SXSW: Americana Austin
Dan DeLuca : With all the indie-rock overtaking the town at SXSW, it's easy to lose track of Austin's once defining identity as the capitol of cosmic country, the home of the still live annd kicking Willie Nelson and the long gone Armadillo World Headquarters.
With all the indie-rock overtaking the town at SXSW, it's easy to lose track of Austin's once defining identity as the capitol of cosmic country, the home of the still live annd kicking Willie Nelson and the long gone Armadillo World Headquarters.
The big name on the Americana bill on Thursday was the Courtyard Hounds. Who's that, you ask? It's the side project sister act of Dixie Chicks Emily Robison and Martie Maguire, whose self titled debut album is due in May. "We are so happy to be debuting at SXSW in Austin," said Robison, who lives down I-35 in San Antonio. "Right in our backyard." (Maguire, who lives in Austin, got in a dig at her sister: "You know those bumper stickers that say 'Keep Austin Weird'? In San Antonio they say 'Keep San Antonio Lame'.")
Without Natalie Maines out front, the Hounds are, not surprisingly, less spunky, and more musical. Robison, who stood stage center and played banjo, dobro and acoustic and electric guitar, sang lead on all but one track. That one, though, was sung by Maguire, who played fiddle and mandolin, was a mournful minor key breakup song and a clear standout.
Early in the set, the tunes tended too much towards the tepid and overly polished, but the Hounds started to growl a bit as their hour long first set ever wore on, particularly after Jakob Dylan, who's all over town this week, showed up. The son of Bob did a duet with Robison from the album, then stuck around for a sweet, seemingly unrehearsed altogether charming run through of Rod Stewart's "You Wear It Well." After that, the last batch of Hound's tunes, wore quite well, mixing in sunny harmonies, Texas barrelhouse piano and bluegrass flavored breakdowns.
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