ACL Artist Profiles: Terri Hendrix and Brett Dennen
During college, San Marcos-based singer-songwriter Terri Hendrix walked away from an opera scholarship and started picking up guitar skills from Marion Williamson, who taught Hendrix in exchange for help around the farm. Now, some years and nine self-released albums later, Hendrix has a grassroots following that stretches not only across Texas's Hill Country, but across the country in general and out into Europe and the rest of the world. Committed to her independence, Hendrix knows the business inside out, and is definitely a working musician -- she may be a singer-songwriter, but she's also head of her own label, where she oversees every aspect of her albums' production and release. Hendrix draws on the lasting influence of Williamson, which gives her a rich blues style, but plays knowingly with the country, folk, pop, and other styles that filter through the musical milieu that is central Texas. She will be playing ACL on Sunday at 2:20 on the Austin Ventures Stage.
Terri Henrix [official] [myspace]
Brett Dennen
Named one of Rolling Stone's 2007 "10 Artists to Watch, Brett Dennen has found a sizable following the release of three albums, beginning with 2004's self-titled debut, and culminating in last year's Hope for the Hopeless. Dennen produces melodic folk-pop which carries a touch of vague sadness even at its most celebratory. Clearly influenced by heavy hitters like Simon & Garfunkel and Cat Stevens, Dennen has toured with John Mayer, Guster, Meiko, and Rodrigo y Gabriela. Dennen has graduated to headliner status now, and has continued to cultivate himself as a folk artist, playing such events as the Newport Folk Festival. Dennen plays Sunday at 4:45 on the Austin Ventures Stage.
