Jack Anderson

Lukas Nelson, son of the great Willie Nelson, met fellow band mate Anthony LoGerfo at a Neil Young concert in college. Not long after, Nelson dropped out and got together with LoGerfo and a few other friends to start The Promise of the Real. Just shy of the band’s 10 year anniversary, we can all look forward to hearing their raspy-raw sound this Saturday, Feb. 9th at 8 pm at  Moody Theater. Now, let’s treat ourselves to a much-needed dose of country soul, from Lukas Nelson & The Promise of the Real. Here is the live rendition of “Die Alone.”

–Simone Puglia KUTX Intern

Photo: Gabriel C. Pérez

Since well before her lauded performances on The Voice, Virginia-born, Atlanta-raised artist Rebecca Loebe has had an almost supernatural ability to get the crowd singing along. In 2011, after several strong recordings, Loebe’s passion for deeply emotional Americana songwriting drove her from Boston to Austin, the Live Music Capital she now calls home.

On her new LP, Give Up Your Ghosts, Loebe strayed away from her typical extended writing method, instead forging the new material in a relatively short amount of time. And with its spectral name, Give Up Your Ghosts is haunting but in an endearing way, as Loebe calls for listeners to liberate themselves from constrictions of the past. Paired with an impressive ensemble at the rear, Loebe has frankly never sounded better or more confident.

Rebecca Loebe has recently joined us in Studio 1A, drops Give Up Your Ghosts today and celebrates the release show 8PM tomorrow at Saxon Pub. Treat yourself this Friday with the album’s lead single (and Austin-centric music video), “Ghosts”!

Photo: Velvet Cartel

We’re knee deep in Love Austin Music Month and today we’ve got a local artist that makes people grin no matter where they’re at. A glowing beacon of how all humans should be, Austin’s Daisy O’Connor is the epitome of a good heart mixed with killer musical talent.

Daisy’s 2017 debut album Lightchasers showed off her genre-inclusive songwriting abilities and quirky queer personality, followed by last year’s equally impressive EP Mixtape. On her upcoming fan-funded EP Ether, O’Connor’s feminine force catalyzes into a dreamy, genre-jumping solvent to her personal struggles. And despite its name, the sounds on Ether are far from volatile, instead offering a balanced blend of pleasant and raucous. Ether is out tomorrow and the release show is this Sunday at Cosmic Coffee + Beer Garden. Today’s Song of the Day and the title track from Ether finds Daisy at her very best, and there’s even a Phoebe Bridgers shout out!

His lineage traces back to Civil War songwriter George Frederick Root and 14th century poet John Gower, but Vermont’s Henry Jamison challenges the same antiquated notions of masculinity from which he’s descended. With a Nick Drake-like baritone voice and narrative lyrics reminiscent of Sufjan Stevens, Jamison’s 2017 debut The Wilds earned him international acclaim and touring spots alongside Big Thief, Caroline Rose and more.

Jamison’s upcoming sophomore LP Gloria Duplex centers itself around a coming-of-age theme, reconciling past imperfections and idealized futures through soft hypnotic folk. Gloria Duplex is out this Friday, followed by an international tour, so let’s drift off this Hump Day with a metaphor-heavy lullaby from Henry Jamison,  “Ether Garden”!

Photo: Patrick McCormack

When tragedy strikes, sometimes you can only soar above it with someone else on the wing with you. L.A. artist Kelly Barnes’ marriage and band had broken up around the same time that New York’s Brian Cole lost his home to a fire. Two fresh starts, two separate moves to Austin, and one serendipitous meeting later, Darkbird had hatched.

Now performing as a sextet, Darkbird just wrapped up their third record and they’re gearing up for their third official SXSW as well as an upcoming national tour. We’ll get an aerial view of Darkbird’s new EP at the release show next Friday at Stay Gold but since you want to shake your tail feather to this six-song rock roulette early, guess what? Darkbird has given us KUTX-clusive access to this new single until Valentine’s Day, so set yourself up right now with “Crimes”!

Happy Monday and Happy Love Austin Music Month! In the spirit of the season let’s take a look at Austinite Kevin Peroni, whose indie rock songwriting as Wiretree has earned him a steady following in the local scene and beyond. Wiretree’s 2007 debut album was strictly a solo endeavor for Peroni and though Wiretree’s subsequent recordings have been made with his live band, there’s no doubting the talent Peroni holds on his own.

You can see the full band this Friday at the Mohawk but before you do, check out a new single from Wiretree; one that marks a return to form for Peroni as a solo singer-songwriter, with a little bit of ’60s skiffle peppered in: “Rainy Corner”.

 

New Zealand songwriter Hollie Fullbrook first earned fans worldwide with her 2011 solo debut full-length, Some Were Meant For Sea, and she’s since become an international force of psychedelic folk pop under the name Tiny Ruins. It wasn’t long before Tiny Ruins expanded from just the founding frontwoman to a well-disciplined four-piece live band, who’ve now toured the English-speaking world several times over, opening for the likes of Sharon Van Etten and Calexico.

The latest triumph of Tiny Ruins is their third full-length, Olympic Girls, and it’s available everywhere today! Recorded with a relatively relaxed schedule, the eleven originals on Olympic Girls find Tiny Ruins flirting with new experimental ideas and a phenomenally rounded out full-band sound. Before you listen to Olympic Girls in its entirety, soak up this haunting slow burner of a single from Tiny Ruins, “School of Design”!

Photo: Si Moore

Way back in 2016, Austinite Evan Charles introduced the world to his project Altamesa and picked up critical attention for his debut full-length The Long Ride Home. One dusty trail later, Charles is far from riding off into the sunset and fronts what is now a cosmic Americana trio that includes The Happen-Ins frontman and Altamesa co-producer Sean Faires.

In 2017 Charles and Faires hit the studio with a fuller rock sound than Altamesa’s previous solo recordings, and next week we’ll get the fruits of their labor. The ten songs on the Idol Frontier LP are spacey, rustic, rugged and pleasant all at once, and pretty much achieve musical manifest destiny for Altamesa. You can hear Altamesa at 5pm next Wednesday at Waterloo Records, 3pm next Thursday live on KUTX, and at the release show next Friday at Cheer Up Charlies! Let’s un-hitch from the work week with one of Idol Frontier‘s finest, “Genuine Affection”!

Half a century from its first golden age, Austin soul pop trio Charlie Faye & The Fayettes is bringing the ’60s “girl group” energy back to a new prime. With Akina Adderley and Betty Soo backing up the eponymous frontwoman, The Fayettes combine modern production and vintage pop, while appropriating the female vocalist aesthetic in a lyrically empowering way.

Next Friday Charlie Faye & The Fayettes share their sophomore album, The Whole Shebang, featuring twelve new originals from Faye that send retro sounds straight to the forefront. Charlie Faye & The Fayettes join us in Studio 1A next Thursday on Eklektikos and The Whole Shebang release show is Friday the 8th at the Continental Club. You’ve heard the lead single, “Don’t Need No Baby” on KUTX, so here’s another glimpse at these dozen new tunes: “Night People”!

If you remember Scottish post-rockers Pilotcan but feel like they haven’t been around for awhile, you’re not wrong. Well guess what? They’re back.

After fourteen long years this Edinburgh quartet has re-emerged with their familiar late ’90s sound, this time for a heartfelt tribute to the Live Music Capital. Mostly written here, recorded entirely across the pond, and inspired by the City of Austin and its residents, Pilotcan’s late 2018 album, Bats Fly Out From Under The Bridge is a knockout of alt-shoegaze post-rock. With another new record already in the can, Pilotcan promises more material in 2019 as well as a compilation of previously unreleased rarities.

For now let’s enjoy a treat from the tourists and Bats Fly Out From Under The Bridge, “Daylight Savings Time”!

Mikaela Beth Kahn and Jordan James Burchill met just over a decade ago while studying music, and now masters of indie folk, they’re known around Austin as Beth // James. It’s only been three years since the duo began formally writing together but their longtime bond has lent itself to the charm, sincerity and heart within Beth // James’ music. In 2017 Beth // James released their debut EP All In Life, and last year their song “Lion Eyes” made its way into Spike Lee’s Oscar-nominated BlackKklansman.

Blending American tradition, modern folk and hints of indie pop and rock, Beth // James drops their sophomore record, Falling, this Friday! Join them for the release show that night at the Cactus Cafe and enjoy one third of Falling with “Wasted on Sundays”!

Blending ’80s style dance grooves and striking lyrical emotion, Chilean-born LA-based singer Alex Anwandter is one of the leading voices in Latin indie pop. This double Latin Grammy nominee blew us out of the water last year with the release of his latest album, Latinoamericana, featuring some of Anwandter’s most tantalizing and elegantly electronic material to date.

Today brings great news for both vinyl lovers and Anwandter fans alike; physical LPs of Latinoamericana are now available worldwide. Be on the lookout for your new favorite record and put some bounce and sunshine into your weekend right now with “Locura“!

Only a couple years since their self-titled debut, Berklee-educated Boston trio Lula Wiles has kept busy entertaining crowds worldwide and sharing stages with acts like Aoife O’Donovan and The Wood Brothers. On their upcoming album What Will We Do, Lula Wiles challenges the deep-seated norms of folk music while still using its genre structures to facilitate a dozen new, societally-conscious tunes. As such, protest and contradiction is a central theme of What Will We Do, and sonically the record captures the ambiance of an intimate living room performance with charming imperfections and edges left just rough enough.

What Will We Do is out tomorrow, and right now you can start exploring Lula Wiles with a traditional-inspired song, written after the 2017 death of a demonstrator in Charlottesville, “Shaking As It Turns”!

Back in 2013, two pairs of players hit it off at a Colorado bluegrass festival, then reunited a couple years later in Austin as Ley Line. The individual experiences of these four women weave together a collective outlook of human connection, across both traditional American genres and modern international influences. Ley Line’s use of acoustic instruments, multilingual lyrics, and multicultural sounds make them a standout act in the Live Music Capital and you can catch them this Friday night at the Cactus Cafe.

You won’t have to dig deep to find something recent from Ley Line; our Song of the Day features the latest single from Ley Line, written after returning from Brazil, “The Well”!

Over decades of experience and five records total, local singer-songwriter Steve Power is responsible for hundreds of happy listeners both at home and in concert. Power’s an accomplished solo acoustic performer, but he really breaks out his namesake with his six piece backing band, consisting of some of Austin’s finest.

Late last year Power turned up the amplitude with his fourth full-length, Power Lines, and this Friday he’s releasing it physically on a national scale. These fourteen songs of absolute power carry classic country into his signature Americana sound; just check out the penultimate track off Power Lines, “Pour Out My Heart”!

Like many of us, punk rock has played and continues to play a pivotal role in Mike Krol‘s life. This Los Angeles guitarist and vocalist made his distorted debut in 2011 with I Hate Jazz, an album allegedly recorded during Krol’s worst week ever. His use of music to overcome personal difficulties has become a staple of Krol’s over the years and for his upcoming LP he’s going way back to his roots.

Totaling just short of a dozen new songs, Power Chords turns the amplifier up to 11 with the same influences that kicked off his career; the spirit of The Strokes, The Ramones, Misfits and more come into play once again on Power Chords, this time with Krol’s matured discipline piercing through the fuzz. Power Chords is out on Friday and you can get plugged in right now with one of the album’s unapologetically primitive progressions, “Little Drama”!

Photo: Brian Guido