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“The Austin Family Jewels, like delinquent diamonds, are perfectly poised to break your heart, make you laugh, and enhance your sensibilities.” This description of the multi-faceted quintet is just as fitting for their eclectic, original music which runs the gamut from energetic Americana and bluegrass numbers to poignant gypsy ballads, poetic folk songs, and even forays into jazz and blues. No genre seems off limit to these acoustic explorers and they transform each expression with their “incredibly tight harmonies and an instrumental expertise far beyond their years.” Their style has been likened to the Greencards, the Be Good Tanyas and the Roches, yet remains distinctly their own.
Elizabeth Suggs (guitar/vocals/percussion) and Gretchen Janzow (bass/vocals/guitar), longtime volunteers at the Kerrville Folk Festival, met around the campfires there and joined musical forces in 2004. The two musicians’ songwriting styles and vocals were a natural fit and the band was born. They saw Lauren Dickson (percussion/vocals/guitar) playing percussion in a musical theatre performance in April of 2005 and quickly recruited her to complete the trio and, ultimately, add the third harmony that completes their sound.
Within a matter of weeks, Stephen Kearley (guitar/vocals/harmonica) and Jessica Henderson (fiddle/vocals) joined the group and brought their own unique musical backgrounds into the fold. The ensemble performed around Austin and the surrounding hill country in this configuration for several months, as the bonds between them deepened and the set lists grew longer and longer! Each member of AFJ is a songwriter in their own right, so their repertoire is full of original gems with a few inspired covers in the mix.
In October of 2005, AFJ had the great fortune of adding the missing element to the group when Bill Sneed (banjo/vocals/guitar) relocated to Austin from Colorado. Sneed and Kearley had performed together for over twelve years in the popular Colorado band, the Kudzoo Brothers. The Kudzoo Brothers entertained enthusiastic crowds, opening for the likes of David Wilcox, Sam Bush, Tim O’Brien and Peter Rowan. Between the two of them, Sneed and Kearley brought volumes of original songs to the group, many of which have now received the AFJ treatment, been bejeweled with beautiful female harmonies and are now standouts in the band’s high energy shows.
AFJ recorded a live, self-produced album in July of 2006, which had been said to “capture most of the spirit and happiness of their live show”. It features their signature harmonies, creative instrumentation, energetic fiddle play and “clever, original and uncompromising” songs. Henderson (fiddle) soon left the band to pursue motherhood. Her fiddle playing and energy are missed but the quintet has continued to take their music to greater heights. Their songs are now reaching ears from the Texas Hill Country, via Rebel Radio station, to listeners of Rich Warren’s syndicated radio show in Chicago.
They have energized the campfires and staff concerts at Kerrville Folk Festival for the past two years and played the Arlo Guthrie Fest in Niederwald, TX in 2005, opened for Jimmie Dale Gilmore at a 2006 Lick Creek Benefit, created a buzz at the 2006 Southwest Regional Folk Alliance, opened for the South Austin Jug Band at the 2007 Americana Fest in Nacogdoches, TX and recently headlined at the Bugle Boy in LaGrange, TX and the Wyldwood House Concert series in Austin, TX. They continue to perform at Austin farmer’s markets and in venues across Texas and are heading into the studio in the fall to record their greatly anticipated second release.
Though their style may be hard to pin down into any one category, their talent, spirit and genuine, family-like bond shines through in every song and, ultimately, makes you feel good. As Oregon minstrel, Brian Cutean says, “The Austin Family Jewels are habit-forming, contagious and healing, and safe if taken as directed.” And, even if you can’t quite seem to find the right word to describe their music, in the words of Jimmie Dale Gilmore, “You play the kind of music I like, and that’s hard to find.”
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