PART ONE OF A THREE PART SERIES :Do this...go to the Austin City Limits festival lineup site some weekend afternoon, make a 'rita or mojito, take an hour and go down the list of "third-tier" acts and click on the band name and listen through the music clips that are loaded up there. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how good this year's lineup actually is. I have only gone down the far left column, and already I'm excited:
Rev Horton Heat- w a new album of honky tonk tunes, this is perfect for Austin
Peter Bjorn and John- took the "indie/songwriter" category by storm this winter when the album came out
STS9- Panic can't play ACL every year, and they're already taking over the Backyard for 3 nights again in July
Yo La Tengo- I love these guys, very eclectic
Roderigo y Gaberiella- don't you dare miss this Latin guitar duo, brother and sister, PHENOMENAL. This is my pick for break-out of ACL
Blonde Redhead- its like 90's new wave, and very powerful live
Eli Young- I'd compare him to Robert Earl Keen. He's not quite there yet, but good...
Aterciaopelados- Columbian pop/dance, this kicks ass
Heartless Bastards- from Ohio, I drove to Denver and saw them play for 40 people, and they rocked! The Chrissy Hynde of the 2000's
Raul Malo- the guy is the mexi-texi crooner of the last 20 years
James Hunter- WOW, this guy's fun, he used to "busk" in England and he's fantastic live w/a great throwback sound.
Mighty Clouds of Joy- LA group mixing Gospel and Soul, great sounds, incredible energy, "the Temptations of Soul" is appropriate
Preservation Hall Jazz Band- always with some 'Nawlins flavor at ACL, these gents won't disappoint
Andy Palacio and the Garafino Collective- it's a shame that Ali Farke Toure died two years ago and never played ACL, this makes up for that. Great sound.
Ryan Shaw- can you say Lenny Kravitz, Stevie Wonder and Ben Harper. Holy shit will this guy tear it up...another candidate for ACL break-out
The National- there are a lot of "alternative" bands this time around (see Bjork and company at tier 2) and this is one of the best playing...and no body knows about them
Beau Soleil- another New Orleans party band
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals- I friggin' love this gal, she is like Ruthie Foster (catch her when your here) and the wife of Dereck Trucks (im spacing her name right now)
Del McCurry- nothing needs to be said about this man
Jessie Malin- he's been on the scene for about 3-4 years now and I cant believe this AAA rocker hasn't shown up at ACL yet
Railroad Earth- bluegrassers haven't been here since 2003's ACL. Fan favorite
(center column cheater...)
Charlie Musselwhite- closest thing to seeing Johnny Cash
So....that's the Left column. I'll follow up with center and right, but hopefully you're beginning to see that this year is once again a fantastic lineup. When we get spoiled with headliners, it's hard to see past that or the second tier artists (for some reason I've always referred to the ACL font size as Headliners, 2nd tier, 3rd tier, I think you get it)
The ACL Festival, like the city of Austin itself, has always been far deeper than what you see on the surface. Dig beneath the headliner big names and you find the real heart and soul.
