Jess Williamson

One Liner: Nice Americana from a past Austinite
Wikipedia Genre: folk and indie
Home: Austin, but now in L.A.

Poster Position: Late Addition!
Day: Sunday
First Weekend Only

Miller Lite at 2:00.

Thoughts:  First song is pretty darned good.  Kind of a Lucinda sound.  She was born in the suburbs of Dallas, but moved to Austin to attend UT.  She started playing music while a student and released her first two albums on her own label.  That is an odd thing.  Does it just mean that you make up a label name and write it onto the CD case, as though there is an actual label involved with the album?  Or is there something more particular you have to do to officially be a "label"?

Well, she moved to LA and got a "real" label (although that also could just be somebody who said "I DECLARE A LABEL" and agreed to help her release her music and give her a cut.  maybe I need to make the Dull Jack label and profit handsomely.  Oh, wait, this is half of the Plains project with Katie Crutchfield.  I really liked that album.  I didn't review it until 2025, despite it being released in 2022, but here is what I thought at the time:

Plains - I Walked With You A Ways.  I think Katie Crutchfield's voice is just too distinctive for this to sound like anything other than a Waxahatchee album.  This is her with someone named Jess Williamson, who I am not familiar with, but they sound fantastic together.  An indie country Americana slice of pie slathered in top tier harmonies.  Sometimes it makes me think of the Highwomen, although really it just sounds like Waxahatchee.  Which is a good thing!  "Problem With It" is the top track with 6.5 million streams. [now at 8.4 million]

Huh.  Just realized this album was from 2022.  I guess I found it sooner or later.  Pretty dang sure that landscape they are driving through at the start is the road between Marfa and Alpine out in West Texas.  Beautiful patch of the world.  Also, I freaking love the banjo in that tune - just the perfect level of pluck weaving in around behind their harmonies.  Damn, I would love to be on the rim at Big Bend, drinking a cold beer and listening to Crutchfield sing right now.  Sounds like a perfect evening.  Definitely an enjoyable disc.

So, this has a lot of those same hallmarks: pretty singing, Americana pedal steel, good grooves.  I am truly enjoying this so far.  There is a trippy and gorgeous version of "True Love Will Find You in the End" among these songs, with Shakey Graves, that is a wonder.  696k streams.

Her 2014 album, Native State, is nice, but seems to have made little impact with not very many streams.  Definitely a more raw sound there, like she made it herself and then released it on a made-up-ass label.  2016's Heart Song got a smidge more traction with three bigger streamers.  The top tune of those is "Devil's Girl," the final track on the disc, with 932k streams.

Again, sounds more like she is making this in her bathroom.  But the stripped sound allows the song to become more intriguing and worrisome.  The next two discs, 2018's Cosmic Wink and 2020's Sorceress, have her finally getting on with a real label.  And she finally has a track that cracks seven figures with "Wind on Tin" at 4.7 million streams.

A much bigger, polished, fulsome sound, and I like it a lot.  Actual accompaniment and a groove going on there, and it sounds really good.

Funny thing, I was playing this in the bathroom this morning as my wife and I each showered and got ready.  I, proud of playing something that my wife would enjoy as opposed to, like new Turnstile or old Primus, asked what she thought.  She was like "eh, sounds like everything else."  Crushed me a little bit.  She's not wrong, but also, for me this is miles better than all of the pop, R&B, and EDM on the rest of the poster.  Oh well, can't win 'em all.

Ethan Regan

One Liner:  Folky, chill pop that feels like many things I have heard recently

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but this is folky pop

Home: Charlotte, NC

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 12
Weekend Two Only
Sunday at 2:45

American Express Stage

Thoughts:  I literally just saw the guitar on the cover of his top single and went "thank God."  And then started playing it, and thought to myself - how can all of these bands sound so same?!  There is a banjo in here, but I'm getting AJR vibes, or maybe Mt. Joy vibes, from this guy.  His banner photo on Spotify cracks me up, because he is standing before a large crowd, guitar over his shoulder and arms stretched wide, as though this is some big moment in a show.  And yet the people in the audience are mainly just blankly staring at him.  Like, he might have just explain how to amortize a mortgage, for as much fun as those people seem to be having.

Sometimes, when reading about these artists, I feel the same way as I do when I read a horoscope.  "oh wow, yeah, that does sound like me!  Crazy how these very generic horoscope descriptions seem to always relate to me!"  Here is the intro to a short bio on his label's page: "Music goes beyond skin deep for Ethan Regan. Piercing the surface, he’s not just singing and playing guitar; he’s laying his emotions bare, getting out those words that we don’t always say when we should, and practicing the best kind of therapy—out loud. As a vocalist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, the North Carolina native shapes each facet of his artistry, architecting soundscapes, performing every part, and belting right from the soul. Sonically, he fuses gentle, yet heartfelt folk with alternative experimentation, going as far as to pull inspiration from rock, hip-hop, and funk."  I feel like I have read something similar about half of the artists on this poster.

He took guitar lessons as a young kid, but was generally uninterested until he saw a clip of Damien Rice performing at a festival.  He learned how to self-produce on the computer and started making little DIY clips, and once he was in college at Penn State he got a viral hit on TikTok with "Durham."  That track has 5.1 million on Spotify, but is no longer in his top ten most popular tracks.

I'm playing the new album now, and I am coming around to this a little bit more.  Kind of a Jack Johnson vibe in some of these, like a chill, relaxed groove in here.  Got some whistling, some banjo, some bongo drums...  "spring cleaning" is the top of that pile.  1.65 million streams.

He's got a piggie!  We had a "pot-bellied pig" in college that ended up not being a pot-bellied pig at all.  My friend Greg's family adopted Smokey once we realized we were too irresponsible to care for her, and later Greg's now-wife had to help to bury the absolutely massive, full-size hog.  Very funny story.  Anyway, a nice little ditty.  His top streamer is actually a 2023 single that didn't make it on to any of his albums or EPs.  13.9 million streams for "secrecy".

A little more quiet and folky.  "cartilage" makes me think of Gigi Perez.  Overall, I have enjoyed listening to this as the days have spooled by.  It is significantly better than much of this poster, but still not sure that this is where I would head during this hour.

Coleman Jennings

One Liner:  Old school classic country by a young UT student

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, this is country, folk, Americana

Home: Austin!

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 22.
Weekend One Only. 
Saturday at 3:30

BMI Stage

Thoughts:  My guy is a pretty good whistler.  Also, I am guessing he is not the American philanthropist who died in 1978.  I did not know, until reading that Wiki entry, that there really was a "Community Chest" - I thought that was just a Monopoly phrase.

Anyway, this fella sounds very much like a throwback to the old school.  Songs full of vibrato and whistles and classic country flourishes.  It sounds honestly great.

A few EPs and then finally a 2026 album called Lead You Home.  His first single is still his most popular track, "Wildflowers & Tears" has 632k streams.

Good, basic country sound right there.  Like Chris LeDoux telling me a hard-scrabble story of country pain.  He's got Dave Cobb producing him (who also produced folks like Stapleton).  He was born in New York, lived in CT until he was seven, but has called Austin home ever since.  As he was first releasing this music, he was still a full-time UT student studying English.  At first, he had a little band called Coleman Jennings and the Roaddogs, and they would play frat parties and tailgates - anything to get a show together.  But now he has signed with Big Loud (massive artists like Morgan Wallen or Miranda Lambert, small local-ish guys like Dylan Gossett and The Droptines).

His top track from the new album is called "Head Spinning" and has 359k streams.

Again, pretty solid.  I didn't use any of his songs with the whistling, but I promise that he is a pretty legit whistler.  I like a good whistle in a country tune.

CMAT (2026)

One Liner:  Irish power pop gal with a strong voice

Wikipedia Genre:  Folk, pop, country

Home: Dublin

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 11.
Both Weekends.
Friday at 2:45

American Express Stage.

Thoughts:  Just here in 2024, so not a very long turnaround.

Not the Common Management Admission Test taken in India to apply to a management programme.  Instead, this is an Irish musician named Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson whose first album - If My Wife Knew I'd Be Dead - was released in 2022 and debuted at number one on the Irish Chart.

This has nothing to do with anything, but I just tried making mayonnaise for the first time.  It is terrible.  I think the cookbook should have done more to detail the proper type of oil to use, as this goop now tastes like solidified olive oil.  And it is very yellow.  Not appetizing in the least.  I need to smear it on a bacon sandwich now and then see what's up.

Anyhoo, she left Ireland to move to Manchester, England to pursue music with her boyfriend, performing together as Bad Sea.  She has since described that relationship as toxic and so she quit music for a while, but Charlie XCX met her and advised her to get back on the horse.  That has worked out really well for her, as that debut album won the Choice Music Prize in Ireland for album of the year.  I think her voice reminds me of Neko Case, and a little like Kate Bush.  Or am I hearing the Lake Street Dive lady?  I like it.

Lotta singles, then that 2022 album followed up by 2023's Crazymad, For Me.  Her top track is from that debut album - "I Don't Really Care For You," with 18.2 million streams.

Her voice is really good - has a cool tone that is a little old-timey and fulsome.  I've been letting her roll for longer than I needed to, just enjoying the vibe.  The top track off of the 2023 album is "Stay for Something," with 21.9 million streams.  

Sounds like a War on Drugs song there at the beginning.  Or Strand of Oaks?  Never can really remember which one of those to invoke when I hear their sound.  Whatevs.  Her aesthetic is whack with the huge red hair and a gold tooth.  But again, I think her voice is really choice.  It feels caged in for a lot of that song, like she would love to release it but keeps it in check for us until the chorus.  Wikipedia says she has been described as a bisexual icon.

Since she was last here, she released 2025's Euro-Country, which has great song titles like "Billy Byrne from Ballybrack, the Leader of the Pigeon Convoy" or "Lord, Let That Tesla Crash."  The top track on there is "Take a Sexy Picture of Me."  31.3 million streams.

Yeah, that is a kind of funny one.  "When a Good Man Cries" definitely sounds like Neko Case again.  Nothing not to like about this gal - enjoying it for sure.

I can see her really banging this show out inside of the Tito's Tent - feels like she'll rip the roof off of that sucker.

Bo Staloch (2026)

One Liner: Local kid doing some low key indie/folk that keeps bringing the Lumineers to my mind
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but going Indie and Folk
Home: Austin!

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 13
Day: Friday at 3:15
Weekend One Only.

Tito's Tent

Thoughts:  Pretty sure a friend's kid is good friends with this guy.  Pretty sure I heard a long story about him heading off to Belmont University in Nashville and then checking out when his career started to move.  He came to Two Step Inn in 2023, but I don't think I caught the show.

His name reminds me of both the Dukes of Hazzard and Roger Staubach all at once.  Which is a fantastic combination for reminiscing about good Texas red-neckery.  Except, he says the name is pronounced stah-low, so it actually sounds nothing like Staubach.  Major miss for his potential future fame.  

No albums, just two EPs and a handful of singles.  "Springtime Red Tulips" is the big streamer with 5.9 million listens.  He kind of sounds like David Grey would if he refused to open his mouth all the way as he sang.  It is a pretty song, I just wish he would speak up and use his consonants.

It has that same sort of understated vibe that has propelled Zach Bryan into the stratosphere.  Just a dude and a guitar singing something vague and pretty.  He cranks it up at the end a little bit, which is nice.  I don't get the country vibe in here all that much, more like indie/ folk.  Like one of the slow Lumineers songs.

"Birds of San Francisco" sticks to the same vibe.  Slow and vibey at first, then the drums kick in and some background singers start harmonizing.  And then "Down the Line" is more of the same as well.  It is kind of fascinating how much these tunes sound like each other.  The more I listen to them, the more I hear the Lumineers slow songs.  

He was born and raised in Austin, which is cool.  Not a ton written about him, and the stuff that is, like this, is pointless drivel.  Coming for the throne my ass.  I assume this is also him, playing varsity basketball for St. Andrews.  Which is pretty funny.  Unless there is somehow a second guy with this same, strange name, also living in Austin?  BALLER!  A 5'10" Guard from the hard streets of private school!  Graduated in 2023.  Several years ago his friends apparently started a petition to get him Snapchat.  His parents sound very responsible for keeping it away from him until high school.  BUT, he didn't get the 25 signatures needed, so I guess he's still missing out.  And this appears to be a video of him uploaded by a Maureen Staloch of him playing an original song at a park before the Terry Nelson band came out.

Another song has gained some traction, with the same sort of vibe.  "Your Eyes Tell Stories" has just under 6 million streams.

Man, I hope you checked that forest, those leaves look like poison oak from here.  Pretty song though.

Good for him, man.  I hope he gets a crowd and wows them.  Hometown boy making good!

Jesse Welles

One Liner:  Modern protest music for the current moment

Wikipedia Genre:  rock, folk, folk punk

Home: Ozark, Arkansas

Poster Position: Top Quarter - Line 5

Both Weekends
Friday at 4:15

T-Mobile Stage

Thoughts:  My guy is coming to the Bourbon and Beyond festival, and I remember being confused to see him on the third line of that poster.  Because he is on par with Counting Crows, Forster the People, Goose, and Jason Isbell.  Which is some heady company for someone I had never heard of.  But I think he's hot shit right now as part of the current protest against all of the corruption and evil in our current government, so he is having a moment.

Real name is Jesse Allen Breckenridge Wells, and he originally performed as Jeh Sea Wells, then as the front-man of the bands Dead Indian, Cosmic-American, and Welles.  Wait, I remember Welles.  They came to ACL a long time ago, but I really liked their brand of psych rock.  "Are You Feeling Like Me" was a jam.

But now, he is a completely different brand of fella.  This should be fun: "In 2024, Welles garnered attention on social media for writing and performing folk protest songs, including "The Poor", "Cancer", "The Olympics", "United Health", "Join ICE", and "War Isn't Murder", a track about the Gaza war."  I can't wait to hear "United Health" rail on the man!  It is apparently appreciated by the Man, though, as he received four nominations for the 2026 Grammy Awards.  Dave Matthews introduced him at Farm Aid as "one of the best songwriters I've ever heard in my life."  Which is high praise.  I wonder if Dave has heard Jason Isbell?

Holy shit.  OK, this is awesome.  You can listen to it and tell what he is saying because his lyrics are pretty clear, but here are the lyrics to "Join ICE."

[Verse 1]

Well, if you're lookin' for purpose in the current circus

If you're seekin' respect and attention

If you're in need of a gig that'll make you feel big

Come with me and put some folks in detention

[Verse 2]

Just last week was kind of tough, I put a kid in cuffs

I zip-tied a lady to a van

We can sneak around town, hunt workin' folks down

I hear they got a great benefit plan

[Chorus]

Join ICE, boy, ain't it nice?

Join ICE, take my advice

If you're lackin' control and authority

Come with me and hunt down minorities

Join ICE

[Verse 3]

Well, I failed the academy, the cops weren't havin' me

The Army didn't sound that fun

So I found me a paramilitary operation

That was keen to hand me a gun

[Verse 4]

I got picked on at school, I never felt that cool

There's a hole in my soul that just a-rages

All the ladies turned me down, and I felt like a clown

But will you look at me now, I'm puttin' folks in cages

[Chorus]

At ICE, we're respectin' power

Join ICE, I hear they got great hours

There's a sign-on bonus of 50 grand

They're in need of you needin' to feel like a man

Join ICE

After reading about the absolute nutjob who recently murdered Johan Sebastian Suran Guerrero in Maine, this absolutely hits a true note.  The ICE agent was an Army veteran who had serious mental health issues since early childhood.  When he told his ex-wife that he had been hired by ICE, she assumed he was having a mental health episode and was lying.  They broke up after his abuse, including throwing boiling water at her while she was holding their child.  Only the brightest and the best!!!

The rest of these tunes are similar - mostly basic little pluckin' ditties with him singing pointed lyrics about why our system sucks.  "The Poor" has great lyrics too.  

The new album, 2026's Masks Off, keeps in the same vein but a little more rock forward.  "Red" has a groove to it that is fun as well.  "Masks Off" has an anger and truth to it that is very good as well.  "All the masks are off, and they don't even try.  They know that you know that they know, and they don't even mind it.  All the masks are off, and they're getting lazy, they think you're so damn stupid, they think you're so damn crazy.  Killing people from a distance in an instant, at the insistence of a president, with a blackmail gun to his head, for the fun that he had in the Dark Ages, pages and pages and pages and pages, they thought they'd get away with it."  In the background, I feel like that guitar riff he is using during the verses sounds like one from a Rage Against the Machine song.  Can't put my finger on which one.  Just under a million streams.

The unfortunate thing is that the right people will never hear that song.  Although, I suppose, the people I think ought to hear just wouldn't give a shit because that is the whole point.  They're getting money and power despite their terrible behavior and destruction of the proper order of the world.  Pretty good guitar solos in there too.  "The Ballad of Big Balls" comes on like the Georgia Satellites singing about keeping your hands to yourself and yet is singing about the failure of DOGE, I think.  "Domestic Error" is a good one about making up terror to scare people.

I'd absolutely go watch this guy play.

Damaris Bojor

One Liner:  Spanish language, and at least to my ear, pretty traditional

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, this is folkpirano (duh)

Home: Mexico

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 23
Weekend Two Only
Saturday at 1:45

BMI Stage

Thoughts:  The funny thing is that in just about every case where the singer isn't using English, I am immediately a hard no.  However, I have actually been kind of grooving along to this gal.

She is from Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, and claims to have created a new genre called Folkpirano.  She says "Folkpirano is a blend of campirano, regional music of Sierra de Sonora, Sinaloa and American folk/country. The sound is string music. One guitar, a twelve string, bass, and occasional harmonica and percussion. I consider Miguel Y Miguel to be the roots of the genre.”  I don't know how to tell it apart from other Mexican traditional music, but either her voice or the grooves in here have kept me from moving on.  Of course, I have no clue what she is talking about, so that is slightly less fun.

Her first single was in 2022, and then a full album with 2025's Folkpirana.  Her most recent single is a pop cover that I am sure I should know, but I am going to have to look it up.  It is "All The Things She Said" by t.A.T.u.  I was expecting something that I actually recognized like The Backstreet Boys or something...  Oh well.  Her top track is "Miro Al Cielo," which means I look at the sky.  1 million streams.

Very gentle and pretty tune.  I hope the lyrics aren't about drowning herself.  Her second most streamed is "Nube de paso," which means pass cloud.  She really likes the sky, huh?  657k streams.

Hell yeah.  Tuba in the background of a song from Mexico will always be my jam.  Also, before I go - DAH-mah-rees BOH-hor.

Kingfishr (no longer coming)

One Liner:  Intense Irish folk music like Mumford got a better accent

Wikipedia Genre:  indie folk, Irish folk music

Home: Limerick, Ireland

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 9.
Weekend Two Only. 
Apparently not coming anymore...

[location]

Thoughts:  When I saw this name on the poster, I was certain that this was a repeat and this was a bluesy guitar hero type teenager.  I have no idea who it was that I was thinking about, but this is very traditional-sounding Irish music like Amble from last year.  Hooray for me!

Although, actually, after making it through their catalog and restarting today, they are different from Amble.  Amble seemed more chilled.  These guys feel more intense, like they are still playing Irish folk tunes, but the vocals feel like they are pushing and yearning and really trying to make sure that we know the extent of their emotional heft.  Sort of like some of the Mumford & Sons songs.  Like, "Bet on Beauty" sounds very much like a Mumford tune and I don't mean that as a slight, it is pretty enjoyable and rockin'.

Three members, Eddie, Eoghan, and Eoin, who met whilst studying engineering in Limerick.  This feels like the setup for a limerick.  "There once were three lads from Limerick..."  They chose the band name after the kingfisher bird that frequently flies over their home region in Ireland.  They are really beautiful birds.

Their one studio album (2025's Halcyon) went to #1 in Ireland and the lead single reached #1 and went four times platinum.  This is "Killeagh," which very much sounds Irish.  63.3 million streams.

I mean, makes me want to stand on the shores of my country and fight hand in hand with my brothers for the soul of MY LAND!!!  Apparently, the song was written as a half joke, with a friend asking one of the band members to write a song for the local Killeagh Gaelic Athletic Association club.  They threw together a bunch of landmarks and connections to the local world, released it as a b-side, and then watched it go viral and eclipse all of their other music.  Good stuff.

They have a new album slated to come out this year, and are dripping out songs as one does now.  The top one so far is "The Blade" with 7.4 million streams.

"I've burned all my bridges, I've earned my degree, the darkness is all I have waiting for me."  Lovely singing too.  These guys are great.  I'd absolutely go see it.

FIGHTMASTER

One Liner:  Cool, chill indie rock vibes from an ex-Gray's Anatomy (minor) actor

Wikipedia Genre:  Indie, folky indie rock

Home: Chicago

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 24
Weekend One Only.
Saturday at 12:45

BMI Stage.

Thoughts:  I was really hoping for some angry metal, but I will settle for a person singing over a guitar.  Does anyone out there remember My Brightest Diamond?  (True confession, I was thinking it was called My Prettiest Diamond and had to go look it up)  Anyway, sometimes this voice reminds me of her voice.  I like it.  Especially on the great cover of "I Will Follow You Into the Dark."  I think I am realizing a pattern that I like the music on the bottom half of the poster more than the supposedly popular stuff.

Now here is an odd juxtaposition of things I did not expect.  Emmett Rogers Fightmaster (apparently their legit surname), known professionally as E. R. Fightmaster, is an American actor, producer, and writer. Fightmaster is known for their work on Grey's Anatomy as Dr. Kai Bartley.  That was season 3,982 of the show, and we had given up on it by then.  This passage from a Greys fandom website makes me remember why: "Kai then asked if Amelia could return to Minnesota soon to help them work out some kinks. Amelia said she would. Kai then helped Amelia get some relief from the heat by having her imagine being somewhere very cold."  WTF man.  Why didn't we think of that for all of the people dying of heatstroke right now?  "Imagine you're cold!"  "Oh man, I'm all better!  Thanks Dr. Bartley!"

They earned a degree from DePaul University in Chicago, and then joined Second City's Chicago company.  Since then, they have appeared in a Hulu show named Shrill and a film called Sorry, Baby.  I don't know those.  They were in a musical duo named Twin (which I also don't recognize) and started this solo project as well.

That solo music started in 2023 with an EP called Violence, then a 2024 EP called Bloodshed Baby, and finally a 2026 album called Tolerance.  It is a legitimately cool sound.  I have been enjoying the chill indie vibe.  Their Wikipedia doesn't say what style of music this is, but it sounds like folky indie rock to me.

"Bad Man," and early single and on that first EP, is the top streamer with 3.4 million on Spotify.

I like the closed captions on that one, where as they start to sing, it just says [music].  Has kind of a sped up Lucy Dacus feel too.  "Wild One," off the new album, is a fun little bop.  From her new album, the top track is "Quicksand" with 393k streams.

Another good, tight little tune.  The title makes me think of the great little line of jokes on Twitter and whatnot about how when we were little, we were led to believe that quicksand was going to be one of the biggest dangers of the rest of our lives.  So true.  From Princess Bride to Blazing Saddles and in between.  But I really enjoy that one too.

I'm sure they are about to get assigned the noon on Sunday slot, but this is something that I will enjoy even aside from the Festival.  Let's go!

Cassandra Coleman

One Liner:  Only a couple of songs, but promising folky indie rock with a great voice

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, this is folk rock, indie pop

Home: Tennessee

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 18
Weekend Two Only
Friday at 2pm

Tito's Tent

Thoughts:  Her top song was on the soundtrack for Nobody Wants This, which was a show that I really enjoyed.  Definitely some cringey moments, but overall a very nice story that kept us interested.

Coleman was on American Idol Season 19 (2021).  That show has disappeared from my brain - the three winners from that season ring absolutely zero bells to me - Chayce Beckham?  Willie Spence?  Grace Kinstler?  Nope.  She performed Aurora's "Running With the Wolves" (never heard of it) in the first round, Sigma's "Find Me" (never heard of it) and One Direction's "Apologize" in the second round, Maggie Rogers' excellent "Light On" and Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" in the third round, Sam Smith's "Writing's on the Wall" (from the Spectre soundtrack) for the Top 12, and then got eliminated with "Go the Distance" from the Disney movie Hercules.

Her debut single was produced by Jack Antonoff and recorded with the entire Bleachers band.  The bio I just read said that she grew up in rural Tennessee near the Blue Ridge mountains.  I wonder where, exactly?  She says she was obsessed with music since childhood, and her dad introduced her to lots of classic rock while her mom played her James Taylor and John Denver (solid background - wish she was recreating it here!).  She was working at Trader Joe's until just recently, but now is giving the music thing a full send.

Only five total songs available on Spotify, so not just a ton to go off of.  But I like it generally.  A little Maggie Rogers sound, maybe some lite Florence in there.  Here is the top song from the TV show, "Bite My Tongue" with 4.6 million streams.

My red-headed sister!  Don't murder that big old tree!  Also, you should use a real axe and not that mattock.  Going to really hurt your hands!  More Maggie feels to me, maybe a little HAIM in there as well.  I wonder if Antonoff/Bleachers did this one too?

Second-biggest streamer is "Moonbeam" with 957k streams.

Great voice.  The tune under it is fine, but it is her voice that has me paying attention.  "Maggie" is really good (gives me some Sheryl Crow vibes), and "Coming of Age," that debut with Antonoff, is good as well.  I agree with her that the drums kicking in at the end are cool.  She's good!  I'd check it out!

Kevin Atwater

One Liner: Falsetto-fied, deeply confessional, indie pop
Wikipedia Genre: Indie, folk, pop
Home: Downers Grove, Illinois (that's a depressing ass town name) to NYC

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 17
Day: Sunday at 2pm
Weekend Two Only.

Beatbox Stage.

Thoughts:  The first song, his most popular, is so softly sung that I had trouble even hearing it.  He first achieved popularity through a TikTok account that posted comedy bits, gaining about a million followers, and then went for a music angle.  A lot of these songs seem to be about the hardships of gay romance.  It is very pretty, but I am finding myself pretty bored by the staid instrumentation covered by whispery falsetto.

Two albums, 2023's Downers Grove and 2025's Achilles.  The top track is from that first album, called "star tripping" with 13.8 million streams.

I agree with the crowd, that is one of the better songs in this group.  Also kind of funny, when you enter his name into Wikipedia, the page that comes up is for a fictitious character from Chicago PD who has the same name.  How is a fake guy going to come up before a real one?

That first song on his Popular list is a 2023 single that already tells a whole story just by the title.  "why did you invite me to your wedding" has 6.8 million streams.

Beautiful song when I can actually hear it.  Like the best kind of depressing ass Pheobe Bridgers song that crushes you a little bit thinking about the person who wrote it and what they went through.  So good.  I doubt I will go see this, but I could see a Tito's Tent quiet set that would be excellent.

Happy Landing

One Liner: Another indie folk band clapping and stomping their way into catchy tunes
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, more indie folk stuff
Home: Oxford, MS

Poster Position: Last Quarter - Line 20
Day: Friday at 1pm
Weekend Two Only.

T-Mobile Stage

Thoughts:  I actually feel bad about this.  This is genuinely nice music.  But I am personally so damned tired of this style of indie rock!  Last weekend, my wife was trying very hard to find a good compromise for us to have on the radio as we drove to Dallas together.  As you likely know by now, my tastes run a little harder edged than hers.  So, she found some Spotify playlist called Happy that she fired up, and for a good bit of the drive, it was pretty passable.  Not perfect, I had to skip a few of the cheesiest tunes, but it was good ambiance music for a while.  The problem is that when every single band ends up copying The Lumineers and Noah Kahan and The Head and The Heart and Of Monsters and Men and Caamp and Mt. Joy and Judah & the Lion and Mumford & Sons and Wilderado and and and and and and and it can make my brain become an insane asylum.  On the drive home, once she fell asleep, I put on the Beths so that I could hear a real guitar used correctly.

Anyway, this is another band in that wheelhouse.  And they sound really good!  I'm just a prick!  The band name apparently comes from the lead singer's grandad, who used to tell stories about WW2, and claimed that the soldiers jumping out of airplanes would tell each other "I hope you have a happy landing."  Gomer Pyle-ass soldiers.  "Aww gee, fellas, ain't hoppin' outta airplanes swell!"  I am guessing they all met at Ole Miss, but the article I just read said they relocated to Nashville.

A handful of EPs leading up to two albums - 2024's Golden and 2026's Big Sun.  The top track is from the new disc, in fact, kind of strange to see, but all ten of their most popular songs on Spotify are from the new disc.  Usually, an older song will stay up in that listing for a band.  "Radiate" has 2.6 million streams.

See what I mean?  That is a good song.  Catchy and a nice little groove tucked in there.  And yet, I don't want to keep listening to this.  Annoying.  The top track from that first album was "Mountain Mama," which I really want to quote "Country Road".  Just over 1 million streams.

Ba ba bop bapadapa!  Again, gets my head bobbing and is a perfectly fine song, but when they start scatting in harmonies my skin crawls.  My hope for this band is that I get over myself by the fall and go see an up-and-coming band that will make my wife happy.

Alex Amen

One Liner: Absolutely beautiful folk like a young John Denver
Wikipedia Genre: Folk
Home: California (via Texas)

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 25
Day: Sunday.  
Weekend Two Only.

12:15 pm on the AmEx Stage. (brutal time slot)

Thoughts: I want you to just hear this first song before my blathering ruins your first moments with this young man.  "This Love of Mine" with just barely over a million streams.

My goodness.  That is lovely.  Like an early John Denver got crossed with an early Townes Van Zandt after listening to some Jim Croce.  Where in the world did this come from?  Seriously sounds like a lost album from the 70's that never got its due.

For annoying reasons, his website is blocked at my office.  So dumb.  I promise I will not download a virus while looking up an indie musician's bio.  He is originally from Texas, and moved to California at 18 to study filmmaking.  After one semester of that, he dropped out and moved onto the "Dittman Family Commune, a historic commune with ties to the anti-war, civil rights, and psychedelic countercultural movements of the mid-60’s."  He later moved to an island in the Puget Sound, spending years in relative isolation taking up various interests.  He moved back to CA and self-produced some music and started touring.  Not a lot of other background on the guy, but I freaking love this music.

He apparently wrote "California Blues" when he was 14 years old.  I am in awe.  That was his first single, from 2024.  373k streams.

Weird to see a modern truck in that video - since it feels like the song was for sure released in 1969 and later placed on the Forest Gump soundtrack.  Freaking wild, man.  I wanna go camping with those dudes.  Really hearing the John Denver there.  One of my mom's best friends really really loved John Denver, and so I have a soft spot in my heart for him.  Obviously, Country Roads is a jam, and his Christmas album with the Muppets is a nostalgic love for me.  But cool to hear this today. "And Her Colors" has no rhymes and yet really works.

"This Love of Mine" up there was a 2015 single, but for some reason it did not make the 2025 EP called the Zorthian Tapes (while "California Blues" did?).  No real album available on Spotify - I guess he kept his initial self-produced disc to himself.  Jirayr Zorthian was an Armienian-American artist who had a fascinating background - born in 1911 in the Ottoman Empire, moved to America and earned a MFA at Yale, moved to Italy to study art, and then returned to the US in the Great Depression and painted many massive murals like 11 that still stand in the Tennessee State Capitol.  They sort of look like those murals in Pawnee in Parks & Rec.

Stupid weekend two only.  Also, this poor dude will be done before any other artist on the poster even steps on stage.  Did he piss someone off at the C3 headquarters?  That seems weird.

Hans Williams

One Liner: Yummy, vibey Noah Kahan-esque tunes
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but indie
Home: New Orleans (or maybe back home to Vermont?)

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 15
Day: Sunday
Weekend Two Only.

T-Mobile Stage at 12:45.

Thoughts:  "Eeeh! Sorry Hans, wrong guess. Would you like to go for Double Jeopardy where the scores can really change?"

My first thought when I saw the name wasn't actually Hans Gruber, it was that this was the guy who wrote the Star Wars and Indiana Jones theme songs.  But that was wrong.  I was conflating Hans Zimmer (Lion King, Dune, Gladiator, Pirates of the Carribean, Dark Knight trilogy, and many more) with John Williams (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jaws, E.T. Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, and many more).  THEN, about halfway through his first song I had to look and make sure I hadn't accidentally played Noah Kahan instead of this fella.  

Dude is from Vermont.  Maybe everyone from Vermont sounds the same?  A bio I read said that he started making music in the third grade and would hand out CDs after school.  Which is hilarious.  I would have taken one and thrown it so hard at some kid waiting for his mom, I'd still be in trouble in middle age.  He got some tunes on Spotify and had more than a million streams before graduating high school.  He moved to New Orleans to attend Tulane and kept at it, writing his first hit about a student on his dorm floor who committed suicide.  Heavy shit.  Thankfully for my brain, that is not a top track.

No albums, just one 2024 EP called More Than One Way Home.  The hit from that one is also his second-most streamed track overall - "Skin" has 23.6 million streams.

Bro.  Is that the same field and house that Noah Kahan is standing in front of on his Stick Season album cover?  Vermont-ass weirdos.  Only one house in that state.  Anyway, very pleasant little indie bop right there.  Good vibe.

The bigger tune is a 2022 single called "All is Well," and you'll notice that he keeps the style rolling over time.  53.4 million streams.

Dude looks 14.  But another cute, little strummy nugget of pleasant indie.  Also, I want to go wander around that ferny little gully with him.  That looks nice.  Also, wonderful set of lyrics - the "if I get overwhelmed, I'm sure you'll never know, keep it to myself, all is well" bit of the chorus hits home.

I threw this on in the car just now, and the kiddo and wife agreed with my NK comparison.  But also, it helped to realize that some of the top songs are different for sure - like "93" has a drum machine beat going on in the background of the guitar.  I like the organic things better.

I'd go check this out - too bad it is weekend two only!

Gizmo Varillas

One Liner: Low-key Black Keys vibes for a Spanish/Welsh groover
Wikipedia Genre: Singer Songwriter, Indie, Funk, Latin, Tropical, Acoustic, Folk, Rock
Home: Wales (via Spain)

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 25
Day: Sunday.  1pm on the AmEx Stage.
Weekend One Only.

Thoughts: GIZMO KAKA!!!

Just to make sure I was getting that quote right, and there is no way I was getting it wrong because I have said that line from Gremlins about 300,000 times in my life, I googled it.  I would be embarrassed if it was actually "dudu" or something.  Anyway, the four "People also ask" items on Google, after a prompt of just "gizmo kaka", are as follows:   (1) What does Gizmo kaka mean?; (2) Why does Stripe hate Gizmo?; (3) What is Gizmo's full name?; (4) Does Gizmo have a gender?

Gizmo's full name?  Have human beings ever actually asked that dumbass question?  Really?  "Well, actually, his middle name of Terrence was given to him to honor Mr. Peltzer's great-grandfather, who was actually the first Peltzer to try his hand at the age-old pasttime of invention."  WTF google.

Anyhoo, sorry, I digress for sure.  But this is pretty sweet guitar rock action kind of like a lower key Black Keys, if they frequently lapsed into Spanish lyrics.  Guillermo Varillas Kortabarria was born in Spain but then raised in Wales.  His first single was in 2014, when he was 24 and looked like he was 11.  4 albums - 2017's El Dorado, 2018's Dreaming of Better Days, 2020's Out of the Darkness, and 2025's The World in Colour.  That last album is honestly great.  Top song on there is "End of the Line" with 1.3 million streams.

"No War," from his first album, sampled John Lennon with the permission of Yoko.  That disc still had his top five streaming songs - while his 2020 album is definitely the ignored little red-headed step-child with very few streams.  "Paraiso" from the debut disc is his top streamer at 47 million.

Reminds me of those brothers who were here last year.  Hermanos Gutierrez.  Their sound was cool as hell.  The second album sometimes has a Lord Huron flavor to it.  "The Truth Will Be Heard" very much sounds like a cover of some other song that I have heard before (but Google didn't help me figure it out).

I like it.  I'd go check it out, except that the 1pm Sunday show is a tough sell!

Briscoe

One Liner: Local boys making folky rock fun
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, this is folk-rock, Americana, Saxophone-aided boogie
Home: Austin!

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 11
Day: Friday
Weekend One Only.

Ladybird Stage at 5:30.

Thoughts:  I'm just going to claim credit for them being on the poster.  I keep saying their name each year after the Festival, when C3 asks for suggestions of who should be on the poster.  There is no way these dudes are commanding some huge fee to come and play, why not add them on here and make the world a better place?

I wrote up a show I saw from these guys a few years back.  "Briscoe is a neat little band - formed in part by two dudes who met at the same summer camp where I went approximately 3 million years ago.  Some friends got together a big group of people to go check out this show, part of a multi-week residency that the band did at C-Boys this summer.  We were legitimately the first people there, lined up outside of this little bar like we were Harry Styles fanboys lined up to get front row.  Someone bought a six pack of beer from the 7-11 across the street, and we waited for the doors to open.

I had never been to C-Boys before, but it is a cool venue (just very tight!).  The band was set up in the back corner, and some tables ran down the center of the room.  I wish we would have had the forethought to snag one of the booths on the far wall, would have made for a nice watching experience, but we just stood in the middle like goobers.

Anyway, they played a nice (although too short) set of originals and covers, with good backing and solid harmonies.  For a band that I had never even heard mentioned before, it really was a refreshingly wonderful thing to go to a new place and hear a really solid band with a bunch of friends.  Highly recommend the experience!"  

I've since seen them three more times - good times!  What I will say about their lives shows, in addition to that note above, is that the UT fraternity/sorority crowd is absolutely IN TO THE ACTION.  The Scoot Inn show I saw a year or two ago felt like a Fiji mixer.

And for good reason, as the dudes were UT students only a few years ago.  Truett Heintzelman and Philip Lupton, if I recall correctly from the anecdotes shared during those shows, were in the Christian fraternity BUX, and after cutting their teeth playing at camp, moved up to backyard parties at Texas, before opening for Caamp and Zach Bryan.  I have to provide this anecdote from their website:

It was during adolescence that Heintzelman and Lupton first met as teenagers at a summer camp on the outskirts of Kerrville, Texas. "I walked into camp as a 14 year-old redheaded kid who didn't know anybody at all, so I just kept my eyes on the ground," Lupton remembers. "A couple feet away from me was another person wearing the exact same pair of Chacos as me, and when we both looked up, it felt like we were looking in the mirror." Lupton and Heintzelman didn't just look alike; they were both drawn to similar music, too, from golden-era folk duos like Simon & Garfunkel to 21st century torchbearers like the Avett Brothers. They hit it off immediately, and at a talent show later that week, the two campers performed John Prine's "Paradise," laying the brickwork for the collaborative sound they'd eventually make as Briscoe."

They played "Paradise" at the Scoot Inn show for sure, and it was phenomenal.   I figured their big single would be "The Well," as that is the singalong king at the shows because of the chorus.  1.6 million streams and a spot on the 2023 album West of it All.

That is an absolutely beautiful property.  Thought maybe it was LLYC at first, but I don't think any of it was there.  Teh bigger streamers end up being two tracks from their 2020 EP - "She Burns Away" with 1.9 million and "Hooped Earrings" with 3.8 million streams.  Here is the latter.

Also imminently singalong able with that line about "some boy from L.A."  And you get a taste of that salty saxophone action in there as well.  Their most recent single on Spotify is a great cover of the Alabama Shakes song "Hold On."  Dig it.

Trust me - go check this one out and have a good time.

Vincent Lima

One Liner: Bombastically large indie rock songs about loss and grief and Greek myths
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is indie rock, folky pop
Home: L.A.

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 14
Day: Friday
Both Weekends.

Tito's Tent at 4:30.

Thoughts:  His voice sort of makes me think of some country guy, but I can't come up with who it is.  But his music is more of a The Fray - made for Gray's Anatomy - type bombastic, emotional indie rock pop stuff.  He got to open for Jonah Kagen, who was on last year's line-up.  Maybe they are both just managed by C3.

He says he wrote his first songs when he was six or seven, but never really considered that music could be his viable career until more recently.  Born in Chicago, raised in New Jersey, now in L.A.  He taught himself how to play the piano, and when a close friend died, he started writing songs as a way of processing his grief.

His top song, "Orpheus," is inspired by the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and about grief, memory, and holding on to lost loved ones.  Here is the story that inspired it all: "While walking among her people, the Cicones, in tall grass at her wedding, Eurydice was set upon by a satyr. In her efforts to escape the satyr, Eurydice fell into a nest of vipers and suffered a fatal bite on her heel. Her body was discovered by Orpheus who, overcome with grief, played such sad and mournful songs that all the nymphs and gods wept. On their advice, Orpheus traveled to the underworld. His music softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone, who agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. Orpheus set off with Eurydice following; however, as soon as he had reached the upper world, he immediately turned to look at her, forgetting in his eagerness that both of them needed to be in the upper world for the condition to be met. As Eurydice had not yet crossed into the upper world, she vanished for the second time, this time forever."  11.3 million streams.

He also has another song called Eurydice, so he is really leaning into that Greek mythology angle to tell sad stories about love and loss.  Lotta singles and two EPs in his discography.  No full album yet.  Visions of Uncertainty is the 2024 EP that has those two songs I have mentioned, as well as his second-biggest streamer "The Fire."  10.1 million streams.

Oh, the little blurb I read about him says that the entire EP takes inspiration from the tales of Orpheus and Eurydice.  Seems odd to base your whole career off of one Greek myth, but these songs are pretty damn powerful sounding, so maybe he is on to something.  The next EP will be all about Jason and the Argonauts.  Well, maybe not.  His newest single is called "Something Sweet," so maybe it is about ambrosia and the Lotophagi.  Let's try that one on just in case - 357k streams.

Damn, he is still singing about not being allowed to look behind himself.  Chill on the looking back, homie.  But yeah, that is another pretty, sad song about loss and leaving.  I mean, these songs sound really good and feel important.  But what a bummer of a set to just hear massive sadness songs for an hour.  

I think I am likely good on this one, although it's not a hard no.  I just assume there are other things I'd rather see that hour.

Amble

One Liner: Fresh and lovely Irish folk
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is folk
Home: Dublin

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 14
Day: Friday
Both Weekends.

Tito's Tent at 2:45.

Thoughts:  Oh, sign me up.  Three Irish singer-songwriters in one band named after just about the best possible walking gait?  How can you resist?  

Did you know that Amble is a coastal town on the North Sea coast in Northumberland, England?  I did not.  Also, Alf Amble was an anti-Semite from Norway.  Michele Bachmann's maiden name, too.  But this trio - Robbie Cunningham, Oisin McCaffrey, and Ross McNerney - hail from the Midlands and West of Ireland and decided to join forces to make modern folk music fun.  They just got started in 2023, but are already selling out shows and crushing it despite only a few published songs.  When they first got started, they were doing day jobs - two school teachers and one data scientist - and then got a call from a label in L.A. looking to sign them up.  Gone were the pub shows and they got down to work of becoming a proper band.

No albums yet, just two EPs - 2024's Of Land and Sea and 2024's The Commons.  So far, each of the songs is pretty simple and pure - no drums, no odd instruments, just guitars and mandolins and harmonies.  Which is excellent to hear.  I want to be in a dank Galway pub right now, hearing these three wander their way through this catalog.  Top streamer is a 2024 single that didn't make the EP - "Lonely Island" with 12.2 million streams.

Please take me there immediately to frolic on that hillside.  Damn Texas heat blasting the world into dust outside while those folks can touch green grass and dance around a fire.  I played this for the wife last night as we puttered around the kitchen preparing to go out with some friends, and she loved it too.  Although she thinks one of the singers sounds like the Crash Test Dummies guy, which I find hilarious.  "The Commons" stands out to me because of the instrumentation and the soloing at the end, and "Mary's Pub" sounds classic.  But I'm going to give you the newer single called "Schoolyard Days."  3.9 million streams.

  

I've been to Ireland once, but it is fascinating how nostalgic these tunes are making me feel, for a place I really have no right to feel a longing for.  Almost an Appalachian feel to the guitar-work there, which I guess is how that works - our hayseeds took from their hayseeds and now they're taking it back.

I think this is great.  Not sure how it will feel in a huge dusty field in a crowd, versus how amazing it would be at the Cactus Cafe or something like that, but I'd absolutely give it a shot.

Jensen McRae

One Liner: Fantastic folky pop with clever lyrics
Wikipedia Genre: Folk, alternative folk, folk-pop, indie rock
Home: L.A.

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 13
Day: Friday
Both Weekends.

Miller Lite at 3:00.

Thoughts:  Pleasantly surprised.  That name made me think I was about to get some vapid teenybopper thing, and instead this is really pretty confessional pop indie type stuff that is well-written with strong vocals.  Draws me right in.  Oh, that is Tate McRae I was thinking of.  She sucks on toast.

Instead, this is wonderful.  Makes me think of boygenius and Maggie Rogers.  She claims early childhood influences of Carole King, James Taylor, and Alicia Keys, and has been singing and playing piano since age seven.  She attended something called Grammy Camp in high school, which helped her decide to pursue music.  Now I want to know about this camp.  A seven-day non-residential music industry program to help high school students interested in careers in music.  Three in 2025 - Miami, New York, and L.A.  You can choose a track - music production, songwriting, music business, vocal performance, etc.  Pretty rad.

Anyway, she graduated from USC's Thornton School of Music with a degree in music performance.  She has said that the music industry has tried to shove her into the R&B and soul categories because she is black, but her music is neither of those things.  At all.  She has had multiple great co-signs, with Phoebe Bridgers re-tweeting her, Joy Oladokun collaborating on a song, NPR naming one of her songs one of "16 Songs Public Radio Can't Stop Playing," she got to open for Noah Kahan, and was featured on a CBS morning show.

Two albums - 2022's Are You Happy Now? and 2025's I Don't Know How But They Found Me.  IDKHOW was a band on the poster last year!  It all comes full circle, y'all.  Her top streamer was a single that popped up in that first album.  "My Ego Dies in the End" has 20.5 million streams.

That little "Exodus" drum roll that pops up over and over in there made me laugh out loud the first time it fired out.  That video is brutal though - who knew that watching someone remove makeup and cry could be so affecting.  The top track from the second disc is also very good, confessional folky pop.  "Massachusetts" fires up 5.6 million streams.  And no, I cannot spell that state name without help.

Sort of like a Taylor Swift vibe in there for me too.  I love the idea of her knowing she could make some cash off of that chain, but also clearly knowing it ain't for sale.  Her videos are definitely pretty crappy and low-rent!  But her voice is liquid honey and her lyrics are clever and interesting.  I feel like maybe she should change her performing name so that it doesn't make me think of crappy Canadian pop singers, and then she'll be #1!  I'd go check her out for sure.

Crowe Boys

One Liner: Actual brothers making pretty fun folky rock
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but indie rock, Americana, folk rock
Home: New Orleans (via Baton Rouge)

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 15
Day: Friday
Weekend Two Only.

Beatbox Stage at 2:00.

Thoughts: My elementary school principal was named Mrs. Crowe.  She freaking ruled.  Well, you know how memories from childhood persist and morph and settle in, to fit what you think they were, but if my memory is correct, it was Mrs. Crowe who made it so that our hallways were like a miniature zoo full of animals we could look at during the school day.  If I remember correctly, good grades or attendance or something would earn you time with the animals.  I definitely remember the insanely soft, light grey chinchillas.  But my favorite of all of the animals in the school was, in part, because of my favorite place in the school.  The library (who knew, I was a nerd?) was my refuge to go read, and the left side wall of the library had windows looking out into a large aviary that had been built into a nook of the building.  There was a magical little spiral staircase that led up to a similarly small upstairs part of the library, and I would go hole up in that space with a book.  And the soundtrack to that space was the gently soothing cooing of the group of mourning doves that lived in that aviary.  I loved that space.  While in law school, I found that the sketchy bamboo thicket out back of our crappy duplex was the home to a pack of mourning doves, and so when I was stressed out I learned to go sit on the tiny back patio and just listen to them call.

You can see the spiral staircase there, and those windows in the bottom right corner led out to the aviary.  I think I had to spend extra time here after school while my mom did PTA stuff, and so I spent some nice, quiet time in these spaces.

Oh, I am so pleased.  Go to 17:20 in this video and you can see some of what I meant!  At 21:35 you can see the aviary!  I am literally tearing up right now.  God, I hope this band is actually good.  Haha.

Hooray for me!  A nice little Americana/folky sound with great harmonies and some tasty banjo licks.  Their Spotify bio says that they spent their childhood traveling around the American South with their family band until their mother passed away.  So, the boys put down roots in New Orleans as young teenagers and started to gravitate towards folk-influenced artists.  Ocie Crowe on acoustic guitar and Wes Crowe on mandolin.  According to their website bio, they originally tried to break through as an indie punk band, with Ocie on guitar, Wes on bass, and other brother Jacob on drums, but that was apparently a major flop.  "After one night of hustling to fill up a venue, the crowd completely emptied out after the opening act’s set."  That has to be a horrible feeling.  But as they evolved into something else, a friend played their tunes for one of the guys in the Revivalists, who jumped on it and helped the brothers get into the studio and record their sound.

They reluctantly started posting little clips to TikTok, and a rendition of "Where Did I Go Wrong" went viral while the two brothers were at their normal jobs, trying to keep track of it going crazy.  Within hours, several hundred thousand views, and by the next day they snagged more than a million views (with it finally topping out over 13 million streams).  That led to managers and labels and everyone else popping out to snatch them up, and they ended up signing with C3.  That is still their top track, with 6.8 million streams.

Good lyrics about just trying to figure out life as it keeps hurtling by.  No actual album yet, although their last several singles are released with the cover for a future album that will be called Made to Wander.  "Let Me Feel Alone" is the second biggest streamer so far with just over a million streams.

His voice sounds like someone else who I can't quite recall.  But the harmonies and the instruments and the vocals, all just spot on for me.  Good ass hootenanny song to boogie down to in an open field!  "Bootstraps" is also a good tune.  For all the people who wanted to hear Caamp last year, this ought to get them in the mood this time!