Music of Austin, Texas
Austin's reputation continued to grow and become celebrated for its folk, blues, jazz, bluegrass, Tejano, zydeco, new wave, punk, and indie music scenes.
Other major venues for country music included Big Gil's on South Congress and The Skyline on North Lamar.
On the east side of town, which historically had a rich culture of African American heritage and influence, music venues such as the Victory Grill, Charlie's Playhouse, Big Mary's, Ernie's Chicken Shack, and Doris Miller Auditorium featured local and touring acts.
These destinations, which were part of the "Chitlin' Circuit" featuring big bands, jazz and blues, became famous for later hosting musical legends including Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, Bobby Bland, B.B.
In 1964 the Broken Spoke opened, featuring country acts such as Bob Wills, Ernest Tubb, and the young Willie Nelson.
[3] The Vulcan morphed into the Armadillo World Headquarters in 1970 and for more than ten years featured music of all genres, from Bruce Springsteen to Bette Midler, as well as local ballet, blues and jazz.
Songs such as Gary P. Nunn's "London Homesick Blues" (which includes in the chorus "I want to go home with the armadillo") made this a staple of Austin.
[1] Eddie Wilson had opened the Armadillo World Headquarters music venue in 1970, alternating country and rock music shows,[4] but in 1972, Willie Nelson left Nashville and moved to Austin, following others including Michael Martin Murphey, Marcia Ball, Steve Earle, Gary P. Nunn, Jerry Jeff Walker, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Waylon Jennings.
By November of that year; the first pilot for the iconic Austin City Limits was being filmed with Willie Nelson, Billboard Magazine named KOKE “the most innovative radio station in the country," and Austin had a national reputation thanks largely to the reporting of Rolling Stone stringer Chet Flippo, who seemed to get a dispatch from the Armadillo into every issue.
"[1] In the following years, Austin gained a reputation as a place where struggling musicians could launch their careers in front of receptive audiences, at informal live venues.
Liberty Lunch was a live-music venue in Austin and during its heyday in the late 1970s and 1980s featured all kinds of music, including reggae and ska, punk, indie, country and rock.
However, The Hole in the Wall, open since 1974 and a live music staple that lent a corner and then finally a stage to Doug Sahm and Blaze Foley, is still operating.
Places such as the Skylark Lounge, Stubb's, Ginny's Little Longhorn, and a list of others have also become a stalwart of a new generation of live music venues throughout the city.
The explosive show by the Sex Pistols in San Antonio the previous month helped build toward an excited reception for local purveyors of the style.
[6] The Skunks' lineup consisted of Jesse Sublett on bass and vocals, Eddie Munoz on guitar and Bill Blackmon on drums.
A number of them, including the Clash, Elvis Costello and Blondie, would make appearances at gigs by the Skunks and take the opportunity to jam with the band.
[10] The PBS live music television show Austin City Limits began in 1974[11] and has featured, as of 2005[update], over 500 artists of various genres, including rock, folk, country, bluegrass and zydeco.
In the spring, the long-running Old Settler's Music Festival takes place at the Salt Lick Pavilion & Camp Ben McCulloch just outside the city.
