Dougherty Arts Center, Sunday 14
What do Irish, Scottish, gospel, Hungarian, Romanian, Scandinavian, Brazilian,blues, jazz, country, and swing music all have in common? Fiddles? Survey
says… close, but no Cedar Street cigar. Pipes and tin whistles? Dancing? No
and no. Answer: they’re all loved equally by the Austin Friends of Traditional
Music, whose yearly, one-day version of SXSW once again comes packed with
sounds from across the globe — Chaski, Sambaxe, Csardas & Kolorash, The
Grazmatics, and Asylum Street Spankers are but a few. This family affair goes
2:30-9pm, and oh yeah, there’ll be plenty of fiddles, tins, pipes, whistles
and dancing.
THE BANDED GECKOS
Waterloo Ice House 6th, Friday 12
As someone recently reminded me, there was a time when music was all therewas. No Sony Trinitron 30-incher, no Cineplex, no 101X. Just rural folk sitting
on their porches entertaining themselves, playing some banjo, fiddle — maybe a
mandolin — and singing tunes that cared not about categories like folk,
country, swing, Celtic. They just all blended together, like those lovely
male/female harmonies. The Banded Geckos (Houston-by-way-of-Santa Fe) remember
such a time.
DARDEN SMITH
Cactus Cafe, Friday 12 & Saturday 13
Fondly remembering the days that Lyle Lovett and Guy Clark used to play theCactus Cafe are a given. Darden Smith, however, is a singing-songwriting
reminder that local artists still come up through the Cactus system — and
better yet — still play the place they sound so at home in. Peter Keane opens.
HOPE MORGAN
Cafezino, Saturday 13
When one thinks diva — in Austin anyway — one thinks of Toni Price, orperhaps Julie Burrell. In reality, there are a bunch of ’em, and you need look
no further than the local jazz scene, which sports the talent and voices of
Tina Marsh, Pam Hart, and Hope Morgan. You might have caught her at the
occasional “Women in Jazz” gig, but Hope Morgan’s regular haunt these days is
Cafezino, where hearing her “Lush Life” voice is the perfect counterbalance to
all that caffeine pulsing through your veins.
IDLE WILDS
Electric Lounge, Saturday 13
Pennsylvania’s answer to the Gin Blossoms (earnest, rocking guitar jangle),the Idle Wilds are blipping the Soundscan meters here in Austin thanks
to Alternative radio wars. Keep it or spike it? Javelin Boot, and Cling open.
Dick Tingler’s Karaoke at 8pm.
STRETFORD, PORK, MISS UNIVERSE
Hole in the Wall, Saturday 13
Who has the best three-band bills in town? Hole in the Wall, that’s who.You’ve seen these local bands a hundred times before — Carl Normal and
Stretford’s brittle pop, Pork and their lo-fi punk, and Miss Universe’s
amalgamation of pop and punk — but when you put them all together on one bill,
there’s hardly a better line-up in town on a Saturday night — or any night,
really.
SCOTT SHERWOOD
Elephant Room, Sunday 14
Having done his adolescence in San Antonio, and later spending time in Austinplaying with Elias Haslanger, James Polk, and Rich Harney, guitarist Scott
Sherwood is familiar with the local jazz scene. That’s why he now makes his
home back East. He’s back for one night, though, showing off the wares of his
new CD Siren Song.
RICK BROUSSARD
Black Cat, Monday 15
We will make the Wayne the Train comparison not because Rick Broussard playscountry music straight out of the Thirties and Forties (he doesn’t), but
because he’s an earnest young man, with a purdy voice, whose love for roots —
all of ’em — results in the kind of homespun, down-to-the-core, real Texas
stuff people move to Austin for. For proof, check out his new CD, Shadow
Man, or catch him every Monday at the Black Cat.
D.R.I.
Back Room, Wednesday 17
Word from the Back Room these days is that metal is out, industrial and,perhaps, rap is in. D.R.I. (originally from Texas) skirt the “metal” rap only
because they started out a bleeding-raw punk band, became a thrash outfit
during the dog days of early-Eighties hardcore, and now inhabit a mosh pit
equally at home in a metal club or a punk dive. Acid Bath and Nosebleed
support.
PAPA MAILI & THE INSTIGATORS
White Rabbit, Wednesday 17
Anders Osborne’s quarterly visits to the White Rabbit have already had a localeffect: Killer Bee’s guitarist Malcolm Welbourne has put together his own
Louisiana, slide-guitar, swamp thang (featuring Frosty the Drum Man). It
happens at the White Rabbit every Wednesday in January.
MARY CUTRUFELLO
Continental Club, Thursday 18
Alternative rock is dead, leaving country music and jazz all alone minding thestore. That suits me just fine; maybe it’ll mean better jazz coming through
town. As for country, we’ve got that covered in every possible form here in
Austin, so we’ll just sit back and see who’s smart enough to corral Mary
Cutrufello and her Strat.
ALSO PLAYING
Friday: Pervis, Pocket FishRmen, Emo’s
Saturday: Storyville, Kris McKay, Continental Club
Sunday: Alex Coke, Manuel’s
Monday: Bill Carter & Will Sexton, Pearls
Tuesday: Motards, Buzzcrusher, Flamingo Cantina
Wednesday: Derailers, Antone’s
Thursday: Charlie Sexton, Cactus Cafe
This article appears in January 12 • 1996 and January 12 • 1996 (Cover).