SXSW 2023: Black Opry Revue

Time to cover the Revival Stage at Luck Reunion.  This was my favorite stage last year. The first show is from the Black Opry Revue and showcases four singer-songwriters.  I assume it will be a song swap style.  The Black Opry Review played 3Ten last March and it included 3 of the 4 artists on this bill. The first artist, Sug Daniels, was not on that bill. She was the first artist I profiled to kick off this year's SXSW previews.  I liked what I heard and I guess so did Luck Reunion.

The second artist is Aaron Vance,  Here's a video where he talks about himself, the Black Opry, and includes a performance of his song "Cabin Fever".  Here's a bio on his background. No Depression says:

When Vance puts the party on hold in “Five Bucks Says,” we’re confronted by the undeniable fact that Vance is one of the best songwriters in Nashville right now. 

"Five Bucks Says" is below.

 

The next artist is Nikki Morgan.  This site has a good bio:

As the daughter of a minister and kin to a lot of church folk Nikki grew up listening to traditional gospel/christian music and spent much of her grade school days involved in school band playing clarinet and oboe. But, despite her early exposure to music, it wasn’t until the tender age of 28 when she finally began to start making music of her own. 

Nikki was born and raised in North Carolina but Chicago is where she found her first home as a performer and songwriter. 

She just released a new song: "24 Hours".  It's good. Worth a listen.

Here's her submission to NPRs Tiny Desk contest.

 

The fourth artist is Nicky Diamonds. According to this site: "Nicky Diamonds is the new country project from Nick Long of Lonely Horse." Lonely Horse is a rock duo out of San Antonio. He picked a strange name for his side project as a google search brings up a skateboard and streetwear designer.  Searching Nick Long brought up this article that says:

Beyond the high energy of Lonely Horse, Nick Long also performs solo under the name We're Brothers We're Brothers. On his three-dollar twelve-string guitar, Long sang his heart out in the TPR studio [video below]. As an Air Force kid who moved around for much of his younger years, Long grew up listening to Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly, and watching black and white movies with his grandparents.

Speaking of Woody Guthrie, as Nicky Diamonds he has played shows with Folk Uke (Amy Nelson and Cathy Guthrie).

Here is an interview with him.  He mentions his father was a preacher. Three of these artists were children of preachers. Interesting.

This is what I found of him performing as Nicky Diamonds.