Hi, how are you?
I’m James, and I’ve authored most of the material currently on the website. I’m a lifelong Texan who moved to Austin in 1999 to study journalism. I started tending bar on Sixth Street when I was eighteen, and like to claim that I was once the youngest bartender in the city. I spent my early Austin years working at various watering holes, pumping the keg during Waterloo in-store performances, and prowling Austin’s nightclubs to hear local bands.
I grew up with my parents’ Bob Dylan and Kinky Friedman records spinning alongside my own Pearl Jam and Robert Earl Keen albums. The Austin City Limits television broadcast has made regular appearance on screens in my home starting with the tube television. I’ve always been surrounded by this music—it’s something I’m grateful for.
This project is an exploration of the essential albums in Texas music from the Seventies to today. These aren’t album reviews—five stars is a prerequisite for inclusion, so it’s more like a hall of fame. I’ll provide a few words to add context, but the intention is for you to put the album on the turntable and let it speak for itself.
Welcome to the club. Hope you learn something interesting and maybe (re)discover a favorite album.
What is the Listening Lounge?
The Listening Lounge is a place for music lovers and record collectors. It’s a collection of the essential albums in Texas music history, plus a cocktail recipe book. The goal is for your to create an intentional listening environment in front of your stereo, mix an interesting cocktail, and put an essential Texas album on the turntable.
What are the stories?
Austin is a central character in the story of Texas music. This is a collection of stories and articles that explain why Austinites want to be weird and why we’ve spent the last fifty years arguing about what day old Austin died. That’s not entirely true, but I don’t know how else to explain it.
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