Austin: A Texan's Perspective
Rockadelic
Out Digging 13,993 Posts
There is no question that of all the large cities in Texas, Austin is the place to be. Dallas and Houston are superficial, plastic, overcommercialized cities with no real culture of their own. Modern day melting pots built on people's dreams to become wealthy. Urban sprawls without true urban history or charm. Musically Dallas has a rich history from the 20's-60's but is now an empty well with it's more recent famous alumni being the likes of The New Bohemians and Norah Jones. Commercial pablum. Eryka Badu gives us some street cred, but not nearly enough. And while Austin has great appeal with it's laid back attitude, scenic surroundings, colorful people and love of music, it is, in my opinion, been the most over rated music city in the nation for the last 25 years.It helped foster the legendary "Texas Outlaw" movement but that movement was really based in places like Lubbock, Luchenbach and Kerrville. It has famous "locals" like Stevie Ray Vaughan(Dallas), Marcia Ball(Louisiana), Willie Nelson(Fort Worth), Jerry Jeff Walker(New York), Doug Sahm(San Antonio) and Townes Van Zandt(Fort Worth).Truth be told, the only true Austinites to make any noise on the music scene in the last 25 years have been the likes of Eric Johnson and Charlie Sexton. Please add to this list as I'm sure I've missed a few.And of course there is South By Southwest. Originally started as a venue for "music biz insiders" it has evolved into a commercial free for all with all kinds of "hipsters" attending to be seen and say they were there. Truth is that of the 900+ acts to perform at SXSW over the last 4 years only 3(to my knowledge) were actually signed to record deals as a result. Most of the important and influential music biz folks no longer attend, a fact lost on wide eyed, overly enthusiastic rock star hopefuls.Now granted, I can't speak with any authority of the ATX Hip-Hop scene, but that is not what Austin has built it's reputation on. It's built it's reputation on having a great Blues club(Antones) and being a good city for touring acts to perform in. But as far as giving birth and nurturing it's own local scene, I haven't seen anything worth a damn since the late 70's Punk days.So when you think of "Austin Music" what is the first thing to pop into your head???
Comments
Austin does have the rest of Texas beat on supporting bands, and that is why it is our "live music capital"...not on quality of music coming out of there.
Clouds Dude, Clouds!!
And when you do well in the Denton scene you "earn" the right to play Austin twice a month....and if you're really good they will claim you as their own.......sad.
One of my favorite songwriters ever, Brent Best, is one of Denton's own!!
Riverboat Gamblers just did this and Oceanographer are now NYC residents.
I'm now in Grapevine, so I'm nobody!
Brent is very good. You a Slobberbone fan then I guess?
Their first two albums are in my normal rotation.....the combination of Brent's lyrics and delivery is special.
If "No Depression" music was spawned from Backwoods and Moonshine Stills...
Slobberbone was a result of North Texas Trailer Parks and Meth Labs.
1980's one-hit wonders Timbuk 3? ("The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades" was their moment.)
A year ago, I was at an outdoor festival where the dB's and some other acts I now forget were playing. I was talking to two ladies who had come down from Austin to Chicago specifically for this block-party festival.
One of the ladies sez to me, "you know, coming from Austin, I gotta say: Chicago's music scene seems kind of lame by comparison."
I said, "Why do you say that? We have as many wimpy alt-country bands as Austin does, so you oughta feel right at home!"
Much love to the Denton music scene. Keep doin the do.
I saw Slobberbone live once. Didn't like them very much,
but didn't think they were "bad" so much as just not my cup of joe.
I did like when they did a cover of The Replacements' "Answering
Machine," though.
i would add add tim kerr, roky erickson, daniel johnston, and to some extent bob mould (sugar era) to the list. some would say spoon and trail of dead. i would say the motards . . . .
I think that both Dallas and Houston's post boomtown(late 70's) culture is defined by the likes of Enron, Rolex and Hummers. Both of these cities have doubled in size over the last 30 years and this has seriously diluted and/or devoured whatever culture was there prior to this time.
Austin City Limits? Where does this fit in to everything?
and when you play at Stubbs you get free BBQ
although our biggest crowd was at the Fry Street fair 96 or 97, second to the headliners, Baboon, I think, played for about 3000 folks.
austin has good restaurants, nice hotels...but fuck a sixth street.
Kenny Dorham
Martin Banks
T.D. Bell
Grey Ghost
James Polk
Austin Musical Stars from the past 25 years:
SRV
Big Boys
Butthole Surfers (moved here from San Antonio)
Ministry (moved here from Chicago)
Spoon
Los Lonely Boys (moved here from San Angelo)
Salih Williams/Carnival Beats (they bounce back and forth between here and Luling)
Current Noteworthy Locals:
Pinetop Perkins (moved here from Chicago)
Cyril Neville (moved here from New Orleans)
DJ Rapid Ric
D-Madness
Gary Clark Jr.
Grupo Fantasma/Brownout
Martin Perna (moved here from New York)
BLAZE/Ephraim Owens
DJ Baby G (moved here from Dallas)
DJ Cut Creator (moved here from New York - not sure if he's still here though)
Various Noteworthy Locals from the past:
The Dicks
Michael E. Johnson & the Killer Bees
Project Crew
Bad Mutha Goose
Bouffant Jellyfish
Soul Hat
Ed Hall/Pong
Also, Nelly was born in Austin.
Surely, I'm missing a bunch...but that's at least a good start.
As far as famous Austin clubs from the past, there's the Armadillo, Raul's, Mercado Caribe, Cannibal Club, Liberty Lunch, might as well throw the Coliseum (seen in the Clash's Combat Rock video) and Austin Opera House in there as well, Electric Lounge, and now the Back Room.
The historic Victory Grill which used to be a crucial stop on the chitlin circuit is still open to this day in East Austin thanks to the work of Eva Lindsay.
Harold McMillans's DiverseArts project also deserves a lot of credit for working to preserve the historical credibility of Austin as a lightning rod for African-American culture.
Juneteenth is celebrated here every year in a very big way.
Texas Relays Weekend is another enormous African-American cultural event that happens annually.
Having so many people move here from New Orleans this past year certainly changes the make-up of this city as well.
Then of course there is the MASSIVE Mexican influence to boot.
I disagree that Houston has no culture apart from stripmalls and oil refineries. It's a coastal, bayou city with many almost-Cajun characteristics shared with nearby places including Port Arthur and Lafayette. Furthermore, Galveston ain't no joke.
Baboon is a great band. I went to high school in Houston with their singer Andrew and their lead guitarist Mike. Their last album, which came out like 3 years ago, is their best work to date IMO.
OK, that's enough for now.
Texas can also now claim Mike Smooth a/k/a Lord Finesse's Dj.... a new Dallas resident.
Oh yeah, Justin Timberlakes DJ is from Dallas... but who could that be?