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Local Austin Music Scene The cancellation of the annual South By Southwest (SXSW) Convention in March was one of the nation's first signals that the coronavirus outbreak was much more serious than originally thought. Within the next few weeks the majority of public events were cancelled or postponed across the United States due to the pandemic. Austin's slogan is "The Live Music Capital of the World." The annual South by Southwest Music Convention has helped accelerate many music careers.Austin City Limits is the longest running live music TV program, running on PBS stations. Austin is the 14th most populated city in the U.S. according to the 2010 Census, in which the city had near 800,000 residents. The Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro had over 1.7 million people. Campuses include The University of Texas at Austin and Austin Community College. The local music scene is covered by The Austin Chronicle. Los Lonely Boys have been a leading Austin act to enjoy national success in the 2000s. In the 60s Austin was the home of garage rockers The 13th Floor Elevators. It was also the home of Janis Joplin before she moved to San Francisco and became popular. The history of the Austin music scene has included Dixie Chicks, Larry Gatlin, Shawn Colvin, Fabulous Thunderbirds and Lucinda Williams. Sahara Smith is a folk/rock artist who appeared on Late Night with David Letterman on November 24, 2010. She performed "The Real Thing," which is one of the catchiest indie songs you can find on MySpace or Reverbnation that deserves to be heard nationally. Her first album was produced by T-Bone Burnett. Alyse Black * Asleep at the Wheel * Bo Porter * Bob Cheevers * Carolyn Wonderland * Carrie Rodriguez * ChilliBowl * Christine Cochran * Christine LeDoux * Danny Malone * Deb Hedges * Ennovi * Eric Johnson * Ginger Leigh * God & The Devil * Jacinta * Joanna Barbera * Josh Abbott Band * Judith Miller Band * Malita * Mark McKinney * Monte Montgomery * One-Eyed Doll * Quiet Company * Radio Fallout * Ray Kainz * Ray Wylie Hubbard * Reckless Kelly * Ruby Jane * Sahara Smith * Scott Fischer * Suzanna Choffel * Wendy Colonna * Austin Local Music Scene History SXSW in March 2015 featured AWOLNATION, Bodeans, Courtney Barnett, The Damned and hundreds of other acts from around the world. The annual event is criical to the local economy, as it is Austin's top revenue generator. Regional acts who performed at SXSW in 2015 included Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear, Stromae, Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds, Andra Day, The Bros. Landreth and Jack Garratt. Austin turns out to rank number three in the America for music industry jobs, according to Colin Pope, Editor of Austin Business Journal. The two music employment cities are Nashville and Los Angeles. About 2.6 out of every 1,000 Austin residents have music related jobs, predominately involving live music. A study found that despite the city's music scene contributing to the local economy, Austin lags the national average in music salaries. Find you more from this Chad Swiatecki blog 8/14/2013 in Austin Business Journal. Music journalist David Brown, who works for KUT and KUTX, was interviewed by Here and Now host Jeremy Hobson to talk about the state of the Austin music scene beyond Austin City Limits. Brown mentioned the city had 10,000 musicians, in which many have day jobs. He says that a lot of scene still has an outlaw country vibe that was originally unleashed by Willie Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Read more on this interview 8/8/2013 at HereandNow.wbur.org. Austin bills itself as the "Live Music Capital of the World," which attracts visitors from all over the globe. A New Zealand perspective of Austin, which highlights the 2,750 seat Moody Theater, was written about in this Rob McFarland article 8/18/2013 at New Zealand Herald. |
