SXSJ

Black Pumas won "Best New Band" honors at the 2019 Austin Music Awards, so FUV wanted to make sure you got to hear these hometown faves while we were in Austin too. At the core is the collaboration of producer/guitarist Adrian Quesada and singer-songwriter Eric Burton. Add horns, back-up singers, and moves, and this is a modern soul sound from a band to watch.

We've met Robert Ellis before, as a solo artist and as part of Traveller, but he's now emerged as the Texas Piano Man. Although the album brings a new sound and style, it also feels like Ellis is sounding more like himself than ever, by both embracing his Texas roots and redefining them. And all in a white tuxedo.

The three voices in Mountain Man have traveled in different directions since their 2010 debut, but fortunately their musical paths have once again aligned. Harmonies (and humor) result when that happens, and at South x San José, FUV was not only treated to songs from the trio's latest album, Magic Ship, but also the pure chemistry that continues to bring Molly Sarlé, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig and Amelia Meath together as this self-described "aggressively quiet" band.

Eric Brandon Pulido has visited FUV before with Midlake and BNQT, but now the Texas native is stretching out — not only solo, but under a new name: E.B. the Younger. Rather than hide behind his alias, Younger finds it provides even more freedom to expand his rock roots. The result is his brand new solo album, To Each His Own.