Scott Strickland is the kind of person who makes the changes he wants to see. Over the last two years, the songwriter and Music Commission member has used his Sonic Guild award to tour extensively. While traveling, he noticed a lack of fellow working-class Black musicians in the songwriting and rock-based genres. Back in Austin, he started Black Artists Rock.
“In all of the spaces that I was in, I wasn’t really seeing people that look like me,” Strickland says. “I wasn’t really seeing any other musicians of color that were songwriters, specifically, getting on the stage with an acoustic guitar and playing some songs or fronting a band with a Telecaster or some kind of rock outfit.”
Strickland knew Black rock lyricists, acoustic strummers, and Fender shredders were out there, and in Texas specifically – he points to Leon Bridges and Abraham Alexander – but the more Strickland looked, the fewer spots he saw within the music economy where these artists were being supported and celebrated. Naturally, Strickland struck out to create one of his own. Last year, he launched Black Artists Rock, a three-part series showcasing Black songwriters, including Strickland himself, in a curated, listening-room-style space. This year’s rendition takes place at Pershing Hall for three consecutive third Thursdays, September through November.
“The songwriter vibe lends itself to a more intimate venue,” Strickland explains. “We want this to be like we’re playing in someone’s living room and Pershing is kind of giving us that vibe.”
Poet Hawkins, a Los Angeles-born, Austin-based lyricist, kicked off the 2025 series, performing piano-centered tracks and discussing the stories behind them on stage with Strickland, who performed some of his own soulful tunes. Sharing a bit about the life behind the music during these intimate performances is a crucial part of the experience Strickland wants to create for musicians and audiences with Black Artists Rock.
“There’s real life stuff behind a lot of these songs,” Strickland explains, recalling a Waco-based musician, Zach Webb, who played last year and opened up about his mother’s early death and his struggle to raise himself and his brother. “When you start putting the socioeconomic, racial narrative behind some of the stories that become songs and then get played to the masses – not to say that there’s a worse or a better perspective – but it’s just a different perspective than people would normally expect.”
Giving these perspectives and the performers behind them a platform has a personal resonance for Strickland, sure, but the big-picture thinker also sees important potential for improving economic outcomes for Black musicians in the Austin music community.
“The barometer for success for an independent musician comes down to community,” Strickland explains, illustrating the dollar value of connections, name recognition, and inter-scene respect for working-class musicians whose income largely depends on booking shows.
“It’s important that they’re showcased, it’s important that they receive their accolades because it helps them in terms of booking and helps them in terms of being able to pay a band,” Strickland says. “I see Black Artists Rock as one of the economic drivers that’s missing from the city of Austin and – from a wide-lens perspective, I think it’s missing from music in general.”
Not all important work is fun, but Strickland finds joy in hosting fellow songwriters and performing together. “I’m a talker,” he laughs. “I have a lot of things to say in terms of my journey, sharing my life story.”
He also has plenty of material to play. The filmmaker-turned-musician crafts poetic narratives into pop-rock forms that recall coffeehouse songwriters like Tracy Chapman, and cinematic singers like Jeff Buckley. As the series host and curator, he’s sharing the spotlight and already feeling the benefits of filling in this missing piece of Austin’s music puzzle.
“It’s very rewarding to have these new songs I’m working on and showcase to a crowd, and they receive them well,” Strickland says.
Cherri performs at Pershing Hall for Black Artists Rock on Oct. 15 and Trey Privott of Los Coast performs Nov. 17.
