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.
