Shermakaye Bass

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Soul Power

The gospel according to Ruthie Foster

By Shermakaye Bass
Jun 5, 2003

When Ruthie Foster steps onstage, she is strikingly quiet. Her presence is quiet; her voice is quiet. Her small frame has a language that is very quiet. No divas here, it says. No bullshit, either. And you wonder if this is the same blues-gospel-folk belter who is creating a stir...
Master of Puppets

Curt Kirkwood is the heart, soul, and everything else of the Meat Puppets, no matter who's in the band

By Shermakaye Bass
Sep 7, 2000

The least surprising thing about Curt Kirkwood's new venture is that it's based in Austin. There's more to it than the fact that his new bandmates were based here. And it's not, as drummer and new bandmate Shandon Sahm, quips, "because Texas has barbecues and death penalties." Phoenix was no...
Terry saves

Lubbock-born sculptor-songwriter finally finds a little Salivation

By Shermakaye Bass
Mar 18, 1999

The Texas in Terry Allen shoots across the fiber-optic miles from New Mexico with the force of a West Texas rainstorm. Casually stirring up the dust-dervishes of good and God and beauty and pain, the renegade sculptor-painter-musician is talking about truth. Actually, truth and dualities, the two qualities that so...
The blues and zip-a-dee-doo-dah

Ana Egge picks up her guitar and takes it to the River

By Shermakaye Bass
Oct 29, 1998

It's a crazy-hot Saturday evening at the Dessau Music Hall, a dancehall in far North Austin. It's so hot that the sun sweats all over the people in the parking lot outside. The place is abuzz--even the mosquitoes know something's up; they're out in force. The people know it too...
A mother's kisses

Sara Hickman doesn't need to please anyone anymore

By Shermakaye Bass
Apr 23, 1998

Sara Hickman said it herself. She was always the girl on the front porch...the girl next door...the girl wearing gingham, playing guitar, spreading joy with the crystal-bell, soft-dove voice as she sang "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah." She was the hometown girl whose handcrafted gem Equal Scary People took her to the big city...

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