If it’s June in Austin it must be Kerrville spillover city — so naturally, Flanfire went out to the beautiful Wyldwood House Concert site in deep south Austin (thank you Andrew and Amy for sharing your home with all of us — and Andy’s birthday cake!) to see my old friend Carrie Elkin (you know, that blonde who hangs out with that Danny Schmidt who is topping the folk charts these days) and a friend of hers whom I had met a few months back at the Continental Club — Tennessean Robby Hecht (with whom Carrie will be headed on tour to England very soon).

There is NOTHING like great food, great music, and the beautiful Texas sky (complete this night with an amazing full moon and lots of stars).  Let’s start with the FOOD!  Okay — Andy and Amy DO provide hot dogs and s’mores (by the campfire) for their guests as part of the suggeseted donation (sic) — but of late they have added an extra special deal — gourmet barbecue from Brendan Retherford and Nakita Santiago!  Here’s the deal (for anyone going to see Kevin Russell on June 20th or any future shows) — you order by Wednesday and your food is there for you on Saturday (and you must order ahead to get this great deal).  Brendan is founder of Sapor, a personal chef and catering service, while Nakita’s parents were longtime staff at Castle Hill Cafe who passed on their skills to their daughter.  OK they let me try some of their food — and one bite of the macaroni and cheese (which they normally feed to the kiddies) was enough to make my day!  And that was before I had the prime rib.

But this IS a music column, and so I guess I have to tell you about Carrie Elkin (who enjoys letting her pal Danny grab all the headlines while she just writes and sings great songs) and Robby Hecht (who has been called a young James Taylor in both voice and songwriting quality even though he is grousing about not having enough songs for a second album yet).  “But you will,” said Flanfire, promising he will gain great inspiration from days on the road in Merrie Olde England and Scotland with Ms. Elkin, who once wrote a song while stranded somewhere in NEBRASKA until her car got fixed.  One MIGHT say the performers were joined in song by a chorus of crickets OR that one of the macaroni generation danced in front of the stage showing off a FROG he had caught somewhere on the property (or was it, as Robby speculated, just a TOAD?) 

Just a day or so earlier, I had been called out to Lambert’s by my pals Andre and Noelle to meet Andy and Amy and hear a set from folk-punker Cory Branan (whose next Austin show will be at the Red 7′s Punk Rock BBQ on July 4th).  Cory (red shirt) who hails from North Mississippi and made his first mark in Memphis, reminds one a little of John Prine in his voice and his humor — and yet he can lay down some very heady stuff with significant power.  I have been seeing Cory here and there in Austin since he moved here about a year ago but this was my first time to hear him on stage.  I WILL be back!  I absolutely LOVED the “Prettiest Waitress in Memphis.”

I went BACK to the Madison (5th Street next to Rainbow Cattle Co.) to catch a longer set from Graham Wilkinson (at this dance club with some pretty nice amenities and lots of people having fun) — and this time he had (in addition to Mr. Swift on drums and vocals) Joe Beckham on bass (filling in on four hours’ notice) and a horn player.  It was a GAS the second week in a row.   I also caught a second set from Meagan Tubb and Shady People — that long-legged gal can flat out wear some threads, and she sings and picks guitar pretty well, too! 

Okay — I did not see any shows this week at Flipnotics, but I DID stop by to take a photo of the new outdoor seating areas that the new owners have graced the place with (along with a whole new deck, new paint, and a lot more work that really spruces up the old place).  Carrie Elkin, Molly Venter and Vanessa Lively will be at the venue on June 13th, but I have been told by Miss BettySoo NOT to miss HER CD release party at the Cactus.  Of course I would also love to be up at Journey for Grace Pettis’s show there — and down at the Amsterdam to see Jarrod Dickenson (but I just saw HIM at Momo’s).  Jarrod would get a photo spot here but he sings with his eyes closed — so I am throwing in a photo of the lovely Caitlin Bailey (cello), who is moving to New York State to further her musical education. 

Now THAT is a lead-in to talk about Jessie Torrisi, who came to Austin from New York in January and is already doing shows at places like Botticellis with cellist Alissa Schramm and multi-talented Rob Jewett (who played everything BUT standup bass that evening).  Later I went out to see Goldcure at the Szxon (great show and another debut song or two — these guys are ROCKSTARS!).  And then back to Momo’s for Jess Klein with Mark Addison, Rob Hooper, Scrappy Jud Newcomb and special guest Suzanna Choffel (she of the Momo’s late night dance club that was founded by Johnnie Goudie).

And the hits just keep on coming!  Just wait till you see the astounding video of the stormy West Texas gal Jen Womble’s Momo’s debut with Kalu James and Josh Halverson — on Kalu James Day in Austin but also Ms. Womble’s own birthday!  Ahhhh — but that’s enough of a foretaste.  I gotta get out to the club district for some more great Austin music.