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  • Home
  • True Things
  • Profiles
    • In Tribute
  • A|S Series
  • A|S Concert Series
  • Playlists
  • Cool Things
    • Austin Music Venues
    • Food Trucks
    • Places to Eat
    • Beer Joints
    • Fun Stuff To Do
    • Purveyors of Music
    • Places to Stay
    • Watering Holes
    • Swimming Holes
  • Our Team

B. W. Stevenson

Looking a bit like an Amish Hoss Cartwright, B. W. “Buckwheat” Stevenson turned heads even in the spectacle of seventies Austin. A native of...

Walt Wilkins describes all of life in a single song

...

Garage Cocktail Bar

Garage Cocktail Bar is a minimalist respite tucked inside a...

Heartworn Highways and Townes Van Zandt

Heartworn Highways, James Szalapski's gritty and lovely...

Amanda Shires

Amanda Shires songs are grounded but ethereal, enchanting...
True Things

“You Can’t Break My Heart” by Miles Zuniga

Miles performs "You Can't Break My Heart" for Austin Songwriter. If only that were... Read more →
In Tribute

B. W. Stevenson

Looking a bit like an Amish Hoss Cartwright, B. W. “Buckwheat” Stevenson turned heads even in the spectacle of seventies Austin. A native of... Read more →
True Things

Walt Wilkins describes all of life in a single song

... Read more →
Austin Watering Holes

Garage Cocktail Bar

Garage Cocktail Bar is a minimalist respite tucked inside a parking garage. Stainless steel and glass, vodka and gin, hushed conversation.... Read more →
True Things

Heartworn Highways and Townes Van Zandt

Heartworn Highways, James Szalapski's gritty and lovely documentary about the country songwriting scene of the seventies, features mostly Texas... Read more →
Songwriter Profiles

Amanda Shires

Amanda Shires songs are grounded but ethereal, enchanting original work delivered with a husky voice that can suddenly erupt into a bird-like trill.... Read more →
Songwriter Profiles

Van Morrison

Austin Songwriter reluctantly concedes that the best living songwriter is not from Texas, not even born on American soil. This person’s name is not... Read more →
True Things

James McMurtry’s “12 O’Clock Whistle”

If you grew up in small town Texas, or loved your grandmother, or ever chased the DDT truck down the street, you need to hear this one. McMurtry at... Read more →
True Things

BettySoo whispers your name

... Read more →
True Things

Joe Ely and his stunning “Slow You Down”, with Joel Guzman

  A lotta love, a little lust. Joe Ely slow dances his truck stop girl into highway... Read more →
Songwriter Profiles

David Ramirez

David Ramirez writes melodic, brooding songs of love and life, delivering them with perfect pitch and regret. Young, but hopeful despite his... Read more →
Songwriter ProfilesTrue Things

Terry Allen

It is no secret that West Texas produces musicians of uncommon creativity and grit, likely the result of too much flat land and steady wind.... Read more →
Austin Food Trucks

Torchy’s Tacos

With nothing more than mad kitchen skills, a food trailer and a Vespa scooter, Michael Rypka opened the original Torchy's Tacos in Austin... Read more →
True Things

Jesse Winchester’s “Mississippi You’re On My Mind”

The late Jesse Winchester performed his signature ballad at the Belcourt Theater in Nashville, circa 2010. We miss Jesse. We even miss Mississippi a... Read more →
Songwriter Profiles

Houston Marchman

It’s a safe bet that Houston Marchman’s breath is tinged with road dust and a little farm-grade diesel. His songs are classic Texas folk, weary... Read more →
In TributeTrue Things

Ted Hawkins

Ted Hawkins lived a hard life, but his journey was a gift to us all. Born black and poor in Mississippi, he did time in reform school and prison... Read more →
True Things

“Monahans” by Kevin Higgins

Kevin's ode to the perils of young love. Barbara Maltese helps... Read more →
True Things

Alejandro Escovedo’s haunting “Rosalie”

I guess we've all had our "Rosalie". Or wish we... Read more →
Austin Watering HolesTrue Things

Mean Eyed Cat

The Mean Eyed Cat Bar, named after the Johnny Cash song, is one cool bar...located close to downtown Austin and blessed with towering Texas Live... Read more →
Songwriter Profiles

Carolyn Wonderland

Resurrecting Texans from Freddie King to Janis Joplin, Carolyn Wonderland burns the blues with her rolling originals, piercing voice and blistering... Read more →
In Tribute

Blaze Foley

The story of Blaze Foley, the songwriter, is too often lost in the legend of Blaze Foley, the “Duct Tape Messiah”. Hard drinking, homelessness,... Read more →
True Things

“She Never Spoke Spanish to Me”, by Butch Hancock with John Fullbright

Butch Hancock's beautiful meditation on love in the borderlands. True passion complicated by cultural distance, a common story in the annals of Texas... Read more →
True Things

“Election Day” by Lyle Lovett

Lyle Lovett with a tribute to the great Blaze Foley. John Hiatt grins... Read more →
Songwriter ProfilesTrue Things

Nanci Griffith

Nanci Griffith was born to musical parents in Seguin, Texas, and was playing clubs down the road in Austin by the age of fourteen. She continued to... Read more →
True Things

Special Songwriter’s Festival

Every January, high in the snowy mountains of northern New Mexico, Austin songster Drew Kennedy holds a gathering of poets and dreamers called Red... Read more →
True Things

Leeann Atherton

"Sass" is a revered quality in Texas, a blend of joy, spunk and casual fearlessness. If you've got it, you'll have friends aplenty in the Lone Star... Read more →
True Things

The Bugle Boy

Lane Gosnay opened the doors to The Bugle Boy in 2005, promising a small town listening room dedicated to the songwriters of Texas and elsewhere. She... Read more →
True Things

The King in Europe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE9H1bW-zQ4 In the way back, Freddie King took Europe by storm, Introduced with a dose of Groover's Paradise by the... Read more →
In Tribute

Jesse Winchester

It is absolutely worth your while to rediscover the recently passed Jesse Winchester, a writer of uncommon heart, wit and grace. Born in 1944 in... Read more →
Songwriter Profiles

Sam Baker

Heralded as among America’s finest songwriters since his debut in 2004, Sam Baker is a stone cold original with no discernible influences other... Read more →
True Things

“Not Dark Yet” by Allison Moorer and Shelby Lynne

Sisters Allison and Shelby breathe new life into this Dylan classic. A little different edge sung in the feminine voice, particularly in these days... Read more →
Songwriter Profiles

Darden Smith

Since moving to Austin in the early eighties to attend the University of Texas, Darden Smith has grown into a renowned songwriter and performer, as... Read more →
Songwriter Profiles

Michael Fracasso

Michael Fracasso’s voice is high, pure and lonesome, but full of hope and strength, and his delicate songs beg us to feel a little deeper. On-stage... Read more →
True Things

Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry”, by Ruthie Foster and Blues Traveler

Everything's gonna be... Read more →
In Tribute

Roy Orbison

Roy Orbison's voice might have been enough, as strong and versatile as ever to grace American roots music. But stack that voice next to the... Read more →
True Things

“Lake Charles” by Lucinda Williams

Back to the bayou with the great Lucinda... Read more →
True Things

“Secret Heart” by Ron Sexsmith

The sensitive boy from Canada with some sage and impossibly gorgeous... Read more →
Austin Music Venues

Saxon Pub

Consistently excellent music is served up at the cozy Saxon Pub seven nights a week. Comfortably worn around the edges, this iconic venue is a haven... Read more →
True Things

“Listen to the Lion” by Van Morrison

Van the Man says search your heart for the... Read more →
In Tribute

Freddie King

Hailing from Gilmer, Texas, Freddie King held his own with B. B. King, T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, and other masters of the electric blues. In the... Read more →
True Things

“Me and the Eagle” by Steve Earle

Take a trip to the mountaintop and turn your world from silver to... Read more →
Songwriter Profiles

Justin Trevino

If you’re a two-stepper, find Justin Trevino in a Hill Country beer joint and travel back a few decades. Born in Brownsville, raised in Austin and... Read more →
A|S Concert Series

“Save Her Love” by Michael Fracasso

A young Michael with some sage... Read more →
True Things

“Boxcars” by Joe Ely

Joe does a lovely solo of buddy Butch Hancock's classic take on lonely old West... Read more →
True Things

Guy and Susanna, the Look in their Eyes

This photo or Guy and Susanna Clark means something more to folks of a certain vintage. It's the semi-hippie attire, for sure, and the old school VW,... Read more →
Songwriter Profiles

BettySoo

BettySoo writes profound pop/folk with just enough country to makes things comfortable. At once powerful and vulnerable, she handles us like a big... Read more →
True Things

Max Gomez with his lovely “What It Means”

... Read more →
Songwriter Profiles

Miles Zuniga

Miles Zuniga left Laredo for Austin in 1984, determined to make a life out of music. In 1994, he teamed up with Tony Scalzo and Joe Shuffield and... Read more →
True Things

Lucinda and Elvis with “Wild Horses”

Lucinda Williams and Elvis Costello with their take on "Wild Horses" by Jagger and Richards. Dusty and distant. Love in the rear view... Read more →
Austin Songwriter SeriesTrue Things

Walt Wilkins Interview (November 23, 2016)

“Journeyman” usually refers to a seasoned and reliable guitarist or drummer, but what does it mean for a songwriter? In the case of Walt Wilkins,... Read more →
True Things

“That’s What Makes You Strong” by Jesse Winchester

The late Jesse Winchester with some beautiful... Read more →
Songwriter ProfilesTrue Things

Butch Hancock

Another musical luminary from the Lubbock area, Butch Hancock is best known for his on and off collaboration with Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore... Read more →
Songwriter ProfilesTrue Things

Mary Chapin Carpenter

Mary Chapin Carpenter is a songwriter of uncommon depth and sensitivity who came of age in the seventies as a folksinger in the clubs of Washington,... Read more →
True Things

Mickey Newbury Live

A little Newbury to calm your... Read more →
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We hold these things to be true. First, do what you love. Second, the eyes may be the windows to the soul, but a good lyric will strip it bare. Finally, Austin attracts unique voices the way a summer barbeque attracts good friends. At Austin Songwriter we love what we do, and what we do is finding, enjoying and celebrating amazing songwriters.

Every week, through profiles, playlists and interviews, we introduce you to new songwriters. We reveal the soul of their work, the essence of their message, the “One True Thing” that guides their vision. We bird-dog the nooks and creases to bring you the special moments in live music, the best of the up-and-comers, the pulse and beat of the streets of Austin.

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