Bourbon and Beyond 2026 - Line 11 (Avery Anna, Matt Hansen, The Church, Gabriella Rose, Lisa Loeb, Uncle Lucius, Yachtley Crew)

Avery Anna

One Liner: Confessional country pop with a good voice
Wikipedia Genre: country pop
Home: Flagstaff, Arizona
Day: Saturday

Thoughts:  Always seems bad to me when the top songs an artist has on their Spotify are not their songs.  In this instance, Anna was featured on two Sam Barber songs, oh, and her 4th and 5th top songs are also someone else's - someone called Max McNown and someone named Adrien Nunez.

Have you ever been to Flagstaff?  It is a surprisingly great little town.  Doesn't feel like the arid desert of southern Arizona at all, with mountains and trees and a cool small college town vibe.  We liked it alot.  Anyway, young Avery grew up singing in church and started writing songs by the time she was in the fifth grade.  She got her big break during the pandemic, going viral with a cover of a Christina Aguilera song sung in her bathtub for the good acoustics.  She got a manager, went on Kelly Clarkson's show, graduated high school, and moved to Nashville to sign with Warner.

The music hits me somewhere between the pop country of Maren Morris and the confessional lyrics of Olivia Rodrigo.  Her voice is pretty good, I just don't really care for country pop all that much.  Her top song that is just her (and not on some guy's track) is "Narcissist" with 55.5 million streams.

I just feel like these sorts of songs also bug me because I get tired of the younger generation trying to diagnose everyone with clinical labels.  I'm sure there is a huge group of people listening to that song and being like "yeah, that guy needs to get some help because he was into himself!"  Can it.  He was probably 17 and just an asshole.  Anyway, she's solid.  Don't know if I would seek her show out, but if the schedule breaks right, maybe.

Matt Hansen

One Liner: I can't put my finger on who he yells like, but he needs to chill on the chorus
Wikipedia Genre: folky soft rock pop
Home: "northern" California
Day: Saturday 

Thoughts:  (please be one of the Hansen brothers, please be one of the Hansen brothers, please be one of the Hansen brothers) DAMMIT!  Wikipedia thinks Matt Hansen is a politician from Nebraska, but instead he sounds like a very intense singer.  It is kind of a blend of soft rock and folky pop, but I feel like he is BELTING every line directly into my earholes.  Chill the fuck out, Matt!  He also does too much vibrato for my tastes, the way that Post Malone sounds like a moron when he sings.  He also sort of sounds Irish, but is not. Top track is "something to remember" with 220.3 million streams.

Okay, I guess he doesn't scream at me during the verses, but every song sounds like this where its a nice little pop folky thing and then he launches into yelling about his emotions.  Again, chill out, Matt!  I think he sounds great when he's not screaming!  Probably a pass though for me.

The Church

One Liner: Pretty solid 80's pop rock after the "Under the Milky Way" hit
Wikipedia Genre: alternative rock, new wave, neo-psychedelia, post-punk, dream pop (quite a list)
Home: Sydney
Day: Friday 

Thoughts:  (please be that band with the under the milky way song, please be that band with the under the milky way song, please be that band with the under the milky way song)  YESSSS!  Great song.  "Reptile" also sounds familiar, but I really don't recall any knowledge of The Church other than the one big hit.

Never knew they were Aussies.  Always assumed that accent was a Brit thing.  Formed in 1980 in Sydney, and despite never really having another hit, they have released TWENTY-SEVEN freaking albums.  That is a massive amount of output for a band that most people forgot almost 40 years ago.  But I'm listening to that album, 1988's Starfish, and I like it.  Jangly, shimmery guitars like some of those Madchester type bands that straddled shoegaze and Beatles fandom.  The lyrics to "Texas Moon" are like a Larry McMurtry fever dream imagined by bad AI.  Anyway, here's the big hit.

Got that REM jangle that I love, but it also has those cool synth sounds that would not have shown up with REM.  I actually would have guessed that this song was older that '88.  I've dug into the two newest albums, and they remind me of that guy Destroyer.  Who I don't love, a little mopey like The National, but not terrible.  Funny to me that these guys are out here churning out unheard albums while that guy is a Pitchfork darling.  Either way, I could see checking this band out.  I've enjoyed connecting with it.

Gabriella Rose

One Liner: Tough to listen to country slop
Wikipedia Genre: vintage pop, folk, country
Home: Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Day: Friday

Thoughts:  She got a Zach Bryan song.  That's the kiss of fame for any lady country singer who needs a bump with the youth vote.  Her voice sounds great on that tune though, like an Emmylou Harris thing going on.  But then her biggest song by herself sounds like a caricature of country music, sung in a bathroom with a banjo player.  "Doublewide" has 28.4 million streams somehow.  Feels like AI wrote this to include every country trope available.

That song sucks.  It is definitely country to the bone, but I hope I never hear it again.  On the cover of Necklace, she sort of looks like a brunette Margo Robbie.  Woof, that song sucks butt too.  If you want country with a drum machine, look no further.  "Revival," just her and a guitar, is better as are the next few.  Okay, she isn't all terrible.

She released her first EP when she was sixteen, right before the pandemic.  But it wasn't until 2025, when the Zach Bryan track came out, that she really found some level of fame.  That song debuted at #62 on the Billboard Top 100 and entered the Top 10 on several Billboard charts.  I'm good without this - she's either completely stripped down or absolutely terrible.

Lisa Loeb

One Liner: Gen X folky pop gold
Wikipedia Genre: pop, rock, folk, children's music
Home: Dallas
Day: Sunday 

Thoughts:  YES!  I am excited to learn more about Lisa.  You obviously know the big hit - the defining hit from the Reality Bites soundtrack, the video that launched a million ill-conceived glasses purchases, and slacker 90's love song aesthetic.  171.3 million streams.

Great song.  I for sure included that on mix tapes back in the day.  I know that there are a million loft apartments in New York, but when I see that video it immediately makes me think of Tom Hanks jumping on a trampoline.  This was the first number one song ever on the Billboard Top 100 for an artist without a recording contract.  "I Do" was also a pretty good tune.

She was born in Maryland, but raised in Dallas.  She attended Hockaday School, which is annoying, because those damn Daisy bitches keep beating my daughters in sports and they use cowbells and therefore are evil and should die.  She ended up at Brown University with a degree in comparative literature.  Tell me you are the child of a rich doctor without telling me you are the child of a rich doctor.

At the time when "Stay (I Missed You)" hit big, she had been on a coffeehouse circuit in New York and playing small clubs across the country, handing out her Purple Tape to people to get noticed.  Well, in a handy twist of fate, she lived across the street from Ethan Hawke, and had made some music for his plays in the NYC theater community.  Hawke passed along the song to Ben Stiller for Reality Bites, and he made it the end credits song (and, of course, on the soundtrack).  The song went Gold and was nominated for a Grammy (lost to fuckin' "I Swear" by All-4-One, which is a travesty and a mockery).

Funny thing, the reason that my kids know of her is because our friend April gave us a burned CD about 15 years ago that was a copy of Loeb's 2007 album Catch the Moon.  If you haven't heard it, she went a completely new direction, with great success, and started making children's music.  Her version of "Big Rock Candy Mountain" was a mainstay in our car for a period of time.  It is a really nice album - her voice works beautifully to sing classics and new little ditties.  Since that, she has released many more kids' albums with titles like "Lisa Loeb's Silly Sing-Along" and Lullaby Girl.  They are nice.

She has also been on TV quite a bit (which I had not known).  In 2004, she and boyfriend Dweezil Zappa had a show on the Food Network about musicians touring the country and eating stuff.  In 2005, she had a reality show called #1 Single on the E! network that was about her love life.  Her voice has been used in shows like Jake and the Never Land Pirates, The Rugrats Movie, Special Agent Oso, and an animated Spiderman show.  She has appeared on Gossip Girl, Fuller House, Community, Hot Tub Time Machine 2, and in some terrible-sounding movies like Serial Killing 4 Dummys.

I have no clue what the set would be like at this show, other than it will include "Stay (I Missed You)" and "I Do."  I tried the new album, A Simple Trick to Happiness, and it is nice.  Unremarkable but nice.

Uncle Lucius

One Liner: Great balance between Texas country and southern jam rock
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but like Texas country, Americana, southern rock, jam
Home: Austin, TX!
Day: Sunday 

Thoughts:  I got all excited when I saw that they have the Gruene Hall logo as their Spotify banner, but this doesn't much sound like Gruene music.  Have you ever heard The Record Company?  L.A. band doing bluesy rock and roll that one of the local Austin radio stations loves to play.  Saw them at the Scoot Inn one time with a friend who was waaaaay to into them, and was also very stoned, and it was hilarious.  Anyway, this is more like Black Crowes-lite, or "Hey There Sunshine" sounds like an Allman Brothers jam.  Honestly, their 2025 album Live in 25, recorded at Gruene Hall, is damn fun.  Very Allman Brothers jamming loose sort of vibe.

To be honest, these guys are a surprise.  When I saw their name, I thought this was the group Lucius, who was at ACL last year (and who I found surprisingly boring after really liking their studio music).  So, I was glad to find something enjoyable instead.

I found an article about them that explained why I may not have heard of this band from my own backyard.  They apparently called it quits about 6 years ago, after struggling to sell tickets despite critical acclaim.  Then, the almighty Yellowstone used "Keep the Wolves Away" in an episode, and the great unwashed masses turned their rheumy gaze upon these fellas.  Therefore, while most of their songs have less than 4 million streams, that one is massive with 321.2 million streams.

Released twelve years ago, and yet it took a soap opera about dirt to launch it into stardom.  I honestly really like this live album.  I think these guys are great.  The Internet says they are playing Gruene Hall tomorrow night.  Maybe I need to get my shit together and go.

Yachtley Crew

One Liner: Cheesy yacht rock porn
Wikipedia Genre: yacht rock
Home: L.A.
Day: Sunday

Thoughts:  Man, I was really hoping this was going to just be a straight-forward Yacht Rock-sings-Motley Crue thing and that it was going to jam.  Instead, a lot of this is crazy treacly schmaltz.  Like, the "How Deep is Your Love" cover would be embarrassing to hear live, I think.  I would feel sadness for the universe.  Feels like the singers from Glee found a karaoke machine.  But then "Lowdownyachtl" came on, by my mofo man Boz Scaggs, and the white man overbite was impossible to stop.  Uhhhhhh huh, baby.  

Someone on Twitter the other day talked about how great of a song Hall & Oates' "You Make My Dreams Come True" is, except for the part when Hall or Oates yelps "now, listen to this!" and then some super unremarkable shit happens.  Not even like a wicked guitar solo.  Which is super funny - like when your kid is like "Dad!  Dad!  Dad! Look at this!" and then just like jumps into the pool.  Anyway, these dudes cover that song and it made me laugh all over again.

Most of these are classic covers you would recognize from the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack or your mom's eight track collection.  Top track is an Applebee's drink menu called "Sex on the Beach" with 84k streams.

Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote: "It would be tempting to describe Yächtley Crëw simply as a cover band. But it is more. It is a trend-setter, a movement, an ocean spray to the face during the torrid summer months."  They are actually signed to a Jimmy Buffett-owned label.  I get the idea that these guys probably make their living on the road playing these jenky songs for aging hipsters.  I think I will pass.