Never Heard of 'em

NEVER HEARD OF ‘EM

Austin’s Music Explosion, 1994 – 2000 by Sue Donahoe

Packed with photos, magazine articles, and bios, this happy new book documents Austin’s exciting music scene in the ‘90s and takes a peak at the faces and places in Austin music today.

In the mid 1990’s CD duplication became available to nearly everyone and the Inde Movement began. No longer did a musician have to wait to be “discovered”, now anyone could make and sell their own recordings – and on every corner of the planet – independent artists did just that.

In Austin, the number of new CDs hitting the streets was enough to alter the gravity of central Texas. Word began to leak out about all this new music in Austin and scores of journalists, fans, promoters, radio hosts, and record label owners poured into town. Each time one of those folks returned to their own home with one of our city’s great musicians, that musician became “the” hot new artist from Austin and rose to fame in that area. It happened every day. It still does. The guy standing next to you in line at HEB might have just returned from a month of playing to sold-out shows in France and Italy – but you’ve never heard of him at all.

Two smiling lovebirds, Mike and Sue Donahoe, opened a tiny shop in downtown Austin in 1994 named LOCAL FLAVOR. The shop sold items made by anyone in Austin who cared to bring in their products. Their shelves offered books by Austin authors, T-shirts and Jewelry by Austin artists, tons of tapes and CDs by Austin musicians. Through the window of their shop they witnessed the explosion of new music and wrote about it for magazines in three countries.

NEVER HEARD OF ‘EM flows like a memoir, holds a real-time archive of energetic articles that document a short, but rich part of Austin’s music history, and spotlights a rainbow of career paths taken by 22 of Austin’s great artists. Ponty Bone, Bubble Puppy, Kevin Fowler, Toni Price, Shiva’s Headband, Phil Hurd, Billy Eli, Mundi, Karen Tyler, Fastball and Soak are in these thumbnail bios. You might have heard of some of them.

The book is filled with warmth, a few tears and lots of joy and it ends with a punch line. A good read for any music fan and a must have for a true Austin Music devotee.