Calder Allen

One Liner: Solid singer-songwriter type with chill tunes and a good pedigree

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but I'll go with Americana
Home: Austin

Poster Position: small Type 
Saturday.

Thoughts:  This dude came to ACL in 2021, and as you can tell from the post that I wrote back then, he was not on anyone's radar at the time:

"We've reached the part of the poster where the band doesn't even have Spotify.  Not a good sign.  There is something called Calder the Band, but that doesn't seem anything like Calder Allen.  On YouTube, a search for Calder Allen brings up a dude who looks like he might still be in high school.  His two uploaded videos are a Spanish project and a video about Slope and Direct Variation, that must have been for a math class that I long ago forgot about.  Calder caught a nice fish one time.  I tried "Calder Allen musician," and got this video of two children singing in a church?

Not bad!  But nothing else on YouTube appears to reflect the sounds that this artist plans to make for us at ACL.  The internet tells me only this: "Calder Allen, who comes from a talented family: he's the grandson of Terry & Jo Harvey Allen, son of Bale Creek Allen, and nephew of Bukka Allen."  Okey doke!  Seems like, if he were so damn talented, that he'd have his music available on the Internet for people to hear!"

The Chronicle wrote about his debut at ACL, and it was obvious then that he had a musically famous family that other unknown ACL artists do not.  "Calder Allen debuted at last fall’s ACL Fest with an all-star band that included Charlie Sexton [Arc Angels, his own solo stuff], Martie Maguire [The Chicks!], Glenn Fukunaga [apparently Austin's premier bassist for 50 years], and his uncle Bukka Allen [has played with Terry Allen, Ian Moore, Joe Ely, Robert Earl Keen, Jack Ingram, Ryan Bingham, The Bodeans, Courtyard Hounds and Joe Walsh]."  I mean, his dad wrote "Amarillo Highway," so this dude is set up for success.

Well, now he has some music on Spotify for the world to hear.  All of it was released in 2022: Stone EP, Shine EP, Show Me The Way EP, and then the sole album The Game.  All of the songs that were on the EPs are also on the album, so I guess this was just a slow roll out of the singles.  And strangely, the top song sounds familiar.  Feels like something I hear on a TV show.  "Good Times" has 376k streams.

He's like an ad for Austin with his multiple Howler Brothers hats and shirts and Yeti gear and Continental Club shots.  He is literally wearing two Howler Brothers shirts at the same time in one of those shots.  I mean, I'd take the sponsorship money too!  His album makes me think of Ryan Bingham - low key musically and a solid, if unremarkable, voice.  Actually, I guess it is in the same vein as headliner Zach Bryan as well.  The second-most streamed tune is "Show Me The Way," with 158k streams.

I called his voice unremarkable up there, and that is probably true, but I also want to take it back.  It's a really nice voice - has a little bit of rough edge to it, while still sounding smooth and comforting.  After listening through all of his tunes today, I really enjoy it.  This guy is solid.