Shinyribs’ “All About That Bass”
The genius of Kevin Russell. See his Austin Songwriter profile... Read more →
Lyle Lovett
Lyle Lovett is an artistic renaissance man with an impeccable Texas pedigree and a life that testifies to Lone Star independence and... Read more →
Jimmy LaFave
Jimmy LaFave, who passed away on May 21, 2017, was another Austin artist who took the building blocks of folk and country, strength, soul and an... Read more →
“Dean Moriarty” by Eric Taylor
Eric Taylor performs his pensive "Dean Moriarty", with wife Susan, in The... Read more →
Scholz Garten
Built back in 1866 by early entrepreneur August Scholz, over the years Scholz Garten has served as a saloon, cafe, boarding house, opera house,... Read more →
“A Summertime Graveyard” by Will T. Massey
"In the summertime, the graveyard is the coolest place to... Read more →
Jo Carol Pierce
The empty spaces of West Texas have proven a petri dish for the fashioning of powerful but unorthodox art. Music, of course, but also literature,... Read more →
Jim Lauderdale
Jim Lauderdale's baritone twang is booming and earnest and sketches a roadmap of the roots and pedigree of real American country music. The journey... Read more →
“On My Own” by B.W. Stevenson
Pretty memories from the very beginning of the Texas scene. We miss you,... Read more →
“God Help America” by Jeff Plankenhorn
Jeff wishes America a happy and thoughtful birthday. Onward and upward,... Read more →
Townes Van Zandt
Perhaps the purest poet of all Texas songwriters, Townes Van Zandt wrote essential love songs and portrayed the shattered lives of lonely... Read more →
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 in 2006.... Read more →
Jon Dee Graham
Jon Dee Graham was raised on a Texas ranch down near the Mexican border and moved to Austin to attend school. By 1979 he was playing guitar for... Read more →
Hotel San Jose
Hip and contemporary bungalows smack dab in the middle of South Congress, Hotel San Jose is a tranquil haven with lush courtyards and minimalist... Read more →
Rodney Crowell
Rodney Crowell entered the world at Crosby (formerly known as "Lick Skillet"), Texas, and was raised in a musical family in Houston. He started... Read more →
South Austin Music
Supporting the local music community for 25 years, South Austin Music is an institution for musical instruments and an eclectic place to shop for... Read more →
Bruce Robison
Bruce Robison hales from the storied Texas town of Bandera, way out on the western edge of the paradise they call the Hill Country. One of the... Read more →
“Ventura” by Lucinda Williams
Wistful Lucinda for a Saturday... Read more →
Emmylou Harris with Gram Parsons’ “Hickory Wind”
Emmylou Harris with a wistful version of her old compadre's song. Buddy Miller on lead... Read more →
Austin Ghost Tours
Austin has a rich history of savory characters and apparently some have decided to stick around well past their welcome. Austin Ghost Tours has been... Read more →
Janis Joplin
>Janis Joplin's short life illuminated many hard truths. The isolation of a social outsider, the perils that lay in wait for a willful and hard... Read more →
Scrappy Jud Newcomb performs his “Damaged Goods”
... Read more →
Max Gomez
Max Gomez was raised in the starkly beautiful terrain that surrounds Taos, New Mexico. Nothing that the average American would recognize. Tall,... Read more →
Austin Guitar Slingers, Volume I
Guitars sizzle in Austin every night. Here are some of our... Read more →
“Monahans” by Kevin Higgins
Kevin Higgins visits the busy intersection of first love and hard reality. The magic is gone, but the memories stick around... Read more →
Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons was born Ingram Cecil Connor III, in 1946 in Winter Haven, Florida, to Coon Dog and Avis Connor. By his death at the age of... Read more →
Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez
While their significant individual accomplishments are also profiled here, Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez also collaborated for several magical... Read more →
“Lipstick Sunset” by John Hiatt
John Hiatt paints lost love in pastel regret. Ry Cooder soars on slide... Read more →
Justin Trevino Interview (June 28, 2016)
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... Read more →
Josh Grider’s “Price of a Dream”
Early on a Sunday morning. A young father kisses his children, still in their beds, holds his wife for a long moment, then climbs into his truck and... Read more →
Willie Nelson
What can be said about this man that hasn't already been debated, cussed and discussed? Not much, given his iconic status in country music and... Read more →
“John Doe No. 24” by Mary Chapin Carpenter
Mary Chapin Carpenter with an almost impossibly beautiful story about an impossibly beautiful... Read more →
Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin is a musical renaissance woman. An important songwriter, but also a dazzling guitarist and singer of extraordinary power with... Read more →
Austin Vintage Guitars
If you're in need of an impeccable vintage guitar, acoustic or electric, this is the place. Collings, Martin, Fender, Gibson, Gretsch, PRS, National,... Read more →
“100 Miles to Mexico” by Vince Bell
Feed the dog and grab the keys. Vince is taking us to... Read more →
Patty Griffin
Patty Griffin lays herself bare in achingly beautiful meditations on love and all the things that bear on love. Work that is completely fresh and... Read more →
Jack Ingram
Houston native Jack Ingram is one of those worthy songwriters who have flown a little under the radar. Maybe he's just too pretty, or maybe his... Read more →
Vince Bell
Vince Bell was born in Dallas in 1951 and the road has since taken him to homes in Venezuela, Houston, Austin, California, Fredericksburg, Nashville... Read more →
HOPE Outdoor Gallery
HOPE Outdoor Gallery is a community paint park recognized as one of the Top 10 Artistic destinations in Texas. The park is a collaborative effort... Read more →
Steve Earle with “The Mountain”
Mr. Earle's tribute to a home in a very tough world.... Read more →
Waterloo Records
You've got a few hours to kill. It's hot outside. You're thirsty, but not just for water; you're thirsty for music. No worries, you've got the... Read more →
James McMurtry
Nobody writes lyrics like James McMurtry. Brilliant, piercing and wry. Sweeping vistas of ordinary lives, set mostly in small towns and dark... Read more →
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 →
Bruce Hughes
Bruce Hughes is first a bedrock bass player, the go-to guy who sets the stage for a dean’s list writers and performers from Austin and elsewhere.... Read more →
Chip Taylor Podcast (July 28, 2016)
Some artists channel a calm wisdom that is as comforting as a father’s voice. We listen because their words feel right and true, gifts that might... Read more →
Early Sir Doug
Sir Doug and the boys pushing back on the British Invasion, circa 1965, mas o menos, with She's About a Mover. Introduction by fellow Texas Trini... Read more →
Lucinda Williams
It is impossible to exaggerate Lucinda Williams’ significance to the evolution of alternative country music. An early voice of independence and... Read more →
Jimmie Vaughan
Jimmie Vaughan learned to play the guitar while growing up in Dallas, and headed south in the late sixties to help create the emerging Austin rhythm... Read more →
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 →
“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 →
South Plains Jamboree
Let's take a ride out west, where the trees bend with the wind. Strong people, big sky, great... Read more →
Billy Joe Shaver
Stories abound about Billy Joe Shaver, the tragedies endured, the stands taken, the paths chosen. Suffice to say that there is not an insincere bone... Read more →
Buddy Miller
Certain artists serve as engines for the songwriting scene. Their talents go beyond writing and performing their own work into catalyzing and shaping... Read more →
Alejandro Escovedo’s haunting “Fort Worth Blue”
A rare instrumental from Alejandro Escovedo, a real wordsmith and rocker. Spare, lovely, distant. A tribute to the great Stephen Bruton. You'll... Read more →