Our friends at CNN recently featured our friends My Morning Jacket. Go here to watch the piece. And if you haven’t heard the band’s new album Evil Urges, you should.

If you’re a fan of MMJ, you might want to keep an eye on this space. Just sayin’.

Our own Terry Lickona, producer of Austin City Limits for the past 30 years, will receive a lifetime achievement award from the Americana Music Assocation in September. Details here. Congratulations, Terry - you certainly deserve it.

Last night we enjoyed a double-header in Studio 6A, with Jakob Dylan (leader of the Wallflowers who resembles his father Bob more each passing year) and Carrie Rodriguez. Dylan was what you might expect - tight, professional, highly attentive to expert craftsmanship, easily proving himself (as he has the past 15 years) worthy of standing outside his father’s shadow. (A difficult thing when your dad is a major musical and cultural icon - just ask the Lennon boys.)

But the big surprise for me was Carrie Rodriguez. I was aware of her as being a native Austinite and from her partnership with songwriter Chip Taylor, but despite it behooving me to keep up with local musicians building a buzz, I confess I hadn’t heard a note of her music before last night.

More fool me: she was wonderful. On the face of it, she seems like another entry in the rootsy Americana sweepstakes. But she’s much more creative and ambitious than that. With smart, melodic songs and a great band featuring powerhouses like steel guitar master Greg Leisz, keyboardist Michael Ramos and special guest Gary Louris from the Jayhawks, she cast a beautifully genre-defying spell, full of mysterious atmospheres, shifting dynamics and an otherworldly aura that still managed to remain grounded in the real world. I heard a little Lucinda Williams and Patty Griffin in there, but also some Daniel Lanois, Chris Whitley and Peter Gabriel. But mostly I heard Carrie Rodriguez. She has an album called She Ain’t Me (produced by Lanois associate Malcolm Burn) coming out on Aug. 5, and I, for one, can’t wait to hear it.

The moral of this story is not to take your hometown’s music for granted. Great stuff lives right under your nose, so keep breathing in the essence.

The Dylan/Rodriguez episode will air the weekend of Oct. 25. Check with your local station for exact dates and times.  

While it’s been established that WE had a great time at the Thievery Corporation taping last week, here’s another review, courtesy of the Statesman360 blog, Austin Music Source.
 

The International Songwriting Competition is calling for submissions for their 2008 contest. There are a variety of categories and genres to enter, with over $150,000 in cash and prizes at stake. But what’s really cool is this year’s judges - which includes Tom Waits, KT Tunstall, Neil Finn, Jerry Lee Lewis, Loretta Lynn, Ray Davies, Black Francis, and John Mayall (all talented songwriters who have graced the ACL stage). Wouldn’t it be cool to have these folks hear your music?

So to all you aspiring songwriters - go for it!