Best of Music 2006: Clifford's gone, but his influence on Austin's live music scene remains

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Best of Music 2006: Clifford's gone, but his influence on Austin's live music scene remains

By CorcoranThursday, December 28, 2006

Losing Clifford Antone to a heart attack in May — followed by a trail of tributes — was the story of the year on the local music scene. Not since the deaths of Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1990 and Doug Sahm in '99 have Austin music fans mourned so significantly. Only Willie 's death would've hit Austin harder.

The people loved Antone because he made everyone he met — and he met 'em all — feel welcome. In a town full of music fans he was the biggest, but he did more than just love the blues more than anyone else: He made the greats of the genre accessible to everybody.

Antone didn't leave behind his music. He left behind your memories, of sitting at the feet of Muddy Waters, dancing wildly to Maceo , giving Albert an aisle so he could play his guitar right in the middle of Guadalupe Street.

The outpouring included a city-sponsored memorial at the Palmer Events Center that drew more than 3,000 people, as well as scattered grousing from those who wondered why the city would put on a free tribute to a two-time resident in the federal penitentiary for marijuana busts.

It was a sad time, but it also made you feel proud of an Austin music scene that came together like family at a tragedy.

This year saw the best country album of 2006 produced in Austin by Lloyd Maines and Ray Benson. Hand's "The Truth Will Set You Free" (Rounder) devalued Hank comparisons with timeless songwriting and a haunting voice. In interviews, the 54-year-old Hand proved to be as interesting as his music; his upcoming documentary should take his 40-years-in-the-making success story to the next level.

It was also a big year for Longview native Sunny Sweeney, who has been playing in front of people for only two years, yet signed a deal with Nashville's Big Machine label to distribute "Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame" nationally. Nobody's ever gone faster from the Poodle Dog Lounge to the prominent dotted line.

Sweeney's Big Machine labelmate Jack Ingram is 2006's comeback player of the year. The guy practically invented Pat Green and Cory Morrow, playing to thousands of kids in Texas college towns and selling tens of thousands of CDs from the merch booth. But dropped by Sony in 2002, the Lakeway resident was in heavy career limbo. He fought his way through it, toured heavily and got another chance in Nashville. Next thing you know, Ingram's got the No. 1 song on the country charts with "Wherever You Are."

Escovedo rebounded in 2006 from near death with the moody and stirring "Boxing Mirror," produced by Cale. Sadly, , one of Austin's all-time greatest guitarists, lost his battle with hepatitis C.

Austin also mourned the loss of Don Walser, the beloved country yodeler, and a pair of extraordinary lounge keyboardists, Bobby Doyle and Jay .

As Austin starts to look more and more like Hip Town, U.S.A., there are more big stories about the music scene's future than its past. As early as summer '08, a new, expanded Stubb's complex will unveil a 1,400-capacity indoor venue at the corner of Ninth and Red River streets. The outdoor stage will be repositioned to face west, which is welcome news for residents along the Waller Creek corridor who will tell you that getting free live music is not as good as getting free cable.

"Austin City Limits," TV's longest running live music program, will move into its new $15 million home on West Second Street, across from City Hall, in time for the 2010 season. Willie , the first artist to appear on "ACL," will co-own the 2,000-capacity studio/nightclub, which is expected to be booked by Clear Channel's concert spinoff Live Nation. The Austin Music Hall plans a $5 million makeover that would expand capacity from 3,000 to 4,000.

How will the small clubs, the lifeblood of the local music scene, be able to compete? A topic for future year-end wrap-ups.

I've seen 22 years of change in Austin, and the place has never been so physically altered in a 12-month period as in 2006. Thanks to SXSW and national music magazines — but no thanks to the lamest MTV "Real World" season ever — the secret has long been out.

Real estate, not live music, is the biggest game in town right now. Condos are hip, man, not combos. It's almost 2007, and the Austin we fell in love with is an aging housewife with Botox lips, a Vicodin script and a thing for young guys with beards. We could be living in Portland, Chapel Hill or San Diego.

Sometimes, though. Sometimes there is a kind of magic that can only be felt in Austin. Sometimes this is a city of its own soul, like when a former club owner is laid to rest like royalty.

Corcoran's Local Top 10 of 2006

1. Hand, "The Truth Will Set You Free" (Rounder)

2. Escovedo, "The Boxing Mirror" (Back Porch)

3. The Black Angels, "Passover" (Light In the Attic)

4. The Gourds, "Heavy Ornamentals" (Eleven Thirty)

5. , "Seven Angels On a Bicycle" (Trainwreck)

6. Ian McLagan and the Bump Band, "Spiritual Boy" (Maniac)

7. Mother Truckers, "Broke Not Broken" (Bosco)

8. Hanke, "Autumn Blues" (Ten Foot Texan)

9. Ray Wylie Hubbard, "Snake Farm" (Sustain)

10. Dave Insley, "Here With You Tonight" (DIR)

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