Annual Bastrop Music Festival: The following is a list of the best local bands performing in the Austin region from September 22nd to the 28th. Check out our complete autumn music guide for this week’s traveling performances.
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Bastrop Music Festival, Thursday-Sunday
It’s not the Austin City Limits Music Festival, but if you appreciate local music at a low cost, it could be better. The Bastrop Music Festival offers hundreds of local musicians performing at a variety of downtown Bastrop locations along the Colorado River.
The Peterson Brothers, Pat Byrne, Mike & the Moonpies, Deezie Brown, Shelley King, the Watters, Donovan Keith, PAACK, Phil Hurley, and Micky & the Motorcars are among the performers.
Neighbor’s (with deck and yard stages), Old Town Restaurant, Gracie’s, and 602 Brewing Company all have performances from 6 p.m. until midnight. Several additional venues will host free gigs in the morning and afternoon, including Madam Radar’s 5 p.m. sets at Astro Record Store on September 23 and Sour Bridges on September 24.
Copper Shot Distillery, Bastrop Beer Company, Bastrop Farmers Market, Sugar Shack (for a children’s show), and Kerr Community Center are also free-show locations. Four-day tickets are $40 ($100 for VIP).
KUTX Rocks the Park with Nuevo at Mueller Lake Park on Friday
On September 23, KUTX 98.9 FM will return to this East Austin park for the fall edition of the public radio station’s Rock the Park concert series. The free performances match a kid-friendly act with a prominent Austin performer who will get the whole family moving.
The inaugural event on Friday features children’s musician Andy Sprouts as well as Tejano soul band Nuevo, which includes David Jimenez and Dante Schwebel.
On Oct. 21, Primo the Alien and Karate Dance Party will perform, followed by Deezie Brown and Parker Woodland on Nov. 11. Food trucks will be on-site, and the wonderful drag queens from Extragrams will perform in between acts. 6:30 p.m.
Friday is Wammo’s second annual 60th birthday celebration at ABGB
Wammo was a familiar face in the Austin music scene before relocating to Pittsburgh a decade ago. He was a washboard player with Asylum Street Spankers, a DJ for a local radio station, starred in Richard Linklater’s film “Slacker,” and moved over into spoken word with enough sass to land a position on a Lollapalooza tour.
Wammo, who was born on Christmas Day, had intended to celebrate his 60th birthday during the holidays last year, but a COVID-19 increase in the winter interrupted.
So he’ll be back in town this weekend for his “second annual” 60th birthday extravaganza, which will feature performances by the Wannabes, Living Pins, Kathy McCarty, Bruce Salmon, his Spankers bandmate Guy Forsyth, and more. Free. 7 p.m.
Saturday is the Back to Basics Music Festival in Luckenbach
When Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson sang at Luckenbach about getting “back to the basics of love,” they made the modest Central Texas town famous. So it’s only right that Luckenbach has inaugurated the Back to the Basics Music Festival, which will include more than a dozen performers performing on an outdoor stage as well as in the town’s old dancehall.
Flatlanders, Hayes Carll, Cory Morrow, Chris Knight, Cody Canada, Gary P. Nunn, and Django Walker are among the performers. from 11 a.m. until 12 a.m. $20-$200.
Sunday: Carrie Rodriguez’s Laboratorio at the Paramount
Carrie Rodriguez, an Austin violinist, and singer-songwriter began her Laboratorio series at Cactus Cafe a few years ago as a chance to interact with other Latin musicians.
After a two-year hiatus, she reintroduced it early this year at the Stateside, the Paramount Theatre’s smaller sibling venue. Amalia Mondragón, Tereso Perfecto Contreras, and poet Irene Lara Silva are her guests this time. $25-$50. 7 p.m.