Witches Exist

Thursday 2, 29th Street Ballroom

Under new management – the teams behind Resound Presents, Tweedy’s, Hotel Vegas, the Little Darlin’, and more – the venue at 2906 Fruth rebrands again to 29th Street Ballroom. They kick off Free Week early with a killer no-cost showcase of local alt-rock. Melodic post-punks Witches Exist headline on the heels of October single “Drown,” which explodes from quietly chugging verses into a fuzzed-out chorus. That same month, opening experimentalists Water Damage notched another edition in their ongoing “really” series – that is, 20-plus-minute ruminations entitled “Reel E,” “Reel Ee,” “Reel Eee,” and now “Reel LE” – while Dorothy’s debuted the ethereal EP Suite in May.   – Carys Anderson


Purgatory Creek

Thursday 2, Empire Control Room

Jan. 2: the birthday of local recording engineer, booker, door guy, and former Chalk leader Connor Spencer Gryder, and the day he debuts his new project Purgatory Creek. Rounded out by drummers Egan and Collin Swayze, guitarist Ryan Masnicki, saxophone/clarinet player Kera Krause, and bassist Miles Oshan, the experimental collective will perform the multi-section piece “Mending” ahead of sets by post-punk trio VVVOOOLLLUUUMMMEEE and Bernardo Mountainair, the psychedelic solo project of Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Band guitarist Dillon Fernandez.   – Carys Anderson


The Point

The Point, Money Chicha

Friday 3, Sagebrush

Another banner year for the LatinATX scene in 2024. Colombian brass fantasy Superfónicos scored a local top-five release with debut full-length Renaceré, as produced by Beto Martinez. Also guitarist for Grupo Fantasma/Money Chicha/Brownout, the Buda-based superproducer likewise rode herd on Maldito Animal, LP bow from Austin trio the Point. Jack Montesinos sings, strums, and plucks bass as smooth, virtuosic, and idiosyncratic as White Denim’s James Petralli, while Joe Roddy’s organ crosses Esquivel with Jimmy Smith, and drummer Nico Léophonte ties it all up Fifties lounge-wise. Rico y buenísimo! Support here by Hotel De Nova and Los Alcos también.   – Raoul Hernandez


Wild Heaven

Friday 3, Knomad Bar

Laura Blewitt Delarosa fronts Wild Heaven, an incredibly fresh and fun take on Nineties alt-rock nostalgia. Songs like “Nicely” off their summer debut, I Need You, ring reminiscent of mid-Aughts English act Art Brut’s hyperrealistic, minutiae-centric lyricism. The band’s support acts plug their own recent releases. Queer punk/grunge trio Prom Threat’s latest EP, Firewalker, doesn’t disappoint, while emo outfit Losers’ sonically buoyant debut Fear electrifies with its booming single, “Everyone Hates the NRA.” Snack Supper doesn’t “wanna work anymore” and asks life’s hardest questions on “The Machine.” Hooray Internet adds on to 2023’s punchy Jump Ship with smoother psych rock textures on last January’s Don’t Be Mad.   – Kahron Spearman


Credit: Courtesy of Parker Jazz Club

Kris Kimura Quartet

Saturday 4, Parker Jazz Club

The nice thing about being both a musician and a club owner is that you can take the stage nearly anytime you want. Parker Jazz impresario Kris Kimura is happy to step onstage when bookings allow, whether with the Wasabi Big Band, his Great American Songbook ensemble, or with his own eponymous quartet, aka the Ryan Davis Trio/Parker House Band. Versatile enough to play saxophone, clarinet, flute, trumpet, flugelhorn, ukulele, or larynx (see also: his Music of Chet Baker shows), Kimura casts a wide net over jazz standards with a sense of humor and a deep love of the music.   – Michael Toland


Credit: Image via Riot Act Media

Chris Acker

Saturday 4, Hole in the Wall

Chris Acker winds poetry from the most mundane moments, a tally of life’s small wins and losses accumulating into a credit of joy in the moment with the abundance of life around him. “Like every other day, it’s unlike any other one,” he intones in closing out this fall’s Famous Lunch, an album highlighting the New Orleans-based songwriter’s underdog eye, sly sense of humor, and wandering amusement. Bookending Acker’s Prine-like pull, Jon Dee Graham returns his growl to the Drag’s small stage and Little Mazarn laces Lindsey Verrill’s ballads with softly atmospheric banjo and saw dreamscapes.   – Doug Freeman


Ted Roddy’s Elvis Birthday Jubilee

Saturday 4, Continental Club

Sleigh-riding to San Antonio for some Mi Tierra home cooking and imported Mexican presents, we caroled along with the King, born Jan. 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi. Elvis didn’t simply sing the Christmas canon, he damn near gargled it, swishing it around his mouth like a shot of Irish whiskey. Seldom did he play it straight, always searching for a new angle on an ancient melody. Expect the same from Austin’s Ted Roddy, whose decades-annual birthday celebration of Elvis must be seen and experienced to believe. Backing big or small from the cream of Austin’s own Wrecking Crew, Roddy’s speakeasy extravaganza remains a new year’s hunk of burning love.   – Raoul Hernandez


JaRon Marshall Credit: Photo by John Anderson

Austin Chronicle Free Week Pop-Up

Friday 3, Empire Control Room & Garage

Let’s get it outta the way first: Empire’s Friday Free Week lineup addition DJ Hair of the Dog is of no relation to Hair of the Dog SXSW party mascot Hank the Chrondog. BUT there is a slight connection in that the show Mr. DJ Hair of the Dog joins will also feature a pop-up from our wonderful Chron crew, who’re there promoting our recently released Music Poll. If you get a minute away from enjoying the top-tier tunes played by HotD’s fellow stage stormers Half Dream, Tied Up, Lola Tried, Magic Rockers of Texas, Trejo, and JaRon Marshall, make sure to visit the table to cast your vote! Hank the Chrondog will not be there, however, as he will be watching the season premiere of RuPaul’s Drag Race 17 that night.   – James Scott


A Mourning in Heaven

Harvey Waters and Friends

Monday 6, Alienated Majesty Books

Last month it was emo; this month it’s bedroom pop. Local booking, recording, and publishing collective Tiny Sounds continues to turn campus-area bookstore Alienated Majesty into a DIY music venue, complete with alternative sounds sourced from across the country. Dreamy Chicago act Harvey Waters – whose singer Daniel Keyes admittedly leads the quartet with an emo moan – tops this bill, rounded out by Houston natives A Mourning in Heaven and Mud Dauber and Austin twangers Amelia’s Best Friend. Expect slow strummed guitars and quietly bobbing heads at this all-ages roundup.   – Carys Anderson


Credit: Courtesy of Retromanic

Day Friend

Thursday 9, Coral Snake

Urban Dictionary defines a “day friend” as a friend you only hang out with in daylight because they exist unhinged after dark. Musically fulfilling this definition, Day Friend’s impressive September debut, Penelope, brings night-owl-centric early Aughts revival to mind. Rock trio FIN FIN’s brawny 2024 EP Hit the Houselights provides a rip-roaring, hypermasculine (in a good way) time, like they just fixed the fence and made the record after. Big, beautiful choruses elevate power pop band KNETX, specifically on singles “SOMETHING/NOTHING” and “CAROUSEL.” Formerly known as Midgetmen, the “slop-punk” band THEMM! still brings it with a tasty, no-bullshit set, El Pastor, after 20-plus years.   – Kahron Spearman


Jackie Venson Credit: Photo by Jana Birchum


Music Notes

by Derek Udensi

Jackie Venson

Saturday 4, Antone’s

For the third year running, electrifying guitarist/singer-songwriter Jackie Venson plays a weekly Saturday residency at Antone’s in January. Her first show features Sydney Wright as an opener, with Blakchyl (Jan. 11) and Kiko Villamizar (Jan. 18) coming along for the next two dates. She’ll wrap up the residency on Jan. 25 with a The Love Anthology release show that’ll feature 80H Project in support.

The Mosh Network: Five-Year Anniversary

Saturday 4, Come & Take It Live

The website with an online directory of sorts for independent rock bands celebrates five years. Fun fact: Austin has more bands listed than any other city. Scheduled performers for the anniversary party include Foreword and Mass of Amara.

Trill Sammy

Wednesday 8, Antone’s

Best known for his efforts during the SoundCloud boom in the back half of the 2010s, Houston rapper Trill Sammy went relatively radio silent for years. He ended his dormancy with the release of 2023 project No Sleep Vol. 2, which came five years after he dropped the first volume. Sammy interestingly featured on the 2016 track “On Go,” which later appeared on local rappers EC Mayne and Young Clean’s collaborative project Act Bad or Die.

Want to see all of our listings broken down by day? Go to austinchronicle.com/calendar and see what’s happening now or in the coming week.

This article appears in January 3 • 2025.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

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Carys Anderson moved from Nowhere, DFW to Austin in 2017 to study journalism at the University of Texas. She began writing for The Austin Chronicle in 2021 and joined its full-time staff in 2023, where she covers music and culture.

As the Chronicle's Club Listings Editor, Derek compiles a weekly list of music events occurring across town. The University of Texas alum also writes about hip-hop as a contributor to the Music section.

Kahron Spearman is a journalist and writer with bylines including The Austin Chronicle, Austin Monthly, Consequence of Sound, Texas Highways, and the London-based journal The Break-Down. He currently serves as Senior Editor at Atmosphere TV.

San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.

Michael Toland started writing about music in 1988 on the Gulf Coast, moved to Austin in early 1991, and has inflicted bylines upon the corporeal and digital pages of Pop Culture Press, The Big Takeover, Blurt, Amplifier, Austin.citysearch, the Austin American Statesman, Goldmine, Sleazegrinder, Rock & Roll Globe, High Bias, FHT Music Notes, and, since 2011, The Austin Chronicle.

Doug Freeman has been writing for the Austin Chronicle since 2007, covering the arts and music scene in the city. He is originally from Virginia and earned his Masters Degree from the University of Texas. He is also co-editor of The Austin Chronicle Music Anthology, published by UT Press.

James Scott is a writer who has lived in Austin since 2017. He covers queer events, news, and anything pertaining to Austin's LGBTQ community. Catch his work writing film essays for Hyperreal Film Club, performing in Queer Film Theory 101 at Barrel O' Fun, or on his social media platforms: @thejokesboy on Twitter and Bluesky or @ghostofelectricity on Instagram.