Still have pocket change after getting tickets to the Boss and Leonard Cohen? Kevin Shields’ shoegaze messiahs My Bloody Valentine are coming to the Austin Music Hall on April 21, immediately after an appearance at Coachella, as part of a five-city US tour. Tickets are on sale now and won't be around for long. Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson has high hopes for his tribute musical A Ride with Bob, which runs Friday and Saturday at the Long Center for Performing Arts. “We really want to do the film some day,” he says. “This is a G-rated show, but to be honest with you, Bob Wills lived an X-rated life.”

Thank the Beatles for the latest from the Willie Nelson camp. Naked Willie arrives in stores next week, and Mickey Raphael, “unproducer” and longtime harmonica player with Nelson, maintains that hearing Let It Be … Naked sparked the idea in him. “They took off the strings that Phil Spector put on," he explains from his home in Nashville. "I thought it would be great if we did the same thing to some of songs that Willie did. I knew that he had no say in the production. I mean he was happy to be doing it, but back then Chet Atkins produced him, and the artists really didn’t get involved in the production of their records. Knowing Willie like I do now, his mantra is ‘less is more.’ He likes things simple. I thought, ‘These are great songs. It’d be heresy to cut them again. I wonder what would happen if we just stripped everything off and kind of do it like Willie had produced himself.’” When Nelson recorded for RCA from 1965 until 1971, Atkins was famous for his trademark Nashville sound, which included lush orchestral arrangements and backing vocals that often ran counter to the mood or message of the song itself. “It’s not to say that Chet’s production was wrong or bad, I just wanted to look at them through another lens,” Raphael clarifies. “I love these songs. I listen to the RCA era all the time. It’s the first batch of Willie recordings that I ever heard. I didn’t really know about him until I went to work for him. Darrell Royal introduced me to Willie in '72,'73. I was just a struggling harmonica player, hanging out in coffeehouses in Austin. When Willie hired me, I had to do a crash course in country music. So this era was my education.”

Welcome to the second annual edition of South by So Real, where we rap with South by Southwest booker and hustler extraordinaire Matt Sonzala about all things hip-hop. If an MC is performing at the festival, Sonzala made it happen. Also, rappers beware: If you see him in the house and you’re rhyming over your CD with vocals, he will throw a bottle at you. After all, “This ain’t fucking Star Search, this is real life!” Bump & Hustle: This is your first full year on the job. Did that make it any easier? Matt Sonzala: Definitely not any easier because my responsibilities quadrupled. I deal with a lot of the bands coming from Europe, not just urban music now. It’s easier logistically in terms of convincing rappers to come down. Last year when we talked I said it was getting better as far as the industry recognizing and wanting to come down but this year everyone wants to come down. I’m really happy with what we have this year. A lot of rappers actually applied on time this year!

In preview of South by Southwest, the Sunday New York Times handicapped vinyl at a handful of Austin record stores. End of an Ear was featured, and their SXSW day lineup is excellent as usual. New Zealand's Renderers are a must-see on Saturday. Check it below, and peep the Chronicle's day party list for more in-stores.

Thursday, March 19 11am Carpark Records
1pm We Were Promised Jetpacks
2pm DM Stith
3pm Desolation Wilderness
4pm Odawas
5pm Maserati

Friday, March 20 1pm Eat Skull
2pm Crystal Stilts
3pm Gary War
4pm Cursive
5pm Homosexuals

Saturday, March 21 11am It's Casual
Noon Eagle Twin
1pm Donkeys
2pm Renderers
3pm Tiny Vipers

Sunday, March 22 2:30pm Powell St. John
3pm Frank Fairfield
4pm Wooden Birds

Major changes are afoot at Emmis Corporation, but fear not, the KGSR Morning Show is returning once more to the Four Seasons for South by Southwest. Brian Beck and Andy Langer will host the program live, with six performances each day. Early birds can attend for $5, which benefits Seton-Shivers cancer services and comes with complimentary breakfast tacos and coffee. As if that weren't enough, artists ranging from Tori Amos to PJ Harvey will be stopping by the KGSR studios in the afternoon. Scope the full schedule below.

With his first show in four months, Gordon Lightfoot filled out Bass Concert Hall Tuesday night with a patient audience. There were noted rough patches to the 70-year-old Canadian songwriting legend’s set, but the crowd was forgiving and clearly there for the nostalgia, which Lightfoot delivered with warm humor. Bearing a strong resemblance to Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Lightfoot’s voice took a couple of songs to warm up, scratching through “Cotton Jenny” and “Carefree Highway,” though the more traditional, almost Irish folk sound of songs like “Sea of Tranquility” and “14 Karat Gold” sounded more comfortable. The requisite hits like “Sundown” and “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” were the most engaging, the brief moments when his backing quartet came alive. Maintaining the soft, country rock feel to “The Watchman’s Gone” or “Rainy Day People” would have been less disappointing if he hadn’t shown flashes of acoustic solo strength. The transition from “Ribbon of Darkness” into “Sundown” was a highlight, and allowed his lead guitarist to stretch out some bluesy notes that lifted the band beyond their simple, underwhelming rhythm. Then again, it’s hard to fault Lightfoot for the easy sound he’s known for, even given the moments that hinted at something more. “Triangle” opened the second set with its winding balladry, along with a decent take on Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGee” and a moving “If You Could Read My Mind.” “Baby Step Back” added some comparative fire to the set, along with “Make Way for the Lady,” but it was tunes like “Early Morning Rain” and “Waiting for You” that reminded of Lightfoot’s timeless songwriting.

There’s more teen scene on Sunday at Mohawk with a benefit show for the Austin Yellow Bike Project. Local favorites Oh No Oh My, Follow That Bird!, and the Tastydactyls headline a fundraiser to help the organization build new headquarters. Entertainment kicks off at 4pm with teen DJ duo Sleuth and JD, then sets from For Hours and Ours plus hot indie rockers the El Guapos. YBP’s free bike shops are beloved by the Austin community, something that didn’t go unnoticed by the benefit's organizers, Bold & Zesty Productions. What makes B&Z unique is that when they talk about teen issues, it’s coming from the source. Founders Colin Jenkins and Zoe Cordes Selvin are high school students who wanted to make a difference, and found a creative way to do it. Jenkins is also in the Diving Captain, which is performing along with El Guapos and 14 other teen acts at the official South by Southwest teen band day party at Momo's, Friday, March 20.

Last night at the Cactus Cafe (how many times have I said that in the past month?), Ana Egge held court in fine style. Backed by members of What Made Milwaukee Famous, the indie-folk diva ran through most of the tunes from her new disc, Road To My Love (Grace). Egge, who’s moved between Austin and Brooklyn a couple of times in the past few years, was in especially high spirits because earlier in the day she found out Rolling Stone gave her a rave review in its upcoming issue. Speaking to her before the gig, she claimed the Chronicle’s Raoul Hernandez was partially responsible for her hooking up with the WMMF guys, as he recommended that she check them out a couple of years ago. When she did and got talking with them, she discovered the popsters were major fans of her music and thrilled at the idea of working together. While a little rough around the edges, the performance showed just how far Egge has come from the seemingly innocent folk ingenue of 12 years ago to a world class risk taker whose pop sounds rivals Ron Sexsmith or Beth Orton. The media might want you to believe that the new U2 album is the only one released this week, but I’m just as excited by Bela Fleck’s Throw Down Your Heart (Rounder), a companion disc to the fabulous movie that was shown at last year’s South by Southwest. Forget bluegrass or jazz, Fleck travels to Africa to discover the roots of the banjo and comes back with a set of collaborations that’s as delightful as anything you’ll hear this year. Those familiar with African musicians will recognize names like D’Gary, Oumou Sangare, Baba Maal, and Toumani Diabate, but the combination of rhythms, voices, stringed instruments unusual to Western ears, and Fleck’s banjo make the CD as joyful as the movie.

Although he certainly has a handful of cult devotees, Steve Mann has long been little more than an obscure footnote of the 1960s West Coast music scene. The guitarist did session work for Dr. John and Sonny and Cher here, a jam session with Janis Joplin and Jefferson Airplane there, but he never earned a national or even much of a regional audience. Not for a lack of chops - fans champion Mann as an acoustic guitar virtuoso and rightfully so. His quirky take on blues and folk on Live at the Ash Grove explains why whispers of the legend of Steve Mann still blow in the Bay Area breeze. The album captures an intimate live performance recorded at the storied Los Angeles folk club in 1967, reminiscent of similar vintage sets from Texas troubadour Townes Van Zandt. Aside from 2006’s Alive and Pickin’ – a collection of old recordings, including three Southern Comfort-fueled rough cuts from Joplin’s San Francisco apartment – there simply aren’t many of Mann’s recordings available for those not willing to drop big bucks on vinyl rarities. That alone makes Live at the Ash Grove worth copping, not to mention it was among the last times Mann stepped on stage before falling off the musical map due in part to mental illness and drug use. In fact, rumors of his death (greatly exaggerated, of course) swirled at the end of 1960s and he’s hardly been heard from since. As one might expect from a long lost live session, the audio is decidedly lo-fi, complete with constant background hiss. That doesn’t detract from Mann’s take on Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “99 Year Blues” or Robert Johnson’s “Walking Blues.” There’s not a self-penned tune in the bunch but Mann puts his stamp on all of them, including the devastating “Drown in My Own Tears,” classic “She Caught the Katy,” and rough and tumble “Buddy Brown’s Blues”.