Stranger’s Voice, William Matheny (from the Hickman Holler/Thirty Tigers release That Grand, Old Feeling) If you’ve ever read any of our artist interviews, you’ve read many of them talk about touring life being 23 hours spent traveling, dealing with the business side of music, or just sitting around venues for the hour or two of […]
Mayer’s Playlist for Fall/Winter 2023, Part 1
Toothache, Lydia Loveless (from the Bloodshot Records release Nothing’s Gonna Stand In My Way Again) Relationships are messy and few songwriters capture that fact better than Lydia Loveless. One need look no further than “Song About You”, the confessional ballad that opens their latest album. Against the backdrop that is mostly a lone electric guitar, […]
Dan Bern on Open Mics and a Short-Lived Day Job
Singer-songwriter Dan Bern talks about “The Ballad of Andy Fahrquarth”, the first song that he wrote, and the time he left a tour van in an Oklahoma parking lot.
Monday Morning Video – “Fairytale of New York”
This holiday classic takes on extra meaning this year given the recent passing of songwriter Shane MacGowan. Glen Hasard and Lisa O’Neill led this beautiful performance at MacGowan’s funeral a few weeks ago.
Uncle Lucius – Like It’s the Last One Left
The sub-title of this review could be “Uncle Lucius, a band in 3 acts”. In the early-mid 2010’s, Uncle Lucius was emblematic of the Austin bands that could make a living without ever sleeping in a hotel (although they certainly did their fair share of touring). Then in 2018 front man Kevin Galloway decided it […]
Jolie Holland on Tour Schtick, Weaponized Plagiarism, and Her Side Project “Velour Sewer”
Jolie Holland talks about touring in a microvan, shares an early song lyric, and explains why she is sincerely uninterested in genre .
Monday Morning Video – Jabe Beyer
Jabe Beyer is one of those musicians who we’ve been writing about since the early days of Twangville. And with good reason – his talent is as deep as his musical catalog. Although we got to know him in his Boston days, he later re-established himself in Nashville where he became a go-to collaborator as […]
Smith & Tegio – Can’t Stay Here
Practiced nonchalance. In the music world, it’s the ability to sound just as fresh the 500th time you play a song as you did when you first wrote it. Bands that are good at it are always better live. Although I’ve only seen them live once, I get an overwhelming sense Californians Mark Tegio and […]
Philip Lupton of Briscoe on Local Diners and The Experience of Live Music
Philip Lupton of Austin-based Briscoe talks about how the band saves a few bucks on guitar strings and why the love their rehearsal space.
Monday Morning Video – Pete Seeger and Johnny Cash
The legendary Pete Seeger’s name has come up several times over the past few weeks. Seeger, who passed away in 2014, was a cornerstone of folk music for much of his 94 years. He was notable as much for his commitment to humanity as he was for his performances. Seeger was always quick to encourage […]