Armadillo Records was a lesser-known offshoot of the legendary Armadillo World Headquarters in the institution’s Seventies heyday, but new stewards Emily Gianopoulos and Trey Watson are hoping to usher in a new era for the imprint, starting with a fresh album from Austin’s definition-rejecting pioneers, Greezy Wheels.
“It is a final reward,” says the band’s songwriter, Cleve Hattersley. “We are the band that gets to go home to the Armadillo.” He’s referencing Gary P. Nunn’s number “London Homesick Blues (Home with the Armadillo),” which Hattersley has adopted as something of a catchphrase (with Nunn’s permission). It’s a fitting homecoming, given that the family band played at the Armadillo World Headquarters more than any other group.
We Come We Go, released May 1, contains 14 tracks of the group’s signature groove-based, zydeco-blending psychedelic country sound, with modern subjects like “Emoticons” and timeless political sentiments on songs like “It Matters.”
“We’ve never been easily categorized,” says Hattersley. “We were always revolutionary.” In between introducing Austin to defining acts like Willie Nelson and inspiring staples to come like Warren Hood and Shinyribs, the outfit embodied the cosmic country soul of the city’s hippie roots and connected musicians across genres. Though many band members have since moved away – Hattersley and his fiddling wife Mary now live in Las Cruces, New Mexico – their Austin roots run deep.
Their latest album, remotely recorded with a number of longtime members, is dedicated to the group’s original players who’ve passed on to other lives on this planet and beyond. Many of them helped establish Austin’s eccentric music scene. A dedication is also made, of course, to the armadillo man himself, artist Jim Franklin. When Hattersley caught wind of new ownership at Armadillo Records, he reached out about having the record pressed in vinyl and released through the revived imprint.
“It was a huge credit to us that he wanted to come and be associated with a label that was familiar, but just getting its sea legs,” says CEO Gianopoulos. Her partner in business and life, Trey Watson, purchased the label from 1969 founder Hank Alrich several years ago in the wake of his onboarding as Waterloo Records co-owner. Looking to strike out of the auto industry and into a more intentional, relationship-based organization, Gianopoulos took on the challenge of revitalizing the Armadillo with one eye on the past and another on the future.
“These stories should be kept alive,” she says. “It’s fun to be at the precipice of what has been [and] what’s coming back.”
The label will soon introduce a debut album from a new unnamed signee, who Gianopoulous feels has the gritty Texas sound and music-first, money-later approach to recording that’s in line with the label’s identity and ties to Austin’s slacker songwriter culture. A series of unreleased live recordings from big, soon-to-be-announced Seventies and Eighties names that played at Armadillo World Headquarters will also make their way to vinyl in the label’s near future.
Alrich, who handed over the reins only when aptly assured of the new partners’ interest in maintaining Austin’s history, says he embraces bringing the legendary name into the hands of a new generation.
“I think their interest in furthering the legend and the culture is real, and I wish them all success in that,” says Alrich, admitting he’d been busy enough with his own music – his latest album, Broken River, came out this past April – to give the imprint much attention. There’s a perspective through line in his tireless creation and these new arbiters of Armadillo Records. “I don’t see legacy as what I’ve done,” the songwriter says. “It’s what I’m doing.”
Gianopoulos echoes that sentiment: “Those stories can continue to live on as long as we continue to tell them.”
This article appears in June 5 • 2026.
