PR Newman has concocted an amusing, homespun video for “Let’s Go Meet in a Small Town,” which Chronicle scribe Libby Webster recently described as “a winking, brutal takedown of hipster Austinites’ obsessions with rural living.”
The three-minute clip fills your eyes and ears with the polymathic talents of leader Spencer Garland. That’s him riding a bicycle no-hands as he sings and strums his guitar, playing a lively keyboard solo on a rural street, and executing a “perfect” dismount off a rope swing. Viewers also get to see him almost completely nude.
It’s pure silliness from the singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who helmed PR Newman’s debut while on break from the underrated holy grail of Austin rock: the Berkshire Hounds. Garland also plays keyboards in Black Pumas.
The instrumentally diverse Turn Out was warmly received last year, including a No. 14 ranking in my Top 100 Austin Albums of 2018. After touring solo in Europe last year, Garland now flies his band over for 16 dates in Italy and Germany throughout April. The following few months, PR Newman traverses the lower 48 opening for Matthew Logan Vasquez.
Here’s a full rundown of those dates:
This article appears in February 1 • 2019.