ACL Music Fest Friday Listings

Two Tons of Steel

11:15am, BMI stage

For more than a decade, Two Ton Tuesdays has been an essential summer tradition at Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, offering the evening counterpart to a drunken float down the Guadalupe. The San Antonio outfit's 10th studio album, Not That Lucky, was produced by local cottage industry Lloyd Maines and swings like the Reverend Horton Heat. – Austin Powell

Austin Kiddie Limits

11:30am-4:25pm, H-E-B stage

The School of Rock All Stars is the topsoil cultivating the next round of young local players, and these kids are learning the right kind of music the right way: loud and fast. Longtime Austin favorites the Jellydots' preteen sing-alongs and Okee Dokee Brothers' catchy folk and bluegrass wrap nicely around the Verve Pipe's latest LP, A Family Album. Southern composer Charlie Mars, ex-Ben Harper associate Tom Freund, and the Jimmy Buffett whimsy of Donavon Frankenreiter form a trifecta of songwriters to close out Friday. – Margaret Moser

Vonnegutt

11:45am, Zync Card stage

This Marietta, Ga., quartet seems like an unlikely match for Big Boi's Purple Ribbon Entertainment label, but that's right where it landed last year. 2011 anticipates a debut LP, but their Appetizer EP whets with a sampler of hip-hop, electronica, and rock. – Audra Schroeder

Asleep at the Wheel

Noon, AMD stage

No point in asking what's new with the Wheel. What's old is always new with the modern kings (and Elizabeth McQueen) of Texas swing, cowboy boots planted firmly in tradition with contemporary panache. Headed up by captain Ray Benson, it's just not ACL until the jump and jive of the nine-time Grammy winners roll up. – Margaret Moser

Ponderosa

12:40pm, BMI stage

A recent addition to the New West Records stable, this long-haired Georgia quintet makes blues rock and Southern boogie with a distinctive pop edge somewhere between the Drive-by Truckers and Kings of Leon. Ponderosa's label debut, Moonlight Revival, is slated for early 2011. – Jim Caligiuri

Wesley Bray & the Disciples of Joy

12:45pm, Clear 4G stage

Those who have kept up with Austin gospel know Wesley Bray from his stint fronting Malachi in the 1980s and 1990s. Bray, whose career boasts a remarkable 45 singles, also performed with the Soul Revivers and Original Bells of Joy. In 2008, he formed the Disciples of Joy and recorded their debut, Heaven. – Margaret Moser

The Soft Pack

1pm, Zync Card stage

After changing its name from the Muslims, San Diego quartet the Soft Pack found its pop core. Never mind their button-up looks: This year's self-titled debut on Kemado lifts and separates with some coastal jams and addictive hooks. – Audra Schroeder

Those Darlins

1:20pm, Austin Ventures stage

These Tennessee ladies just dropped a new 7-inch following up last year's self-titled debut, whoopin' and hollerin' country-punk. "Night Jogger" tells a lusty tale of late-night aerobics and "Funstix Party" demands, "You bring the beer, I'll bring the drugs/You bring the hoes, I'll bring the thugs." – Audra Schroeder

Blues Traveler

2pm, AMD stage

More than 20 years on, Blues Traveler still delivers New Jersey boogie. Frontman John Popper and his bottomless harmonica case lead the jam act through uncharted territory on its most recent, 2008's North Hollywood Shootout, notably "Free Willis," an extended freak-out with actor Bruce Willis. – Jim Caligiuri

The Mountain Goats

2pm, Budweiser stage

Leave it to John Darnielle to make a concept album about the Bible. The song titles on his North Carolina folk trio's latest, The Life of the World To Come (4AD), are all Bible verses, and though it may be tongue in cheek, Darnielle's never shied away from the lure of redemption. – Audra Schroeder

The Black Keys

4pm, AMD stage

The Black Keys share sympathies with the dirty South. The Akron, Ohio, duo has paid tribute to Mississippi bluesman Junior Kimbrough and, with its hip-hop side project, Blakroc, collaborated with Jim Jones and members of the Wu-Tang Clan. The Keys' latest LP, Brothers, was recorded at Alabama's famed Muscle Shoals Sound Studios – fitting, given guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach's penchant for 1960s R&B. – Austin Powell

Pat Green

4pm, Budweiser stage

The torchbearer for the Red Dirt music scene, Pat Green hasn't rested since 1995, when he sold 200,000 copies of his debut. Since then he's had Grammy nominations and albums scrape the top of the country charts. Green was recently honored with a Decade Award by the Texas Music Chart as the most-played artist on Texas radio during the past 10 years. – Jim Caligiuri

The Band of Heathens

4:45pm, Austin Ventures stage

Between a summer tour that road-tested new songs like "Free Again," being nominated a second time for Americana Music Association Honors, and performing on Austin City Limits, the Band of Heathens' rockbound roots are armed and ready to lay harmony-laden waste to ACL. – Margaret Moser

Spoon

6pm, AMD stage

Having exceeded every possible expectation, Spoon retreated back to basics and self-produced its seventh album, this year's Transference. It's a deceptively simple album with rough-draft charm and urban sophistication, not afraid to space out a bit in "The Mystery Zone" or charming "Who Makes Your Money." The locals' recent Austin City Limits taping boasted unexpected cameos from local cult songwriter Craig Ross and bluesman Charlie Sexton. – Austin Powell

Amos Lee

6pm, Austin Ventures stage

Philadelphia native Amos Lee caught a break when his debut caught the ear of Norah Jones. The result was an opening spot on the chanteuse's tour; an album produced by her bassist, Lee Alexander; and signing to Blue Note Records. The soul-folk songwriter's next album, Mission Bell, set for January release, is produced by Calexico and features Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams, and Iron & Wine. – Jim Caligiuri

Vampire Weekend

7pm, Zync Card stage

At the Fusebox Festival earlier this year, Vampire Weekend keyboardist/producer Rostam Batmanglij premiered three new compositions with Austin's Tosca String Quartet, a collaboration first born at ACL 2008. While his classical wonderment is the Ivy Leaguers' trademark, VW's new album, Contra, expands the scope of their pristine Afro-pop with ska-punk urgency and the occasional Auto-Tune, courtesy of electro-pop side project Discovery. – Austin Powell

Sonic Youth

7pm, Honda stage

In 2006, Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation was inducted into the Library of Congress. This year, the NYC noise-punk legends' guitarist, Thurston Moore, started the Ecstatic Peace Library, a literary extension of his music label, specializing in book/vinyl combos from SY bassist/guitarist/vocalist Kim Gordon, Village Voice photographer James Hamilton, and more. In this era of Kindledom, the Youth's keeping the library open late. – Audra Schroeder

The Strokes

8pm, AMD stage

When asked who his favorite act of Lollapalooza 2010 was, the second "C" in C3 Presents, booker Charles Attal, gushed without a moment's consideration, "The Strokes!" Reunited after a hiatus following their LP First Impressions of Earth, NYC's new millennial Stones test the waters for next year's return to disc. Julian, Nick, Albert, Nikolai, and Fabrizio – this is it. – Raoul Hernandez

Phish

8pm, Budweiser stage

Been a long time since this Vermont quartet visited Austin, its five-year breakup mostly to blame. Together again since early last year, Phish's improvisational skills and quirky humor firmly grasped last year's Joy. The Steve Lillywhite-produced LP proves the hiatus served them well, swerving from orchestral prog-rock to country shuffles. – Jim Caligiuri