Honest Austin blues

Reneé Austin
Slippery Noodle Inn
Thursday, May 12

The Texas music scene is rich in history and hasn’t stopped producing talent. One of its next generation of musicians, Reneé Austin, will make her Slippery Noodle debut on May 12.

Austin grew up in Texas and recently relocated to Minnesota, but the songs and singers of the Lone Star state are in her veins, heart and voice. She recently spoke to NUVO via phone from inside a hearse in Charleston, S.C., where she’s shooting her latest video.

“As a child, every hairbrush and unplugged curling iron was a microphone. Growing up in Kingsland, Texas, there was a lot of music surrounding us. Blues, rock, Tejano, you name it. Of course, Steve [Ray Vaughan], Angela [Strehli] and Lou Ann Barton. I’m trying to catch up with the ladies of Texas. I told Marcia Ball that when I grow up, I want to be you. (Laughs) I’m not that tall,” Austin said.

Her Blind Pig debut, Sweet Talk, features big soul/blues from Austin’s 5-foot-2-inch frame. She is comfortable sitting on a piano during a ballad (think Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys) singing “Full Moon” and getting down with the best of the beer slammers during “Bury The Hatchet.” The album also features “Pretend We Never Met,” a duet with Delbert McClinton.

“We cut that song, start to finish, in two hours. The coolest thing about working with DB — he lets me call him DB — was in the studio. He stopped doing a rehearsal and said, ‘I want to sing this like you sing it.’ How cool is that? That and having Red Bulls with Delbert McClinton,” she said.

Yes, brand her with that wonderfully vague “singer/songwriter” label. She doesn’t mind.

“That could mean so many styles of music. At the time I got started, everyone was doing covers and I was determined not to. It’s a harder road to travel, but I wanted to establish myself as a singer/songwriter. That was the real goal of mine. Every song has to be a great or greater caliber. I’m still one of those people that puts down my hard earned money for a show. I don’t want people to put down $18, $19 for one or two songs from an album,” she said.

Sweet Talk helped earn Austin a W.C. Handy Award nomination for Best New Artist Debut. Her sophomore release should be out by August and her expectations are high.

“What was cool about the last album was that it played on blues radio, but also had airplay on country and rock stations. It struck a nerve. I think it’s the gumbo of Texas music. I don’t want to write one song 12 ways or 12 songs one way,” she said.

The next album, with a title TBA, will feature blues, rock, gospel and, yes, a cover or two.

“It’s very much me and what I think about stuff. You can see into the window of who I am. This album will be more focused on my roots. More roadhousey,” she said.

Other Noodle events include harmonica guy Gary Primich (May 17) and Detroit’s version of 20-year-old scotch Johnnie Bassett (May 19), Rockin’ Jake (May 24) and Murali Coryell (May 26).

Road Trip: Check out Ronnie Baker Brooks at The Key Palace Theatre in Red Key. It’s the last blues show of the season at the KPT.

Eat some, hear some: The first annual Bodacious Blues-B-Q festival will take place May 20-21 at Carmel Drive and Rangeline Road in Carmel. Friday night’s music will include Howard and the White Boys (6:30 p.m.) and Duke Tumatoe (8 p.m.). Saturday will feature music from Governor Davis and the Blues Ambassadors (1 p.m.), Gene Deer (2 p.m.), The Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band (4:30 p.m.), Manifest (6:30 p.m.) and Black Voodoo (8:30 p.m.).

For more Governor Davis, you can see him at the Slippery Noodle on May 21 as part of my Blues House Party live broadcast on WFYI 90.1 FM starting at 9 p.m. Be there or listen online at wfyi.org.