"Music Journaling" with Kevin Curtin

"The Austin Chronicle, it's just like, is so fiercely loyal to the local scene and willingly ignores opportunities to interview national artists in favor of a local artist. I think that means something in terms of where we put the quality of the people in our community in comparison to people in the national picture. You know, we wanna treat them on the same level, and I think it's important, you know?" (Kevin Curtin, 2021)

This episode of Austin Roots features Kevin Curtin, music journalist at the Austin Chronicle, in conversation with hosts Eddie Wilson and Dr. Jason Mellard. They trace Austin's music ecosystem from the Armadillo World Headquarters era to the present, exploring how venues, journalism, visual art, and community identity have shaped the city's culture. Topics range from Kevin's origins as a hitchhiker/camper-dweller who broke into music writing, to the legacy of the Chronicle's music column, the East Austin blues tradition, the modern psychedelic revival, and the challenges of preserving a vibrant scene amid rapid growth.

Content Warning: adult themes
Content created during the global pandemic, in the room, and on Zoom.

Chapters:
02:00 - Hitchhiking to Austin in 2006, living in a camper, working at Planet K head shop
03:00 - How he wore down veteran journalist Margaret Moser to get his first writing opportunity
04:00 - Transition from musician identity to writer identity; attending 300+ shows/year
06:00 - Eddie's recollection of recognizing Kevin's "enthusiastic potential"
08:00 - The Austin Chronicle's 40+ year lineage; only 7 people have written music news column
10:00 - Chronicle's unique position as a "dedicated press corps" for the local scene
12:00 - Austin clubs having strong personal identities, traced back to the Armadillo
17:00 - Armadillo's diversity of programming out of financial necessity
18:00 - Word-of-mouth impact spread by touring national acts (Van Morrison, ZZ Top stories)
22:00 - Community trust in venue operators as cultural stewards
25:00 - Red River District History
27:00 - Eddie's restaurant "Raw Deal" and the area's early club history
30:00 - Bill Campbell as a legendary, press-shy Austin figure
33:00 - Austin's blues through-line from the East Side to Antone's to Gary Clark Jr.
35:00 - Austin's "boomtown" growth over the past 12 years
36:00 - Multiple distinct scenes coexisting: garage, honky-tonk, hip-hop, blues, psychedelic
38:00 - The modern psychedelic revival (Black Angels, Austin Psych Fest/Levitation)
39:00 - Tommy Hall's prescient belief that his music would endure
41:00 - Physical print vs. digital — the Chronicle's commitment to the printed artifact
43:00 - How Kevin uses video/social media to surface local and legacy artists
44:00 - Chronicle as a pipeline for young writers; optimism about the future of music journalism
46:00 - The value of telling stories of lesser-known contributors to the scene
49:00 - Gilbert Shelton and Jim Franklin's roles in establishing Austin's concert poster culture
57:00 - Clifford Antone and the blues scene
1:00 - Modern venue operators (Dennis Larkins: White Horse, Sagebrush) as successors

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Guest: Kevin Curtin - artist, writer, and music journalist at the Austin Chronicle

Production Team:
Host, Eddie Wilson - Armadillo World Headquarters founder @Threadgills
Host, Dr. Jason Mellard - Cultural historian @jasondeanmellard
Editor, Renee O'Connor
Music Mixing, Matt Carlson @axemanguitar
Producer, Renee O'Connor @realreneeoconnor
Producer, Sandra Wilson @sandrawilson709
Executive Producer, TSSI
Music by Jake Andrews Music @jakeandrewsmusic
Production assistant, Miles Muir @miles_muir
Production consultant, Katey Psencik