New Release from Johnny Nicholas
On September 2nd, preeminent Austin bluesman Johnny Nicholas will release Fresh Air, a collection of new work and covers, recorded with fellow Saxon... Read more →
Write Songs with Kevin Welch
Kevin Welch has a number of his legendary songwriting workshops coming up: August 27th in Ardmore, Oklahoma, with son Dustin helping out; an advanced... Read more →
“Vanlose Stairway” by Van Morrison
Van the Man yodels through 0ne of his many classics, with help from the fabulous Georgie... Read more →
New Release from Jake Shimabukuro
Ukulele ace Jake Shimabukuro just released Nashville Sessions, described by some as a fusion rock jazz trio jam, and a step forward for the young... Read more →
Viva Big Bend a Blast
As expected (this is our fifth year in a row), the Viva Big Bend Festival was a feast of good people, great music and desert beauty, punctuated by an... Read more →
Austin Guitar Slingers, Volume I
Guitars sizzle in Austin every night. Here are some of our... Read more →
Shinyribs Interview (July 13, 2016)
It’s like you finally started listening to your old drunk uncle from Shreveport and realized he was channeling an enlightened hillbilly cocktail... Read more →
New Release from Kris Kristofferson
Kris Kristofferson has just released The Cedar Creek Sessions, a double album recorded in Austin, which provides a new look back at much of his... Read more →
Will T. Massey
Will T. Massey’s boyish voice bears little trace of his San Angelo, Texas roots, and his fragile lyrics hint at hidden fears and turbulent waters.... Read more →
“Love Has No Pride” by Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt with "Love Has No Pride", written by her compadre Eric Kaz. Accompanied by Freebo. A serious and wonderful blast from the... Read more →
“Down So Low” by Tracy Nelson
The great Tracy Nelson with one of her most famous songs from the Austin days. There will never be another voice like... Read more →
New Release from Don Leady
Don Leady & His Rockin' Revue has just released Poppy Toppy Gone, another rocking and bopping journey from a member of the Tailgators and one of... Read more →
Delbert McClinton with “Shaky Ground”
Delbert does "Shaky Ground" in 1989. Honking horn section, Stephen Bruton and Dave Millsap on dueling guitars, Delbert in fully period regalia. This... Read more →
Beaver Nelson is Back!
One of our favorite minds belongs to Beaver Nelson, and we've been missing the places he used to take us. Beaver is back with a new record, Positive,... Read more →
Lawrence to Play 3Ten
This Saturday, July 23rd, the magnificent NYC soul-pop outfit Lawrence will be playing 3Ten Austin City Limits. Appearing with Los Coast and... Read more →
“Killing the Blues” by Chris Smither
The magnificent Chris Smither does Rowland Salley's "Killing the... Read more →
New Release from Jack Ingram
Jack Ingram will release Midnight Motel in late August. By all accounts, this may be his best work in... Read more →
Make Plans for Telluride Americana Festival
This year's Telluride Americana Music Festival in wondrous Telluride, Colorado, is a feast of artists profiled by Austin Songwriter (Sam Baker, Mary... Read more →
BettySoo Interview (July 6, 2016)
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 →
K Phillips Podcast (July 1, 2016)
K Phillips leads mostly from the keyboard, singing and occasionally grabbing a guitar in the course of his barn-burning live performances. Sort of... Read more →
Bo Porter at The ABGB
We recently caught Bo Porter and band on a Sunday afternoon at Austin Beer Garden Brewing. Porter is a magical practitioner of old Texas swing, the... Read more →
Willis Alan Ramsey sings his timeless “Angel Eyes”
Just one of the most beautiful songs to ever come out of... 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 →
Miles Zuniga Interview (June 29, 2016)
Miles Zuniga is an incredible songwriter and a member of Fastball and The Resentments. In 2011 he released his first solo recording, These Ghosts... Read more →
“Katie Bell Blue” by Townes Van Zandt
Townes sings a lullaby for his... Read more →
Doug Strahan and the Good Neighbors
If you're hankering for some serious foot-stomping, goat-roping, honky-tonking stuff, pull on your boots and check out Doug Strahan and the Good... Read more →
New Sarah Jarosz release
Sarah Jarosz has just released Undercurrent, a stripped down collection of new... Read more →
The great Ray Wylie Hubbard sings “Stone Blind Horses”
The man. That's all there is to... Read more →
K Phillips in San Antonio
K Phillips tore up Sam's Burger Joint in San Antonio last night. Great driving performance as always, and K previewed much material from his upcoming... Read more →
New release by Bonnie Bishop
Bonnie Bishop just released Ain't Who I Was, a soul-infused album produced by the very busy Dave Cobb. Great... Read more →
Michael Fracasso at Saxon Pub
Michael Fracasso played the Saxon last night with Giulia Millanta and Gabe Rhodes. Incredible show with Michael and Giulia trading off their original... Read more →
Rock and Roll, Volume I
Sure, we at Austin Songwriter are happiest listening to a slow sad song, muttering and crying in our beers. But sometimes we get frisky and want to... Read more →
“Coast” by Eliza Gilkyson
... Read more →
Get Ready for Willie’s Picnic!
If you have the courage, head out to Willie Nelson's 43rd annual Fourth of July Picnic, to be held at the Circuit of the Americas outside... Read more →
Chip Taylor inducted into Songwriters Hall of Fame
Bigger-than-life Chip Taylor has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. About time. Jon Voight spoke kindly about his brother at the... Read more →
Have a “Liberty Lunch”
Austin's Independence Brewing is releasing a beer in honor of the famous, but departed, "Liberty Lunch", the famous Austin live music venue that... Read more →
Get ready for Kerrville!
The annual Kerrville Folk Festival will convene May 26th through June 12th, 2016, in Kerrville, Texas. The mother of all Texas music festivals. This... Read more →
“On This Darkest Day” by Chip Taylor
In 2011, Chip Taylor was preparing to play a festival in Norway when a lone killer took the lives of seventy-seven, mostly children, in the capital... Read more →
Ana Egge touring Denmark
Those lucky Danes will be hosting the incredible Ana Egge, with The Sentimentals, throughout Denmark from June 23 to July 1, 2016. Check dates... Read more →
Make plans for Telluride Americana Music Fest
The 10th Annual Telluride Americana Music Fest & Songwriter Showcase, July 20th through 23rd, 2016, Telluride, Colorado, will feature Austin... Read more →
Ana Egge’s “Rock Me (Divine Mother)”
The love of a mother, the love for a mother.... Read more →
Happy 60th Michael!
My brother and I are more than 8 years apart, his birth planned, mine was not. In the high school and college years, he was a hippie (to be fair, it... Read more →
Willis Alan Ramsey and his unreleased “Boystown”
... Read more →
The High Desert
The parched and windswept void of the high desert gives a finite measure of life, a balance of blood and dust. For every birth, a death. For every... Read more →
Ruthie Foster’s take on the classic “Ring of Fire”
If anybody did it as good as Johnny Cash, its got to be Ruthie. And you thought you knew this... Read more →
The late Guy Clark with an ode to his life-long love, Susanna
Bet they're dancing in the clouds right... Read more →
Kevin Higgins
Kevin Higgins has been around awhile, fronting Austin’s "Cosmic Dust Devils" and now touring and recording as “Ghosts of the American... Read more →
Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry”, by Ruthie Foster and Blues Traveler
Everything's gonna be... Read more →
Steve Earle’s Camp Copperhead
June 27th through July 1, 2016, Steve Earle and special guest Shawn Colvin will convene the third annual "Camp Copperhead" songwriting camp at the... Read more →
Joe Ely at El Mercado
Caught Joe Ely this week at the El Mercado restaurant on South 1st. Just Joe, his guitar and a hundred or so disciples. Whooping and hollering,... Read more →
“Speed of the Sound of Loneliness” by John Prine, with Nanci Griffith
John Prine and Nanci Griffith perform his wistful... Read more →
“Dean Moriarty” by Eric Taylor
Eric Taylor performs his pensive "Dean Moriarty", with wife Susan, in The... Read more →
Vince Bell’s Resurrection
We almost lost the great Vince Bell in 1982, when his car was broad-sided by a drunk driver in Austin. Grievously injured, he was in a coma for a... Read more →
Freddie King and Eric Clapton
Wish we'd been... Read more →