Conjunto Los Pinkys The roots of Conjunto Los Pinkys trace through Austin's Eastside to the Esquina Lounge, a long-shuttered hangout for the local conjunto scene where Bradley Jaye Williams became acquainted with his future bandmates in the early Nineties. Connecting the polkas of his Eastern European heritage to those of our borderlands, Williams, a bajo quinto player who sings in Spanish, assembled a crew with decades of front-line experience, notably singing accordionists Chencho Flores and Isidro Samilpa, whose careers originate in the Forties and Fifties respectively, as well as drummer Clemencia Zapata and young bassist Javier Cruz. The group's mixture of boleros, polkas, and cumbias has been the soundtrack at East Austin cantinas, quinceañeras, and honky-tonks for over 20 years, and currently unites new and old tenants of the Eastside every Sunday at the White Horse. (Kevin Curtin)
Manuel "Cowboy" Donley Tejano pioneer Manuel "Cowboy" Donley innovated the culturally interwoven folk style of Tex-Mex music with the inclusion of sophisticated orchestral arrangements. The 87-year-old bandleader, who sings in his native tongue while agilely soloing on a guitar or requinto, was born in Mexico in 1927 and soon moved to East Austin where he's remained a staple since the Forties. Fronting popular touring acts including Los Heartbreakers and Las Estrellas, Donley recorded some 200 vinyl singles including mid-Sixties hit "Flor del Rio." In 2014, Donley – now partially blind, but still active musically – was recognized as a cultural treasure by the National Endowment of the Arts, which bestowed upon him their top honor of a Heritage Fellowship. (Kevin Curtin)
Explosions in the Sky Born July 4, 1999, after Munaf Rayani, Mark T. Smith, Chris Hrasky, and Michael James performed their inaugural live set (as Breaker Morant) on KVRX's Local Live, Explosions in the Sky today counts as one of the most seminal instrumental rock acts behind perhaps only the Ventures and Mogwai. The tight-knit Austin quartet released three LPs in quick succession – How Strange, Innocence (2000), Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever (2001), and The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place (2003) – with the latter hailed as the band's Dark Side of the Moon. Scoring cinematic touchdown Friday Night Lights the following year, EITS introduced its "sad, triumphant rock music" (according to the group's initial ad for a drummer) to an international audience. Their 2013 soundtrack for Prince Avalanche found Explosions in the Sky deep into new frontiers of sonic emotion. (Raoul Hernandez)
Blaze Foley Born Michael David Fuller in Malvern, Ark., on Dec. 18, 1949, Blaze Foley possesses mythical status among Texas singer-songwriters. Growing up in North Texas and San Antonio, he performed gospel with the Fuller Family, drew early notice in Georgia as Deputy Dawg, and ended up in Austin in 1976. There he took his pseudonym partly as a tribute to country music's Red Foley. Close friends with songwriting equal Townes Van Zandt, Foley's obsessive use of duct tape earned him the title of "Duct Tape Messiah." His songs have been recorded by Merle Haggard, Lyle Lovett, and John Prine among others. Foley was shot and killed on February 1, 1989, while defending an elderly friend. (Jim Caligiuri)
Fuckemos Founded as Warthog 2000 in 1991, the Fuckemos were unlikely leading lights of the punk renaissance that emerged from Austin's Cavity Club. For starters, singer/trombonist Russell Porter renamed the band after being kicked out of Emo's. Despite their impaired performance aesthetic, Porter, guitarist Ed Rancourt, drummer Sean Powell, and a changing cast of bassists wrote songs that stuck. Their 1993 debut, Fuckemos Can Kill You, was awash in pitch-shifted anthems about pills, pedophilia, impotence, and suicide. In supreme irony, the album played constantly on Emo's jukebox. 1996's Hi, What Stupid Band Are You In? birthed pick hit "Barf Baby" before Porter co-starred in Bob Ray's 1999 stoner punk epic, Rock Opera. Airshow 2000 ended the band's active run in 2001, but they continue to perform sporadically. (Greg Beets)
Pamela Hart This exquisite jazz singer was born and raised in Los Angeles, and moved to Austin in 1982. A mainstay since then, Pamela Hart excels as interpreter of jazz standards as well as many contemporary styles. She's been called "Austin's First Lady of Jazz." With husband Kevin Hart, she formed HartBeat Productions which, since 1994, has produced the semi-annual Women in Jazz Concert Series, the premiere showcase for female jazz vocalist in Texas. Hart's shared the stage with Nancy Wilson, Dianne Reeves, Bobbi Humphrey, David "Fathead" Newman, Kirk Whalum, and countless others. Her albums include May I Come In? (1998) and Pamela Hart Live – Great American Songbook (2004), both self-produced. (Jay Trachtenberg)
Elias Haslanger Jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader, Austin native Elias Haslanger graduated from Austin High School and UT, then received a Masters degree in composition from Texas State in San Marcos. Influenced by John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, and Wayne Shorter – and after more than a decade on the local scene – he moved to NYC in 2000 and played in Maynard Ferguson's Big Bop Nouveau Band. Returning home in 2004, he formed Cherrywood Records, whose Dream Story (2006) is preceded by Kicks Are for Kids (1998), For the Moment (1997), and Standards (1994). His Church On Monday band enjoys a popular (and free) Monday night residency at the Continental Club Gallery, with 2012's Church On Monday and this year's Live at the Gallery representing the band. Haslanger's played/recorded with Ellis Marsalis, Asleep at the Wheel, Sheryl Crow, the Four Tops, and more. (Jay Trachtenberg)
Barbara Kooyman Barbara K drove from Wisconsin to Austin in 1983 accompanied by then-husband Pat MacDonald in a van packed with a boombox and dreams. Three years later, Timbuk3's Eighties anthem "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades" catapulted the minimalist duo into national prominence on IRS Records and MTV. After a decade-long run and the couple's mid-Nineties split, Kooyman – whose smart, sly compositions include T3's "Standard White Jesus" – continued honing her songwriting skills with deep commitment to peace, social injustice, and change. She now works closely with collaborator Richard Bowden in Texas and Wolfgang Pracht in Germany, where she divides her time. Kooyman's yearning, sometimes melancholic vocals have left an imprint on Texas music as personal as universal. (Margaret Moser)
Pocket Fishrmen Combining art-punk with flourishes of coliseum bombast, Pocket Fishrmen formed in 1986. Vocalist Brant Bingamon, guitarist Cris Burns, bassist Ron Williams, and drummer Marcus Trejo celebrated the coolest first daughter with 1988's "Amy Carter" before earning the attention of the BBC's John Peel with 1989's "The Leader is Burning." Snoopy Melvin replaced Trejo in 1991 and Williams was replaced by Jason Craig shortly thereafter. The quartet's debut full-length, 1993's Future Gods of Rock, pitted Bingamon's erudite obscenities against Burns' anti-heroic guitar solos. Ex-Offenders drummer Pat Doyle enlisted for 1997's Heroes of Modern Perversion and 1998's Simian Dreams. The Fishrmen broke up in 2000 only to reemerge as a going concern a decade later with Lance Farley replacing Doyle for The Secret Code of Rock. (Greg Beets)
Redd Volkaert Redd Volkaert's thickset fingers run the fretboard in hails of notes unifying the disciplines of jazz, country, and western swing. With tone, technique, and tricks on lock-down and effortless speed, the guitarist remains among the world's elite Telecaster pickers. Born in 1958 to Vancouver, BC., Volkaert moved to Austin in 2000 after a long stay in Nashville and, when not touring as the lead guitarist for Merle Haggard, has occupied the stage at the Continental Club weekly for nearly 15 years singing and pickin' solo and with Heybale! Our resident "Telehog" has greased LPs including 1998's Telewacker and won a Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Performance in 2009 for his contributions to the Brad Paisley guitar geek showdown "Cluster Pluck." (Kevin Curtin)
Margaret Wright Like Betty Elders and Ernie Mae Miller, East Austinite Margaret Wright spent her younger years playing to audiences split west of the racially defining East Avenue divide. At clubs like the 1920s Club, New Orleans Club, and the Driskill Hotel, the pianist specialized in the true roots of gospel soul, with dexterous vocal presence out in front of every melody. Ten years ago, at the since-shuttered Rusty's Cabaret Lounge on East Seventh Street, she had a performance stage named for her. These days, Wright glows during happy hours at the Skylark Lounge on Airport Boulevard. There, she's known to summon those old spirits in the dark. (Chase Hoffberger)