Crucial Concerts for the Coming Week
A farewell party for Jim Eno, Rock the Park with Rosie Flores, and more recommended shows
By Kevin Curtin, Doug Freeman, Raoul Hernandez, Michael Toland, Adam Cherian, and Derek Udensi, Fri., June 2, 2023
I Want More: A Salute to Jim Eno + Public Hi-Fi
Antone’s Nightclub, Monday 5Jim Eno's moving away – back to his homeland of Rhode Island. With that, Spoon's co-founder, drummer, and occasional producer ends a remarkable and multifaceted three-decade run in Austin that might sometimes go overlooked due to his low-key, behind-the-scenes nature.
First off, he must be the only human to successfully quit electrical engineering to be a full-time rock drummer. The flagship band, which he started with Britt Daniel a year after moving to Austin in 1992, has built a discography so invariably solid that they remain one of the greatest contemporary bands from Texas (and now, I guess, Rhode Island). Eno's drumming – precise and penetrating – is a big part of Spoon's sonic signature.
Out of a West Austin residential property that surely will soon be found on Zillow for an eye-bugging figure, he's also operated one of the city's most highly regarded recording studios. Eno's production credits include bands like !!!, Future Islands, Bright Eyes, and Har Mar Superstar, along with Austin acts like the Strange Boys, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, and Dana Falconberry. Out of Public Hi-Fi, Eno curated Spotify's first producer-in-residence partnership, yielding – over several seasons – sessions with acts including Courtney Barnett, Father John Misty, HAIM, and the Shins. Also in the streaming world, he's helped helm the inventive Song Confessional podcast with Walker Lukens. As for volunteer work, he's an advisor for Sonic Guild and founder of Project Traction, which boosts the careers of women and nonbinary music producers.
The latter program is the beneficiary for a goodbye party on Monday. It's being thrown by Eno's friends and he doesn't know who is playing, though I'd wager he knows one band that'll perform. The send-off's title, I Want More, references a song by Krautrock heroes CAN ... and so does the name of a band that Eno plays in. – Kevin Curtin
Rock the Park w/ Rosie Flores, Big Bill
Mueller Lake Park, Friday 2Cure your post-long-weekend blues with the whimsically cartoonish stylings of Big Bill and the rockabilly iconography of Rosie Flores. Imagine Talking Heads led by Eric Cartman instead of David Byrne, and that's Big Bill. Hot off the release of their new single "Emotions," the freak punk group hailing from Austin takes on the Mueller Amphitheater for KUTX's free, family-friendly Rock the Park series. A force of her own, Rosie Flores packs enough chugging blues and cowpunk classics under her belt to make a Texan out of any audience member. – Adam Cherian
Billy Strings
Moody Center, Friday 2 – Saturday 3Billy Strings was tapped with the honor of providing the "Whiskey River" opening for Willie's 90th birthday, but his duet with Nelson, "California Sober," may have been the clearest endorsement of the hotshot string jammer's ascension. The Michigan guitarist may no longer be a prodigy at 30, but he's reinvigorated bluegrass with a mainstream appeal that can lean equally psychedelic and old-time. Latest LP, last year's Me/And/Dad, lands more traditional as the Grammy winner teams with his father, Terry Barber, to cap a nostalgic album triptych of Home and Renewal. – Doug Freeman
Crudo Fest
Mohawk, Saturday 3Recurring mosh pit incitement Crudo Fest packs a stellar bill of Texas metal and hardcore. Top-billed power-fuckin'-trio Sadistic Force plays raging speed metal with flying riffs and James Oliver's blackened shrieks – recommended for those who hail both Exciter and Motörhead. Their impressive 2021 LP Aces Wild had a song called "Murder at Boggy Creek," which fits with fellow Crudo performers Slow Pulse having issued a single called "Riverside Ripper." Judging by recent bookings and their razor-sharp live show, the hardcore quartet, led by the flamethrower voice of Brooke Hampton, is poised to break out. Also on deck: crossover trashers Disowned, sludgy punk maniacs Bosh, and hardcore punks Bug Spray. – Kevin Curtin
Rickshaw Billie’s Big Dumb Fest
Mohawk, Sunday 4"It's like Andrew W.K., but less party," characterized Leo Lydon last June. Don't believe it. Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol, the singer/guitarist's homegrown threesome alongside bassist Aaron Metzdorf and drummer Sean St. Germain, throws down. Like millennial English outburst the Darkness – only more grunge, less hair metal – they inject levity into their fifth clamor and stomp, last fall's Doom Wop, adhering to the crucial musical tenet that self-seriousness numbs. The trio's inaugural Big Dumb Fest co-headlines instrumental detonators Eagle Claw and Tia Carrera, while Billy Glitter, Gus Baldwin & the Sketch, Buzz Electro, and Pinko – prog, punk, and rock bangers all – party down too. – Raoul Hernandez
Katie Shore
Monks Jazz, Thursday 8If Western swing, as pioneered by Bob Wills' Texas Playboys and kept alive by Asleep at the Wheel, is country music's version of jazz, it's no surprise that Wheel fiddler and singer Katie Shore prepares to make her Monks debut. The Ft. Worth native will be joined by fellow Wheelers Danny Levin, Josh Hoag, and Joey Colarusso, as well as local jazzers Greg Harkins, Robb Kidd, and Rick White for a set of swing, jump blues, classic C&W, and some surprises. Considering how widely the Wheel ranges, these versatile musos will likely visit lands we've never seen them travel before. – Michael Toland
Music Notes
by Derek UdensiPurple People Party
The Far Out, Saturday 3The second iteration of this annual event celebrates the late Prince Rogers Nelson around his birthday as local acts Quentin Arispe, Ms. Mack & the Daddies, and Eddie Angel perform a mix of original tunes and covers.
Nile Rodgers & CHIC
Moody Center, Tuesday 6Loosen up those joints for summer with hypnotic disco tracks such as "Le Freak" and "Good Times," still performed by CHIC co-founder Nile Rodgers. Bastille ("Pompeii") also provides support. Duran Duran headlines.
Be Gay for Spite
Swan Dive, Thursday 8Freelance booking/photography organization For Spite Creative celebrates LGBTQIA Pride Month with a weekly queer music series occurring every Thursday in June. She23 headlines show No. 1.