Thunderhouse Media
Audio By Carbonatix
Mitch Baranowski grew up in the Dallas area. He, like most fortunate souls, was around for the Deep Ellum heyday, when the Old 97’s played at Adair’s Saloon in the ‘90s. But he, like most unfortunate souls, booked a one-way ticket out of Dallas, settling just 200 miles south, where music goes to thrive: Austin.
The journey from Dallas to Austin is a beaten path. Take it from Baranowski, who just led a massive project on the Austin music scene, aptly titled Austin’s Music Scene: Your Guide to the City’s Most Iconic Artists & Venues. Unlike the hundreds of other Live Music Capital of the World-themed books, his work catalogues the music of today: the up-and-comers and the venues that are booking them. Baranowski, a former journalist, is a believer in one of the most universal tenets of journalism: The best way to write history is to write it as it happens.
We can’t help but be jealous. Where’s our book? We have a music scene too, and a damn good one as far as we’re concerned. Baranowski agrees, to be sure. And he has theories as to why the Dallas-to-Austin musician pipeline never seems to dry up.
“I have nothing but love for Dallas, and I want the music scene there to thrive,” he tells the Observer. “That said… the Austin City Council declared the city the Live Music Capital of the World back in 1991. To avoid making that just a marketing slogan, they backed it up with some real, concrete actions. It became a part of the identity here.”
Before the city gave itself a nickname, it already had a music office and a slew of other government-funded music and arts organizations. Comparatively, Dallas launched its music office 34 years later, in 2024.
“One of the key differences is this extraordinary ecosystem, this infrastructure that has developed since they made that moniker the official slogan,” Baranowski says.
He points out that Austin also has both national and international cultural mainstays in Austin City Limits and South by Southwest, with even more smaller festivals scattered throughout the year.
“There’s a bit of a head start, right? Since the ’90s, [Austin has] been laying track, and so you see the benefit of that investment,” he says. “The music business here drives a significant portion of the economy. That benefit begets more support and investment. Momentum begets momentum.”
The book, which is broken down into genres, profiles some of Austin’s most prominent artists across seven categories (country/americana, blues/soul, rock, hip-hop/R&B, jazz, latin/world and electronic/experimental), before breaking down 250-plus venues in the city. Spreading venue awareness was one of the group’s main focuses as more venues risk closure across the state. It’s a struggle our city knows well. (We still talk about you, Lizard Lounge.)
“The recent initiative [in Austin] is to support venues and keep venues from closing, that’s also key,” he said. “Venues have a lot of challenges, too. Increasing rent, increasing taxes, increasing insurance costs… Those pressures are real, and there’s only so much you can increase ticket prices.”
The book was written in collaboration with the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM), which celebrates its 20th anniversary with the book’s release. HAAM is a non-profit dedicated to providing musicians in the area with affordable health care. A similar program, Creatives Care Dallas, launched in late 2025.
So the explanation is simple. Austin outpaces Dallas in its offerings, especially in resources for artists. To get more, you have to give more.
