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.
Tentative 2008 lineup below.
Schedule times subject to change.
Saturday
Owen Temple (2:00 VIP Hour)
From the fear of getting hurt that walks hand in hand with the rush of falling in love ("Accidentally Break My Heart") to the futility of running a corporate rat race that can't be won ("Move Around Money"), Owen Temple knows a thing or two about the little (and big) contradictions that make life interesting.
Listening to his latest album, Right Here and Now, you might conclude he's obsessed with the subject. And you'd be right. "What I'm really drawn to," the Kerrville-born, Dallas-based singer-songwriter explains, "are situations or thoughts or moments that have some drama or conflict to them. All those problems in relationships or life that don't seem to have a really easy answer and that sometimes seem contradictory with what the truth is. I like to find those cool little psychological states - those little pieces of personality and beauty - and try to communicate them through song." For more information, visit www.owentemple.com
Autumn (3:30)
Fresh-faced and dynamic singer-songwriter Autumn celebrates the release of her first video, the title track of her debut album, SUGARCANE. SUGARCANE, produced by Walt Wilkins and Tim Lorsch, features bright, sassy originals by Autumn, who graduated from The University of Texas with a degree in classical piano and is the on-air sidekick on Mix 94.7-FM's "JB and Sandy Show." Her album also includes covers of songs by Texas greats Patty Griffin and Bruce Robison.
Elise Tschoepe wrote in Texas Music Times that Autumn is "a master of her art. With her new CD, SUGARCANE, she proves her talent at combining many different genres all on one CD, yet maintains a unified sound. SUGARCANE is bluesy, soulful, and goes straight to the heart of her sound. In a genre of music where female artists usually don't get their fair share of the credit, Autumn's talent doesn't ask for your attention -- it demands it. ... Autumn Boukadakis exhibits a talent for songwriting and delivery which makes for an entertaining live show experience and a foundation for a very promising career. ..." For more information, visit www.autumnonline.com
Jason Eady Trio (5:00)
"I kept waiting for the song to stumble, to make a wrong turn, for me to lose interest. But as I was driving the streets of Santa Monica on the first sunny day in November, with my hands on the steering wheel, I remained hooked... This is akin to the stuff the Stones used to cut, back when they needed to go to Alabama to get it right." - Bob Lefsetz on "Back To Jackson"
"At a time when radio is almost completely littered with empty vessels, pop country and overplayed fossil rock, it is very encouraging to hear such inspired original music" - Best In Texas Magazine For more information, visit www.jasoneady.com
Walt Wilkins & The Mysterquiros (7:00)
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.
Onstage and in the studio, Wilkins is joined by Bill Small (bass, percussion, acoustic guitar), John M. Greenberg (electric guitars), Ramon Rodriguez (drums, percussion) and Marcus Eldridge (electric guitars). Live performances around Texas are being likened to both outlaw country and classic rock bands, and they’re captured on DIAMONDS IN THE SUN on Tex-centric label Palo Duro Records. For more information, visit www.waltwilkins.com
Sunday
Georgia Middleman (1:30)
Raised in San Antonio, Georgia Middleman studied theatre at NYU. After moving to Nashville to pursue songwriting, she eventually landed a staff writer position at PolyGram Music and a recording contract with Giant Records. Her album "Endless Possibilities" was released just as Giant's doors were being shuttered. Undaunted, Georgia continued to concentrate on her songwriting - both for herself and for other artists. Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Terri Clark, Joe Nichols, Tracy Lawrence, and others have recorded Georgia's songs.
A versatile and dynamic performer, the requests she receives for her songs led her to record and release her second album under her own independent label. Enlisting friend and co-writer Radney Foster as producer, Georgia's new CD "Unchanged" is raw and organic, and reflects her true personality and compelling live performances. For more information, visit www.georgiamiddleman.com
Texas Renegade (3:00)
Texas Renegade has been playing their own brand of Texas music since they were founded in April of 2002. Their unique mix of a harmonica and mandolin as the lead instruments give them a distinct and memorable sound.
The band consists of 5 talented musicians from the Central Texas area. Andy Bertelsen is the lead singer/ resident songwriter and plays both rhythm and lead electric guitars. Playing both electric and acoustic mandolin, acoustic guitar and singing harmony is Tyson Carver. Kasey Klepfer wails on the harmonica while Eli Carver and Matt Pigg make up the band’s rhythm section on bass and drums.
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. Texas Renegade also performs smaller acoustic shows that are just as entertaining. For more information, visit www.txrenegade.com
Patrice Pike (5:00)
Over the last ten years, she has been the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the Austin based Rock Band: Sister Seven. Patrice Pike has performed onstage with the likes of Dave Matthews, Sarah McLachlan, Natalie Merchant, and the Allman Brothers to name a few. She sang the National anthem to a worldwide audience for the JFK memorial in Dallas as well as for the homecoming celebration for Lance Armstrong after his first victory at the Tour de France. For the involved listener, this taught, turn-on-a-dime approach yields rich rewards. For more information, visit www.patricepike.com
Belleville Outfit (7:00)
With a seamless acoustic sound, a mix of gypsy swing, big band jazz, and cross-genre Americana roots music, the original songs and covers by the six-piece Belleville Outfit of Austin are so startling that they make listeners think band members are older than 20-something and surprise others with their swift and vast experience since coming together in April of 2007.
With a tour making stops everywhere from Colorado to the Carolinas, selling out shows throughout Texas and along the East Coast, the band's debut full-length album, WANDERIN', with producers John Rees and Bil VornDick has now been released. For more information, visit www.bellevilleoutfit.com
Monday
Band of Heathens (1:30)
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
Brandon Rhyder (3:00)
Brandon Rhyder turned down five music scholarships because he couldnt envision a career as a band director. It wasnt until after he graduated college with a degree in industrial technology that he picked up a guitar and realized he was destined to perform and even to direct bands. Just not the kind involving woodwinds and marching.
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
Josh Grider Trio (4:30)
Winner of the 2006 "Newcomer of the Year" Gruene With Envy Award, Josh's talents have already carried him further than many artists ever get to go, and he's not nearly done. With a new album on the not-so-distant horizon, 2007 promises to be a defining year in this young artist's life. Early on the songs were all about the teenage heartache and new dreams of a young man. With a quarter of the 50,000 plays on his MySpace account, Josh's song "Tragic Circumstance," has won the approval of both the online community and the crowds and for good reason.
He is a showman, a quick wit that stays a step ahead of the crowd who rushes to keep in time with the singer/songwriter that beckons to them gently and urges them to stay in the groove. Josh once told me, "There's a lot to say and lot to do and we've usually only got a couple of hours, so I want to be sure to do it right, every night." For more information, visit www.joshgrider.com
From the fear of getting hurt that walks hand in hand with the rush of falling in love ("Accidentally Break My Heart") to the futility of running a corporate rat race that can't be won ("Move Around Money"), Owen Temple knows a thing or two about the little (and big) contradictions that make life interesting.
Fresh-faced and dynamic singer-songwriter Autumn celebrates the release of her first video, the title track of her debut album, SUGARCANE.
"I kept waiting for the song to stumble, to make a wrong turn, for me to lose interest. But as I was driving the streets of Santa Monica on the first sunny day in November, with my hands on the steering wheel, I remained hooked... This is akin to the stuff the Stones used to cut, back when they needed to go to Alabama to get it right." - Bob Lefsetz on "Back To Jackson"
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.
Raised in San Antonio, Georgia Middleman studied theatre at NYU. After moving to Nashville to pursue songwriting, she eventually landed a staff writer position at PolyGram Music and a recording contract with Giant Records. Her album "Endless Possibilities" was released just as Giant's doors were being shuttered. Undaunted, Georgia continued to concentrate on her songwriting - both for herself and for other artists. Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Terri Clark, Joe Nichols, Tracy Lawrence, and others have recorded Georgia's songs.
Texas Renegade has been playing their own brand of Texas music since they were founded in April of 2002. Their unique mix of a harmonica and mandolin as the lead instruments give them a distinct and memorable sound.
Over the last ten years, she has been the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the Austin based Rock Band: Sister Seven. Patrice Pike has performed onstage with the likes of Dave Matthews, Sarah McLachlan, Natalie Merchant, and the Allman Brothers to name a few. She sang the National anthem to a worldwide audience for the JFK memorial in Dallas as well as for the homecoming celebration for Lance Armstrong after his first victory at the Tour de France.
With a seamless acoustic sound, a mix of gypsy swing, big band jazz, and cross-genre Americana roots music, the original songs and covers by the six-piece Belleville Outfit of Austin are so startling that they make listeners think band members are older than 20-something and surprise others with their swift and vast experience since coming together in April of 2007.
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.
Brandon Rhyder turned down five music scholarships because he couldnt envision a career as a band director. It wasnt until after he graduated college with a degree in industrial technology that he picked up a guitar and realized he was destined to perform and even to direct bands. Just not the kind involving woodwinds and marching.
Winner of the 2006 "Newcomer of the Year" Gruene With Envy Award, Josh's talents have already carried him further than many artists ever get to go, and he's not nearly done. With a new album on the not-so-distant horizon, 2007 promises to be a defining year in this young artist's life. Early on the songs were all about the teenage heartache and new dreams of a young man. With a quarter of the 50,000 plays on his MySpace account, Josh's song "Tragic Circumstance," has won the approval of both the online community and the crowds and for good reason.
