Elizabeth McQueen

Why Margin Walker Closed

Graham Williams, the founder of Margin Walker, discusses his journey in the Austin music scene and explains why nine months into the pandemic he decided to close Texas’s largest independent concert promoter for good.

Pause/Play: Episode 9

Music in this episode by Sailor Poon

Mental Health During the Pandemic

Hear from mental healthcare providers and people in the Austin Music Ecosystem about mental health during the pandemic.

You’ll hear from Kalu James from Kalu and the Electric Joint , Vanessa Burden of Los Alcos, Austen Bailey former Talent Buyer for Mohawk, Patty Bouressa from The SIMS Foundation, Brandee Smith MS, LPC, LCDC, Austin Mental Health Care Resources, The Sims Foundation

Austin Texas Mental Health Resources

Pause/Play: Episode 8

Other Information:

National Independent Venue Association
Save Our Stages

Music By:

Kalu and The Electric Joint
Los Alcos

Check out Downfall —  the latest song from Kalu and the Electric Joint.

The Return of Live Music Part 2

Hear from people across the spectrum of the Austin music scene talk about their live music experiences during the pandemic.

In the first segment you’ll hear Pedro Carvalho and Lawrence Boone from the venue The Far Out Lounge talk about how they’ve managed to stay open and have consistent live music. Then KUT reporter Andrew Weber takes you to a show that’s also a Dumpster Fire. Matt Ott from the Austin non-profit Black Fret brings you perspectives from an indoor show at ACL live. And Miles Bloxson talks to three fans about their risk tolerances and relationships with live music during COVID.

Listen to this episode of Pause/Play

Open Enrollment for the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians is open through December 15th. Find out more here: https://www.myhaam.org/become-a-member

Pause/Play: Episode 6

Some Austin Music Venues Won’t Get COVID Relief Money Until Next Year. They Say They’re Running Out Of Time. by Andrew Weber

Austin City Council Takes Steps Toward Relief For Live Music Venues And ‘Legacy’ Business by Andrew Weber

This song was featured in this episode of Pause/Play

Listen on The Apple Podcasts AppSpotify

 

The Return of Live Music Part 1

Live Music has returned to Austin, even as COVID cases continue to surge in Texas. Hear about three live music experiences from the perspective of a fan, three musicians and a promoter.

Listen to this episode of Pause/Play

In this episode you’ll hear from:
host Elizabeth McQueen stepping into the role of a fan
Greg Gonzalez, bass player for Money Chicha & Grupo Fantasma
Tomar Williams from Tomar and the FC’s
Geoff Earle from Stiletto Feels
Walker Lukens from Walker Lukens and the Sidearms. He’s also the co-host of the Song Confessional Podcast

Love and Lightstream
Antones
Central Machine Works 

Pause-Play: Episode 5

Listen on The Apple Podcasts AppSpotify

Listen to Songs from this Episode

Jackie Venson and Austin City Limits

Follow Austin musician Jackie Venson as she makes her debut on the iconic Austin City Limit’s TV show. You’ll hear how Jackie has been pivoting during the pandemic, and find out how Austin City Limits has been adapting to taping shows without a live audience.

Listen to this episode of Pause/Play

Listen on The Apple Podcasts AppSpotify

Pause-Play Episode 4
Show Notes Links:

Follow Jackie Venson on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tik Tok

Follow Austin City Limits on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

This Song Episode featuring Jackie Venson

ACL Radio announces ‘Blues on the Screen’ event curated by Jackie Venson – Article by Deborah Sengupta Stith

Watch The Jackie Venson’s curated Blues on the Screen

Check out Jackie Venson’s Vintage Machine Album

ACL Live Show on November 20th

Austin City Limit’s Television Show

 

 

The Venues

In this episode, you’ll hear from the owners two Austin venues. Brodie Elkins tells the story of Scratchouse which closed due to the pandemic. Then Maggie Lea and Tamara Hoover talk about how they’ve kept their venue, Cheer Up Charlies, afloat and explain what it’s been like to get ready to reopen.

Listen on The Apple Podcasts App, Spotify

Follow Cheer Up Charlies: Instagram and Twitter

Resources:

Music Venue Alliance Austin

Red River Cultural District

National Independent Venue Alliance

Amplified Sound Coalition

Austin Texas Musicians

Pause/Play: Episode 3

This Song: Liz Phair (Rerun)

In this rerun from 2018, Liz Phair describes how the 1980s rock song “I Wanna Destroy You” by The Soft Boys put her in touch with her youthful desire to destroy something. We also hear Phair share what it was like to revisit her early 90’s songs on the recent Girly-Sound to Guyville tour. Plus, she shares a bit of parenting wisdom with host Elizabeth McQueen.

Phair has a new record, Soberish, coming out this summer.

Listen to this episode of This Song

This Song: John Prine (Rerun)

Beloved American singer-songwriter John Prine is on many people’s minds right now. He is currently in stable condition on a ventilator due to symptoms from COVID-19. Our hearts go out to him and his family.  This episode, recorded live in 2018 at Waterloo records, is a testament to Prine’s creativity,  kindness and generosity of spirit. In it, he explains how Bob Dylan’s “The Lonsesome Death of Hattie Carroll” changed his life and goes in-depth on his own songwriting process for his album “The Tree of Forgiveness.

Listen to this episode of This Song

Watch to the full interview of John Prine’s This Song episode from KUTX’s Facebook page

 

This Song: Thao and The Get Down Stay Down

On March 10th, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down released a new single called, “Temple” along with an accompanying video. 6 days later residents in the San Francisco Bay Area, where lead singer, songwriter and guitar player Thao Nguyen lives, were ordered to shelter in place. In this episode, Thao talks to host Elizabeth McQueen about the inspiration behind the new song and what it was like to release music during a pandemic. She also shares how making her upcoming record, also called Temple, helped prepare her to address her sexuality publicly and to create a safe space in her life where she could exist as her full self.

Listen to this episode of This Song

Listen to Thao and the Get Down Stay Down’s new song “Temple.”

Find out where you can Pre-Order “Temple

Check out Thao and the Get Down Stay Down’s Tour Dates

Watch the Video for “Temple”

 

This Song: Devendra Banhart

Devendra Bahnart talks about how hearing “Just Another Diamond Day” by Vashti Bunyan while busking on the streets of Paris comforted him with a feeling of motherly love that he still turns to today. He also explains how themes of motherhood, love, fear and compassion show up on his latest record “Ma.”

“It’s like once you’re heartbroken, it’s not like ‘That’s it, never gonna be heartbroken again.’ Once you’re not lonely it’s not like ‘That’s it, okay I did it.’ Once you go through a day without making mistakes it’s not like ‘That’s it, end of mistakes.’ It’s this constant thing. I am constantly heartbroken and constantly anxious and lonely and so I have this thing, called art. It’s very beautiful. You have this immediately accessible comfort. This immediately accessible love.”

Listen to this episode of This Song

Listen to Devendra Banhart’s new record Ma

Check out Devendra Banhart’s Tour Dates

Check out the full session of Devendra Banhart Live in Studio 1A

Listen to Songs from this episode of This Song

Brian Beattie //Kathy McCarty //Ray Benson

In  this episode of “This Song” we hear Brian Beattie talk about a song that blew him away and made a shelf in his brain, Kathy McCarty talks about a song that opened her up to the possibility that songwriting wasn’t just for people from the olden times, and Ray Benson explores a song that showed him the power of one note played with emotion.

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Mojo Nixon // Kat Edmonson // Aaron Behrens

This Song — Mojo Nixon, Kat Edmonson, Aaron Behrens

Welcome to the first ever “This Song” podcast! This week we have three amazing artists!

Mojo Nixon:  The rock musician, DJ, lover of Elvis and natural born iconoclast talks about why “Sweet Soul Music” by Arthur Conley is the song that still makes him feel like an exuberant 10-year-old.

Kat Edmonson: Fresh off the release of her new record “The Big Picture,” the former Austinite talks about how Henry Mancini’s “Peter Gunn” inspired her recording of “Rainy Day Woman.”

Aaron Behrens:  The former Ghostland Observatory singer has struck out his own with Aaron Behrens and the Midnight Stroll He talks about how when he was a kid, Curtis Mayfield’s “We People Darker Than Blue” from the Dead Presidents Volume 2 soundtrack opened his eyes to the possibilities of music.

Our intro and outro music is “Mahout” from the local Austin band Hardproof Afrobeat.

 

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