Credit: Courtesy of Antone's

Booker T. Jones (of Booker T. & the M.G.s), Los Yesterdays, and DJ Mahealani

Friday 13 – Saturday 14, Antone’s

Among the advantages premium Memphis soul label Stax Records had, in its rivalry with Motown as the house soul built, was a rhythm section greasier than the Detroit company’s Funk Brothers: Booker T. & the M.G.s. Every member was a hard-driving genius of minimalism, propelled by Booker T. Jones’ warm Hammond B-3 virtuosity. Jones returns to Antone’s Friday and Saturday for an education in soulfulness, surely to include a walk through “Green Onions” and some of his other classics. Los Yesterdays open the first night, with DJ Mahealani digging into his record crates both nights.   – Tim Stegall


Credit: Courtesy of Mélat

Long Center Presents Concert Club: Mélat

Friday 13, Long Center Rollins Studio Theatre

Mélat has been on a roll lately: new album, solo shows at Pershing, work with local music mentorship program Kids in a New Groove’s girl-centric spinoff. At the tail end of summer, the R&B songstress showcases her rich discography, including the emotional waterfall that was last year’s Canon Metis. “Cuz the future ain’t promised. And the past has abandoned us. And the only thing we can trust is what’s in front of us,” Mélat says in Minnie Riperton-esque “The Now.” For those privy to her live shows, the sentiment makes sense when witnessing her pour every ounce of herself into each song.   – Cy White


Credit: Photo by Gabriella Howard

Lisa Morales In-Store Performance and Record Signing

Friday 13, Waterloo Records

With her new album Sonora now available for the masses, Lisa Morales alights Waterloo Records’ modest stage, bringing illustrative intimacy to the close-skinned vulnerability her music is known for. The album is a feast of musical richness, enlisting the talents of Los Lonely Boys, Tish Hinojosa, Mariangela, Seratones, and Kelsey Wilson, lead soul stirrer of local power vocal outfit Sir Woman. 2022’s She Ought to Be King will pair like red wine and filet mignon for those interested in the kind of nourishment Morales’ music gives. Up close, personal, and so very honest, it’s a performance for the lonely heart that wants to find love.   – Cy White


Chingona Fest Texas

Saturday 14, Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park

Vivan las chingonas. Reclaimed from the pile of insults hurled at women for being too much, “chingona” now appears on every possible accessory. These days, the word denotes butt-kicking personal effectiveness for those who invoke it. In that spirit, Chingona Fest Texas returns for its first in-person event since 2019, showcasing the Latine community with a daylong party of performers, market makers, and treat-making shakers assembled to inspire. Rising Texas rapper xBValentine takes top billing, but Destiny Navaira, niece of titan Emilio Navaira, brings Tejano heat. Austin faves the Tiarras, Stephanie Bergara (Bidi Bidi Banda), and Angélica Rahe kick things off.   – Christina Garcia


Longhorn City Limits

Saturday 14, LBJ Lawn

The legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band brings its brand of New Orleans jazz and funk to the Live Music Capital. The Second Line is always hopping with these titans of big band, jazz, and gritty swing. It’s a largeness in sound fitting for a pregame, their band’s music headier than any liquor you’d imbibe before going out to get even dippier on the sauce. Their latest work, 2022’s inspired collaboration with the legendary NOLA trumpeter Charlie Gabriel, Eighty Nine, highlights that these cats are more than bombastic big band. Special guest locals Big Wy’s Brass Band opens. A show that sends a bold statement to Texas Football rivals UTSA.   – Cy White


Credit: Courtesy of Live Nation

Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper: Freaks on Parade Tour

Saturday 14, Circuit of the Americas

A generation separates Masshole Bob Cummings, 59, and Detroit’s Vincent Furnier, 76, but musically, this Freaks on Parade tour conjoins father-n-son. The former kept busy pandemically, snarling 2021’s The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy and directing The Munsters off the pages of TV Guide and into theatres the following year. The latter shock rock pioneer-turned-golf pro and longtime Arizonan restates his music history bona fides right out of the gate on April re-release Breadcrumbs: “Me and Iggy were gigging with Ziggy, and kicking with the MC5/ Ted and Seger were burning with the fever, and Suzi Q. was sharp as a knife.”   – Raoul Hernandez


American Artists: Use Your Voice, Use Your Vote

Saturday 14, AISD Performing Arts Center

Walk down any Austin thoroughfare, and you’ll find at least three people declaring this year’s election the most significant in recent memory. However, there’s a tangible sense of danger surrounding this year’s brand of civic pageantry. American Artists Project has made it a mission to educate the masses on the importance of heading to the polls. Use Your Voice, Use Your Vote offers two afternoon concerts and an opportunity to register to vote. The 1pm show features Grammy-nominated Broadway star Frenchie Davis with Crystal Paull, Ben Jones, and Christopher Spivey and Company; 3pm features Queen of Indian Soul Nagavalli and local Colombian funk outfit Superfónicos.   – Cy White


Credit: Courtesy of State Theatre

Carrie Rodriguez x Laboratorio

Sunday 15, Stateside at Paramount Theatre

Singer-songwriter and violinist Carrie Rodriguez returns with another iteration of her long-running Laboratorio concert series. The program, a celebration of “Latine culture through world-class musicianship, visual arts, and storytelling,” invites renowned artists to perform with Rodriguez and the backing of the Laboratorio band, this time hosting Latin Grammy-nominated and 12-time Austin Music Award-winner Gina Chavez and co-creator and co-host of NPR’s Alt.Latino Felix Contreras. Chavez will bring her blazing stage performance to Stateside, featuring her own songs and collab projects with Rodriguez, while “Tio Felix” opens up discussions about music that promise “plenty of entertaining chisme.”   – Cy White


Credit: Courtesy of Emo's

Benjamin Tod and the Lost Dog Street Band

Sunday 15, Emo’s

Benjamin Tod’s music has been notoriously torqued with Rage and Tragedy, raw and grittily poetic as the troubadour chronicled his rough and rowdy ways. The Nashville songwriter has emerged rejuvenated and re-inspired over the past couple of years, though, regrouping his Lost Dog Street Band to find a “Brighter Shade” with this year’s stellar Survived, and prepping a new solo album, Shooting Star. Tod explores new contours as he finally earns broader attention but retains his same sense of sharp, unique phrasing and the ability to wring beauty from an underdog outsider perspective.   – Doug Freeman


Credit: Courtesy of Resound Presents

Marika Hackman

Tuesday 17, the Ballroom

There’s a delicate strength to Marika Hackman’s fifth LP, Big Sigh, an understated confidence building in the rising percussion and electronic beats. The UK multi-instrumentalist’s songwriting on the album carries the weight of struggling through a creative drought but lifts with an almost miraculous clarity and unexpected harsh analogies buried within the gorgeously hushed tones and patient pacing. Although the more electronic and pop production of her earlier work takes a backseat, her feel for provocative pulses and emotional catharsis still drives across Big Sigh – though whether it’s ultimately a sigh of relief or resignation remains unclear.   – Doug Freeman


Credit: Courtesy of Napalm Records

Nervosa

Wednesday 18, Come & Take It Live

In February, a few days post-Valentine’s, São Paulo death metal stilettos Crypta gutted Come and Take It Live. Neither myself nor my millennial indie companion could unglue our gaze from band front Fernanda Lira or lead axe fiend Jéssica di Falchi. Now comes the main event. Crypta spun off from Nervosa, co-founded by guitarist and now gut-it-out singer Prika Amaral back in 2010. Just shy of its first birthday, the four-woman Jailbreak lands Brazilian metallurgy back on East Riverside behind a relentless thrashing worthy of the Thin Lizzy album title it borrows, only far more Thunder and Lightning.   – Raoul Hernandez


Matthew Muehling Quartet

Wednesday 18, Monks Jazz

With ongoing memberships in local fusion wranglers Progger, eclectic jazz supergroup JARS, cinematic rock band Open2.o, funky soul advocates Sketch Band, and raunchy comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s Kill Tony Band, guitarist Matt Muehling is one of Austin’s baddest of badasses. Solo bandleader sightings are rare, however, so this is a chance to get the unfiltered Muehling experience. Joined by saxophonist Paulo Santos, drummer Josh Berry, and his longtime compatriot, bassist Ryan Hagler, Muehling brings his various styles under a more overtly jazz umbrella for a diverse show that emphasizes the exceptional musicianship that’s made him one of Austin’s top axemasters.   – Michael Toland


Credit: Courtesy of Monks Jazz

Mockjaw

Thursday 19, Monks Jazz

Guitar/vocalist Sloan Hill, bassist Tanner Hoyt, keyboardist Keith Galloway, and drummer Collin McCord formed Mockjaw in 2023 in the local cauldron of the Butler School of Music at UT-Austin, debuting at Swan Dive and making the rounds before hitting Monks back in June. Between then and now, the young band released the single “SITW,” recorded a yet-to-be-released EP of their tightly crafted jazz fusion/R&B/math rock, and secured a nomination for Best Jazz in this year’s Austin Music Awards. Still young (they’re all college students), they’ve got a bright future ahead, individually and as Mockjaw.   – Michael Toland


Allisen & the Wy’s Guys Credit: Courtesy of the artist


Music Notes

by Derek Udensi

Allisen & the Wy’s Guys

Friday 13 – Saturday 14, Continental Club

This Austin-based soul band takes over the South Congress venue for a two-night double-header. Friday’s event sees Allisen Hinojosa, Wyatt Corder, and the rest of the group tribute the late Amy Winehouse a day before her birthday, with support from the Point. Allisen & the Wy’s Guys then celebrate their new single on Saturday, with support from Indoor Creature.

The Marley Brothers

Sunday 15, Circuit of the Americas

During a year in which the Bob Marley: One Love biopic was released, five of the reggae legend’s sons – Ziggy, Stephen, Julian, Ky-Mani, and Damian – join together for a tour interspersing their own individual hits into a larger tribute for their trailblazing father. Julian Marley’s Alexx Antaeus-produced full-length, Colors of Royal, won the 2024 Grammy for Best Reggae Album.

SOFI TUKKER

Wednesday 18, Moody Amphitheater

What better way to wrap up this summer than a potential rendition of “Summer in New York,” in Austin? Electronic dance music duo Tucker Halpern and Sophie Hawley-Weld tour on the heels of new album Bread. SOFI TUKKER’s last local appearance came at the 2022 ACL Fest. Confidence Man and Carola support.

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 September 13 • 2024.

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.

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.

Tim Stegall contributed to The Austin Chronicle 1991-1995, and was a staff writer 1995-1997. He returned as a contributor in 2013. He has also freelanced for publications ranging from Flipside to Alternative Press to Guitar World. He plays punk rock guitar and sings in the Hormones.

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.