Jaime Wyatt, Alanna Royale and More Stand Up for Pride in Local Music

The cancellation of SXSW in March, something that had never happened in the Austin, Texas, conference’s 33 years, was an ominous indication of the coronavirus’ severity. Four months later, the effect on independent venues in Austin, Nashville and beyond has been devastating, with venerable spots like our Douglas Corner Cafe and Austin’s Barracuda shuttering permanently and many more concerned that they won't be able to hang on much longer without help.

Ringing in the final weekend of a scaled-down Pride Month, Friday’s Pride in Local Music livestream (archived here) highlighted some of these beloved showspaces by having acts from the cities' respective queer music scenes perform in them, sans crowds. The two-hour virtual concert, a benefit for the Music Health Alliance, toggled between the Lone Star State and Volunteer State capital cities for two- and three-song sets. Nashville's own Maggie Rose served as host, and the Music City artists gave some top-tier performances.

Standing alone onstage, acoustic guitar in hand, Jaime Wyatt cut an apparition-like figure against Exit/In’s familiar flat-black walls and neon sign. Wyatt hails from the Tacoma, Wash. area, same as Neko Case, with a similarly plainspoken classic-country style. Performing a pair of songs off her just-released, Shooter Jennings-produced second album Neon Cross, Wyatt’s yearning vibrato tugged on the heartstrings, her head-to-toe cowboy regalia glistening under the soft blue light.

Compared to the block-party atmosphere of their ensemble gigs, a stripped-down Alanna Royale set at Grimey’s, with guitarist Jared Colby backing singer Alanna Quinn-Broadus, felt more like an after-hours hang. The duo followed the jazzy set-list-staple “I Know,” from the band’s most recent EP, 2018’s So Bad You Can Taste It, with a new number, “Fall in Love Again,” which Quinn-Broadus said they plan to record “as soon as we can all be back in the studio together.” You had to use your imagination to hear the brass and percussion, but Quinn-Broadus’ never-not-compelling vocals easily sold the song’s rueful, passionate plea to rekindle a romance that’s dissolved “in slow motion without us even knowing,” stretching out the words for maximum impact. 

At the Bluebird Cafe, Joy Oladokun evoked a young Tracy Chapman with her conversational singing and tender, articulate songs like “Smoke,” a vivid meditation on weed, religion and the quest for peace of mind. Back at Exit/In, a six-deep backing band fanned out behind Tayls frontman Taylor Cole for two songs: 2017’s apt-for-Pride “Pop Tart (Queer Boy Small Town)” and a new one from their forthcoming Have You Ever? I Have Always LP, produced by Flaming Lips touring keyboardist Jake Ingalls. The Lips are a good reference point for Cole & Co.’s outcast anthems, which they performed with impressive vigor for being played to an empty room. 

Austinites of note included the tough-to-Google FUVK at Waterloo Records (the Grimey’s of Austin), whose nimbly-played, bookish indie pop called to mind K Records greats The Softies. Rapper Mama Duke was also a standout, with a performance at blues venue Antone’s. Her set highlight “No Plan B,” about the struggle to justify one’s existence as an artist in a heartless world, felt particularly relatable at this moment in time.