As we trudge through the dregs of North Texas winter (it's below 40 degrees!), it can be easy to lose sight of one simple fact: Festival season is already almost here. Funny how that works, huh? Almost exactly two months from now comes SXSW, and all the glorious spillover that comes with it -- including, well, Spillover and the welcomed return of 35 Denton. Before you know it, we'll be right back into six months of boiling-hot summer.
To those ends, the fine folks down in Austin threw is a bone with a fresh batch of artists scheduled to play official SXSW showcases in March. That list includes several North Texas acts, including perennial rap favorites A.Dd+ and local man of the moment Leon Bridges.
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This is actually the third round of band announcements for this year's festival, but by far this one is the most relevant for Dallas-area artists. In the two previous rounds, Dallas Observer Music Awards Best Blues Act winner Jonathan Tyler and DJ Duffey were the only locals to be announced, and both in the second round from mid-November.
The inclusion of Bridges is particularly timely, though. The precocious young R&B singer from Fort Worth built up quite a buzz in the closing months of 2014, which he put an exclamation point on on Christmas day when he announced he'd been signed to the big leagues with Columbia Records. It's easily the biggest signing for a local artist in years. Playing SXSW should likely be his big coming-out party to the wider world.
A.Dd+ are no strangers to this kind of platform, and alongside Daniel Huffman's probably the highest-profile local act on the lineup outside new boy Bridges. There will be a handful DJs hoisting the Dallas flag down in the capitol city as well, most notably Gavin Guthrie aka TX Connect.
Here's the full list of Dallas artists schedule to play SXSW official showcases:
Jonathan Tyler DJ Duffey A.Dd+ RIck Anderson Leon Bridges Kirk Franklin Green River Ordinance Ronnie Heart JLD Eddy Kenzo LaToria New Fumes Jesse Porter (Host) Ray Reed ShySpeaks TX Connect
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