bardash have been trying to link us up for
well over 2 years now so that we could talk DJ talk and trade CDs. This never happened but after a few
margaritas we thought we'd pass by. He is
everything and more than I would expect. His knowledge and love of Americana music is immense. "I can do any styles of music you like", he
later added. He doesn't really plan his shows in as much detail as Bob or myself and decides to cart 40 boxes of CDs from his red sports car
every time he does a show. He turned the mic on me to find out the state
of British radio and to give SpydaRadio a massive plug. A truly nice guy. He loves his music.
Antones are another groovy label based out of Austin - and was invited to spend a day with them on the edge of Lake Travis. Big respect to
Hangin' Eddie Stout, Alison, Julian and Brad for throwing my first Texas
Bar-B-Q. The Chilli's were hot, as was the weather. Something I had to make the most of as at all other times during my stay it remained
overcast and cold.
Live music! Oh yeah - I kind of forgot that was the reason I was there.Everybody has asked me who was good. Did I see The Jayhawks and Steve
Earle….? The answer was no - I would love to have though - but the taxi
system in Austin is not quite as effective as it is in London and because I ligged air tickets from Virtue TV - I found myself behind the
webcast cameras when all these big bands were playing. There is alwaysnext year….
Which moves me quickly onto the shows we recorded for Virtue TV. The Wednesday night we camped out at La Zona Rosa to record Eliza
Gilkyson, Trish Murphy and Ian Moore. What a night! Eliza Gilkyson has been doing
her own music for a long time and really reminded me in so many ways of Lucinda Williams. She's been doing it for longer and I guess when
Lucinda was an Austinite they must've been friends. Her songs are strong. Her live show with her band was tight which lead me to buy a
selection of her CDs from the infamous Waterloo Records.
Next up was Trish Murphy. Only this day had she won 3 awards at The Austin Music Awards: Song of the Year and Single of the Year with
"Outsider" and Pop Artist of the year. "Rubies On The Lawn" was my album
of last year and Trish is such a warm and beautiful person. Husband and manager Charlie Neath is a gem too and it brings me great pleasure to
announce that this live show will come to the UK late in May.
Ian Moore is a seasoned musician. An Austin lad who in recent years has relocated to Colorado. His previous form would indicate a bluesy rootsy
artist but he showcased his new record at Waterloo Records on the Tuesday and turned up the amps tonight. He rocked. A change in direction
some may say - but what a welcome to one who enjoys volume.
Thursday brought rain and regrettably the evening at Opal Divine at the outside stage was too dangerous to have all our kit in action. The
musical mix was as diverse and spectacular as at La Zona Rosa. Jennyandkind opened with their quirky roots rock; Hazeldine (one of my
favourite bands in the world) performed their first live show in 9 months showcasing only new material and Dolly Varden - one of the bands
hotly tipped for 2000 boasting songs from their new record "The Dumbest Magnets". I felt sorry for all these acts, as the driving rain and cold
must've been a deterrent even with the die-hards.
Friday night saw us in The Caucus Club and it was through talking to the
manager Daniel that I realised how fluid the venues operate in Central Austin to cater changing needs of the college kids. Traditionally a
swing venue - it now is a techno club 5 days a week - concentrating the reduced swing content to the remaining two. Not a big fan of swing
myself I did find myself very pleasantly surprised to witness The Red
Elvises. Rock'n'roll from Siberia! Highly entertaining and funny live show from this wacky band - the trademark of which is dyed red hair and
a humungus red triangular bass.
These performances were all exceptional and to witness them in a place like Austin added to the magic.
I do have to say though that I found the fringe events, or the spontaneous gigs the most enjoyable as far as vibe and atmosphere were
concerned. The evening at La Zona Rosa was excellent but the atmosphere was dampened by the ever-changing population of punters between each
set. There was no continuity.
However - at Broken Spoke, Taco Express, Gino's Italian Grill, Under The
Sun and LeAnn Atherton's Barn Dance - there seemed to be something elsea bit more real going on.
Bloodshot threw their annual party at Yard Dog (accessible through a boutique shop). Free beer and music was on offer and the people there -
including UK based Alt-Country promoters Tom Bridgewater, Graham Anderson, Tom Hamilton, Mick Spencer, James Windsor and Bryn Slack. They
all seemed content to spend the rest of their lives there! I only managed to catch the haunting tunes of Calexico. Not a virginal
experience - but an always-pleasurable one nonetheless. It was a hot skip and jump through another boutique shop to catch The Ex-Husbands - a
rough cowpunks outfit from God knows where! A short set from Austin hard-working blues rocker George DeVore at the Waterloo Brewing Company
rounded off a great day's worth of unpublicised shows.
It was in South Austin that I enjoyed myself the most. Weather it be an airstream chilli at Shady Grove: frozen margaritas at
Polvo's; Slobberbone at the structurally derelict (from the inside only) venue
Broken Spoke; Tom Ovans supporting South Austin tequila slamming country
rocker Billy Eli or a cappuccino in the funky 503 Coffee Bar. Alejandro Escovedo's party in the back of Taco Express stole the show
for the whole week. It coincided with another rare glimpse of sun. Who wasn't there at some stage of the day?! Shawn and Tonya from
Hazeldine, Ian Moore, Trish Murphy, Waco Brothers, Chris Mills, Rico Bell, Sally
Timms. I'm sure there were more but to see and here a continuous makeshift band on stage fronted by the man with the biggest set of teeth
in Austin. The beers were flowing freely as was the rendition of original and cover songs. We all sang along to All The Young Dudes and
Rolling Stones Wild Horses.
Not everybody in Austin is in favour of SXSW. In fact there is a strong
anti-SXSW element - South By So What. Tom Ovans is very much of this way of thinking and there were many things I sympathised with him about.
How the musicians have to pay their own way to play at this venues; how much money it costs to register; and from a selfish point of view -
having to pay for a wristband in order to webcast several events. The SXSW police were aggressive and would rather return to Austin when SXSW
is not going on. It's too much of a circus for my liking and as a European - would prefer to be in the minority.
There were many things I wanted to do and many I didn't. I got the chance to sample a lot of the food - most of, which was very much
Mexican, influenced. The margaritas were delicious and the Shiner Bok's
got better in time. They tended to get in the way of the food.
I didn't really feel the need to see British acts in Austin when I could
see them at any time in London. It was great fun constantly bumping into
fellow CAMC promoters - exchanging rounds and notes! I would've liked to
have seen Neko Case, The Bottlerockets, Continental Drifters, Jon Dee Graham, Sonny
Landreth. But I guess I will have to wait until next time. I'd like to have seen Joe Ely - but saw him with his skinny legs wearing
red shorts buying multi-vitamins in a supermarket in South Austin - so abit of an exclusive there.
Big thanks to Virtue TV and Online Travel Company, but big respect and thanks to Tom Ovans and Lou Ann
Bardash, Gillis and Stash for putting me up. Two extremely talented people. Tom a singer songwriter from Boston
who's settled in Austin with his wife Lou Ann - a singer herself - but also a unique artist painting women on wood.
I can't wait to return to meet some more Austin people and to hang out and chill out in the clubs and to spend a relaxed time with some of the
record company people I met. It'd be great to sort out the taxi system
and bring back the frozen Margarita recipe.
By night Bob Paterson Presents a weekly radio show on SpydaRadio, runs a
night at The 12-Bar Club and researches for Bob Harris on Radio 2. He runs East Central One booking agency during the day.
©Bob Paterson 2000
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