The Statesman's Michael Corcoran is circulating an interesting rumor this morning: rock god Robert Plant is currently hanging out in town...on the arm of Austin-based singer-songwriter and Grammy winner Patty Griffin. We should clarify that this is a rumor, but since a well-known local music writer is the source, it seems worthy of mention. This wouldn't be a total shock since Griffin has been playing in Plant's Band Of Joy project for over a year - but what is shocking is the idea that some of you might bump into the Led Zeppelin icon at Central Market or your local coffee shop this week. more ›

Robert Plant is about to turn 62, but apparently, getting older doesn't mean playing it safe. After 2007's one-off Led Zeppelin charity gig prompted concert promoters to stack piles of cash at Plant's door, he rejected the overtures to continue touring his Americana project Raising Sand with Alison Krauss. After collecting no small amount of critical acclaim for that endeavor, Plant has now blown it all up again, emerging with a new brand of weirder, louder roots rock in his current project, Band Of Joy.

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If our friends at KGSR were to curate a stage for ACL, we suspect it would look like this one. Though we have no knowledge that Austin radio mainstay Jody Denberg is the man behind the curtains for Saturday's AMD stage, the bands here certainly look a lot like his playlists! What strikes us as great about this stage is that the music all fits together nicely even though it crosses many age groups, demographics, and genres. It would be hard not to enjoy what's on offer here, so consider staking out a spot and using AMD as your Saturday home base. more ›

This year, ACL Fest is hosting quite a few official after parties and shows, featuring the talents of Gnarls Barkley, Manu Chao, the Butthole Surfers, Conor Oberst, Bill Callahan and Jose Gonzalez just to name a few. more ›

Steaming on through the weekend, Free Week at Emo's continues Monday night with a mostly local smattering of acts at the lounge and inside stages. more ›

For those of you who have missed our RW recaps, you can rest easy, they are back, well...kind of. As our expert on all-things-RW recuperates from a month-long battle with his Tivo, another of us has decided to take a swing for him, which is kinda like having to pinch hit for Barry Bonds. And for those of us who do not have a television-recording device and must rely on transcribing the events in... more ›

The opening track to The Heartless Bastards' Stairs and Elevators hits you with the untamed ferocity of a tropical typhoon, lead singer Erika Wennerstrom's voice the shrieking gale winds set aloft amidst the torrential thunderclap supplied by her band's driving bass line and wild drumming. more ›