Continental Club, Monday 31
Drummer Scott Laningham s distinctive touch fused effortless swing, versatility, and a recognizable tone. He contributed to the mix the way a great soundtrack enhances a film: with enough presence to bolster the action rather than distract from or overwhelm it. His effortless rapport made him a beloved figure in Austin s jazz scene and a valued session drummer.
The Dallas native toured with Christopher Cross, Alejandro Escovedo, and Kat Edmonson, played in bands Freedonia and TresMusicos, recorded the Dr. Demento-approved 1991 comedy album
Moose in My House, and hosted the podcast
SLRadio. At the time of his passing on May 8, Laningham maintained a stream of digital singles featuring his vocal and multi-instrumental talents. His sudden death at 61 due to heart issues leaves a hole in our homegrown music community.
The Marfa Tapes
Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify
For all the mythos of Marfa as hipster cowboy art colony, what the tiny West Texas destination offers is solitude, and a reset. That certainly draws songwriting partners Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram, and Jon Randall, who retreat to the town repeatedly for inspiration and produce mega-hits like Lambert s Tin Man.
The Marfa Tapes offers something altogether different from the Texas triumvirate.
Reflective of the creative spark before the studio polish, each artist finds themselves. Lambert s superstar status doesn t distract from the calm twilight of the recordings, but rather reinforces her own grounded songwriting talent, while Ingram continues to mature beyond his Lone Star country roots with poignancy. Randall, best known as a guitarist (Emmylou Harris) and producer (Dwight Yoakam, Dierks Bentley), revels in the stripped-down acoustic camaraderie.
In 2017, Sarah Jarosz became the second recipient of the FreshGrass Composition Commission, a grant to compose a long-form piece of music for an ensemble that includes elements of traditional string band instrumentation. Guitar whisperer Bill Frisell preceded the Wimberley native, while Rhiannon Giddens and the Kronos Quartet followed. As she began to write, her mother battled breast cancer in the wake of Hurricane Harvey having ravaged the Texas coast and decimating Port Aransas, a summer mecca for the family.
When Jarosz premiered
Blue Heron Suite at FreshGrass that fall, avant-roots traditionalists heralded the work. The then-23-year-old entered the Central Texas scene as a prodigy – singer, mandolinist, clawhammer banjo picker – and by now counts four Grammy Awards and nine nominations.
Extract the first record from this month s double vinyl reissue of Shakey Graves first album, 2011 s
Roll the Bones, and if you re holding it at waist level before slipping it onto the turntable, the disc appears black as oil. Hoist it up to eye level to gauge the A-side from the B-side, however, and smoky gold veins streak through the petroleum produce. Hidden color wax, that s a new one.
In fact, every single facet of
Roll the Bones X, subtitled 2011-2021 Ten-Year Special Edition, reveals boutique touches.
Released to Bandcamp on January 1, 2011, by ATX native Alejandro Rose-Garcia, the full-length runway to major indie releases