SXSW Report, 2005
So Much Music, So Little Time: Your Unadulterated Expose’ From the City of the Weird
or What We Did When We Were In Austin for SXSW.
Sherree and David Hughes
Amazing. Awesome. Incredible. Unbelievable. Overwhelming. These were just some of the words we were mumbling to ourselves as we invaded Austin, Texas, for the monstrous annual event that is South by SouthWest.
Thanks to a chance meeting in Hot Springs one evening with the big brass from Nightflying, we were lured into serving as reporters to cover the SXSW spectacle this year. Baited with the opportunity to do the two things we love most, travel and listen to music (well, ok, two of the three things we love to do the most), we heartily agreed to wander through the rolling Texas hills and meander the streets of Austin for a few days. It was going to be a dirty job but we were glad it would be us doing it.
We bailed out of Hot Springs early Wednesday morning and after the ceremonial Wal-Mart stop, we managed to find our way to the registration line (the only not so good experience of the week and even that wasn’t bad as we befriended some folks from the Northeast part of the country while in line and drank many beers. Thanks Dave and Barbara!). Once out of the line and with our registration packets secured we sat down and pored over the information, taking in the activities and the bands that would be playing through the week.
Our first mission was to locate Little Rock’s own Runaway Planet, sponsored by Nightflying. We found our intrepid heroes setting up their equipment in Latitude 30. They were the first band up in L30 that evening and little did we know they would set the tone for the evening. What a great bunch of musicians! RP is Greg Alexander on guitar and vocals, Steve Brauer on banjo and vocals, Ben Ellis on Mandolin and Michael Proveaux on bass and vocals. For this gig the band added Mark Smith on the dobro. Now understand, neither of us were very big bluegrass afficianados before this night. I had always enjoyed the music but never found it a driving force in my humble existence. My partner was even worse. She couldn’t believe we were really going to hear a bluegrass band. Once the guys started playing it was another world. Runaway Planet was the perfect blend of harmony with a resounding bass back beat, instruments and voices as one. The guys never broke a smile, further extending the persona that is bluegrass. However, their facial expressions masked the musical explosion that pulls you along with them. It was like they were saying "Hey, c’mon and let’s have a little fun with life’s miseries." The guys flew through their forty minute set with originals and covers. Our favorites were Who’s Gonna Work The Farm, Long Way From Memphis (if you ain’t from Arkansas) and a really cool Pink Floyd cover. RP pulled off the surprise of the night. Not only did they represent the Altered State well they gained a couple of new fans for bluegrass music. Hey guys, can you do Whippin’ Post?
After leaving L30, we wandered down to the Fox and Hound to take in Shooter Jennings, the Derailers and the Bottle Rockets. When we arrived what we got was a hot little four piece country-rock band called the Damnations. We caught the last few minutes of their set before the cold weather began to work its way into our thinned blood. The longer we stood the colder we got and all of a sudden the evening began to look much shorter. We did hang on long enough to catch most of Shooter Jennings set. Jennings’ music is cut from much of the same cloth as his daddy’s so you know it’s got potential. We had about all the cold weather we could stand and after a hard day’s drive to get to Austin we decided to call it an evening and retire to the comfort of our little bungalow by the interstate. Besides we needed to rest up for the rest of the week.
Nightflying’s effervescent editor had warned us that SXSW was much akin to a musical Amway convention. Truer words were never spoken. From interviews with artists to the trade show to tons of advice for people wanting to get into the industry, SXSW had something for everyone.
We arrived in the royal hall Thursday morning in anticipation of a front seat for the Robert Plant interview. Apparently, several hundred other people had the same idea (those bastards!). As it turned out our seats were not bad at all.
Before the interview the audience was entertained by music from rockabilly great Marty Stuart and songstress Mavis Staples. The duo put on a great performance with Staples pointing out that Stuart had been adopted into the Staples family years ago by her dad, Pops Staples. Staples ended the set with "I’ll Take You There", a song off her new CD that had everyone on their feet and singing with her.
Following the performance was something that I’m certainly glad we had the chance to be a part of. Neal Portner of Sony came on stage and presented Robert Plant with Led Zeppelin’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Award. This event was purposely staged without Plant’s knowledge. Since Plant could not be at the original awards ceremony Portner and the SXSW folks engineered the presentation during his introduction for the interview. It was quite touching to witness an obviously humbled Plant accept the award as he commented on the 25th anniversary of drummer John Bonham’s death.
Bill Flanagan of MTV News conducted the interview with Plant. In a very relaxed atmosphere, Flanagan talked with Plant about "hearing Elvis on the radio in the dark" when he was a young boy as the catalyst that pushed him toward music. According to Plant hearing Elvis over the airwaves helped put him in touch with his blues roots. He continually referred to following and finding the "blue note" throughout the years and the music. From "Clarksdale to Timbuktu, I am constantly reminded of how little I know" Plant stated. He commented on finding himself sitting in Antone’s the previous evening between Hubert Sumlin and Pinetop Perkins wondering to himself "How the hell did I get here?" The interview covered the gamut, from his current project with the Strange Sensation Band to the Led Zeppelin years to growing up as a gangly youth in the English countryside. The question on everyone’s mind finally came up. Will Led Zeppelin ever do a reunion? A thoughtful Plant summed it up by saying "Led Zeppelin meant what it meant when it meant it. Bonzo’s gone. Led Zeppelin’s gone. You go on." Plant is very intense about still making music, pointing out that his current project is just as intense as Physical Graffiti. Plant was humorous and humble throughout the interview and concluded by saying that he was "doing what he was supposed to do." The thought crossed my mind as I looked at the lines that had been traced on his stature through the years, "This is the face of rock ‘n’ roll."
Robert Wilonsky, a film critic for the Dallas Observer, weighed in on the interview with Erykah Badu Saturday morning. I have to admit that I did not know much about Ms. Badu before the interview but I can say I have a deep respect for her work and her motivations after listening to her. Badu talked about the changes she has experienced since coming onto the music scene as the "head wrapped, incense burning princess of neo-soul." She further explained "None of us are who we were in 1995" alluding to expectations that have come about as a result of her debut. She has morphed from the rap chick who "dipped into the club, did her rap, lit her incense and moved on" to dealing with the weight of those expectations. Badu’s background includes working in a coffee shop, teaching school and dancing in a cabaret to make ends meet. She has purchased the Black Forest Theatre (formerly the Forest Theatre) in Dallas and has turned it into a community center, offering arts, music and crafts to area youth, her efforts to give back to the community that gave to her. Badu also uses her touring as her platform for facilitating family values and her philanthropies and counts on other artists visiting the Dallas area to stop by and promote BFT.
Badu has recently started Control Freaq records, a label that caters to artists who want to control their own careers. Commenting on the record industry, Badu said her goal was to "free the slaves and the slave masters" by allowing the artists to keep their music as their own. Her format motivates artists to start their own companies and control their own destinies. Her words to aspiring musician’s were "Don’t write somethin’…write ABOUT somethin’." She also gave the audience her four rules to live by: (1) take a salt bath when you’re stressed; (2) breathe, find that place inside yourself and breathe; (3) learn your poker face; and (4) hold your stomach in.
As mentioned above, SXSW does resemble a musical Amway convention. We proceeded over the next few days through the vendor booths and participated in a number of educational sessions and panels. The sessions and panels ran the spectrum. They included topics such as management, touring and booking, merchandising, dealing with attorneys, utilizing the internet, songwriting, income streams, distribution, and playing abroad just to name a few. The panels included artists and industry heads giving tips and advice about the business.
We sat in on a panel titled Learning From Bluegrass that focused on getting the bluegrass genre into the mainstream of the industry. The panel included bluegrass giant Doyle Lawson, Austin City Limits producer Terry Lickona, Jimmy Mattingly of the Grasscals and Marty Raybon of Shenandoah. From there, we headed over to a session called Songwriters on Craft and Inspiration. This panel was facilitated by BMI rep Paul Corbin and included Susan Cowsill, formerly of the Cowsills, country singer Rick Trevino and Michelle Shocked. This panel was the most enjoyable of the event. From Cowsill’s irreverence to Trevino’s "aw shucks" demeanor to Shocked’s over the top activism, these songwriters provided insight into their inspirations and even sang a few of their favorites.
The trade show was an everyday affair for us. We had the opportunity to meet a number of great people, see lots of products and services and hear more music than you could wrap a lifetime around. Some of our favorites were Charlie Cheney and his Indie Band Manager program, a computerized program and database that allows bands and managers to track their tours, press, merchandise and much more; MusiCares, a group that provides a safety net of critical assistance for musician’s in times of need; Melissa Balin and Dirty Children dot Us, an on-line music magazine that solicits free lance reporters from around the world; Melissa Balin’s sister Rebecca and Children of Earth, a movie company soliciting sponsors and funds for an indie flick about an earth takeover from outer space with a twist; Mike Matray and his magazine, Groupeez, a new music publication based out of Chicago that was looking for beat writers from around the country; Songsalive! And Warrior Girl Music, a pair of organizations put together by Gillis Moon for helping songwriters get their music to the world without getting ripped off; and (my personal favorite) Melissa Cross’ The Zen of Screaming, an instructional DVD on how to yell like a rock star without hurting the pipes (See our review elsewhere).
It was in the trade show where we met a most unique group of individuals. The band Skunkweed had their own booth, hawking CD’s and passing out beer to would be victims, er, visitors. Skunkweed is Jay Brown and Leon Waddy, best friends since high school; Dave James, a former bassist for a death metal band; James Said, formerly a heavy metal band drummer; and mariachi trumpeter Roger Garcia. Having been snubbed by SXSW officials for several years, this band of party monsters decided they were coming to the show in 2005 one way or the other. So, they purchased booth space and used it as an avenue to get their music to the public. Not only was Skunkweed a great bunch of guys, their music turned out to be pretty good too. As a bit of poetic justice it turned out that Skunkweed’s efforts won them the "Best Booth" award for the SXSW trade show. Way to go guys! You are the most "Open Minded Rednecks" we’ve ever met.
Another cool cat that we happened across was musician Sean Michael Dargan whose signature bow tie drew lots of stares. Sean was helping Charlie Cheney hawk his computer program when we ran into him. His music wasn’t too shabby either.
We bumped into future rap stars Krusal, aka Rolondo Bering, and Strik, aka J. Michael Spencer, cruising around the halls of the convention center. These two guys are up and comers from Tacoma who managed a gig while they were in town promoting their new CD "We’re Next". Their rap was tight and they were couple of nice cats to boot. We were feeling kind of krunk ourselves after talking with them.
There were tons of indie music labels on the trade show floor too. It seemed like every country on earth (and some from beyond) were represented. We picked up music from Australia, the UK, Switzerland, France, Sweden, New Zealand and Japan to name just a few. One of hottest indie labels during the trade show was Rainbow Quartz/Turquoise Mountain, promoting a sound described as "guitar-pop and rock with a jangly psychedelic edge" (Well worth checking out).Ted Heagle turned us on to a sampler of the talent agencies music. Keep an eye out for the bands The Waxwings, Myracle Brah, The Grip Weeds, Outrageous Cherry, The Love Thugs, The Three-4-Tens, The Contrast, and The Volebeats. They were all good but we liked these best. If you want to take a walk back to the late 60’s and early 70’s with some new music then Rainbow Quartz has it.
The SXSW Store was pretty cool too. Besides all the swag on the shelves, the SXSW store held CD and book signings daily by various artists. We had the opportunity to meet French singer Keren Ann and old rocker Dwight Twilley (one of my childhood rock ‘n’ roll heroes). Twilley was great, happily signing his new CD for us and impressed that someone from around Tulsa still remembered him.
Okay, enough about the trade show and the sessions. As cool as they were, we were ready every night to check out the music. With over 1300 bands, we had our work cut out for us, but hey, like we said, somebody had to do it. After the first night in the frozen tundra that was 6th street, the weather warmed up and so did the music. Every evening we were amazed by the quality and the variety of the music in the clubs. As we mapped out our travels on and around 6th street, our destinations aimed at taking us to a few choice artists, it never failed that we would stumble onto some wonderful musical surprises. Such was our luck at Antone’s on Thursday evening. We had planned on checking out the line-up at Antone’s to get a listen to Robert Earl Keen. Little did we know what was in store.
The first group up at Antone’s was the Duhks from Canada. The Duhks are Tania Elizabeth on fiddle and vocals; Jessica Havey on vocals; Jordan McConnell on guitar and vocals; Leonard Podolax on banjo and vocal and Scott Senior on a ton of percussion instruments. The Duhks pull off a country-western sound laced with Celtic rhythms. The banjo, fiddle and mandolin mixed with the sexy vocals of Havey created some of the best new music we heard. The Duhks were followed up by a parade of legendary songwriters beginning with Jim Lauderdale who has penned hits for Garth Brooks and Patty Loveless. Lauderdale was followed by one of Americana’s old salts, Ray Wylie Hubbard. Hubbard was entertaining as always with songs about trailer parks and reptile farms. Joining Hubbard on stage was Buddy Miller. Miller has penned hits for the like of George Strait over the years. The high point of the evening was the set performed by Robert Earl Keen and his band. About half way through his set, Keen pulled off the treat of the evening bringing up long time friend Lyle Lovett. The two played several songs together including The Back Porch Song, a number written by Lovett. The evening at Antone’s wrapped with Tony Joe White’s bluesy solo performance and a ballsy set by Austin favorite Webb Wilder and the Nashvegans (Wilder has a new album out but for my money his best production was Doo-Dad.).
Somewhere during the course of the evening at Antone’s, I found myself needing to locate the men’s room. Outside the men’s room, sitting next to the shoeshine stand was an old black man in a cowboy hat, a burning cigarette dangling from his lips. I glanced over and then looked again and thought to myself "Nah. It can’t be." When I came out of the men’s room I noticed the old fella was selling CD’s so I leaned in and to my great surprise found it was none other than legendary blues piano player Pinetop Perkins. I plopped down beside him, never once worrying that my lovely bride might wonder where I was, and began to discuss the state of the blues with this crusty old blues hound. Perkins was full of fun and laughter. I asked him how he liked working with all those women on his last album, Ladies Man. His response was a big smile and "Oh man, I love the women." (I did retrieve Sherree, by the way, and brought her over to meet Pinetop. I didn’t think he was going to let her leave. You know that thing he has about women.)
Friday brought yet another full evening. We cabbed across the river to the stage at Auditorium Shores on the banks of the Colorado River. What a great place for a music festival! The Colorado River and the Austin Skyline outlined the back of the stage as the setting sun reflected on it all through a few wisps of clouds. The setting was perfect for hot performance by Tex-Mex hero Alejandro Escoveda. Joining Escoveda on stage for a couple of songs was John Cale from the Velvet Underground. Like we said, there were surprises everywhere!
We left the river and headed to the University of Texas campus, finally locating the tiny Cactus Café. The venue was extremely small but it had seen performances of the likes of Willie Nelson, Robert Earl Keen and Townes Van Zandt. This night we came in to hear the musings of Englishman Robyn Hitchcock. Hitchcock combined his musicianship with Monty Python humor and Oasis lyrics to create a truly unique show. Hitchcock was followed by country and rockabilly artist Marty Stuart. Stuart paid homage to his ex-father-in-law, the late Johnny Cash in a moving song entitled "Dark Bird". His mastery of the mandolin is sheer poetry. Once Stuart had finished, we were off again. Slipping out the back door we ran straight into Stuart, who proved to be friendly and approachable and was very appreciative of his fans.
The Austin Music Hall was our next stop. We were waiting to hear the Blind Boys of Alabama, Mavis Staples (again) and Robert Randolph and the Family Band. When we arrived a young man from Philadelphia was crooning out some haunting ballads. Our surprise this night was Amos Lee. Lee’s voice was nothing less than silk as he closed out his set with "The Arms of a Woman". Lee was followed up by the Blind Boys of Alabama. These guys put on a tremendous show in spite of the fact they had lost one of their members just the week before. What appeared to be a somber start quickly turned into a foot stomping revival. Their vocals and their variety of gospel music is beyond compare. We looked out over the audience while these guys were singing, amazed at the number of beer guzzling party goers who were bouncing up and down and screaming to gospel tunes. One of the Blind Boys was helped off the stage and led through the crowd near the end of the set, singing the entire time. When he had reached the middle of the auditorium he began to work the crowd, who in unison began to bounce up and down like a wave on the ocean. We would comment later about the amount of energy these guys brought to the audience. When it was all done, the ushers could not get the Blind Boys of Alabama off the stage! They simply were not ready to leave.
Mavis Staples and her band followed. As always, Staples was on top of her game, paying tribute to her dad and her family throughout her set. Part of her back line included none other than Marty Stuart on guitar. Staples talked to the crowd aboutsoul diva Beyonce’ not having anything over on her because she (Mavis) "…used to look like Beyonce’. But see, before long Beyonce’ is gonna be lookin’ like me!" Staples ended the set with "Have A Little Faith" and "I’ll Take You There", once again pulling the crowd into the song.
The evening closed out with Robert Randolph and the Family Band. Now, let me just say, between the two of us, Sherree and I have seen a lot of great musicians. We have seen strange instruments and heard vocals reach unheard of levels, both high and low. Neither of us were prepared for what we were about to hear from Robert Randolph. The Family Band was by no means a group of slackers. In fact, they were quite good. But when Randolph sat down to play the pedal steel guitar, the show was over. Neither of us had ever heard anyone play their instrument the way Randolph scorched his steel guitar. It was incredible! We left the Austin Music Hall once again in awe and once again with our energies spent.
Saturday was spent taking a leisurely stroll down 6th street by day. The chamber of commerce’s slogan "Keep Austin Weird" is a well coined phrase as we saw all walks of life (?) including a grizzled local in his Christmas kilt with all the trimmings. One interesting pair we did run across were brothers Walter and Joe Cordero, who scoured the Texas country side for rocks and minerals and used them with wire to create "Stony Critters". It was hard to pass this one up since the placard on their rock and wire creations called out "Fondle Me". The guys also make some killer dream catchers. We visited with them for a time as they attached our pick of stones to the dream catcher we purchased. "The dream catchers are guaranteed to work" Joe told us. We also brought home a stony critter. Walter chimed in with all sincerity, "And be sure to take Stony Critter outside. They like to play in the rain and the mud." Will do guys and thanks for getting rid of those nightmares we were having!
After a little lunch at Stubbs (the spinach and hot pepper dish was to die for!) and a quick nap, we were back on the street jonesing for more music. We had decided on checking out Jason Mraz but when we arrived at The 18th Floor in the Crowne Trace Hotel we were met by security who informed us the floor was already over capacity and we would not be able to come in until someone else left. What to do? What to do? You know what they say. When the going gets tough, the tough go elsewhere.
We wandered back down to the lobby and across the breezeway to our find of Saturday evening. In The Lounge at Crowne Plaza was Combo Plate Booking Agency’s act Matt the Electrician. We sat in to simply kill some time but were treated to a cerebral shower of catchy tunes with great hooks and solid musicianship. Matt the Electrician is Matt Sever on guitar, banjolele and vocals (and he is a real electrician); Tom Pearson on bass; Seela on backing vocals; Jon Greene on drums; and Scrappy Jud Newcombe sitting in this night on lead guitar. This intellectual band played original tunes that got you wondering about your water sources, Hemingway’s travels and whether or not you might be going to hell. They were lots of fun.
From the Crowne Trace we wandered over to the Vibe to catch Dwight Twilley and his band and the legendary guitarist Ronnie Montrose. When we got there, a new band out of Portland was finishing up their set. The group was redlightmusic and I found out from chatting with their manager that the lead singer of this band was Peter Klett, former guitar player for Candlebox. The rest of the band was Tom Woo on lead guitar; Jason Phraner on bass and Keith Ryland on drums. These guys pulled off a couple of great closing numbers including a killer tune called "Fading Away". We hated that we missed the whole set. Watch out for these guys.
Dwight Twilley took the stage next and was joined by his original guitar player from the Dwight Twilley Band, Bill Pitcock. Talk about taking me back to Tulsa…getting to hear Dwight Twilley again was a walk down puberty lane for yours truly. It was classic Twilley. He pulled out his old stuff from the Brady days in Tulsa and shared his new music. Joining him onstage for several songs was Susan Cowsill. Twilley’s set ended with his big hit "Girls". I had been talking about Twilley and his music all afternoon, so much so, Sherree was getting sick of me. When he had finished I think she understood what it meant.
We closed the evening with guitarist extraordinaire, Ronnie Montrose. We have to say, the guy has still got it. Montrose blew through guitar riffs and that shook the stage. He was as good this night as he has ever been and he can still draw a crowd. The place was packed when he finished playing and were screaming for more.
With our senses drained, our money spent and our blood much thinner than before, we loaded up Sunday morning and headed for home. As it turned out we would meet one more band before we left the hotel. As we were packing up, we ran into Michael Gapido and Joe Cuculat of the Western Continentals. These guys had just finished up a gig a Gruene Hall down in San Antonio with the Hacienda Brothers and were headed home to Anaheim. They tossed a CD my way and introduced me to one of the lady’s traveling with them, Blue Murphy. Blue owns the Doll Hut roadhouse and music joint in Anaheim (www.dollhut.com). What a sweetheart! Joe pretty much plays music all the time and Michael is in sales and also has a killer restaurant called the Longhorn Café in San Dimas. If you get a chance to go out west be sure to check in with these folks. They’ll take good care of you. Oh yeah, the music was good too. Some really great classic country western swing and shuffle. Check them out at www.thewesterncontinentals.com. And Michael… peace my brother.
SXSW 2005 was coming to a close. There was so much to do during the sessions and the trade show. There was so much music to hear. Overwhelming is a word that can’t begin to describe what SXSW is all about. A part of the experience that is SXSW is the people. From the musicians to the speakers to the staff, everyone was friendly and helpful, making you feel at home and at ease.
We missed out on a number of performers during the week. Here are some of the ones we wish we could have caught: Charlie Sexton, The Wallflowers, Son Volt, Billy Idol, Nada Surf, Idlewild, Dash Rip Rock, Otis Taylor, Todd Snider, Ruthie Foster, 20 Miles, The New York Dolls and Cowboy Mouth to name a very few. Then there were the bands we thought "Hmmmm, this could be interesting": Karaoke Apocalypse: Dead Motley Sex Maidens; Secret Lives of the Free Masons; The Jolly Garogers; Veronica Lipgloss and the Evil Eyes; Southern Bitch; Black Moses; Vagenius; Two Cow Garage; Alabama Thunderpussy; and Fatal Flying Guillotines, just to mention a few more. Kind of hate we missed those last ones.
All in all, we loved the SXSW tour and are graciously appreciative to PR and Nightflying for the chance to cover this event for the magazine. What a great experience. Thanks a million. SXSW is where it’s at!