Christian Reed

An intimate seated theater with room to dance in front, and a small concession in the lobby. The Aladdin a has homey, community feel, while bringing in great local and national talent.

Laura has an extremely delicate sound that rewards the intent listener. Her songs are often heartbreaking, but that's sort of the allure of this genre. BTW, if you can catch her with her backing band, it's a real treat. The restraint they showed not to overpower her sound was really impressive.

With a voice like Stevie Nicks, dark, brooding songs, and sparse arrangements with accordion and banjo, Autopilot recalls Fleetwood Mac with an infusion of gypsy.

I can't say enough good things about Thao. The songs are all well-written, and the music is all up-tempo and, heaven forbid in the indie world, danceable! Thao is just a ball of energy, pouring every ounce of herself into songs that obviously carry a lot of personal weight. If you love great songs, and music with energy, definitely go check these guys out.

Tripped-out, electronic-inspired folk rock. Don't let that description turn you off, though, these guys are fantastic.

It's always great when a band finds a forgotten corner of musical styling and mines it anew. The Decemberists are just such a band, and I'll go out on a limb as describing their style as nautically themed folk. That might be a stretch, but I imagine their music as an updated version of what you would hear spilling from a dockside tavern in the 1830's. Their themes varied and exciting, and they don't shy away from telling an expansive tale.

Two hearty thumbs up.

Folk singer and guitar player. Great on covers of old folk standards.

Folk singer with strong guitar skills. Her vocals and style have a light quality that lend themselves to sparse arrangements and covers of old standards.

Just a flat-out great guitar player.

Quizzy is an awesome trivia night. Team size is flexible, it moves along at a good pace, doesn't take all night, and the questions are varied and make a nice progression of difficulty.

BTW, don't forget, tip a buck a head to Roy the quizmaster.

Strong two-man rock outfit. Worth checking out.

With strong vocals and tight play, Honest to Empire is a strong bet for the Metallica set.

Thao makes the "folk/rock" moniker look good, claiming the best of both genres, with tightly written songs, and fast rhythms that you can actually dance to. Just when I thought I was getting bored with music, I heard her, and have played it over and over again.

Some of the most creative music that I've heard in a while. The heart of the music is looped vocals and violin, which, if you've heard Andrew Bird, you know can actually lead to richly layered composition in the right hands. Everything is just light and beautiful.

The show is, as you would expect, tending more towards the indie-rock one-man-show vein, but the album was an unexpected delight, as it's probably most closely categorized as a hip-hop record with violins.

Emily is a winner all around. I'd recommend the show and the latest album wholeheartedly.

Ralph is the rare politician who will actually tell you what he thinks about an issue. Most of his politics are way far left, but he's worth seeing if for no other reason than that he'll actually make you think. Well, that and the crew that generally shows up for him. That alone is worth the price of admission.

Calexico's music is like an old western: expansive and relaxed, while at the same time capturing that underlying tension. Spanish horns play over the top of acoustic guitars, and songs spill out like old ballads. In your minds eye you can see the gunslingers eying each other. This is one of my favorite bands, hands down.

They dream of being Stubb's.

An outdoor venue in the middle of a city with fabulous year-round weather. A steady stream of A-list bands, and fantastic acoustics. Stubb's has it all. Whenever I'm going to Austin, this is the first place I check to see if I should go to a show.

Dark, haunting, beautiful country songs that lean perhaps a little more towards rock than twang. I can't recommend Jesse Sykes enough. She's just amazing.

I caught these guys at Coachella a few years ago, and their live show looks and feels pretty much how their records sound: dark and with a lot of energy. I highly recommend.