 |
 |
 INTERVIEW | |
|
1,900 Bands, 60 Venues by Richard Skelly | |
Recession? What recession? With 1,900 bands and 60 venues, this year's South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival in Austin, TX [March 17-21] was bigger - and I'd even say - better than ever.
Lots of improvements, like shuttle vans from outlying hotels to downtown Austin, were made to accommodate the growing Australian, Canadian and European crowds at SxSW.
Blues and roots-rock highlights included performances Friday night with Jimmie Vaughan and his band and Buddy Miller at the Cedar Street Courtyard and Alejandro Escovedo's closing show Sunday night at Continental Club with New Jersey natives Lenny Kaye, Steve Conte and others.
Vaughan performed as part of the Bug Music Showcase [a music publishing firm based in Los Angeles] on March 19, his birthday. Using Rhode Island saxophonists Greg Piccolo and Doug James, as well as rock-solid, Austin-based drummer George Rains, Vaughan's girlfriend surprised him; he was presented with a birthday cake on stage. Four hundred people at this spacious outdoor club sang "Happy Birthday" to Vaughan, who performed all new songs from his forthcoming album. Aside from originals, Vaughan and band performed vital, soul-filled takes on "Just A Little Bit," "Sugar Coated Love," "Shake a Hand" and "She's Got the Blues For Sale." He sang with conviction and played with the fire and passion that marked his earliest days with the Fabulous Thunderbirds, displaying the kind of economical guitar stylings that leave plenty of room for others to take solos or sing. He was joined on stage by vocalist Lou Ann Barton for several Texas blues standards, and afterwards, Vaughan handed me a slice of his birthday cake! Later at the Bug Music Showcase, Nashville-based guitarist and producer Buddy Miller took the stage with a band that included Brady Blade on drums and Joel Guzman on accordion, and rendered a stirring version of the soul-blues classic, "That's How Strong My Love Is," and a recent original, "Gasoline and Matches." With an economical style not unlike Vaughan's, Miller proved why he's such an in-demand session player in Nashville or anywhere else, for that matter. Aside from his great guitar chops, Miller is also a respected producer and songwriter, having had a long relationship with Hightone Records, releasing albums as Buddy and Julie Miller as well as under his own name. This year, the Austin Music Awards were moved to Saturday night during SxSW, at the same time, 7:55 p.m. and the same venue they have used the last few years, the 2,500 capacity Austin Music Hall. One notable highlight was the heartfelt tribute to Austin producer-songwriter-guitarist Stephen Bruton, who passed from cancer in 2009, led by Geoff Muldaur and the Texas Shieks. The modern day jug band - with electric guitars and amplifiers - also included Jim Kweskin, Bruce Hughes, Cindy Cashdollar, Floyd Domino, Suzy Thompson, John Nicholas and John Chipman. Bruton was 19 when he and a friend drove from Houston to Newport, R.I., to the Newport Folk Festival, to see Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band, which Muldaur was a part of back in the early 1960's. "Stephen got real good on guitar, real quick," Muldaur said, recalling the next time he saw Bruton a few years later, he was already performing blues and traditional folk tunes under his own name. Austin-based guitarist Denny Freeman was presented with a lifetime achievement award. In recent years, Freeman has been a part of Bob Dylan's touring band. "When I moved here in 1970, it was a very lucky time for me to be here - Stevie Ray, Jimmie, Doyle Bramhall, all these people were here," Freeman told the crowd, adding he was able to learn from and share stages with all of them. Aside from recognizing the accomplishments of veterans like Freeman and departed heroes like Bruton, the Austin Music Awards also present some of the best of the up-and-coming crop of musicians, so this year that included Sarah Jarosz, the group Mother Falcon, and Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, the last a soul-blues ensemble who won an award this year for "Best Blues Band." After dozens of showcases in venues all over Austin on Saturday night, by Sunday afternoon, there are just a few more shows and the annual South by Southwest Softball Tournament. [The golf tournament is always held the Wednesday before the start of South by Southwest.] One Sunday night highlight is guitarist and singer-songwriter Alejandro Escovedo's annual gathering at the Continental Club to raise funds for Hepatitis research. It is a cause near to Escovedo's heart, as he nearly died from Hepatitis C a decade ago. Lenny Kaye, the longtime guitarist with Patti Smith, was asked by Escovedo to perform as part of this year's annual Continental Club SxSW closing party. Others on the bill at Continental Club Sunday night included Carrie Rodriguez, Ivan Julian of Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Chuck Prophet, and Finland-based singer Michael Monroe, who was accompanied by guitarist Steve Conte of the New York Dolls. While Escovedo and his band blew the roof off the club with a closing set that included hits like "Always a Friend," and "Sister Lost Soul," earlier that night, Kaye delighted the packed house with an original, "The Things We Leave Behind," and, using an Austin pick-up band, his own take on Alex Chilton's "The Letter." [Chilton, who died March 17 at home in New Orleans, was scheduled to perform at this year's SxSW, at Antone's on Saturday night.] More information on the 2011 SxSW Festival and Conference is available at www.sxsw.com. 
| |