I fell back in love with Austin music in 2025. Our city has been rife with talented performers since long before I came around, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the embarrassment of riches – and by everything else going on these days. These records – anticipated follow-ups, big-time debuts, new outfit premieres – […]
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A Motown Christmas Friday 19, Geraldine’s For years, Austin-based R&B singer Tje Austin has hosted a “Motown Christmas” event in which he and several musical guests perform a variety of classic Christmastime tracks. This go-around’s a bit different because he’ll also perform his new, Christmas-themed EP Seasonal D. The four-track release contains original music; “Everything […]
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Texan Troubadour Joe Ely Dies at 78
Texas roots singer-songwriter Joe Ely passed away at age 78 on Monday, Dec. 15, due to complications with Lewy body dementia, Parkinson’s, and pneumonia, according to a statement from his family. Ely was born in Amarillo in 1947 and became a pivotal part of Austin’s progressive country and Americana scene throughout the Seventies and Eighties […]
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Almost Famous: A Soundtrack Party Thursday 11, Hotel Vegas This sequel to the first Almost Famous event again features Austin musicians tributing various movie soundtracks. Michael Sanders, Ivy Mine, and Daybed close out the show with a performance of the Shrek soundtrack, because we simply must remember Smash Mouth’s rendition of “I’m a Believer.” Daily […]
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It’s A Very Carper Christmas Indeed
Melissa Carper’s tender, time-warping voice is well-suited to Christmas material. Turns out, so is her storytelling. A Very Carper Christmas presents 13 original tunes lovingly plucked from the songwriter’s hardscrabble universe of scrappy living and simple joys, plus two classic covers that pay homage to the legacy of sorrow and humor in holiday tunes. Fifties […]
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Money Chicha Locks In
Echo en Mexico, Money Chicha’s 2016 debut long-player, jolts immediately – as if someone plugged in a hotplate at some interior pueblito, where any electrical socket can spark or shock. Live-wire guitar, a Farfisa bleat, and percussive layering straight off the last century of Mexican music pulse potently through this ATX fivepiece. 2020 follow-up En […]
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JaRon Marshall’s Psych-Soul Smorgasbord
Raised on church music, trained in jazz, and blooded by the psychedelic soul of the Black Pumas, of which he’s been a member since they started touring, keyboardist JaRon Marshall has a deep creative well from which to drink. While earth sounds, his 2023 debut with his band the Collective, leaned most heavily on both […]
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Evan Dando Is Staying Busy
It’s a Shame About Ray, the Lemonheads’ 1992 magnum opus, is melancholy and gorgeous. Take its jangly title track, where singer-guitarist Evan Dando laments the disappearance of a vague fictional character, or the acoustic “My Drug Buddy,” a junkie ballad more tender than the average love song. This was always the conundrum with the Lemonheads. […]
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Flight by Nothing, Good Looks, Theo Lawrence, and More to Play Free Week 2026
Red River Cultural District’s no-cost mini fest Free Week takes over the neighborhood a week later this year, Jan. 9-10, with performances from nearly 100 local bands of every genre, including pop rockers Flight by Nothing, folk rock quartet Good Looks, and old-fashioned country singer Theo Lawrence. Plenty of Free Week veterans will take to […]
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Beloved Institutions Expand, Restaurants Honored, and NYE Shows Announced
The Head and the Heart will headline Austin’s New Year’s party at Auditorium Shores on Dec. 31 from 7pm to midnight. Local stars Chaparelle, Taméca Jones, and the Point will also perform at the free, family-friendly event hosted by the city and Visit Austin, alongside a drone show and, of course, a fireworks finale to […]
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Christone “Kingfish” Ingram Saturday 6, Paramount Theatre Still just 26, blues guitar maestro Christone “Kingfish” Ingram struts into the Paramount a few months after the release of his third studio album, Hard Road. Mathias Lattin opens on the penultimate date of the Mississippi native’s tour. H-E-B Free First Sunday Sunday 7, Bullock Museum This month’s […]
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Parliament-Funkadelic to Headline 2026 Austin Blues Festival
Pioneering psychedelic funk collective Parliament-Funkadelic, led by George Clinton, is set to lead Austin Blues Festival 2026. The two-day event returns to Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park on April 25 and 26. Canadian instrumental project BADBADNOTGOOD and veteran Austinite songwriter Eric Johnson will set the stage for the headliners, following performances from Larkin Poe, Adrian […]