Austin Music Minute

May 18, 2023

Amplify LIVE

Bring the excellent music, and they will come. Amplify LIVE presents a big benefit show supporting the work of I Live Here, I Give Here, a nonprofit connecting the Austin community to organizations and causes they care about. There are so many nonprofits in Austin alone that it’s sometimes difficult to know where to start, […]

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May 17, 2023

Wednesday at Cheer Up Charlie’s

Okay, seriously; this is another one of those line-ups where it’s like, did you let the Austin Music Minute book this one? Did you? This week, Cheer Up Charlie’s puts three Austin-based songwriters in the spotlight. Excellent, one and all: Ry Black, a member of Batty Jr., Redbud, and songwriter for his own project Sunroom […]

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May 16, 2023

Waiting To Spill

When We Were Friends by The Backseat Lovers is one of those impossibly good albums making it difficult to pick just one favorite track. Not fair. The ears are coaxed in with the beautiful opener “Watch Your Mouth” and that’s it. It keeps going. You’re hooked. How could it be possible that this 2019 release […]

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May 15, 2023

Some Of Us Are Brave

It wasn’t as if Danielle Ponder didn’t like her job. Her work as a public defender in her hometown of Rochester, NY reflects a soul that’s passionate about supporting her community and using her voice to do so. But that voice is also strongly connected to music. Ponder grew up with music. When it’s in […]

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May 13, 2023

Lucha Por Vida

Luz Elena Mendoza Ramos says the title of Y La Bamba‘s seventh LP Lucha has two meanings. “Lucha,” a nickname for Luz, btw, translates into “fight.” But “luz” can also mean “light.” Both apply to the album’s exploration of an existence in multiplicity – love, queerness, la familia, Mexican-American roots and Chicanx identity, confronting a […]

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May 12, 2023

Where the Journey Goes

In an Austin Chronicle 2022 cover story, J Soulja didn’t hesitate expressing his gratitude in an interview with Derek Udensi. For the Austin-based hip-hop artist, having struggled to make ends meet in his life, understanding the importance of lifting others around him felt like a revelation. And from helping others comes a fulfillment, an empowerment […]

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May 11, 2023

Weathervanes

Jason Isbell’s forthcoming LP Weathervanes, his first album of originals since 2020’s Reunions, takes a hard look at…having some growing up to do. At its core, it’s songs played for, and by, grown ass people, as Isbell might put it. Whereas some music connects to the eternal youth in us all (“I Don’t Wanna Grow […]

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May 10, 2023

Quiero Verte Feliz

In the wake of so much pain, Grammy Award-winning band La Santa Cecilia expresses one overarching wish for all: They want to see you happy. And who better for lead vocalist La Marisoul to sing the title track of Quiero Verte Feliz with than one of the most unique and influential voices in the world, […]

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