SXSW 2026: Los Juanos

 Luck Reunion band.  They're from San Antonio and this article states:

Launched during the pandemic, the band started as a nostalgia-embracing one-off collaboration between friends Baldemar Esquivel and Miguel Guzman. 

No longer a one-off, the band now has six members.  More:

And, the band’s sound?

Esquivel still calls it Tejano dream-pop, which is pretty spot-on in its own right, but the music also has a lo-fi, stoner, punk aspect at its core. Maybe it’s the lyrics, frequently embracing blissful abandon, maybe it’s the group’s restless energy and refusal to sit still — literally and figuratively.

 "Cien Novias" was their first single.

"Disco Y Salieri" is a nice mellow tune. It's the closest to dream-pop I found.

This is fun. 

SXSW 2026: Gail Swanson

 Luck Reunion artist.  She lives in Maui and is friends with the Nelson's. From this article:

The official music video for “My Mama Marched” features cameo appearances by Sheryl Crow and Willie Nelson, and was created by filmmakers Todd Soliday and Leah Warshawski of Inflatable Film. The project also included animation by Micah Nelson and creative collaboration from Swanson’s close friend Annie Nelson.

It was produced by Micah.

Below is the only video I found. 

I did find this song that is a duet with Willie: "The One that Got Away"

SXSW 2026: Frank Mastra

Luck Reunion artist.  There isn't much online written about him. I found an article from a college website with this:

Just three months into his senior year, SUNY Oneonta Music Industry major Franklin Mastrangelo has signed a multi-album record deal with Mercury Records.

Mastrangelo, of Orient, NY, shared with his hometown newspaper, The Suffolk Times, that he will release music under the name Frank Mastra and plans to relocate to Nashville to pursue his music career full time.

That article was in January (last month) so he probably hasn't even started recording yet.

I found the article from his hometown paper they reference. It said:  

In his first interview since landing the deal, the Greenport High School graduate — who will be releasing music under the name Frank Mastra — said Tuesday, Jan. 6, that he signed with the label on Nov. 15, 2025, just three days before his 21st birthday.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Universal Music Group, the parent company of Mercury Records, did not respond to a request for comment.

A multi-album major label deal and now he's playing Luck Reunion. I assume they're expecting big things. 

I see lots of TikTok clips but no original videos. He doesn't even have Spotify or Youtube pages yet.

Here is a clip from a cover of Leon Russell's "Song for You" on Instagram.

Here's Al Green's "Let's Stay Together". Soulful voice on piano. He has 35 posts on Instagram and 1,395 followers.  I'm sure that will change soon.

I found one video under his moniker Franklin Angelo. It was in 2019. He was 14 years old. Damn. What a voice.

SXSW 2026: Agalisiga 'Chuj' Mackey

 Luck Reunion artist.  Per this article:

Singer/songwriter Agalisiga Mackey, or "Chuj" as he's known, cuts quite the country figure. With his long hair tucked under a wide-brimmed hat, he's strumming through three chords and the truth, voice cresting in a delicate yodel, as he covers Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." But there's a catch: Mackey's singing in Cherokee.

Mackey, from Oklahoma, is the only artist writing and performing country music in the ancient Cherokee language, which is so endangered that only 2,000 native speakers remain. 

The article is a good rundown of the loss of native Cherokee speakers and how he is trying to keep the language alive. He teaches it to children when not performing.

"Tsitsutsa Tsigesv" was submitted for NPR Tiny Desk Contest last year. I like his yodeling.

"Usvdona Itlugv (The Hollow Tree)" is his submission to the contest this year.  I like the "No Flute Zone" sign behind the stage.

This is good, too.

SXSW 2026: Deloyd Elze

 Luck Reunion artist. According to this bio:

Deloyd Elze, aka Jacob Henry Allen, is a genre-blending artist and poet from Jacksonville, Florida, whose music fuses traditional American songwriting with experimental and electronic textures...Now based in Los Angeles, he’s creating music that speaks to life’s many layers, drawing from his family’s history and his own journey of self-discovery and survival.

His moniker was his great-grandfather's name. He tells a good story about his great-grandfather meeting his wife here. The kicker:

They ended up staying at the same hotel, if by chance or design is still unclear. From what my family told me he apparently payed the bellhop to ride up and down the elevator all day until she finally got on. The bellhop asked for her name and then told her “Virginia, this is Deloyd. Y’all two have now been properly introduced”.

 They got married three days later and ended up having seven kids, one of which was my grandmother.

It's quite a story. Worth a read.

"Rite of Passage" reminds me of Bon Iver. 

It looks like he has just released an EP and a few singles. His new EP comes out March 6th.

This is with another Luck artist, Angela Autumn.