Results tagged “folk”

At 18, Wimberley native Sarah Jarosz is already a veteran of the modern bluegrass and Americana scenes. She’s been riding the festival circuit since the age of 12, and listening to her debut album Song Up In Her Head, you get the sense that Jarosz is well on her way to developing into a serious force as a songwriter and performer. A testament to this is that, while somewhat uncommon for such a young artist, the record is comprised of 11 strong original songs that sit comfortably beside impeccably performed covers of tunes by Tom Waits and Colin Meloy.

If Buckner’s voice were a wine, it would be heavy with oak, and his instrumentation is also undeniably gnarled with country fundamentals, cutting a swath following the simplest path the way a river does. And yet, his vocals resonate with a shimmering, almost phosphorescent quality that rises above the workaday flesh of the very songs they narrate.

This quintet of old-school Austin reprobates have been churning out grungy skronk for three years now. Given the trashy, just-on-the-cusp-of-disintegrating volatility of their recorded output, they deserve credit just for staying together for as long as they have, but like any quality band these boys have some good chemistry and a great name, and they apparently love to drink.

L'il Cap'n Travis is one of those rare bands whose music transcends the trappings of abstractions such as "alt-country", "indie", or "Austin", eschewing any hint of pretension. We challenge you to bring to mind another band as effortlessly and legitimately rock as LCT, so quietly invincible against the corrosive influence of the scene beneath a down comforter of fundamentally kickass material, singing into the stale-beer smell through a sheepish grin.