ACL Interview: Shallowater Soundtracks the West Texas Desert  

Planning to check out MJ Lenderman at ACL Fest? Have you heard of Shallowater?

Comparisons between the Houston trio and the Asheville alt-country darling – and his band Wednesday, and Dallas slowcore group Teethe, and Nineties luminaries Codeine – pop up often in the band’s press, or in conversations about the rise of slow-moving, sludgy, countrified guitar music. The references offer a useful shorthand for the sound, an algorithm-approved way of recommending new acts – but they don’t tell the full story. You should probably just listen to Shallowater yourself. 

“We’re from West Texas, and I think that we sound like we’re from West Texas,” states bassist Tristan Kelly. “It’s something kind of indescribable.” 

I’ll try. Shallowater’s second album, God’s Gonna Give You a Million Dollars (helmed by Bleeds and Manning Fireworks producer Alex Farrar), is hypnotizing: a little depressing, a little spooky, and very expansive. It’s been almost four years since Kelly, singer-guitarist Blake Skipper, and drummer Ryan Faulkenberry moved east in search of a more happening music scene, but the landscape of the desert still colors their music. Even fellow Texans Teethe, whose creeping, slightly twangy output has made fans of Stereogum and Kendall Jenner alike, doesn’t quite sound like it. 

The band loves all of these acts, to be clear. They just hope, as all artists do, that their music places them in a distinct time and place. 

“Codeine, Songs: Ohia, Red House Painters … Those are all bands that I really do love, but I think that we’re doing something that none of them would do,” Kelly says. “I think it is somewhat of a progression.

“I want to be a 2025 band. I don’t want to be a Nineties revival band.” 

Shallowater has played South by Southwest and, soon, ACL Fest in 2025. Both presented pinch-me moments for the small-town music lovers. 

“The very first live music I ever saw was at Austin City Limits when I was 16, because not a lot of shows go through Lubbock,” Kelly shares. “I am just blown away that we’re getting invited to do any of this.” 

“We really wanted to take a whack at doing music, and just said to ourselves, ‘Till the wheels fall off. We’ll do this until it doesn’t make sense,’” Skipper adds. “And it’s really cool to be beyond when I thought the wheels would fall off. I didn’t think that this would happen, and it’s gonna happen, so that’s cool.” 

This article appears in October 3 • 2025.