What could be better? Texas wine and Texas music...and lots of it! The Austin Wine Festival will be featuring some of the the best Texas bands & artists on stage.
(select songs below to play)
The 2009 music lineup is as follows:
Schedule times subject to change.
Saturday
Modern Day Drifters (2:30)
For most people the essential elements of life include things such as oxygen, water, and food. Yet, for the Modern Day Drifters, music is equally as vital. The Drifters, whose current album contains the fitting title of The Highway Is My Home, are a collection of passionate musicians who have a firm belief in the band concept and yearn to create classic American music.
With members from all corners of the country, the band is full of a variety of influences and styles that range from stone cold country to hard rock. The brand of music they have developed is one that that stems from the roots of soul and southern rock, to the front porch of the country. In 2009 they are nominated for New Artist of the Year by The Gruene With Envy Awards. For more information, visit www.moderndaydrifters.com
Who is the Charlie Shafter Band? The Charlie Shafter Band consists of four marginally educated ant farmers from Duluth, Minnesota. The band was formed from a common friendship and genuine love for the 1980's. Their music is world renown; however, their story is little known.
In accordance with prophecy, four ant farmers will drop their small ant farming shovels and pick up musical instruments. Joel (The Frugal) is awarded the power of rhythm. Charlie (The Meek) is endowed with spongy vocals. A power from above enables Clayton (The Just) to funk it up. Lastly, Adam (The Cruel) was infused at birth with tangy fingers. The band has received mixed reviews from places as far away as Germany. They tour extensively and farm copiously, never losing sight of their ultimate goal. For more information, visit www.charlieshafterband.com
Josh Grider is following his muse, and she is leading him in a new musical direction.
It is not a departure from form. It is more like continuing further along the road he has already been traveling. Following 2007’s critically acclaimed Million Miles to Go, it would have been easier for Grider to hire a stage full of top guns and rest on his laurels, playing the dancehalls and honky tonks. However, Josh realized there is a bigger world out there, and his music could easily cross over to other audiences.
To reach beyond his core audience, Grider decided to focus on the universality and catchiness of the songs themselves - out of the context of a style or musical idiom - and completely revamped his touring group and arrangements to accommodate a sparser, acoustic, Americana inspired trio. For more information, visit www.joshgrider.com
San Antonio-born Walt Wilkins has been called a genius, more than once, and a writer the caliber of John Steinbeck and his voice as comfortable as a pair of old blue jeans, and he is, and has, all of that. His crafting of story-songs, hard-edged vocals to sing them and a plaintive guitar have made him a fixture of the Texas music scene (and Nashville before that). He's put his magical touch on recordings by new and veteran artists, too many to count.
Is he near done? Hasn't he done it all? Absolutely not. With The Mystiqueros, Wilkins has created something of a "Texas Hill Country super-group" that features five great singers and four great songwriters from the heart of the Lone Star State, all of whom have made their own records and are flush with recording credits. For more information, visit www.waltwilkins.com
Micky and the Motorcars (9:00) - A (New for 2009) Late Nite Wine and Music Event!
Led by frontman Micky (Michael) Braun and his guitarist brother Gary Braun, along with childhood friends Travis Hardy on drums and Mark McCoy on bass, Micky & the Motorcars rolled out of the Sawtooth Mountains of Stanley, Idaho in a cloud of Americana dust. The sons of veteran Western swing musician Muzzie Braun, Micky and Gary, along with older brothers Cody and Willy, spent their childhood as part of Muzzie Braun & the Little Braun Brothers band, and were stage veterans before their teens. Eventually Cody and Willy Braun left the band to form Reckless Kelly, with Micky and Gary soon following suit, moving to Austin, Texas with Hardy and McCoy as Micky & the Motorcars. Once in Texas they added Joseph Deeb on lead guitar, rounding out the group's lineup.
Now established as one of the best-drawing bands on the lucrative Texas Music circuit, Micky and the Motorcars are known for their true-to-form lyrics and hard rocking upbeat melodies. If you’re not singing along you will be dancing out of your seat. For more information, visit www.mickyandthemotorcars.com
Bobby’s love for music itself started when he was young. Growing up in Arlington, Texas and listening to the country stars of the time (such as Garth Brooks and George Strait). He decided early on that he wanted to learn how to play the guitar. During his eight years of playing and studying, Bobby discovered his true love: Texas music. The supply of singer/songwriters in Texas grows every year, but Bobby has already made the connections and produced the materials he needs to break away from the crowd and make a big impact in a short time.
Now, with his debut album, Lonesome Town, on the way and music legends in his corner, Bobby is set for a long and fulfilling career in the Texas Music industry. For more information, visit www.bobbyduncanmusic.com
Texas Renegade (5:00)
Since forming at "high school parties" in Wimberley, Texas Renegade broke into the Texas Music scene in 2004 with their debut album, 3am. The band's latest album, After Everything, hijacks Andy's insightful whispers and hums with uncomplicated mandolin and harmonica embellishments to create undeniably gorgeous and original music. With standout tracks like "Angel of the Moonlight" and "Still the One", look for Texas Renegade to be a major figure in the Texas Country landscape for years to come.
During live performances the tightness of the band as well as their mutual respect for each other as musicians can be seen. As the music cranks up during an electric show, the energy level of the band and the crowd soars. You just can't stop your toes from tapping and rocking to the beat. For more information, visit www.myspace.com/texasrenegadeband
A native of Austin TX, Suzanna Choffel combines her poetic sensibilities and sweet smoky voice with funky urban rhythms to create a fresh and unique sound. She uses her guitar to create staccato rhythms underneath her dazzling soulful vocal melodies, all backed by a pulsing band with unique instrumentation. Her music has been described as "indie pop with urban beats", and "jazz-infused soul pop" with comparisons ranging from Feist to Nelly Furtado to Norah Jones to Erykah Badu.
ince the 2006 release of her debut album, Shudders & Rings, she has been finding her name atop many a music reporter's list as "one worth watching". The result of the eclectic talent in the band is a smokin' hot rhythm section that can riff, improv and meander like a jazz band, yet has the stability of her strong pop-soul songs to ground them, resulting in a sensational new sound. For more information, visit www.suzannachoffel.com
East Texas native, Brandon Rhyder has been busier than ever this year. Since his fifth record, Every Night, came out in 2008, Brandon has grown more and more comfortable in his own skin as an artist and entertainer, he relishes the opportunity to grow day in and day out. This constant evolution is what keeps his fans coming on’s stock has continued to rise as a mainstay in the Texas music scene.
A back-roads boy from Carthage in Northeast Texas, Rhyder says his roots are painted in country tones. Not Texas country, not Nashville country, not old or new country. Just country. The kind of place where songs still say something, where emotions are meant to be bared, where a man onstage alone with his guitar can captivate a crowd, one smile or teardrop at a time.
Rhyders third album, Conviction, on his own Dogwood Hill label, is filled with the sort of music that a loving husband and expectant father in his early 30s is likely to make: equal parts realism and hope, experience and dreams. For more information, visit www.brandonrhyder.com
Jason Eady is a singer-songwriter whose music is a distillation of country, bluegrass, blues, gospel, folk and Southern rock, but in essence is roots all the way, with organic arrangements, genuine lyrics, and strong lead and harmony vocals, no matter what style of song he is writing.
Together the quartet is Jason Eady & The Wayward Apostles, so named to spread the word about the band’s roots-music origins while putting its own spin on tradition. From different musical backgrounds and incorporating them all, theirs is a unique sound. Touring regionally and nationally for the past year with cuts from its upcoming album, WILD EYED SERENADE, has earned the band airplay on Americana stations. It was tracked live in one open room to give it a live and authentic roots sound. For more information, visit www.jasoneady.com
Under ideal circumstances, any and all interviews with the Band of Heathens would only take place in a single room with all five Heathens present and accounted for. The in-jokes would fly fast and furious, with everyone riffing off of each other's tangents and freely hitching along on each other's trains of thought in the same way that the band's three songwriting frontmen swap verses and guitar solos over a solid but loose-limbed rhythmic bed of harmony laced, soulful roots rock. The end result would be a proper group portrait of the band as true-to-life as their 2006 debut, Live at Momo's , or last year's CD/DVD, Live at Antone's.
Seasoned groove guru Ray Wylie Hubbard used this same five-guys-in-a-room method when producing the Heathens' brand new, self-titled studio album, effectively capturing the full organic seep and flow of the band's live show like the proverbial lightning in a bottle. Good thing, too, because anything less would have been a disservice to not only founding band members Gordy Quist, Ed Jurdi, Colin Brooks, Seth Whitney and relative "new guy" John Chipman, but also to all the fans who voted the Heathens "Best New Band" in the 2006-2007 Austin Music Awards. For more information, visit www.bandofheathens.com
With a tight, seamless, and an acoustic sound that's uniquely theirs — a mix of gypsy swing, big band jazz and cross-genre Americana music, original songs and some clever covers — the startling six-piece Belleville Outfit of Austin belies the tender age of its members and its vast experience garnered swiftly after its union around Merlefest 2007 in Wilkesboro, N.C.
In fact, in just six months, the band has played for more than 10,000 people, ridden in a van-with-trailer to shows all the way from Texas to Tennessee, from Colorado to New York, and sold out shows up and down the East Coast and through Texas. When the band is home, members soak up other acts’ music, absorbing how music transmits energy from musician to listener, healing both — always learning, learning from the past but breathing their own interpretations into what they hear. For more information, visit www.bellevilleoutfit.com
For most people the essential elements of life include things such as oxygen, water, and food. Yet, for the Modern Day Drifters, music is equally as vital. The Drifters, whose current album contains the fitting title of The Highway Is My Home, are a collection of passionate musicians who have a firm belief in the band concept and yearn to create classic American music.
Who is the Charlie Shafter Band? The Charlie Shafter Band consists of four marginally educated ant farmers from Duluth, Minnesota. The band was formed from a common friendship and genuine love for the 1980's. Their music is world renown; however, their story is little known.
Josh Grider is following his muse, and she is leading him in a new musical direction.
San Antonio-born Walt Wilkins has been called a genius, more than once, and a writer the caliber of John Steinbeck and his voice as comfortable as a pair of old blue jeans, and he is, and has, all of that. His crafting of story-songs, hard-edged vocals to sing them and a plaintive guitar have made him a fixture of the Texas music scene (and Nashville before that). He's put his magical touch on recordings by new and veteran artists, too many to count.
Led by frontman Micky (Michael) Braun and his guitarist brother Gary Braun, along with childhood friends Travis Hardy on drums and Mark McCoy on bass, Micky & the Motorcars rolled out of the Sawtooth Mountains of Stanley, Idaho in a cloud of Americana dust. The sons of veteran Western swing musician Muzzie Braun, Micky and Gary, along with older brothers Cody and Willy, spent their childhood as part of Muzzie Braun & the Little Braun Brothers band, and were stage veterans before their teens. Eventually Cody and Willy Braun left the band to form Reckless Kelly, with Micky and Gary soon following suit, moving to Austin, Texas with Hardy and McCoy as Micky & the Motorcars. Once in Texas they added Joseph Deeb on lead guitar, rounding out the group's lineup.
Bobby’s love for music itself started when he was young. Growing up in Arlington, Texas and listening to the country stars of the time (such as Garth Brooks and George Strait). He decided early on that he wanted to learn how to play the guitar. During his eight years of playing and studying, Bobby discovered his true love: Texas music. The supply of singer/songwriters in Texas grows every year, but Bobby has already made the connections and produced the materials he needs to break away from the crowd and make a big impact in a short time.
Since forming at "high school parties" in Wimberley, Texas Renegade broke into the Texas Music scene in 2004 with their debut album, 3am. The band's latest album, After Everything, hijacks Andy's insightful whispers and hums with uncomplicated mandolin and harmonica embellishments to create undeniably gorgeous and original music. With standout tracks like "Angel of the Moonlight" and "Still the One", look for Texas Renegade to be a major figure in the Texas Country landscape for years to come.
A native of Austin TX, Suzanna Choffel combines her poetic sensibilities and sweet smoky voice with funky urban rhythms to create a fresh and unique sound. She uses her guitar to create staccato rhythms underneath her dazzling soulful vocal melodies, all backed by a pulsing band with unique instrumentation. Her music has been described as "indie pop with urban beats", and "jazz-infused soul pop" with comparisons ranging from Feist to Nelly Furtado to Norah Jones to Erykah Badu.
East Texas native, Brandon Rhyder has been busier than ever this year. Since his fifth record, Every Night, came out in 2008, Brandon has grown more and more comfortable in his own skin as an artist and entertainer, he relishes the opportunity to grow day in and day out. This constant evolution is what keeps his fans coming on’s stock has continued to rise as a mainstay in the Texas music scene.
Jason Eady is a singer-songwriter whose music is a distillation of country, bluegrass, blues, gospel, folk and Southern rock, but in essence is roots all the way, with organic arrangements, genuine lyrics, and strong lead and harmony vocals, no matter what style of song he is writing.
Under ideal circumstances, any and all interviews with the Band of Heathens would only take place in a single room with all five Heathens present and accounted for. The in-jokes would fly fast and furious, with everyone riffing off of each other's tangents and freely hitching along on each other's trains of thought in the same way that the band's three songwriting frontmen swap verses and guitar solos over a solid but loose-limbed rhythmic bed of harmony laced, soulful roots rock. The end result would be a proper group portrait of the band as true-to-life as their 2006 debut, Live at Momo's , or last year's CD/DVD, Live at Antone's.
With a tight, seamless, and an acoustic sound that's uniquely theirs — a mix of gypsy swing, big band jazz and cross-genre Americana music, original songs and some clever covers — the startling six-piece Belleville Outfit of Austin belies the tender age of its members and its vast experience garnered swiftly after its union around Merlefest 2007 in Wilkesboro, N.C.
