Press Release - July 12, 2005

Press

    September 26, 2005

Photos

Visit Website

Friday, September 23
Austin Collins Band – 11:15am
Texas Music magazine says that Houston native Austin Collins “proves that contemporary commercial country can be something far better than Nashville dreck,” thanks to “a winning tenor, catchy yet eloquent songs and a high-quality modern country style.” And to think he almost ended up going down a completely different pathway in life. Collins was on his way to a finance degree at the University of Texas when his persistent tries at songwriting on the side finally came to fruition. He began focusing more and more on his music, honing his chops playing the Austin open-mic circuit. In time, his talents were strong enough to win over Nashville producer Billy Cerveny, who helmed Collins’ aptly titled 2005 Fat Caddy Records debut, Something Better. Collins, perhaps still thinking a bit too much in mathematical terms, describes his style as what would happen “if Son Volt and Whiskeytown had a baby.” But anyway you add it up, Collins is off to a promising start.

Kate York -12:40pm
Kate York moved to Nashville in 1999 with the intention of becoming a recording engineer. It didn’t take her long to discover she preferred writing songs, so she started penning them for other artists. Eventually, she took a shot at performing those country/folk-flavored tunes herself, and Nashville ears responded. Producer Neilson Hubbard offered to work with her, and they wound up recording her debut album, Sadlylove, released this year. Clearly, Hubbard wasn’t the only one in town impressed by York’s talent; guests on the album include Matthew Ryan, fellow newcomer Mindy Smith and many of Nashville’s most popular sidemen. York also counts famed Austinites Patty Griffin and Shawn Colvin among her fans — she’s opened for both.

Monte Warden – 2:40pm
Monte Warden won his first Austin Music Award (for Best New Band) when he was all of 15 years old. The band in question was the country trio Whoa Trigger!, which the young Warden rode all the way into his next project - the even more popular Wagoneers, which scored a major-label deal with A&M. The early-to-mid '90s found Warden launching a solo career, resulting in three albums showcasing his signature blend of Buddy Holly hooks, hot rockabilly guitar licks and straight-up Texas honky-tonk. But like his longtime friend Bruce Robison, Warden's biggest success in recent years has been as a professional songwriter, landing cuts with artists like Kelly Willis, Patty Loveless and, most recently, George Strait. Warden and Robison co-wrote Strait's smash 2004 single, ”Desperately“ - a song inspired by the breakup of Warden's first marriage.

Patrick Davis -4:40pm
Patrick Davis is another one of those kids with a musical upbringing that seemed to pre-ordain their career choice. When he was a teen, the Camden, S.C., native began performing with his dad, vintage guitar shop owner Rusty Davis, in the latter’s classic rock band. By 2002, the younger Davis had reached his early 20s and was recording his debut album in Nashville. Since its release in October 2003, Chances Are has earned plenty of raves. Performing Songwriter magazine praised Davis’ “natural blend of Springsteen-style working-class rock and from-the-gut alternative country” and pronounced him “a young artist on the cusp of a serious career.” His work, also described as “Tom Petty meets Lyle Lovett,” earned him early attention from Hootie and the Blowfish member Mark Bryan, who produced and performed on the CD and a previous EP, The Demos. Davis has since opened for Hootie, as well as Pat Green, Edwin McCain, Cowboy Mouth and Nickel Creek, among others. His next release will be out later this year.

The Massacoustics – 6:40pm
Yes, they are an acoustic act, and they do hail from Massachusetts. But as obvious as the Massacoustics may be in name, their music is anything but. Combining the buoyant energies of Paul McCartney’s melodies, the confident vocals of Crowded House and the depth of Al Green, these guys have a unique sound that offers a powerful twist on the standard acoustic duo formula. The Massacoustics are Andy Thompson on guitar and vocals and Matt Thompson on bass, percussion and vocals — two guys who grew up just south of Boston and started playing music together early on in grade school. More recently, they’ve toured the U.S. and Europe, collaborated with members of the Beach Boys for a children’s album of Beach Boys songs and became the latest members of the long-running Little River Band — all of which guarantees that the Massacoustics’ Austin City Limits Music Festival debut should delight music fans of all ages.

Saturday, September 24
Kacy Crowley – 11:15am
After a couple of unsuccessful attempts at breaking into the music industry in Los Angeles and New York, New England-raised singer-songwriter Kacy Crowley’s career bloomed following a move to Austin in the mid-’90s. After quickly building up a local buzz, Crowley was signed to major-label Atlantic Records in the midst of the “women in rock” boom spawned by the Lilith Fair festivals. Crowley herself did the Lilith circuit in support of her 1997 Atlantic debut, Anchorless, but her second album for Atlantic — originally scheduled for release in 2001 — was shelved by the label shortly before she was dropped. Crowley kept a low profile for a couple of years before returning with 2003’s self-released, Jon Dee Graham-produced Moodswing. With that album’s “Kind of Perfect” single scoring heavy airplay on Austin’s KGSR, her comeback was off and running. Her latest album, Tramps Like Us, finds Crowley taking a more stripped-down, acoustic approach with her music, but her unflinchingly personal lyrics and distinctive, raspy vocals still pack a rocking emotional wallop. To paraphrase the album’s opening track, she’s still a “Badass.”

South Austin Jug Band – 12:40pm
Making their third appearance at the Austin City Limits Music Festival, the South Austin Jug Band may not have a jug player, but they do reside in South Austin and make music that can fit many descriptions: bluegrass or newgrass, neo-jug, acoustic country-folk, Texas roots unplugged, swinging Lone Star beatnik country or anything else that strikes you. They’ve become favorites on the local scene as well as favorites at festivals and venues across the land thanks to their superior musicianship and ear for a cool song, be it from their own pens or anyone from Walter Hyatt to Jimi Hendrix. Their self-titled 2003 release was produced by Lloyd Maines, the Texas steel guitar hero whose credits include Home, the most recent hit album by The Dixie Chicks. As TakeCountryBack.com notes, “These boys have it all — they’re all outstanding musicians [and have] great songwriting, terrific vocals [and] harmonies.”

Free Sõl – 2:40pm
This Memphis quartet formed in 2002 and soon after won the Mid-South Grammy Showcase with a sound rooted in hip-hop that blends in elements of jazz, funk, rock and soul. The band describes its mission as delivering real music that looks past commercialism and allows one to listen, question, agree, disagree and find deeper meaning through the fusion of great artistry and high-energy performances. In just a short time they have already become a popular attraction on the live music circuit and have opened for acts like Isaac Hayes, Erykah Badu, the Wailers, Van Hun and the Foo Fighters. Their debut album on Memphis Records, 11:11, “has definitely raised the bar,” says CDBaby.com. “From start to finish, this CD will prove to be a pure delight for the consummate music fan. That’s because the band has masterfully crafted a project that takes you on quite a funky ride through multiple musical genres, all the while never losing the integrity of each style.”

The Lost Trailers – 4:40pm
Singer Ryder Lee and songwriter/guitarist Geoffrey Stokes Nielson formed the Lost Trailers only after a demo of their songs earned them a spot on a Willie Nelson Fourth of July picnic lineup. The Georgia boys, already living in Nashville, summoned Nielson’s brother Andrew and high school chum Jeff Potter, then headed southwest. They’ve been on the road ever since. After having their trailer full of gear stolen — twice — they became the Lost Trailers. Eventually, friend Manny Medina came along as their fifth member. They count Nelson and Alabama among their influences, along with the Allman Brothers, Bruce Springsteen and Central Texas’ own Pat Green and Los Lonely Boys. Nielson couldn’t really help becoming a songwriter; as a child, his punishment for bad deeds was to write about what he’d done. If he didn’t tell his story honestly — “straight from the heart,” as he puts it — he’d have to write it again. But the title of the band’s debut album was inspired by Nelson, who once gave Nielson some career advice. “If you build a house of quality in the woods, the world will beat a path to your doorstep,” the Texas sage said. The album’s name? Welcome to the Woods.

The Real Heroes – 6:40pm
When you’ve got the cheek to call your rock band the Real Heroes, there’s no getting away with just shuffling through the motions on autopilot: You damn well better bring it, full-tilt and then some, every time you step out on stage or into the studio. Fortunately, this Austin quintet is more than up to the challenge of living up to its name. Texas Music magazine hailed the band’s second album, 2004’s Greetings From Russia, as “Bowie, Mott the Hoople, B.O.C. and Cheap Trick” all rolled up into “a single-serving rock ’n’ roll multi-vitamin,” and that doesn’t even begin to do justice to the Real Heroes’ triple-guitar-threat live show, especially when frontman Benjamin Hotchkiss gets good and limbered up and incites the crowd to “move that strut!” in kind. Though still one of the Live Music Capitol of the World’s better-kept secrets, the Real Heroes’ increasingly frequent ventures up North have found them beginning to win over even jaded New York hipsters, and live previews of songs from their forthcoming third album, like the tell-all “We Can Do Better,” hint at great things to come.

Sunday, September 25
Naturally Seven - 11:20am
Natural indeed is the sound of this New York City gospel act, which makes its Austin City Limits Music Festival debut this year. That sound is the unaccompanied seven human voices of these longtime friends and collaborators singing in stunning harmony in the time-honored acapella style. Formed in the late ’90s, Naturally Seven won the championship out of the box at the national Harmony Sweepstakes acapella competition in 1999. With their extended seven-part harmonies, they take the genre into new realms, bring a funky, urban and modern slant to the style and artfully blending gospel, jazz, R&B, hip hop and even classical vocal influences into one of the most innovative and exciting new sounds in spiritual music. LongIslandMusicScene.com hails the septet’s album Non-Fiction as “a journey into the vocal stratosphere. What is the human voice capable of? Well, if this album is any indication, just about anything is possible.”

Kelley Hunt – 12:55pm
According to Denver’s Westworld, Kansas City-born Americana/blues artist Kelley Hunt serves up “the freshest slant on classic R&B you’re likely to hear these days. She’s a tough woman who makes a hip and burly sound.” Accomplished Nashville producer Garth Fundis would surely second that, having been so knocked out hearing Hunt pitch some of her songs to him — initially in hopes of landing a cut on a Trisha Yearwood album — that he instead offered to produce her. Fundis even called in his friend, Grammy-winning producer and songwriter Gary Nicholson, to co-produce the sessions, which yielded Hunt’s terrific new album, New Shade of Blue. The record (Hunt’s third to date) proves the perfect showcase for her powerhouse vocals, rollicking piano playing, smart original songs and equally smart (and surprising) taste in covers, the latter evidenced by selections like Jesse Winchester’s “That’s What Makes You Strong” and the Beatles’ “The Word.” It’s little wonder that Hunt holds her own so well on the album’s “Deal With It,” a smoking duet with champion house rocker Delbert McClinton, and that she’s won over legions of blues and roots music fans across the country through hard-touring and a whopping seven appearances (to date) on NPR/PRI’s nationally syndicated A Prairie Home Companion.

Austin Hartley-Leonard – 2:40pm
Austin Hartley-Leonard may share a name with the Live Music Capital of the World, but he didn’t actually get around to moving here until 2003. Prior to moving to Austin, the classically trained singer-songwriter spent years honing his craft on the Chicago club scene — and in the classroom. Twelve years at the Chicago Institute of Music helped earn him acceptance into the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University, where he studied guitar and cello. Hartley-Leonard’s Vanderbilt days also found him hooking up with the band Gillespy Road, which opened for acts like Guster and Cracker and performed at Farm Aid 2001. All of that experience shows in Hartley-Leonard’s solo songs and performances, which deftly mix elements of his classical background with evocative, guitar-driven melodies recalling the likes of Nick Drake and Ryan Adams.

Jeff Black – 4:40pm
Singer/songwriter Jeff Black fires another salvo in the war against mediocrity with the release of his fourth album Tin Lily. It's his finest album to date and comes from the burly, bare-knuckled, blue-collar brand of songwriting that has become one of Black's trademarks. Another of Black's trademarks is creativity. It's always been there in the songs, which explains why artists as diverse as Waylon Jennings, Jo-El Sonnier, Sam Bush and BlackHawk have recorded his compositions. But even more importantly, his creativity seeps through every aspect of his career. For Black that means applying the same passionate innovation in marketing his music that he has for making it. That's led him to diverse business forays into advertising, film scoring and the burgeoning world of Podcasting. His moving and melodic songs are uniquely suited to film work because he writes with a painter's eye for nuance and detail. His music is featured in the 2006 film Steel City. His work also appears on the film score and soundtrack to the recent critically acclaimed PBS documentary The Appalachians.

Donna The Buffalo – 6:40pm
Hailing from Upstate New York, Donna the Buffalo plays an eclectic mix of reggae, rock, country, zydeco, Cajun, folk and old-time fiddle music to create a combination it describes as original American dance music. Formed in 1997 by a group of friends with a fondness for throwing old-time music picking parties, Donna the Buffalo has since grown from an Ithaca coffeehouse act to a regional phenomenon famous for presenting its annual Grassroots Music Festival, which has featured such notable acts as 10,000 Maniacs, John Anderson, Patty Loveless, Los Lobos and Ralph Stanley. Through incessant touring, the group has also become popular on the jam-band circuit, thanks to what Pop Matters calls “the sheer infectiousness of the band’s grooves and rhythms [and] ultra-positive vibe.” That vibe can be heard on both of the band’s latest projects: their own album, Life’s a Ride, and a collaboration with noted singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale, Wait ’Til Spring.