Here are all the previews from Friday through Sunday in order of appearance. This should make it easier to review each band before they go on stage. Click the name to see the preview. To see the spreadsheet in full-page click here.
Here is a playlist from Youtube of all the bands in order as well.
Sunday at 7:30pm. Three artists on at this time. First-choice is Jon Batiste. DJ/Singer Madeon (originally from France but now in L.A.) is also playing. We won't see him but I did like the song and video for "Shelter". Apocalyptic and a little sad but a good song.
Here's the last preview of the year: Tierra Whack is her real name. She's from Philadelphia but spent some time at school in Atlanta. She has worked with Tyler, the Creator so maybe she'll join him for his headlining performance.
Rap/R&B. I'll share two videos. The first, "Unemployed", is a surreal trip. It reminds me of "Eraserhead".
This song is more melodic but the video is still pretty out there.
Sunday at 6:30pm in the Tito's tent. Eric Webb from Austin360 says:
America’s favorite country/surf rock/drag artist. I cannot imagine that the tent stage will contain the fans of Trixie Mattel, the rare “RuPaul’s Drag Race” contestant whose music is actually, like, good.
It's the stage name of Brian Firkus who is from Milwaukee and according to Wikipedia: "In June 2019, she appeared on New York magazine's list of "the most powerful drag queens in America", ranking fourth."
Watch these videos. Not at all what I expected. First, "Mama Don't Make Me Put On The Dress Again". Next "Break Your Heart". Both of those are as Brian Firkus. This one is as Trixie Mattel.
I think this is my first choice. Should be fun.
Sunday at 6:30pm. I skipped the 5:30 pm slot. It has David Ramirez in the BMI stage who we'll definitely go see. The other options at that time are a British techno DJ (Chris Lake), a Compton, CA DJ/Singer (Chanel Tres), and, for variety in this time-slot, ANOTHER DJ. WTF. This one is from Dallas but is now in NYC (Marc Rebillet). Thank you ACL for all those options.
6:30 isn't much better. There's retro rock Led Zeppelin band Greta Van Fleet plus two others. I'll cover this one first as her video has the most views of any artist I've previewed this year. 1.2 BILLION views.
Carolina Giraldo Navarro is from Medellin, Columbia.
This song was certified 28x platinum. Wow. It also features Nicki Minaj. "Mi Cama" is another hit but it only has 730M views.
Sunday at 4:30pm in the Tito's tent. This video for "Soltera" has 747M views yet ACL puts him in the tent. 747 million views!
Lunay is the moniker of 20 year-old Jefnier Osorio Moreno from Puerto Rico. According to Wikipedia:
"On his musical style, Lunay has commented that his songs do not encourage violence or denigrate women. In an interview he gave to the top 40, he said: "Not necessarily, even if I am in this world of urban music, [do] I have to be fostering violence, which is against God's purpose. I just do what I like and I know the relationship I have with Him."
This is pretty good.
Sunday at 4:30pm. Band of Horses is on at this time but we've seen them a few times. The other two choices are rappers. First is Chicago-born 22 year-old Taurus Tremani Bartlett.
More melodic, slow beats rap. "Pop Out" was one of his first hits. It has over 267M views. Damn.
This is his newest single. The lyrics are good. Some melancholy and self-reflection adjusting to overnight success.
Sunday at 3:30pm. Mellow R&B/rap from 20 year-old Nau'Jour Grainger. He's originally from Syracuse, NY but grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina.
A good low key song is "heartbreak anniversary". "Poetic Pain" is also pretty good. He likes singing about getting p***y. This is his platinum selling hit:
Sunday at 3:30pm. Country music from California-raised singer-songwriter Camaron Marvel Ochs. She has a colorful history from living for a time in the Netherlands and Nepal to doing lab research at Stanford before deciding to devote herself to making music.
She has moved around different labels but is now on Thirty Tigers (Colter Wall, Charley Crockett).
"Burning House" is her big hit. Below is one of her newest songs. Pretty standard country sound but I like it.
Sunday at 3:30. According to NPR, "Superfónicos is Colombian Funk. Better yet, it is Caríbe Soul…fed by the Indigenous and African roots of the band’s Colombian heritage."
Their album was produced by Adrian Quesada. Austin-based, they received a $20,000 grant from Black Fret in 2019.
This looks to be their only music video.
Sunday at 3:30pm. Four bands on at this time. I've previewed this artist before for SXSW 2019. Since then he self-released his first album and has gotten the NYTimes treatment. One factoid from the article: "A classically trained flutist and saxophonist, he has collaborated with John Legend and John Mayer." It says he's still unsigned to a label.
I previewed "Cold War" for SXSW. It's his big hit.
Here's a new song.
Sunday at 3:15 in the Tito's tent. I'll let Wikipedia cover it:
Anthony Clemons Jr. (born September 26, 1991) is an American singer-songwriter. Clemons rose to prominence as a guest artist on American rapper Kanye West's 2018 single "All Mine". Clemons has since worked with a multitude of artists, including West, Ty Dolla Sign, Beyoncé, Camila Cabello, Justin Timberlake, the Sunday Service Choir and more. Clemons released his debut EP Happy 2 Be Here in March 2020, featuring Ty Dolla Sign, Timbaland, and Pharrell Williams. The project received a nomination at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards for Best R&B Album.
This Rolling Stone article titled "Ant Clemons Went From Sleeping on Floors to Singing With Kanye West" goes into more detail about his collaborations and how they came about.
Mellow R&B. I like it.
Sunday at 2:30pm. Two options at this time. The first is Bay Area hip-hop collective AG Club ("Memphis" is their hit). The other is this Canadian 18 year-old. Wikipedia says:
McRae has been described as "the teen dance star turned future pop idol" by i-D, "the new teen queen" by Notion, "Canada's answer to Billie Eilish" by Elle, and "one of pop’s bright young hopes" by The Independent...Additionally, McRae has received considerable acclaim as a dancer, and has been praised by artist, dancer and choreographer Paula Abdul who declared her a "gift from God"
This song has 115M views. She does sound a lot like Billie Eilish.
Sunday at 2:15 in the Tito's tent. Per her website:
Shiela is an indie-r&b singer-songwriter from Austin, Texas who draws on Mexican and Nicaraguan roots to make people dance. Her Spanish and English lyrics intertwine to soulfully paint the tensions and emotions of growing up.
That's a pretty good summary. I couldn't find anything else out there. This is from her album:
Sunday at 1:45. This is the moniker of Cleveland-born Kenneth La'ron. According to Wikipedia, "La'ron's music has been categorised as indie rock, and pop punk, often incorporating elements of new wave and dance-punk."
This article compares him to Bloc Party. His song "hollywood sucks" sounds like Green Day. "Plastic Door" is more lo-fi. The song below has some U2, Alarm, Echo...very British sounding. Kind of all over the place. He acknowledges that in this interview:
“I wanted to make an introduction to myself,” he says of the debut collection. “I’m sure I’m all over the place and people won’t understand it for a long time, but it’s an introduction to my world. It makes me able to manoeuvre like that in the future. I wanted to set that foreground. Did that make any sense? Sorry.”
Sunday at 1:45pm. This is a rapper from Israel. I listened to her music (see "End of the Road") and it doesn't do much for me. Electronica and pop with rap. Then I stumbled on the video below which was released yesterday. It's from her next album that comes out in November called "Kids (Against The Machine)". According to this article, the album "mirrors her highly acclaimed second LP with each track recreated as bold non-electronic big band productions."
Similar to Sturgill Simpson with his bluegrass albums, she has taken her electronic songs and stripped them back. I like it. Not sure if she'll play that style the whole show, though.
Sunday at 1:45 on the BMI stage. This band is led by Atlanta based Mattiel Brown. NPR likes her, saying"
"There's something delightfully unique about Mattiel's music. A pinch of garage rock, a touch of psychedelia, some galloping honky-tonk and at the lead, Mattiel Brown's powerful and assertive vocals."
She is also championed by Jack White, who took her on tour with him.
Her new album was released by ATO Records (Black Pumas, Brittany Howard, My Morning Jacket).
I like this, too. Very retro sound, especially on "Those Words". The beginning has a New Order feel. Here's another:
Sunday at 1:45pm. 4 bands on at this time. Once again I don't recognize any of them. We'll start with Amber Mark. According to Wikipedia:
"Amber Mark was born on December 29, 1993 on a farm in Tennessee to a Jamaican father and a German mother whose name was Mia. The family lived in Miami, New York and eventually moved to a Darjeeling monastery in India so that her mother could learn thangka painting. After spending a few years there, they moved back to her mother's home country.[3] Mia died on 3 June 2013 at the age of 60."
Wow. According to this Pitchfork interview, since high school she has been living in the West Village above the restaurant owned by her godparents. She took up playing music and now, at 27, has released a few EPs, an online album, and lots of singles. It looks like her proper debut album is coming out soon according to Stereogum.
She sounds a lot like Sade. She's even covered her song "Love is Stranger than Pride". According to the comments it was featured in an episode of "Insecure".
Here's her newest single. I haven't researched the other artists on at this time but she is going to be tough to top.
Sunday at 1pm. Breakout alert. This is a 16 year-old from Alabama signed to Columbia Records. Her voice is compared to Amy Winehouse.
"When I'm Not Around" is good but I really like this song. We should probably check this out.
Sunday at 1pm in the Tito's tent. This is another first. I can't find any music on this guy. What I did find is that he's the grandson of Terry Allen. He has opened for Jon Dee Graham at the Continental Club and has played C-Boys with Heartless Bastards. Other than that, nothing. No bandcamp, no youtube, no soundcloud, no website. He's also played Sam's Town Point. I assume that means he leans country.
Must be nice to get booked to play both weekends of ACL with absolutely no catalog. Talk about being born on 3rd base.
Sunday at 1pm. Three acts on at this time. None of which I recognize. First is a 20 year-old singer-songwriter from Chicago. American Songwriter says their music is "in the same conversation with the likes of Frank Ocean, Solange Knowles and Janelle Monae." It also says "Somewhere between the bleeding edge of modern R&B and the anti-establishment spirit of classic indie pop exists the music of Serena Isioma."
This article titled "Serena Isioma Is the Nonbinary Rockstar Shaking Up Bedroom Pop" says their influence is fellow Chicago rapper Tyler, the Creator.
Nice sound.
Sunday at noon. This is the band I'm most excited about. I really love this album. This review says it better than I could:
"What exists in BLK ODYSSY's stunning debut album BLK VINTAGE is the type of sound that is beautifully uncomfortable....BLK ODYSSY exists somewhere between the topical and liberating abstract jazz-funk of Fela Kuti, the smoky and distinct introspection of Kendrick Lamar, and the billowing neo-soul of D'Angelo. What emerges is one of the most inspired and important projects of the year, and undoubtedly the birth of a new and luminous star for modern funk music. "
The Statesman review calls it "one of the best albums of the year, in Austin or anywhere."
Some things I learned:
Sam Houston now lives in Austin but he is from Plainfield, NJ. Funk legends George Clinton and Parliament are also from Plainfield. He says to NPR: “All the musicians that I grew up with are relatives of Parliament members. We grew up in that culture, it inspires who we are,”
His brother was, according the the article, "killed at the hands of police officers". Not sure why they worded it that way. It influences his music and his activism. The last song on the album, "Drinking Good" is about it.
He started out as an Americana artist but this album is a major shift. I'm not sure what they will perform live.
Hard to pick one song to single out. The album is better as a whole. Here's a sample:
Sunday at noon. All three local bands on at this time were Black Fret recipients last year. Zach Person was in Houston before moving to Austin. A Houston paper compares him to Lenny Kravitz.
One thing I learned: he appeared on "American Idol" in 2016 before he moved to Austin.
Peter Blackstock calls his album "an impressive and ambitious record that blends rock, blues, funk, soul and more with energy to burn."
We haven't seen him before but he was supposed to open for Sir Woman at the postponed Blues on the Green.
Anything I missed? Here's his first video:
Sunday at noon. I don't usually preview bands we know but I'm going to do it today with the three local bands on at this time. Reading up on them I usually learn something new. For example, I knew that the two main members met while at UT but I didn't know the original band included JaRon Marshall, the Black Pumas keyboardist along with Dayglow's now drummer Brady Knippa. Also, Adrian Quesada mixed and engineered their album.
We saw them open for Black Pumas at Mohawk but we arrived late and only saw their last few songs. I like their sound. Their album is really good. "Always on my Mind" is getting regular rotation on KUTX. So is this song:
Sunday at noon. There are four artists on at this time: 3 local Austin bands and this17 year-old from Seattle/LA. It's the moniker of Payton Clark. She has released a few singles, a couple mix tapes and one EP. She's apparently big on TikTok.
This is the best song I heard.
Saturday at 8:20pm. This is a first. I've never had to preview a headliner. Not only that, I didn't recognize two of the bands playing at 7:20pm, either. This isn't our ACL anymore.
7:20 has rapper Jack Harlow ("What's Poppin" is one of his hits), Australian DJ/Producer/Singer Alison Wonderland (techno. Here's "I Want You"), and Dayglow. Dayglow obviously.
This band is opposite Billie Eilish. It's a trio out of Australia. I guess they're pretty successful.
This song is not bad. They're in the electronic dance genre so not sure how their shows will be. They play the Honda stage so we could check out a little before we head out.
Saturday at 6:30pm in the Tito's tent. Our other options at this time are Modest Mouse (your "favorite") and Doja Cat (we watched her performance at the Grammys). Neither really do much for me. Let's see who else is playing...
I googled The Hu and it only came up with some folk rock/heavy metal band from Mongolia. That couldn't be it, right?. I found their website and sure enough they're playing ACL. So I went to their wikipedia page and this is the description:
"With traditional Mongolian instrumentation, including the Morin khuur, the Tovshuur, and Mongolian throat singing,[2][3] the band calls their style of music "hunnu rock", hu inspired by the Hunnu, an ancient Mongol/Turkic empire, known as Xiongnu in China. Some of the band's lyrics include old Mongolian war cries and poetry'
Then I found the video below. This song and this video KICK ASS. Then I checked out "The Great Chinggis Khaan". Holy shit.
I don't know about you but I want to see this show. They also play week one so I'm sure there will be lots of buzz going into week two. It's in the tent so that's going be crazy.
Saturday at 5:20pm. Our final choice at this time is this 39 year-old rapper from Gary, Indiana. He's very prolific with albums, singles, mixtapes, and collaborations. Not really my thing, though. This was his biggest selling song, released in 2015. It's a collaboration with A$AP Ferg and Young Thug.
I think Raiche is my first choice.
Saturday at 5:20pm on the BMI stage. R&B from Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Nice sound. Her full name is Raiche Othel Wright but she just goes by Raiche. She's signed to Atlantic Records. This site compares her to Billie Holiday and Sade. Damn. Not sure I hear that.
She hasn't released an album yet. Just an EP and some singles. "Funeral" is good but this looks to be her main single. The video starts with a verse from "Funeral" then segues into "Pick a Side":
Saturday at 5:20pm. The 4:20pm slot has David Letterman's favorite group Future Islands and Phoebe Bridgers. I wish they put one of those in the 5:20 slot as our choices are Missio (not my cup of tea) and 3 bands I don't recognize. Let's see what we've got...
First is a rapper from Rhode Island. He has been releasing singles on Spotify since 2016 but blew up with "Roxanne". He followed in the footsteps of another viral breakout star, Lil Nas X, and signed with Columbia Records.
This has 152M views on Youtube. I guess that gets you a plum ACL timeslot.
Saturday at 4:15pm in the Tito's tent. This is the moniker of 25 year-old Danielle Balbuena from New Jersey. The 070 refers to the New Jersey zip codes. She's part of a collaborative of artists called the 070.
She has collaborated with Kanye West and DJ Khaled and is signed to West's GHOST label. Rolling Stone calls her album a "dizzyingly genreless debut album".
She's getting some exposure: apparently "Morrow" has been in TV shows and video games.
This video has 6.1M views. Curious why they put her in the tent.
Saturday at 3:20. Danceable pop. She's originally from Palo Alto but is now in L.A after graduating from USC. She has released a few EPs but her first album just came out. Most of the other songs were not really my style ("Liquor Store" is an example) but in this interview she mentions this song as the biggest high from her career so far:
“Liz,” because it’s a song that has such a different sound, production-wise, than all my other songs and I’m really singing my ass off. And for some reason, I was really, really scared to release it. I was, “Oh, my God, people are going to hate this. People are going to be so confused.” But I think the fact that it just got so much overwhelming, positive feedback gave me a lot of confidence going forward. I’m like, “Okay, well, I should just probably be fucking belting my ass off all the time.” The reaction to that song was really special."
I like it.
Saturday at 3:20pm. This slot has White Reaper (who I like but you didn't) and Charley Crockett (obviously first choice) plus two other artists. First up is a 20 year-old Madrid-born Cuban-Spanish singer-songwriter now living in Miami. Apparently she has quite a following on Instagram according to this article. She cites Rosalía as an influence.
Strange for ACL to have two Spanish singing females overlapping each other. They couldn't space them out?
Saturday at 3pm in the Tito's tent. This is the moniker of San Francisco-raised Cecilia Cassandra Peña-Govea. Here's an interview with her on NPR but the relevant quote is:
"Growing up, my father played in a salsa band and it boasted members from Nicaragua, from Puerto Rico, from Mexico. That kind of represents to me what the Latinx community in San Francisco looks like. It's not just super Chicano-based and all about Mexico. There's such a diversity within the Latino community that you don't necessarily see in the rest of California. I think that overwhelming mezcla or such a richness of influences shaped me and definitely shaped my musical practice. And you can see that through the music I do as La Doña."
She was also profiled in the NY Times for "19 Songs that Matter Right Now". "Quién Me La Paga" was picked #1.
I like this song better. I like the video, too.
Saturday at 2:20pm. This is the moniker of 22 year-old Norwegian Marie Ulven Ringheim. Bedroom pop. She's on the same stage at Holly Humberton, Phoebe Bridgers, and Billie Eilish. ACL usually splits similar artists up so fans of one genre end up walking from one end of Zilker to the other all day but this time they've placed them all on the same stage.
I wouldn't mind sampling Surfaces and LP Giobbi but I think I'd like to see most of this set. Here is her concert from KEXP
Here are two songs. Both went Gold. The first is my favorite. It's really good.
Saturday at 2pm in the Tito's tent. I usually skip over the DJ/Producers since it's not our thing but this was an interesting story. First, it's a female in a male-dominated genre: Oregon-born Leah Chisholm. Second, she actually has a background in music: she studied jazz piano at UC Berkeley. Third, she now lives in Austin.
Here are a couple articles about her. The first one says: "An ardent feminist and an advocate for gender equality, LP Giobbi is also the founder of FEMME HOUSE, an educational platform and 501(c)(3), created to address the lack of representation and equity in electronic music by empowering women and non-binary people in the technical areas of music. " The second one is an interview with her about her music and business endeavors.
Pretty cool individual.
Saturday at 2:20pm. Another band I don't know that seems to be blowing up. Their song "Sunday Best" has 110M views on Youtube and over 690M streams on Spotify. It was a hit all over the world. Not bad for two kids from Texas: one attended (still attending?) Texas A&M and the other a graduate of Baylor.
Their style has been called jazzy pop. Here's an article on them.
Here's their collaboration with Elton John. Did I mention they are blowing up?
Saturday at 1:35pm. Well this is interesting. This is the co-founder, drummer, and singer from Durand Jones and the Indications. I remember seeing them at Blackheart during SXSW in 2018 and recall he sang almost as many songs as Durand Jones. I thought it was weird that a band named after Durand Jones had songs where he wasn't front-and-center. I guess they did too as Aaron Frazer left the band and has gone solo.
His album was produced by Dan Auerbach. He's been covered by NPR, KCRW, and KEXP.
BTW, Durand Jones and the Indications play ACL Friday at 3:45pm. Wonder if the breakup was amicable.
This is probably my first choice. I like this song:
Saturday at 1:35pm. Indie pop from Nashville. They are opening for Dayglow on the current tour and happen to be on the same stage (VRBO) that Dayglow plays later in the day (7:20pm). Crazy that Dayglow played an early set at the small BMI stage last ACL and is now headlining.
This is a pretty good song. Very much in the Dayglow style.
Saturday at 1:35pm. Another young female singer-songwriter. She's 18 and grew up in Tribeca, NYC. Her parents are photographers. Her mother is from Iceland and her father is from Israel. She's signed to Island Records.
Her influences are Beyonce, Amy Winehouse, Alicia Keys, and Lorde.
She's signed to Island Records. She had a viral hit with "Peppa Pig" last year. I like this line from it:
"I'm like H-I-J-K-M-N-O-P, I don't take no L's
You know I'm a MacBook Pro and y'all a bunch of fucking Dells"
This is her new single.
Saturday at 1:35pm. Four bands at this time. First is the daughter of mega-producer/director J.J Abrams. She's still in college and has released an EP along with a few singles yet she's already appeared on The Tonight Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live. She's signed to Interscope Records. Must be nice.
She cites Phoebe Bridgers, Lorde, and Taylor Swift as influences.
This song has almost 19M views.
Saturday at 1pm at the Tito's tent. We've talked about seeing these guys before but haven't been lucky yet. Maybe this time? It's the project of Heartless Bastards bassist Jesse Ebaugh. I listened to the album when it came out last year and like it. He's got quite a few guest appearances on the new album, including Patty Griffin and Robert Ellis. Ellis is in this video along with Erika Wennerstrom and probably a few others I don't immediately recognize.
Saturday at 12:50pm. This British artist cites Phoebe Bridgers as an influence. She's signed to Interscope Records. Major label backing there. Her 2nd EP is coming out in November. Her videos have millions of views so she's already getting exposure. She's playing the Lady Bird stage which is where Billie Eilish and Phoebe Bridgers are playing. Good for all the Eilish fans that arrive early to stake out the front row.
She did a cover of "Fake Plastic Trees" that I think I've heard on KUTX a few times. "Vanilla" is good.
Here's one of her originals.
Saturday at 12:50. Three choices at this time. First up is a singer-songwriter that had a viral hit on TikTok with this song. Frances Garrett is from Baltimore but is attending college in Massachusetts. According to Wikipedia Garrett is pansexual and nonbinary and goes by the singular they pronouns.
This song is about an earth girl that loves a space girl. Nice bedroom pop sound. They are signed to Mom+Pop Records (Courtney Barnett, Hinds, Lucius, Bayonne). Good company.
Saturday at 12:05. ACL has really skimped on promotion this year. Typically their website has links to all the artists with bios and a video but this year the schedule is just a jpeg image. In order to discover an artist you have to type into google and search. There is a band at 12:05 called Gigi but a google search turns up a Canadian band and an Indonesian band under that name. It looks like the Indonesian band has put out something more recently so maybe that is who will be here. It's a rock sound. Here's their recent video called "My Facebook."
The other option is a Detroit-born but now Austin-based hip hop artist. It looks like he may be a Black Fret artist. This song is pretty good.
My choice if we don't go to Jade Bird is to see WixtheMC at this time.
Saturday at 12:05pm. Lots of choices at this time. Jade Bird is in this slot but we've seen her quite a bit and she's also playing Old Settler's so we could venture around and check out something new. Let's see what is available.
First up is a pop/rap artist born in Cape Town, South Africa, raised in Germany but now living in Toronto. None of the articles about him mention his real name. Mysterious. He's in his early 20s and has only released an EP. He doesn't even have a Wikipedia page yet.
Nice sound. Reminds me of Michael Franti and Spearhead.
Friday at 7pm. I guess it shows how out of touch I am when I'm still previewing bands I don't recognize in the prime headlining spots. At 6pm is a DJ that goes by Lane 8 who is playing the Tito's tent. Mellow electronic music that reminds me of William Orbit. He's playing opposite Black Pumas and Megan Thee Stallion, though.
Jon Pardi is a mainstream country artist that attempts to adhere to more traditional country sounds. Here is a review of his recent album. It still sounds pretty mainstream to me. Lots of songs about drinking. A good warmup for George Strait, though.
He plays opposite Erykah Badu. Also playing is Dermot Kennedy who is an Irish singer that apparently is pretty popular. Rock ballads. Probably gets played on KGSR/ACL Radio. Not my cup of tea. If you want to sample "Giants" is one of his hits.
