Local Texas Bands Releasing New Music, Bands From Out of Town Coming to Your City on Tour – We Have It All for You in This Month’s Texas Tunes. 

#1 Sarah Jarosz

Sarah Jarosz is performing at Scoot Inn in Austin on May 26 at 7 p.m. (doors at 6 p.m.) and you can get tickets here. 

The seventh full-length from four-time Grammy Award-winner Sarah Jarosz, Polaroid Lovers is an album-long meditation on those strangely ephemeral moments that indelibly shape our lives. “What I love about a Polaroid is that it’s capturing something so fleeting, but at the same time it makes that moment last forever,” says the Texas-born singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist. “It made sense as a title for a record where all the songs are snapshots of different love stories, and there’s a feeling of time being expansive despite that impermanence.” Thanks to the rarefied alchemy that infuses all of Jarosz’s output—her finely wrought lyricism, ravishing vocal work, virtuosic yet unfettered musicality—Polaroid Lovers performs the much-needed magic of leading us toward a heightened sense of presence, all while casting a lovely spell with her timelessly powerful songs.

#2 The Texas Trio’s Debut Album

With over 60 years of combined live performance and studio experience, these three native Texans have gotten together to form “The Texas Trio“. All accomplished musicians in their own right, playing a private party together here and there got them asking themselves if they could perform together as a group. Having their love of traditional country music and Western swing in mind, Kyle Park, Jason Roberts and John Michael have decided to give it a go. Their debut album will be released on May 17.

They are having their album release party at Saxon Pub on May 16. 

#3 The Decemberists

Beloved group The Decemberists recently announced they will return with their ninth studio album after a 6 year hiatus. “As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again” is out on June 14 via YABB Records (Thirty Tigers). On May 15, they will perform at Bass Concert Hall. 

“As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again” is a remarkable double album produced by lead-singer Colin Meloy and Tucker Martine and featuring guest appearances from The Shins’ James Mercer and REM’s Mike Mills.

“As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again” is not only the longest Decemberists album to date (and their first intentional, proper double-LP, split into four thematic sides, no less) but also their most empathetic and accessible, its 13 songs like semaphores of mutual recognition for our fraught times and faint hopes. This, Meloy will tell you proudly, is the best Decemberists album—perhaps even the ultimate realization of 22 years of work. “As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again” rings with the urgency and ardor of right now, maybe more than ever before. 

The band has released two tracks from the album already. Listen to “Burial Ground” and “Joan In The Garden.”

#4 Amythyst Kiah

Amythyst Kiah will be performing (supporting Molly Tuttle) at the Haute Spot in Cedar Park, TX on May 25 at 7 p.m. (doors @ 6 p.m.). Tickets are $25-$59 (ticket link) and it is an 18+ performance. You can learn more online. They have lots of Texas stops, and you can check out the full tour lineup here. 

Amythyst will also be performing on tour this summer, opening for Iron and Wine.

#5 Dreamer Boy & The Lone Stars

The Lone Star Summer in America tour takes its name from the opening track of Dreamer Boy’s forthcoming album, Lonestar. Set for May 10 release via slowplay/Capitol Records, Lonestar is available for pre-save / pre-order HERE. The album is a gossamer balance of duality: pure associations with Southern culture and the textures of Americana are woven with the creation of a larger-than-life persona—the beaten-down Rodeo Clown depicted on its cover.

After his sweetly psychedelic debut album, Love, Nostalgia, 2021’s heartfelt follow-up, All the Ways We Are Together, and tours with Clairo, Omar Apollo, The Marías, Still Woozy and others, Dreamer Boy firmly steps out of the bedroom and on to the highways on Lonestar. The Summer in America tour will take Dreamer Boy back to this terrain, with stops in Dallas, San Antonio, Houston and Nashville after its launch in Phoenix. Dreamer Boy will be in Dallas on May 31 at Dada, and has some June stops around Texas as well. 

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Cover Photo courtesy Simon Weisser, Unsplash

Gracie Watt is a regular contributor to Texas Lifestyle Magazine and a graduate of St. Edward’s University in Austin, with a degree in Journalism. Watt is also a Lifestyle Producer at NBC-affiliate KXAN’s Studio 512. When she’s not writing, Watt enjoys singing, playing the guitar and doing volunteer work.