A trip to SXSW is always a bit of a barometer of the year for me: where I’m at as well as what’s happening in the music world at large. This year, I’m here for a few days of pure listening and catching up. Friday was spent immersed in the South Congress area of Austin, which is really more about Austin music than official SXSW showcases.
We split our time fairly equally between Yard Dog Art Gallery which was playing host to the Bloodshot Records party and SX San Jose party in the back of Jo’s Coffee and Hotel San Jose.
The Bloodshot Records line-up demonstrated well its ‘insurgent country’ ethos. Bandmate Kwame’s brother Kwab Copeland energetically played drums for Eddie Spaghetti; Exene Cervenka asked the crowd to reclaim the best ‘power to the people’ aspects of early punk rock, and Denmark’s Maggie Bjorklund rocked the pedal steel to back the Cobirds Unite as well as Exene.
One of my favorite things about South by Southwest is going to a venue for one thing and making a new discovery. My hero Alejandro Escovedo and his Orchestra were headlining SX San Jose which definitely got me there (and were fantastic as usual), and along the way I was taken with the bit of the new-to-me The Autumn Defense set I caught as well as the spirited, great harmony singing of The Belle Brigade.
So, per usual, good music, new sounds, inspiration (with a dose of tacos). I went to bed with ringing ears and sore feet.
Deborah Crooks (www.DeborahCrooks.com) is a writer, performing songwriter and recording artist based in San Francisco whose lyric driven and soul-wise music has drawn comparison to Lucinda Williams, Chrissie Hynde and Natalie Merchant.
Singing about faith, love and loss, her lyrics are honed by a lifetime of writing and world travel while her music draws on folk, rock, Americana and the blues. She released her first EP “5 Acres” in 2003 produced by Roberta Donnay, which caught the attention of Rocker Girl Magazine, selecting it for the RockerGirl Discoveries Cd. In 2007, she teamed up with local producer Ben Bernstein to complete “Turn It All Red” Ep, followed by 2008’s “Adding Water to the Ashes” CD, and a second full-length CD “2010. She’s currently working on a third CD to be released in 2013.
Deborah’s many performance credits include an appearance at the 2006 Millennium Music Conference, the RockerGirl Magazine Music Convention, IndieGrrl, at several of the Annual Invasion of the GoGirls at SXSW in Austin, TX, the Harmony Festival and 2009’s California Music Fest, MacWorld 2010, Far West Fest and many other venues and events. She toured the Northwest as part “Indie Abundance Music, Money & Mindfulness” (2009) with two other Bay Area artists, and followed up with “The Great Idea Tour of the Southwest in March 2010 with Jean Mazzei.
