Road to Austin, with stop in Pflugerville

Another music weekend here in Austin, Texas. That's every weekend really. More like every day, but when the weather is perfect and the shows are free...

The big "Road to Austin" concert was on Saturday. It went from 7:00 to 10:30, and since they were using a fantastic "house band" for backup there were no breaks in the show. Just continuous music with people on and off the stage. People who played:

• Stephen Bruton
• Bonnie Raitt
• Kris Kristofferson
• Eric Johnson
• Bob Schneider
• Delbert McClinton
• Joe Ely
• Malford Milligan
• David Grissom
• Carolyn Wonderland
• Ruthie Foster
• Joel Guzman & Sarah Fox
• Bobby Whitlock (Derek and the Dominoes) & Coco Carmel
• Ian McLagan (Faces, Small Faces)
• James Hand
• Stephen Barber
• "Scrappy" Jud Newcomb
• Yoggie Musgrave
• Ephraim Owens
• Brannen Temple
• Chris Maresh
• Tosca String Quartet
• Raul Salinas
• Lisa Hayes
• ...and more

It was all about Stephen Bruton, who is recovering from his throat cancer treatments. I really missed hearing his very distinctive voice, but it was great to see and hear him playing, especially with all these people that he shares history with. He was a bandmember of Bonnie Raitt's, Kristofferson's, Delbert McClinton's, Bob Schneider's, and probably a few I don't know about. He's also a producer, songwriter, and as a solo artist has recorded with plenty of folks. His bio is a mile long.

Highlights were seeing certain people together: Bonnie and Delbert, Kristofferson and Bruton, Eric Johnson and David Grissom jamming on Layla with Bobby Whitlock, Bonnie and Ruthie Foster Angel From Montgomery duet, Eric Johnson's techs running the show with Jeff Van Zandt's dog Trixie stealing the show a couple of times.

It was a corporate-staged event, sponsored by Freescale, but that was overcome by the camaraderie of the community on stage, and the people in attendance who don't want to lose another treasured musician.

Newspaper coverage of the event.

Day 2, Sunday, was much more laid-back as we went to the Deutschen Pfest in Pflugerville to see The Greencards (and work their merch table). Incredibly, here is a band now too popular for Threadgill's, the Saxon Pub, and many other Austin venues, playing before a small crowd of Pflugerville Pfairgoers and a pfew diehard pfans pfor a mere pfee of $3. Sorry!! I can't go to Pflugerville without putting a "p" in pfront of all the "f"s afterward. Sort of like being compelled to talk like a pirate after a viewing of Pirates of the Caribbean. Anyway, they played for 3 hours in beautiful weather, sold merch like hotcakes, then headed down to Gruene Hall for much more of a high-profile gig. Too short of a visit, and we probably won't see them again until November. Always hate to see them go, but they live on the road.

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music - Raitt - Bruton