March `12 - Texas Music Magazine

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Norah Jones Returns to SXSW
Jones plans to make the most of SXSW week, offering a solo
show and two shows with the Little Willies. (Danny Clinch)
The annual South by Southwest Music Festival
returns to Austin Tuesday, March 13, through
Sunday, March 18, and Norah Jones has a full
slate of activities planned. She’ll appear at La
Zona Rosa on Saturday for a 7:45 p.m. show
that’s part of SXSW, where she’s promised
to debut all the songs from her new album,
Little Broken Hearts, scheduled for a May 1
release. Jones will also appear with her side
project, The Little Willies (featuring Jones on
piano and vocals, Richard Julian on vocals,
Jim Campilongo on guitar, Lee Alexander on
bass and Dan Rieser on drums), for two performances: one at Waterloo Records on Thursday
at 1 p.m. and another at Antone’s the same day
at 10 p.m. Danger Mouse, who featured Jones
on his album Rome, teamed up with Jones
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to co-write songs
and produce Little
Broken
Hearts.
The album cover,
says Jones, is inspired by the classic movie posters
that cover Danger
Mouse’s Los Angeles studio. “He has
this great collection of Russ Meyer posters,” Jones explains,
“and this particular one, called Mudhoney,
was right over the couch where I sat every
day. I was always looking at it and thinking, ‘That’s so cool, I want to look like her!’”
Little Broken Hearts is the fifth studio album
from the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter,
whose career began in earnest with the 2002
release of her debut album, Come Away With Me.
SXSW: The Boss Delivers
(Courtesy ca.eonline.com)
The legend himself,
Bruce Springsteen,
will be the SXSW
keynote
speaker
on Thursday at the
Austin Convention
Center, and even
if all he does is
ramble about the
E Street Band and
The Wheeler Brothers will play Skinny’s Ballroom as part of
an Official SXSW Showcase on Friday. (wheelerbrothers.com)
his new album and tour, it will still be worth it
because ... well ... because he’s Bruce Springsteen, for crying out loud. The remainder
of the festival will feature over 2000 acts
from more than 55 countries performing on
90 stages scattered throughout downtown
Austin. Though the Counting Crows, the Ting
Tings, Lana del Rey and the Shins are gen-
extra
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erating considerable buzz ahead of the festival, scores of Texas musicians, in addition
to Jones, will also perform, including Sarah
Jaffe, Ray Benson, Ben Kweller, Guy Forsyth,
the Marmalakes, Sahara Smith, the Black and
White Years, Uncle Lucius, Sarah Jarosz and
the Wheeler Brothers. Folks without badges
or wristbands can still enjoy plenty of free
music during the week, most notably at the
Auditorium Shores Stage at Lady Bird Lake,
which will feature free shows by the Shins, M.
Ward and Little Hurricane on Thursday, and
Counting Crows and Diamond Rugs on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Austin Music Awards will dole
out this year’s trophies on Wednesday. For
more information, visit www.sxsw.com/music.
Houston in the House
In SXSW years
past,
Houston
artists
performing at the festival
have been largely
weighted toward
hip-hop.
Eleven
acts were booked
this year, while
only four outside
the genre — Buxton, Grandfather
Gary Clark Jr. will perform at La Child, the Tontons
Zona Rosa on Wednesday and
the Austin Convention Center on and the Niceguys
Friday. (garyclarkjr.com)
— were accepted. Mark C. Austin, who owns the Convoy
Group, a promotional company, decided to
take matters into this own hands, staging
Houston’s first official invasion of the capital city. Sixteen Houston acts will play an
all-day free show March 16 from 10 a.m. to 6
p.m. at Austin’s Gypsy Lounge (1504 E. 6th
St.). The lineup includes Bang Bangz, Buxton,
Finnegan, Folk Family Revival, KhruangBin,
Chase Hamblin, the Handshake, Holy Fiction, the Niceguys, Poor Pilate, the Tontons,
Tyagaraja, Benjamin Wesley, Wild Moccasins,
Young Girls and DJ Dave Wrangler. “I just
want to make sure that Houston’s scene is
celebrated,” Austin says. “It deserves to be.”
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SXSW: Texas Contingent
As always, plenty of Texas acts will perform at
this year’s festival. We’ve listed a few highlights
here, but to browse the full list with details and
showtimes, visit www.sxsw.com/music.
TUESDAY, 3/13
(katedmonson.com)
Kat Edmonson (left) is at
the Beale Street Tavernwhile Ume is at the Bat Bar
and Rosie Flores at Frank.
...And You Will Know Us by
the Trail of the Dead will
perform at Hotel Vegas.
WEDNESDAY, 3/14
Carolyn Wonderland, Will Sexton, Ruthie Foster and Quiet Company will perform at the
Austin Chronicle Music Awards Show. Amanda
Shires and the
Trishas
(left)
will perform at
the Continental Club. Betty
Soo and Guy
Forsyth
are
among several
Texans
playing the Nancy
Fly
Agency
showcase
at
(myspace.com/thetrishas)
the
Driskill’s
Victorian Room. Over 14 hip-hop artists from
around the state will perform at the Welcome
to Texas showcase at Kiss & Fly.
Brennen Leigh plays the White Horse on Friday at 10 p.m.
(brennenleigh.com)
FRIDAY, 3/16
Catch the Heartless Bastards and Gary Clark
Jr. on the Radio Day Stage at the Austin Convention Center’s fourth
floor. Ray Wylie Hubbard
and Billy Joe Shaver will
perform at Hill Country
Live’s showcase at the
Saxon Pub. Other notables
include the Wheeler Brothers at Skinny’s Ballroom,
Mother Falcon at St. David’s Bethell Hall and Rhett
Miller (left) at the Cedar
(Yoshiaki Miura)
Street Courtyard.
SATURDAY, 3/17
Danny Schmidt, Eliza Gilkyson and Carrie Elkin will play Red House Records’ showcase
at the Driskill. Catch Erin Ivey and the Finest
Kind at the Continental Club, the Carper Family at Stephen F’s Bar, and David Ramirez and
Suzanna Choffel at The Tap Room at Six.
THURSDAY, 3/15
Ray Wylie Hubbard, Ray Benson, Carrie Rodriguez and Jimmy LaFave will play the Grammy
Museum’s Woody Guthrie Centennial Tribute
showcase at St. David’s Bethell Hall. You can
hear The Gourds at the Americana Music Association showcase at Antone’s, Sarah Jaffe
at Club de Ville, Ana Egge at the White Horse
and Neon Indian at Barbarella.
Enjoy the Carper Family’s bluegrass offerings at Stephen F’s
Bar on Saturday at 11 p.m. (carperfamily.com)
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After a four-year silence, the Polyphonic Spree is back on
tour with a new single. (polyphonicspree.com)
Like Double Rainbows
For those who haven’t been the same without
the Polyphonic Spree’s sunshine, rainbows and
blasts of soaring, celestial choruses, they’re
back with a new single, “What Would You Do?”
on their own Good Records Recordings label started by frontman Tim DeLaughter and
bandmate Julie Doyle. Curiously, the song was
recorded in separate sessions so that none
of the 21 band members were ever actually
in the same room at once during the record-
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ing. “Maybe the fact most people believe Texans are crazy helped us dream of starting a
20-something piece band,” DeLaughter says.
For the past four years, the band’s nearly
two dozen church robes have gathered dust
while frontman and Dallas native DeLaughter
worked on his side project, Preteen Zenith,
and managed an Emmy nomination for a song
placement on United States of Tara. So is this
the beginning stages of ... a new album? DeLaughter says the band — which formed in
2004 — plans to take it one song at a time.
Old Settler’s Silver Celebration
With the 25th annual Old Settler’s Music Festival looming, it’s almost time to start digging
out blankets and lawn chairs. Iron & Wine is set
to headline this year’s event, which runs April
19-22. First-timers Bob Schneider and James
McMurtry will also perform, along with Sam
Baker, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit and OSMF
veteran Sarah Jarosz. For more info, visit
www.oldsettlersmusicfest.org.
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MARCH
2–3
Outlaws and Legends Music Fest
Abilene Speedway
Abilene
www.outlawsandlegends.com
2–4
North Texas Irish Festival
Fair Park
(spune.com/seryn)
TEXAS MUSIC READER
APPRECIATION PARTY
Scholz Garten
March 16 • Austin • 12:30-9 p.m.
www.txmusic.com
This year marks the 12th anniversary of
Texas Music — the spring issue, in fact, will
be our 50th — and to show our appreciation for our loyal readers, we put together a small party every year during SXSW
week that, thanks not only to our subscribers but to the many artists who’ve
performed, is pretty much our favorite
day of the year. All current subscribers to
the print magazine (as of the Spring ’12 issue) are invited to attend with one guest.
Performers this year will include the
amazing Amanda Shires, our 2011 Artist
of the Year, whose Carrying Lightning appeared on a host of impressive best-of,
year-end lists; Seryn (pictured above),
who dominated the Dallas Observer Music
Awards in October, winning five awards,
including Best Album, Best Song and
Best Group Act; Joe “King” Carrasco, the
legendary king of Tex-Mex rock ‘n’ roll;
Graham Wilkinson, whose Spiritual Accessories EP — and popular music video
— is opening eyes and drawing raves; and
Hudson Moore, who’s put his education at
the University of Texas on hold to pursue
his alternative-country dream. Help us
celebrate a dozen years of bringing you
the best music — and best music writing
— in Texas. See our Facebook page and
www.txmusic.com for updates.
Dallas
www.ntif.org
4
Joe Ely entertains at the Outlaws and
Legends Music Fest March 3 in Abilene.
(joeely.com)
Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of
Fame Awards Show
15-18
Moody Theater
House Pasture Cattle Company
Austin
www.texasheritagesongwriters.com
8–11
35 Denton
Sake of the Song
Concan
www.dicksonproductions.com
16
Various venues
Texas Music Reader Appreciation
Party
Denton
Scholz Garten
www.35denton.com
Austin
13–18
SXSW Music Festival
Various Venues
www.txmusic.com
16–17
Austin Guitar Show
Austin
Austin Convention Center
www.sxsw.com
Austin
14–18
Heart of Texas Rockfest
Various venues
www.texasguitarshows.com
16–18
Tejano Music Awards/Fan Fair
Austin
Market Square
www.texasrockfest.com
San Antonio
www.tejanomusicawards.com
17
Austin Music Awards
Austin Music Hall
Austin
www.sxsw.com
31–4/1
SpringFest
Downtown Spring
Randy Rogers Band headlines Sake of
the Song with a performance March 15
at 7:30 p.m. (randyrogersband.com)
www.winefestoldtownspring.com
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Larry Hooper
Eisley
Self-Released
Equal Vision
Between Here & the Stars
“I don’t trust the doctor, I don’t trust the
laaaaw,” sings Hooper, straining to hold that
high note. “I don’t trust the preacher ‘cause
he’s worse than them all.” I doubt this guy’s
had a day of vocal instruction in his life, but,
frankly, Hooper’s rowdy, raucous Americana
wants polished vocals like a hobo wants a
sequin dress. Lyrically, he waxes country
throughout, musing on whiskey, love, loss,
Jesus and drinking. He strums a guitar and
sings backwoods poetry over a chorus of
fiddle, bass, mandolin, dobro and (as per
the liner notes) such acoustical apparatus
as a coffee can full of keys, shovel, grunts,
claps and magic, which altogether makes for
a charmingly haphazard affair. That’s not to
say his band ever plays carelessly — no, quite
the contrary: he’s recruited a bang-up group
of musicians for his second album. In fact,
the album’s shining moments happen when
he lets his band loose, as on “Time to Go.”
Regrettably, however, that’s the only time
he really lets everyone loose, and it comes
as early as the third track. Nonetheless,
Hooper’s fine songwriting makes the rest
of the album — and in particular “Lorena”
and “Heaven or Hell” — a worthwhile listen.
— KEVIN ALLEN
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Deep Space
Following up on the success of 2011’s The
Valley, Tyler quintet Eisley — comprised of
four siblings and their cousin — have released the Deep Space EP as a segue to their
next full-length. But Deep Space is anything
but an afterthought. The five-song collection feels as much like a completed album as
any of their previous work. Leading off with
“Lights Out” fluctuating between brooding
and soaring, Deep Space rises and falls in all
the right places. Eisley finds their greatest
musical moments when sisters Sherri and
Stacy DuPree play off each other’s vocals —
be it through harmonies or dueling melodies.
And Eisley knows their way around a melody. “One Last Song” hooks onto a haunting
refrain and never lets go, and the title track
may be the most dynamic of all, producing a level of angst and energy that, without, would make the EP seem hollow. These
tracks occupy the sort of “deep space” the
title promises — and confirm a promising future for this talented ensemble.
— JEREMY BURCHARD
new releases
Feb. 7
Josh Grider
Feb. 7
Various
Feb. 7
Feb. 7
Feb. 10
Feb. 14
Feb. 14
Feb. 14
Feb. 21
Feb. 28
Feb. 28
March 6
March 6
March 6
March 13
March 13
March 20
March 20
March 27
March 27
April 10
April 24
May 1
May 8
Doug Moreland
Ben Kweller
Don Harvey
Heartless Bastards
Nate Kipp
Granger Smith
Shurman
Lyle Lovett
The Hobart Brothers
Todd Snider
Neal McCoy
JB and the Moonshine Band
Janis Joplin
Shooter Jennings
Rodney Hayden
Chris Jamison
Atomic Duo
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Nanci Griffith
Sarah Jaffe
Norah Jones
Pat Green
Atomic Duo
Broadsides
Self-Released
Live at Billy Bob’s
The Music Inside: A Collaboration
Dedicated to Waylon Jennings, Vol. 2
The Flying Armadillos
Go Fly a Kite
Light Shines Through
Arrow
The Holding Pattern
Live at the Chicken
Inspiration
Release Me
At Least We Have Each Other
Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables
XII
Beer for Breakfast
Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968
Family Man
Live from the Phoenix
Cradle to Cradle
Broadsides
The Grifter’s Hymnal
Intersection
The Body Wins
Little Broken Hearts
Songs We Wish We’d Written II
Smith
Average Joes
Big Hat
Noise Company
Freedom
Partisan
Real McCoy
Self-Released
Teletone
Lost Highway
Freedom
Aimless
Blaster
Average Joes
Columbia/Legacy
Entertainment One
Self-Released
Self-Released
Self-Released
Bordello
Thirty Tigers
Kirtland
Blue Note
Sugar Hill
Broadsides is a Dixie-drenched southernfried blue-plate special heaped high with
country blues and hillbilly twang. With their
resonator guitar and mandolin, Mark Rubin
(formerly of the Bad Livers) and Silas Lowe
have recorded new songs that could have
come straight out of the Great Depression
and Prohibition — an angry, drunken wail of
a displaced American working class. This
darkly fun record was produced by Lloyd
Maines, who also contributes dobro, and
blues master Steve James joins in on slide
guitar. On Broadsides, the Atomic Duo prove
the old adage: the blues are songs about sad
subjects that make you feel good.
— STUART MASON
q&a Ben Kweller
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band launched into the album’s driving, power
pop opener, “Mean to Me,” it was clear that
Kweller hasn’t lost steam — or pluck — and it’s
this amalgam of youth and craftsmanship that
appeals to listeners.
Kweller’s busy SXSW schedule includes a Convention Center
performance Thursday at 2 p.m. (benkweller.com)
Ben Kweller’s tousled, red hair evokes a babyfaced Huckleberry Finn, yet few songwriters
his age are as grizzled. At 30, the Dallas native
has spent more than half his life at the songwriter’s helm. When he was 13, his Nirvanainspired garage band, Radish, was caught in a
major-label bidding war won by now-defunct
Mercury Records. At 17, the former wunderkind
moved to Brooklyn and inked a deal with ATO
Records. His solo debut, Sha Sha, was released
in 2002, and the album’s power pop anthem,
“Wasted and Ready,” enjoyed serious airplay.
Kweller appeared on Letterman and Austin City
Limits. He got married. Two more albums followed suit: On My Way (2004) and Ben Kweller
(2006). He became a father. Finally, after the
alt-country Changing Horses (2009) closed his
ATO years on a southern note, the Kwellers
headed back to Texas.
February found the songwriter hitting a well-deserved milestone: the release of
his fifth studio album, Go Fly a Kite, and also
the debut of Kweller’s own record label, Noise
Company. Yet when he appeared onstage at
Austin’s Beauty Ballroom for his CD release
show, he had all the humor and ebullience of
his younger days, when his bleached, long hair
was more Kurt Cobain than Huck Finn. As the
What led you to create your own label?
Ever since I was a kid, I was interested in record labels. I’d look at my favorite cassette
tapes and CDs and notice the different company logos and how certain themes of music I
liked would be on one specific label. I recorded
friends’ bands, duplicated different cassettes
and artwork and gave them to friends. I pretended I had this record company called Practice Amp Records. I was 14. Our logo was a
cassette tape because all we made then were
cassettes. Two years ago, I knew my contract
with ATO was almost up, and I started thinking seriously about my next step. I felt I should
start my own company and have total control
of everything beyond the music.
Why call it Noise Company?
I didn’t want “records” in the name — I wanted
it to be abstract. With “noise,” you think it has
something to do with the music business, but
you’re not sure what the hell it is. I liked that.
Something modern and different.
How did signing with Mercury 15 years ago affect your career?
It showed me the good things in the music
business and also the bad. By the time I moved
to New York and began writing autobiographical songs for Sha Sha, I knew what I wanted to
keep close to me and what I wanted to keep
away. I was able to weed out the people who
didn’t seem genuine and keep the ones in my
life who were the real deal. I felt lucky when I
was 18 and signed to ATO and basically became
a brand new artist. I already had all this experience under my belt from the Radish days.
In 1997, the New Yorker published a spread
about the bidding war that took place over
Radish. In the article an industry person said,
“The best thing that could happen to Ben is
the album doesn’t sell and he gets all embittered, and then, when he’s 18, he can write
something good.”
My parents had a copy of the magazine and
I remember seeing the pictures and thinking
“Oh, that’s f***ing lame. Do they really want
this photo of me jumping on a f***ing trampoline?” I didn’t want to do it … but I did. I was a
kid, and all of a sudden I was in an adult world,
dealing with all these grown-ups. The album
didn’t do well — that’s true. At 18, I wrote something good — that’s true. But I never got bitter.
So that’s the cool thing. I didn’t become jaded.
I’m proud of that.
How does releasing Go Fly a Kite feel?
There’s a bigger sense of accomplishment than
with past records. It’s one thing to write and
record songs and get the artwork together —
which I’ve always done — but this was so much
more work. It’s a big relief that it’s finally out,
and so far it seems like everyone’s liking the
album — it’s No. 3 on the iTunes Rock Chart.
Did you write it in Brooklyn or Texas?
It was started in Brooklyn and finished down
south. I remember sitting at the piano in
Brooklyn and playing the melody to “Full Circle.” “Jealous Girl” was started there. “Mean
to Me,” “Gossip” and “Out the Door” came after we’d moved to Texas, but I finished them in
Australia because I went on tour pretty soon
after we moved.
Do you write on tour?
I write a lot in hotel rooms. Australia has always been good to me for songwriting, maybe
because I’m so far away from everyone and on
my own with my thoughts. But I don’t know that
my albums are directly inspired by location.
Changing Horses, which I wrote in Brooklyn,
was in me for years. We recorded it in Austin,
and a few months after we were back in New
York, my wife said, “Maybe we should move to
Austin.” So recording that album prompted us
to move. When we got to Austin, I was ready to
start working on Go Fly a Kite, which is a rock
album. It’s funny — it’s backwards.
What have been the highlights for you over
the last decade?
A lot of my collaborations over the years —
that’s the best stuff, really: playing with the Violent Femmes and getting onstage with those
guys; writing songs with bands like Guster and
Ben Folds; touring with the Strokes. Making
friendships has been good for me, and being
able to travel has been amazing — seeing the
world and realizing that we really are one human race.
Where do you go from here?
Ten years ago, I hoped I could tour around the
world, play my songs and put out records. Ten
years later I’m doing that, but I’m still growing
and motivated. I’ve got fire in my belly to get
to as many places as I can and play shows and
get music out there. I’d love to reach a point
when I can tour when I want and figure out a
better balance of being home with my family
and working and traveling.
Are you working on anything right now?
I just wrote a song with Rhett Miller called
“Lost Without You.” It’s going to be on his new
solo album, which comes out in April or May.
Can we expect another country album?
I don’t know that I’ll do a Changing Horses Part
II or anything. There’s no escaping the fact
that a country song will likely pop up over the
years, but the majority of what I write is pop,
rock ‘n’ roll and ballads. The country thing is
lower on the list as far as how frequently it appears. And that’s why Horses took so long to
write. Some of those songs go back 15 years. It
took a long time to get 11 of them that worked
as an album. But we’ll see. Maybe in 13 years
I’ll do another.
—LAURA C. MALLONEE