Without fail, two words improve the universal joy of barhopping: “No cover.” With that, and an all-local musical lineup, Hot Summer Nights returned to the Red River Cultural District last weekend, inspiring three Chronicle writers to wander about in search of a new song of the summer. Here’s what we found.
Bovine Pays Homage to Outlaw Country
What kind of outlaw gets away in the country subsect’s revival? Bovine are hardly the first to refashion the genre, but seeing them for the first time made me wonder. Their nostalgic sound is characterized by Andrew Held’s enthusiastic saloon keys and Nick Fichter and Georgia Ferguson’s classics-inspired harmonies, grounded by Jake Young’s faithful drumming. The fourpiece extended to include banjo player/percussionist Kat Foree and fiddler Jonah Calvo for Thursday night’s set at Stubb’s indoor stage. That sweet ‘n’ savory barbecue aroma hung heavy in the air as Fichter spun Hill Country tales of “blue-collar blues,” and “setting sail through the cosmic sea,” in a psych-meets-country style that felt distinctly Austin – and a little on-the-nose. Maybe it was the sauce-scented room, the Willie Nelson cover, or the time Bovine’s spent cutting their teeth accompanying dance lessons with Neon 2 Step, but their sound proved distinctly less Pinegrove, more Waylon Jennings in live performance.
Not only was this my first time seeing Bovine, this was my first time visiting Stubb’s, and the two felt well-matched. The honky-tonk outpost cobblestones and beloved family restaurant feel was just right for the country-folk outfit’s readable blend of vintage influences and cowboy-affected stylings. The set ended with Bovine’s latest single, “Cowboy (Put Your Gun Down),” a tale as old as tumbleweed delivered with a groovier feel and a rock fiddle riff. While the fresh-faced group is still finding their own rhythm, and getting comfortable in lockstep, their music has a clear destiny on boot-tapping dance floors.  – Caroline Drew
Maya Sampleton Blasts Bedroom R&B
Maya Sampleton walked on the Stubb’s indoor stage Friday night with a cup in her hand – of hot tea, that is. The wholesome choice of libation seemed unusual for the warmup act at KUTX’s annual Summer Jam (following a DJ slot by hosts Confucius and Fresh of The Breaks), but it mirrored the singer’s ensuing set of sleepy R&B.
Two released singles prove Sampleton – for real her government name, she assured us – writes bare-bones love songs when she’s not lending her voice to BLK ODYSSY’s lush funk chorus; despite live guitar by Jake Smith and drums via Chip Belton, they proved even more minimalist last weekend, when the vocalist’s prerecorded tracks blared louder than her hired guns. The canned trap beats of “Promise” clashed with Smith’s twinkling keys, and the bass that zooms in and out of the recording, adding depth to the slow lullaby, were muddled in the live mix. Still, Sampleton inspired a crowd chorus in “Mind Made Up” and “Higher,” the latter originally by Nigerian neo-soul singer Tems. She tried out an unnamed, unreleased track for her final bow, where upbeat percussion broke the performance’s dreamy haze. “To anybody else it seems strange but you love me just the same,” the vocalist crooned, voice sultry like Chilli’s, in a radio-ready refrain. A test screening like this should, hopefully, beget just the same grooves in the future. – Carys Anderson
Grover Street Country Band Aims for TikTok Fame
I’ve seen Grover Street Country Band many times before. Not in the flesh, per se, but at the much worse place where bands of their tenor typically go to meet their match: a “for you” page. The TikTok and Instagram Reel clips that I’ve come across, mostly of the young fivepiece covering songs while sitting around a campfire-minus-the-actual-fire, didn’t look much different from their in-person set on Friday at Empire Garage.
Covering American classics from Glen Campbell to Hank Williams with cookie-cutter precision, the band’s traditional Southern sound was as tight as it gets, with satisfying pedal steel solos and twangy intonations to show for it. Hell, even their outfits, adorned with bolo ties and handlebar mustaches, fit the bill. The re-creation of tried-and-true country heroes felt more like a gimmick than an homage, though. While charming and obviously talented, the act didn’t touch what draws up the crux of Texas honky-tonk: a honed, heartfelt authenticity. I should’ve taken hints from their online presence’s attempt at virality, yet I still held out hope for some original songs to make their way into the set list – the skill and chemistry of the group begged for it.
Yet Grover Street still won over the dancing crowd throughout their 60-minute sing-along. So who am I to judge some dulcet tunes, tainted only slightly by corniness, when I, too, got the itch to dance now and then?  – Levi Langley
Alma Muñeca Forges a New Genre – and New Fans
Sometimes, in a crowd’s final cheer, you can detect a note of hunger, surprise, and a touch of pride. Alma Muñeca’s Friday night set ended with a cheer like that – the cacophony of a room that feels let in on something new, something exciting.
Describing the sounds of this Latin-inspired hyperpop group requires the vocabulary of science fiction and sound effects. Onstage, the fourpiece didn’t shy away from their electronic-based production. Synthesist Matt Russell swayed between a modular synthesizer and a keyboard, re-creating an alien spaceship landing with earth-trembling basslines. Producer Ernesto Grey stood next to him behind a MIDI-based setup, calling up unplaceable airwave crinkles and a crystalline clamor in debut single “Eclipse” somewhere between a spoon tapping glass and a heart monitor. Even with drummer Wade Stephens pressing the boundaries of the physical world onto the composition, the whole thing ran the risk of looking like a neurological trial or, at best, a complicated DJ set.
That’s where singer Cocó Allegra took over. Allegra has the emotive vocal range, the techno/cumbia-drawn dance gestures, and the dystopian fairy wardrobe to make the band’s maximalist sound captivating live. Turning from balladlike movements to vogue-inspired poses in silver go-go boots and an outfit of layered lingerie, Allegra didn’t need to be center stage to be the center of attention. As interesting as Alma Muñeca’s stratified modulation is in your headphones at home, Allegra is the superstar to turn the synthetic into cinema before your eyes. – Caroline Drew
Dorothy’s Tug at the Heartstrings
It’s 10pm on Saturday inside Mohawk and I’m on the verge of tears. Not necessarily because of a lingering sadness thing, but more so because of an unexpectedly yanked-open, bolts-unscrewed type-of-thing. By way of deft fingers and piercing croons of lost love, Dorothy’s tugged the wound-up strings inside me to taut. Even as I swayed, I couldn’t quite feel my legs.
Despite little information about the band online, I got clues from vocalist-guitarist Jane Palacios, who echoed howls from the crowd, noted her time in a mariachi band, and openly queried why the “quietest band in Austin” received a sponsorship from Marshall Amplification. But it was plain to see why the twee duo of Palacios and guitarist Zachary Crow secured a prime Mohawk slot. With an earthy, ethereal ambient synth laid over synchronized acoustic guitar strums, the half-hour set rendered a particular nostalgia.
Palacios’ voice skated across each song like a thin, sharp blade, as if it were slicing melting ice. With minimal lyrics on each pop arrangement, hummed lines like “Why’d you kiss me just to kill me?” (“Shatter”) or “How lucky we are/ To have loved and be loved” (“Time Flies, Bye”) picked the pieces of scattered heartbreak up off the venue’s sticky floor. Palacios rewrote old romance like it was a stick-and-poke tattoo – wondering when it will fade despite knowing (and hoping) that it never fully will. “Every wound is splitting open/ All over again,” she sang on “Foreign Satellites” – so like shitty patchwork on a limb, what’s left is a permanent reminder of that hot needle-to-skin kind of love. – Levi Langley
Amelia’s Best Friend Is a Guitar
From the indie-pop of Dress Warm and the post-punk of Motorsports arrives Amelia’s Best Friend, an Austin supergroup formed by, surely, Duster and MJ Lenderman’s biggest fans.
The quintet slung such countrified slowcore at Chess Club Saturday, overlapping three guitars’ worth of melodies into a lulling wall of sound. Travis Norton, on electric, shared vocal duties with bassist/primary songwriter Ethan Grubke and Brandon Price, who strapped his acoustic up high. Introduced by Logan Krupovage’s soft metronome, Price plucked a cyclical, melancholy lullaby in “Satellite (Machines),” as the three singers soundtracked a post-blackout retcon: “I just threw up in your car/ Did you kick me out?” Broadening the sonic spectrum, the band went heavy for “Those Make Me Tired, Those Make Me Sick” and extra Western for “W.R.C.” They closed with “Put You Down,” Amelia’s first single and most indelible indie rock offering: Along with third axeman Clay Hadley, the group’s combined 22 strings locked into a head-nodding groove, twinges of electric guitar striking like lightning over Price’s unplugged foundation. “I love Red River,” Norton said, shouting out Hot Summer Nights’ home base. Acts like these, crammed inside sardine cans like Chess, are why I love it too. – Carys Anderson
Hot Summer Nights
Red River Cultural District
July 24-26
This article appears in August 1 • 2025.