Kerrville, Friday 26 – Monday 29
Gather ’round the campfires, kids – and the main stages, and the
kid’s stage,
and the food booths, and the crafts stages. Oh, hell, just gather in
Kerrville,
which, for the next three weekends, is the Capital of Woody Guthrie
wannabes
(folk, boy, folk!). Confirmed for the evening concerts this weekend are
notables Cheryl Wheeler and Bill Morrissey on Friday; Dar Williams and
Jimmie
Dale Gilmore on Saturday; Susan Werner and Jimmy LaFave on Sunday; and
Cafe
Noir and Theresa & Joseph Brunelle on Memorial Day Monday (for a
complete
schedule of this week’s headliners see “Dancing About Architecture”).
Pack up
the camping gear and git going.
DON WALSER, EVAN JOHNS & IVAN BROWN, DAMON BRAMBLETT
Flipnotics Coffeespace, Friday 26
If Don Walser is the king of smooth old Western swing, then guitarist
Evan
Johns is the equivalent master of the porch-blues growl. Bramblett,
opening the
show, gives a dark twist to acoustic country (think Johnny Cash).
Should be an
evening of contrasts, but all in a very authentic country vein. –
Ken Lieck
SUSAN WERNER/CATIE CURTIS
Chicago House, Friday 26/Saturday 27
In case you can’t get down to Kerrville on Sunday to see her, Susan
Werner
saves you the trouble and gas money by playing at Chicago House Friday.
Drawing
from her rich background of jazz, classical, and opera, the 29-year-old
singer-songwriter from Iowa doesn’t go for cutesy, doe-eyed folk-pop:
It’s
social commentary all the way – just as it should be. The following
night,
Catie Curtis (who’ll be at Kerrville the following weekend) also works
on
fixing the social order, but brings a down pillow-softness to her folk
introspections with a voice that would calm a rabid Doberman. Cliff
Eberhardt
opens.
BRUTAL JUICE, MANHOLE, LINT
Emo’s, Saturday 27
Who could’ve known that all those bored longhairs in black T-shirts
and
pressed black jeans at Brutal Juice’s SXSW showcase at Emo’s were
Interscope
label heads checking out their newest acquisition? Yes, Denton’s
industrial-strength punk screamers are hitting the majors with their
forthcoming album, and now’s a good time to get a preview pounding.
Houston’s
metal-monging punk thrasha-
bouts Manhole (also at SXSW ’95)
support.
ED HALL, SIXTEEN DELUXE
Liberty Lunch, Saturday 27
A recurring local double bill that leaves ’em panting for more every
time.
Both bands are celebrating new Trance releases – Sixteen Deluxe’s
Backfeedmagnetbabe is their first – so expect a blowout,
particularly
since Ed Hall will have the Lunch covered in day-glo paint. Jeff
Pinkus’ band
Daddy Longhead opens.
WYLIE & THE WILD WEST SHOW
Continental Club, Saturday 27
Last time we checked, Wylie (Gustafson, but just call ‘im Wylie) had
made a
big splash on CMT with a couple of videos, and was being written up
everywhere
as the second coming of Merle Haggard (Hag sings on “Ugly Girl Blues”
from
Wylie’s Get Wild) thanks to his courting that Bakersfield sound
– a
popular pastime here in Austin, according to Lee Nichols in this week’s
“Buck
and Hag Revisted” story. Junior Brown opens.
DOYLE BRAMHALL & FRIENDS
Backyard, Sunday 28
Officially billed as Doyle Bramhall’s First Annual Memorial Day BBQ,
this
little party starts at 6pm with a buffet, and continues through the
evening
with local surf guitar king Teisco Del Rey hitting the stage around
7pm,
followed by New Orleans blues-raunch guitarist CC Adcock, Wayne Jackson
and
Andrew Love (better known as the Memphis Horns), and, last but
not
least, headliner and gut-bucket bluesman Doyle Bramhall.
TOAD THE WET SPROCKET
Terrace, Tuesday 30
Toad’s Glen Phillips is the melancholy little guy who spent all his
free time
in the dorm room across the hall couped up with his records and
acoustic
guitar. When his amazing voice kept creeping from behind the cracked
door, you
finally ventured over to find that this withdrawn, faceless kid was
constructing unassuming, plaintive little pop songs. Years later, yet
another
pissy critic is slagging his band’s white suburban vibe, saying Toad’s
as
counterculture as skim milk. Hell, he never wanted to save the world –
just get
the harmony right. Rusted Root, who toured with Page & Plant, open
with
their tropical rock punch. – Mindy LaBernz
BRUCE ROBISON BAND
Hole in the Wall, Wednesday 31
Stumbled into some club one night for some nachos and a beer, and
suddenly a
sweet, sleeve-heart voice started singing my favorite Dylan song “You
Ain’t
Goin’ Nowhere.” Look over, and there’s Bruce with guitarist Rich
Brotherton,
and they’re breaking my heart. That song’s not on his Vireo Records
debut, but
plenty of other heartbreakers are.
FREDDIE “STEADY” KRC
Continental Club, Thursday 1
From cosmic cowpoke to New Wave Explosive,
guitarist/songwriter/session man
Freddie “Steady” Krc has been busy these in Austin the past couple of
decades.
And since the last Shakin’ Apostles record, Krc has gone and made a
“concept”
record (under the Apostles moniker for Minneapolis indie ESD), which
plays out
kinda like Willie’s Red Headed Stranger album. Another step
forward for
Krc.
ALSO PLAYING
Friday: Sons of Hercules, Hole in the Wall
Saturday: Kris McKay, Waterloo Ice House 6th
Sunday: Little Sister, Gingbreadmen, Sunflower, Billy White,
Earthpig, Liberty Lunch
Monday: King Valentine, Cedar St.
Tuesday: Stephen Bruton, Sue Foley, Antone’s
Wednesday: CO2 Orchestra, Jazz PR, Electric Lounge
Thursday: Wannabes, Noodle, Stretford, Hormones, Meg Hentges,
Gomez, Liberty Lunch
This article appears in May 26 • 1995 and May 26 • 1995 (Cover).