The first and second waves of the 37th annual Texan showcase of new music SXSW lineup have been released, and once again, it looks to be the sound of tomorrow. The festival runs a full six days from March 10-19th, 2023 and registration for tickets is open now. You can see the ticket and lineup information in full at https://www.sxsw.com/.
Texas and March may be far away, but the music is always close. Americana UK journos trawled through the 400+ artists to bring you a list of what hot new Americana artists you could be playing next year. You heard them here first. This is day four of a twelve-part series that explores this showcase; enjoy all of these artists “four open roads, three fresh hats, two bald eagles, and a pardner in a pantry”.
Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires:
New and upcoming? No. LB 3 has been performing at SXSW for at least as long as Americana has reviewed them (2017). It is no surprise to see them on the lineup but certainly a pleasure. These country punk rockers from Alabama formed in 2011, and their fourth record, ‘Old-Time Folks‘, came out earlier this year.
Kym Register has been working on different projects since 2016. Formerly Loamlands, the band will be known as Meltdown Rodeo by the time the festival begins. According to the website, “They are a project built out of a love of place and people with a desire to listen to and tell stories of queer community“, which is something every music scene welcomes. The second album ‘Lez Dance‘ was described as “LGBT Folk” and was reviewed by Jon Aird. They have been touring with the aforementioned Lee Bains through all of November, and Kym is working on the third album, although the first under the new band name.
This Norwegian quartet were called “Cosmic folk” by Lucinda Williams after they shared the stage “some years back”. They have won a Spellemann award (Norwegian Grammy) for their album ‘Vinyl and a Heartache’ (2016) and gone on to write their second album, ‘While I Was Asleep’ (2018) in Nashville.
We premiered their new track last month, and you can hear that here. The new album ‘Cosmos ‘will be released on Jansen Records on March 24th 2023.
Texan man Colin Gilmore has had sporadic releases for the last twenty years and has been tirelessly gigging for as long as he has been alive. The son of Jimmie Dale Gilmore, his music is born of a love of Townes Van Zandt and Buddy Holly. What he is up to now is still under wraps, but Americana UK looks forward to future material.
Texan singer-songwriter Grace Pettis has released two DIY albums since starting over a decade ago. Her breakout album of last year has already had songs covered by Ruthie Foster and Sarah Hickman. Admirably, she chose only female team members for her new album ‘Working Woman‘. She said of her “debut” album, “It’s about recognizing and honoring the work that women do in every space in our society. It’s about claiming our own power and place in the world. This record is about the work women do and valuing that work“.
You can read yesterday’s selection here:
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