ACL Stage Preview: Friday's BMI stage w/Bobby Bare, Jr., Ryan Bingham, Donavan Frankenreiter 'n other folks
Friday, September 26
Zilker Park (2100 Barton Springs Road)
first act at 11:15 a.m., $80 single day pass
[info] | [tickets]
In fact, Nashville's Ben Cyllus, has the formidable task of getting Friday kicked off properly at 11:15 a.m. with his velvet voice and folksy pickin'. Definitely the kind of act it'd be worth showing up early for with something like a nice, cheap beer in one hand and someone you love in the other. Songs like "Caught in the Rain" feature a distinctly southern-influenced production, while "Hero" and "Traffic" are the kind of prime time drama outro-tunes making you tear up just before something meaningful/shocking happens and the credits roll. If you can, try and have a fight with that someone you love and down a few beers before Paula Nelson takes the stage at 12:40 p.m., 'cause she's got more than a little attitude in her.
"I can't make you love me, but you'll never forget me," sings Nelson in "Baby, You're Mean," and the rest of her thoroughly soulful southern rock tunes are, well, how you say ... "Standing Tall," "Being Alone" and "Up And Gone" are the names of a few of her other signature tracks, if you know what we're trying to say here. A native Austinite, Nelson's definitely doing our city proud with the kind of no-nonsense, tattooed, wife-beater wearin' brand of feminism we like around these parts. Next up, Sunny Sweeney keeps the twang torch burning.
Name-checking enough Texas towns in "East Texas Pines" to give her lifelong cred, Sweeney's taken her pop-infused classic country all over America and to Europe, too. With a Loretta-meets- Dolly-meets-Carrie powervoice, Sweeney's as much at home in Billy Bob's Texas as she is in the roadside bar out in some Saloon de B.F.E. Her new take on the old school is the perfect prep for the quirky country-folk that follows from Nashville boy Bobby Bare, Jr.
Carrying you into the sleepy afternoon at 4:40 p.m., Bare's multi-instrumental, swaying songs have the desperate, honest air of a guy who's got a lot to say and a thousand different ways to say it. "I'll Be Around" embodies Bare's diffuse styles, combining soul-crushing lyrics like "I'll be in the same place you left me, caressin' your memory," with peppy bop-bop-bop trills that keep the listener just this side of the last of that fifth of Jack. Then again, if you need an excuse to finish off the bottle, Austin's own Ryan Bingham's 6:40 p.m. set might be a good excuse.
Bingham's writing the kind of songs Ryan Adams wishes he could crank out if he wasn't too busy honing his faux-twang and being an asshat to paying audiences. From hand-clappin' rock to, well, more hand-clappin' rock to slow-dance-by-the-campfire tunes, Bingham keeps it authentic with plenty of big riffs and harmonica solos. Songs to lead you into the sunset to, for sure. But it's California's Donavon Frankenreiter is the man who'll be slowly slippin' your soulful side into the night.
Don't hate because The Frankster's from Laguna Beach. There's plenty of soul in his sand-infused tunes about livin' and lovin' and being true to yourself. Never over-beached but frequently funky, Frankenreiter is the kind of guy who can sing about "feelin' six feet under," on "Your Heart" but you'd never know it because the beat kinda takes over and you wake up and realize you're grooving to a song about feeling like crap. Should be the perfect soundtrack to a Texas summer night--and a great, unbiased Cali finish to the day's Nashville-Austin lineup.
Ben Cyllus [Official] [MySpace]
Paula Nelson [Official] [MySpace]
Sunny Sweeney [Official] [MySpace]
Bobby Bare, Jr. [Official] [MySpace]
Ryan Bingham [Official] [MySpace]
Donavon Frankenreiter [Official] [MySpace]
