OP here..Since some are posting about seeing lesser know musicians and acts, this is OT, but is an interesting article from Texas Monthly magazine about being a musician in Austin.
Eight things we've learned about the Austin music scene
here's the opening paragraphs:
Being an Austin musician carries cachet well outside of the city’s borders. In years past, kids with a guitar and a dream have come to the capital from all over—from West Texas, or the Valley, or Fayetteville, Arkansas. Maybe they saw the abundant venues and enthusiastic audiences during a spring-break trip to SXSW and wanted that to be their life. Or perhaps a musically inclined buddy beckoned them to the big city. But the reality of the much romanticized lifestyle—and whether its economically feasible for most folks—has been difficult to assess since there’s so little hard data.
To that end, the City of Austin Music Office commissioned the Titan Music Group to conduct a survey of the stakeholders in the Austin music industry. They spoke to nearly 4,000 musicians, venue owners and managers, sound engineers, and more to learn what the current reality is like for those in the music industry. The numbers are often depressing—the money in Austin music is garbage, y’all—but also illuminating. Here are eight things we learned after poring through the 228-page document.
Living in Austin the past 5 years I have met many who came here to be musicians but ended up as nurses, carpenters, etc. it is not a way to make a living. This is true in music in any city. Only a few really make it big and the money is made on touring. The recording industry is shot with all the free online music.
I guess I am an old curmudgeon!! I'm not excited by a lot of the young Austin musicians - many sound alike to me and some, like everywhere, are just not very good. Not a big outdoor venue fan because of mosquitoes.
However going to some free or cheaper concerts here we have discovered some local gems and we support them when they play in town: The Carper Family, Jeff Lofton (one of the best jazz musicians ever), Oliver Rajamani. Maybe someday they will make it big. Also just walking along in Myrtle Beach there was a free concert by the Delta Saints and these guys are channeling old blues/rock music. They are great.
I have been to ACL and the Moody Theatre a few times, seen Return to Forever and Zappa on Zappa and a few other headliners there. There is excellent local classical music and a thriving early music scene in Austin and it doesn't break the bank to go to a concert.
Before leaving NYC my friend invited me to Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden for free! Nice to do that once.
I admit I am spoiled. In my youth I saw Janis Joplin, The Doors, Santana, Cream, Laura Nyro, etc., went to Woodstock, hung out at the Fillmore East which was in the neighborhood of my undergrad and grad school, NYU. Those memories have lasted a lifetime.
So this reminds me, I should look at who is playing here in Austin this summer.
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