South by Southwest...gotta love Austin

As stated in the earlier post, Derek and I drove to Austin to spend the night there and hang out and try and catch some of the free concerts that the city was offering in conjunction with South by Southwest (SXSW). The weather was gorgeous and we probably would have had just as much fun just watching the people. It was great to see the variety...Derek felt like he needed a beard to fit in and I felt like I needed to either be wearing legginings or boots to fit in. But the range of people were great. I think that we would live there if we could....I think we could even get past the whole UT thing. :) Here's a short breakdown of who we saw:

Justin Townes Earle - a bit of Johnny Cash with a little more twang and not so deep of a voice or issues. Had a great sidekick who played a mean harmonica, banjo and mandolin.

We saw him at this great independent record store called Waterloo Records. We really liked the store, had a great vibe and lots of cool music. Check out their website if you get a chance.



At the free concert we went to that night, we saw Cold War Kids and M Ward. It would have been nice to have brought Joshua there because it was in a big open space with lots of grass and other kids.

Cold War Kids- Fun to listen to...rock with some deeper lyrics thrown in there.

M Ward- did an album with Zooey Deschanel (I can only remember her in Elf) and that was a great album. He is pretty mellow in general, but he can really rock too. He does a great slow cover of Buddy Holly's "Rave". A definite recommend to listen to.

Last one we saw, we went back to Waterloo the next day and it was this guy called

Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears - so much fun! It's this skinny black guy who plays a mean electric guitar and his backing band...redhead with a beard on keys, bass and trumpet and saxophone. He was a lot like James Brown, 70s soul and R&B style music, but made a little more modern. Put on a great show!

Finally, we saw a movie that was showing at the festival. Only one that wasn't free, but it was a great romantic comedy/drama. Hopefully it comes out to more screens, but won't bank on that. It's called "Breaking Upwards" and here's a preview: