From the Fabulous Thunderbirds burning down the Rome Inn on Monday nights in the Seventies to 2015 Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame inductee Margaret Wright holding court Thursdays & Fridays at the Skylark Lounge, Austin’s sonic empire is built on residencies. Related by bedrock roots, the Continental Club (Toni Price, Dale Watson, Jon Dee Graham & James McMurtry), Saxon Pub (Bob Schneider, Johnny Nicholas), and Broken Spoke (come back Jesse Dayton) alone could keep the lights on. Save for a couple ringers here, these new local traditions – all but one of them gratis – began in the past five years. Catch ’em before they become lore.

This article appears in November 27 • 2015.

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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.