Bugle Boy Foundation

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When Guy Forsyth first moved to Austin from Kansas City 33 years ago, he had a bandolier of harmonicas and a carnival barker’s voice that could cut through the noise of the busiest night on Sixth Street. In the mid-90s, he co-founded the Asylum Street Spankers, arguably the most raucous blues, jazz, and swing band to ever rock the Live Music Capital of the World without amplification, but by decade’s end he’d moved on to focus on his equally eclectic solo career. Since then, he’s toured the world as jack-of-all-musical trades modern American songster, equally at home playing solo or with different rock, blues, and acoustic combos — or paired with his wife, Jeska Forsyth, as the duo “The Conspirators.” A remarkable singer, multi-instrumentalist, and solo artist in her own right, Jeska is very much the yin to Guy’s yang. She began performing in elementary school, trained as an opera singer, once sang the National Anthem for Nascar accompanied by F-16 fighter jets, and even owned her own blues club in San Angelo, where she and Guy first met. Their duo performances have been called “intimate” and “breathtaking,” whether it’s Guy singing with Jeska providing harmony softly behind him, or Guy returning the favor when Jeska leads on her own riveting tunes, showcasing what Glide Magazine calls her “honeyed, soulful vocals.”

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With a range of styles from soulful blues to pop and rock, Cari Hutson is a force of nature. After years of cutting her teeth as a powerful singer and gutsy performer fronting bands on Austin’s Sixth Street, she landed a role as the Queen of Rock and Roll herself in a touring production of the Broadway musical, One Night with Janis Joplin. She ended up making such an impression on Joplin’s old friend, Dave Getz, that the Big Brother and the Holding Company drummer gifted her the opportunity to record her own version of his previously unreleased Joplin co-write, “Can’t Be the Only One.” The song appeared on Hutson and her band Good Company’s 2016 album, Don’t Rain on My Sunny Day, produced  by Jeff Plankenhorn. Three years later, Hutson and her band were awarded a $20,000 grant at the annual Black Fret “Black Ball” in Austin. In 2022, she release her most ferociously assured statement to date, a five-song EP called Salvation & Soul Restoration.

“I first heard Cari Hutson sing in the theatrical production ‘A Night With Janis Joplin’. I’m really thrilled and honored to have Cari sing ‘Can’t Be the Only One’, a song that Janis and I wrote together in 1968 which we never got to perform or record. Her interpretation of the lyric and her rootsy, blues feel brings the song to life. If Janis could hear it (and maybe she can) I think she would be pleased.” — Dave Getz, Big Brother and the Holding Company drummer

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A highly accomplished multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter with a voice that’s been favorably compared to crooner Chet Baker, Warren Hood is a seven-time Austin Music Awards winner who deftly blends country, blues, bluegrass, jazz, and folk into an eclectic style all of his own. The son of renowned musician Champ Hood (of Uncle Walt’s Band fame), Warren started playing classical violin at age 11 in the school orchestra, later studying privately with Bill Dick. He won classical music competitions, including the Pearl Amster Youth Concerto Competition and the Austin Youth Award, which gave him the opportunity to perform as a soloist on “Lalo Symphonie Espagnole” with the Austin Symphony. He later balanced studying at Austin High with touring with Charlie Robison and the South Austin Jug Band, and went on to attend the prestigous Berklee College of Music — where he earned the coveted String Achievement Award. Upon returning to Austin, he continued to turn heads not just as an A-list sideman (Joe Ely, Alejandro Escovedo, Bob Schneider, Kelly Willis) and member of the Waybacks and the South Austin Jug Band, but ultimately as a critically-acclaimed band leader in his own right.

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What do Dolly Parton, Joan Armatrading, Ray Benson, Marcia Ball and Eric Burdon all have in common? They’ve all, at one time or another, had the good sense to have had Forth Worth-raised keyboard player extraordinaire Red Young perform on their studio recordings or as part of their live show. Young, who’s now based in Austin, started playing piano at age 3, meaning he’d already put in well-over the requisite 10,000 hours to master the ivories before he got around to trying his fingers on Hammond B3 at a wizened 19. He’s long since mastered that, too, and not just as an in-demand sideman; in addition to session and tour support, he’s also done tons of soundtrack work and led numerous bands of his own over the course of his decades-long career, playing everything from big band to jazz, blues, rock ‘n’ roll, soul, and classic American standards.

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From his early career in Seattle during the Grunge explosion to now calling Austin his home, Woody Russell is a self-described “working class musician,” performing more than 200 dates a year at all manner of venues and major stages, from listening rooms to the Newport Folk Festival. His “Jazzicana” brand of American roots music, equally informed by a cross-pollination of jazz, classic rhythm & blues and country, feels lived in, experienced and a bit restless. “I’m equal parts unrefined philosopher, guitar geek, and crooner,” says Russell, who was the recipient of the Bugle Boy Foundation’s 2013 Talent Trust Award. Known for his vivid lyricism, honeyed baritone, and guitar chops likened by Blues Revue to the “fearlessness” of Jeff Beck, Russell has been prominently featured on the CW Network’s docu-reality show Troubadour, TX, and recorded seven albums since his 1996 debut, … as simple as that. He recently collaborated with trumpet player John Spears on a six-single + video “pandemic lockdown project” called Still Wilson (2020), and this February released a remastered version of his album Big Sky. “I see in him the fierce desire to be original,” notes Texas music legend Michael Martin Murphey of Russell, “and this guy’s music is very original.”

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From the start of her career playing in the iconic folk venues of New York City, where she was discovered by Judy Collins and signed to her Wildflower Records label, to her move to Nashville in 2009 and more than 20 years of touring across the United States and Europe, Amy Speace has long been regarded by peers, fans, and critics on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the leading voices of her generation in contemporary folk and Americana music. Among her most recent triumphs, her song “Me and the Ghost of Charlemagne” was named International Song of the Year by the Americana Music Association UK, and her 2021 release, There Used To Be Horses Here, received critical acclaim from Rolling Stone to Billboard, with Performing Songwriter naming it the No. 4 release of 2021. Her latest album, last year’s Tucson, sets Speace’s majestic voice to symphonic arrangements, wrapped around her most intimate and emotional record yet. It reached No. 1 on the Folk Radio Charts and was widely lauded as her Speace’s finest work to date. A “writer’s writer,” she is also is a published poet, with pieces appearing in 2022’s Spring edition of 2River Review and Euphoia, and her essays have been published in The New York Times, American Songwriter, and The Blue Rock Review. ​

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If acting had been his calling rather than music, it’s not hard to imagine Dallas Burrow being a lead on Yellowstone or even landing a plumb gig as the big screen’s next Superman. But to hear the native Texan sing in that gravelly baritone voice of his that could have held its own in a round with Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash — and what’s more, to hear him singing the kind of quality originals that reveal both a keen study of his home state’s greatest songwriting heroes and the kind of honest integrity that only comes from hard-earned, first-hand experience — and it’s clear that this man was born to be a honky-tonk poet troubadour. But after spending his twenties touring relentlessly, building a career on both sides of the Atlantic supporting his 2019 debut, Southern Wind, Burrow began missing the stability of life back in his native New Braunfels. Rather than pack away his guitar for good, though, he just refocused his muse and craft on matters closer to hearth, home, and heart. His second album, 2021’s Dallas Burrow — produced by modern-day Texas legend Bruce Robison — marked both a symbolic and literal homecoming, with songs about embracing maturity, newfound sobriety, and the responsibilities of family life. Those themes carry over onto his brand new third album, Blood Brothers, which he recorded with Jonathan Tyler. “On this record, I wanted to tell the story of my musical roots, starting with my dad and his influence as a songwriter and the artists he raised me on: Townes, Guy Clark, Billy Joe Shaver, and Willis Alan Ramsey,” he explains. “I also wanted to tell the story of my own personal journey and reframe for myself what it means to be a singer-songwriter.”

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Recognized by Acoustic Guitar magazine as one of Texas’ 20 essential contemporary singer-songwriters, Terri Hendrix has earned fans worldwide for her singular fusion of folk, pop, country, blues, and jazz, delivered with poetic grace, melodic flair, and plenty of wit and wisdom. Along the way, she’s also co-written a Grammy-winning instrumental (the Chicks’ “Lil’ Jack Slade”), and garnered such honors as a star on the South Texas Music Walk of Fame, the Art of Peace Award by Saint Mary’s University in San Antonio and induction into the Women’s Hall of Fame in San Marcos, Texas. She is also the founder of  the OYOU (or “Own Your Own Universe”), a 501 C3 non-profit organization based out of  Martindale, Texas. Its mission: “To make the arts accessible to everyone, and particularly to empower and transform lives by connecting the mind, body, and spirit through music and the creative arts.” Embodying Texas’ independent spirit, this classically trained vocalist and virtuoso guitar, mandolin, and harmonica player has done it entirely on her own, releasing every album since her 1996 debut on her Wilory Records label. Terri’s most recent record, 2021’s Pilgrim’s Progress, completed her marathon “Project 5” endeavor, a collection of five thematically linked albums that also included 2016’s Love You Strong and The Slaughterhouse Sessions and 2019’s Talk to a Human and Who Is Ann?

Appearing with Terri is A-list steel guitar player, multi-instrumentalist and Grammy award-winning producer Lloyd Maines, who has made more appearances on TV’s Austin City Limits than anyone else in the program’s history. No wonder he was one of the first artists inducted into the Austin City Limits Music Hall of Fame.

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The Del Castillo Trio made such an amazing first impression with their Bugle Boy debut last summer that we couldn’t wait to bring them back just three months later. Now coming back for their third time, it’s safe to say that Mark and Rick Del Castillo and Alex Ruiz have passed their audition and can officially be declared Bugle Boy family favorites! Del Castillo is a cross-cultural power uniting music lovers of all ages, creeds and colors. Their original music blends rock, Latin, blues, and world music into a cinematic celebration of sound that lifts your soul. It started with the Del Castillo brothers collaborating with friends on a recording that was initially intended as a gift to their family members for the holiday season — but the magic was so undeniable that what was originally intended to be a one-off affair ended up launching one of the most exciting bands to come out of Texas in decades. They’ve since amassed 18 awards including two Austin Music Awards wins for “Album of the Year,” SXSW’s “Band of the Year” (2003) and ASCAP’s “Best Independent Group of the Year” (2005), and had their music featured in such films as Robert Rodriguez’ Once Upon A Time In Mexico and Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill II. As a full band, they can whip a packed club or festival crowd into a joyous frenzy — and that energy comes across just as powerfully when the group is pared down to a lean-and-mean trio of the two Del Castillo brothers and Ruiz, an ultra-charismatic frontman who could give the dynamic likes of Bono or Mick Jagger a run for their rock superstar money even when seated in front of a listening room crowd.

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Susan Gibson knows all about blessings. Nearly three decades ago, she wrote herself a wish that grew up and went off on its own to become one of the biggest country songs of all time. Smiling at its success from afar, Gibson went on to happily live her own best life, free to hit the open road with a van full of happy dogs and a heart full of songs to share with attentive audiences across the country — and with all the room in the world to “make the big mistakes” that a wide-eyed dreamer kinda gal could ever ask for. Gibson of course made her mark on the world when “Wide Open Spaces,” a song she originally penned for her old band the Groobees, was subsequently covered by the Dixie Chicks and taken all the way to No. 1. But she’s written many more wonderful songs in the many years since, many of which can be heard on her 2014 live album The Second Hand, recorded right here at the Bugle Boy. Her seventh and most recent solo album, 2019’s The Hard Stuff, is the perfect cocktail of humor, heartache, sorrow and resilience. As she sings on the album’s disarmingly playful title track, “Nothing lifts a heavy heart like some elbow grease and a funny bone.”

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What happens when Sarah Peacock, spotlighted by American Songwriter as one of “10 LGBTQ Artists You Should Know,” shares a stage with the Grammy-nominated and Dove Award-winning Jennifer Knapp? We can safely assume 90 minutes of genuine magic, packed with songs guaranteed to move and stir the heart and soul in all manner of ways both emotionally and spiritually. Peacock, a native of the Atlanta suburbs, grew up performing and singing in church choirs and high school musicals, but didn’t discover secular music until college and her early 20s. After spending a few years teaching at a music school for kids, she embarked on an acclaimed songwriting career marked by such highlights as her 2020 album Burn the Witch, a life-affirming testament to perseverance and compassion, and being named a finalist at last year’s Songwriter’s Serenade competition. The Kansas-born Knapp, meanwhile, is a Grammy-nominated songwriter, author, speaker, and advocate who has toured the world, performed on the 1999 and 2010 Lilith Fair, and earned renown as the the first major artist in the Christian music world to speak openly about LGBTQ identity, leading to appearances on Larry King Live and the TEDx stage. In 2012, Knapp founded the non-profit organization Inside Out Faith, through which she continues to speak and perform nationally as an advocate for LGBTQ and faith issues. Her memoir, Facing the Music: My Story, was published by Simon & Schuster. Knapp’s most recent album, 2017’s Love Comes Back Around, pairs her fearless songwriting and strong, expressive voice with Americana style rootsy arrangements.

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Singer-songwriter Jana Pochop is a wanderer with a penchant for folk-pop and universe pondering. Jana hails from the culturally rich Albuquerque, New Mexico and moved to Austin to immerse herself in the Texas music scene, playing clubs, house concerts, and touring nationally while building her singer-songwriter career. She was a Kerrville New Folk Finalist in 2022, and most recently, spent a year in New York City getting a Masters in Songwriting and Production at Berklee NYC. She has released three solo EPs as well as several singles, and in early 2022 released her critically acclaimed full-length debut, The Astronaut. The album was named alongside albums by Texas icons like Lizzo, Beyoncé, and Lyle Lovett as one of Texas Music Magazine’s “22 Top Albums of 2022.” As one review put it, “Jana consistently paints an image of humanity that’s unusual yet accessible, fusing the vastness of the world with the deeply personal emotions of the individual in a blissfully poetic and moving fashion.” While earning her Masters in New York, Jana wrote and recorded a brand new album — her first produced by herself — called Powerlines, and we are thrilled that she’s picked the Bugle Boy for her CD release show!

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Martin Zellar first appeared on the Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota music scene in the late ’80s as the lead singer and songwriter for the alt-country pioneers, Gear Daddies. The Gear Daddies released two albums on Polygram Records (Let’s Go Scare Al and Billy’s Live Bait), appeared on Late Night with David Letterman and toured extensively for three years before amicably parting ways in 1992. The band has reunited a handful of times since for ecstatically well-received shows in and around the Twin Cities (and beyond), but Zellar has spent most of the last three decades recording and performing as a solo artist and with his band the Hardways, releasing eight more albums on the Rykodisc and Owen Lee Recordings labels. Although he now happily lives with his family Mexico, Zellar recorded his 2012 album Roosters Crow at Zone studio in Dripping Springs, Texas, enlisting a who’s who of Texas’ best players (including Lloyd Maines, Bukka Allen, Brian Standeffer, Kevin McKinney, Pat Manske, and Billy Bright) to supplement his own band during the sessions and even bringing in Terri Hendrix and Kelly Willis for harmony vocals. He recently returned to the same Texas studio to record his latest album, the brand new Head West.

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Known for her socially astute, literate lyrics and powerful vocals, Patrice Pike will light you on fire. She burst on to the music scene in the ’90s as the electric front woman for the seminal Austin jam band Sister Seven, and carried that momentum right into the launch of her solo career with 2002’s Fencing Under Fire, and, more recently, her recordings (as Pike + Sutton) with her Sister Seven co-founder and longtime friend, Wayne Sutton. Pike’s songwriting has taken an increasingly narrative turn, while her sound has moved steadily in the direction of an eclectic mix of rock and soul topped with a tinge of World Music flavors. She has toured relentlessly, both in the U.S. and overseas, and in 2007 became the youngest member of the Austin/Texas Music Hall of Fame. Pike is also co-founder of the Step Onward Foundation and has helped raise nearly half a million dollars for supporting education and housing and sustainability for young adult survivors of homelessness and children surviving critical illness.

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Will Kimbrough (who lives in Nashville but has deep roots in Alabama) may not be a household name, but more than a few not-just-household names but legends know him as one of the best in the business. Just ask, oh, Emmylou Harris … or Rodney Crowell, or Radney Foster … you get the idea. For those in the know, Kimbrough is that guy: go-to sideman, Grammy-winning producer, and a winner of the Americana Music Association’s award for “Instrumentalist of the Year.” He’s also a renowned songwriter (with gold records and cuts on big albums from such luminaries as Jimmy Buffett, Little Feet, and Todd Snider) and an acclaimed recording artist in his own right. His last album, 2020’s Spring Break, was an all acoustic collection that tipped the hat to the classic folk and blues recordings of Vanguard and Folkways, and his latest, When This is All Over, is due out this year. As NPR once observed, “As a hired-gun guitar-slinger for the likes of Rodney Crowell, Todd Snider, Josh Rouse and others, Will Kimbrough has earned a reputation as an ‘alien’ — a little joke among the alt-country cognoscenti that it’s the only way to explain Kimbrough’s otherworldly prowess.”

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Athens native turned New Orleans “Folk Rock Diva” Lilli Lewis is a powerhouse performer who has composed in every tradition that inspires her, including soul, Americana, hip-hop, classical, folk, jazz, rock, gospel, and blues. Her 2021 album, Americana, was hailed by TheBoot.com’s Lori Leibig as “one of the most powerful records” of the year, while NPR called it “a statement not only about her ability to refine and expand roots forms like murder ballads, a cappella spirituals and singer-songwriter storytelling with transformative empathy and classically trained poise, but also about how she’s learned to bridge racially segregated cultural and musical worlds over her lifetime.” Indeed, in all things, Lewis does her best to live by the creed she and her ensemble have become known for: “Practice Radical Decency.” After first introducing her to La Grange in February of 2023 and inviting her back just 10 months later, we are thrilled to welcome Lewis back to the Bugle Boy again this year, especially on the very day that she will be celebrating the release of her brand new album, All is Forgiven — her first since being signed to Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records!

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What does it mean when an artist is called “a songwriter’s songwriter”? A lot of times, that over-used expression can ring a bit hollow. But when it comes to San Antonio native Walt Wilkins, it’s just a straight-up fact. He’s had well over a 100 of his songs recorded by other artists, including Pat Green, Ty Herndon, Pam Tillis, Steve Azar, Eric Church, Kellie Pickler, and Kenny Rogers, to name but a few. He’s also recorded prolifically: as a solo artist, as a duo with his wife, Tina Wilkins, and as the charismatic leader of the all-star Mystiqueros, one of Texas’ best-loved troubadour bands. With a voice as comfortable as a pair of old blue jeans and the heart and pen of a poet, Walt is the kind of musician that inspires others to up their game and dig deeper with every line they write and sing. Tina, meanwhile, has released a half dozen albums of her own (in addition to duo projects with her husband and recordings with the Mystiqueros). After stops in Los Angeles and Nashville, where she was an in-demand session and stage singer, she developed a reputation as a writer with a unique eye for everyday life and has blossomed in her latest Texas Hill Country-based chapter. As a performer she radiates charm, humor, grace, beauty, and a love of life — and more than holds her own sharing the stage with her husband. And just in case you were wondering, seeing as how the Wilkins will be playing the Bugle Boy in December, yes, there will most certainly be more than a little Christmas spirit in the air (and on the set list!)