This has been stated before in these pages, by this writer, but it bears repeating: The Austin music scene is experiencing a renaissance not seen since the early grunge era. A full-on reinvention/evolution on display every night on Red River. Not so much based on live music, the pub scene on the other side of Sixth Street – Opal Divine’s, Mother Egan’s – from whence the Greencards sprung, is also in full bloom. How then to choose only seven Austin acts playing SXSW 04 to spotlight? Simply put, these “Picks 2 Click” rock our town.

This article appears in March 5 • 2004.

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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.