I've always loved Austin. To me it represents that fighting spirit, that fearlessness in the face of diversity. It's the house that Willie made.

I guess that's why it can be so grounding to have the kind of night I had at the Britt Festival grounds, watching DUG open up for Shakey Graves and his band. It's just nice to feel like part of a community, to be among people that really just want to enjoy themselves and appreciate the moment.

It was a gorgeous afternoon in the hills of Jacksonville, with blue skies and green hills all around. We had a packed show, and I had some great seats.

This was my second time seeing DUG, and I will certainly be keeping an eye on their career. As a duo, they really feel like the perfect opener. They do a great job of interacting with the crowd — at one point there was line dancing, pitting the left side of the dance floor against the other. All in good fun, of course. but the core of their aesthetic really stems from two things, a commitment to street-busking folk performance, and a reliance on Conor's fluid lyricism.

So when Shakey Graves finally took to the stage, the vibe was already off to a nice start. One thing I can say about Shakey is that his entire show and set construction feels very controlled. I mean that in the best possible way, because when you have a production of this size, with multiple tour buses and a bunch of gear, you really don't want to be in the business of managing surprises. So it was clear how much of that attention to detail goes into every show.

So the general dynamic footprint goes like this: the band shows up, they play a handful of ensemble-driven songs, they touch on a few hits, and then Shakey Graves digs in for a pretty long middle section of the set, just stomping away as a solo artist. That part took me by surprise, but also feels very natural in a certain way. Coming from the deeply performance-driven Austin scene, it felt clear to me that Shakey wanted to offer his respects to some of the Congress Avenue pioneers that stood largely on their own, and in doing so pay homage to a very street-centered busking context. This is his story, too.

That distinction was not lost on me. Shakey could easily just hide behind the performance of his band, lean on his decidedly impressive and successful songwriting aesthetic, and leave it be. But no, he wanted to make sure that we understand where he comes from. Of course, the first person I thought of when he started stomping along and digging into his open tunings was Chris Whitley, who is the quintissential Texas legend in my book, even if there's a whole series of trendsetting guitar-slingers standing behind him, from the Stevie Ray Vaughans of the world all the way back to the original Robert Johnson.

Now, I don't know if Shakey got his start as a busker. In some way, most of us do. But he did drop a little story about the fact that he had come out many years prior to do a Led Zeppelin-based cover show — and in a place like Jacksonville, those stories really help. He becomes one of us, he becomes part of the story of the land and of the people.

But of course, many of the happy concertgoers on that beautiful day were just there to shake some tail feathers, which was obvious to me when, after that middle set of blues-driven solo guitar, he brought the band back up for some mid-tempo stuff, and of course people start talking, because they're not quite as driven to get up and dance in those moments. But to me, that's part of the experience: the ebb and flow. It was also clear that that set had been assembled long ago, and there were interludes and little narratives to make even the most detail-oriented of us happy to be there.

Shakey mentioned he's married now, he's got a kid, he brought an in-law onto the stage. I wonder if, over the years, the Shakey Graves experience might turn into a family affair. We should be so lucky.

it's nice to have these brief but powerful respites, when you just kind of feel like you're among the right people, listening to the right music with the right things on your mind. On a gorgeous day like it was, you just didn't have to think too hard about it. The songs were good, the sundresses were pretty, and the beer was flowing. In Jacksonville on a hot summer's day, that's about as good as it gets.

Over the years, Shakey has earned his place at the Britt Festival, with a great majority of those fans having memories and connections with many of those songs going back into the long ago. It's an entirely different equation when you're looking at a venue of that size. The Britt has one of the greatest sound systems that can be bought with money (Meyer Sound, dontcha know). So for a few hours on a Thursday evening, I was lucky to enjoy the sounds of a band that really has no equal in the current landscape.

I think the power and specificity of Shakey's music will ensure that he remains unique. When I think about contemporary comparisons, my mind goes to a cross between Noah Kahan and Hiss Golden Messenger — but only if he had a deal with the devil to follow in the steps of Robert Johnson.

From a pragmatic perspective, and certainly compared to the demographics of the aging Applegate Valley, Shakey is a rather young artist. Here's to many more years, decades even, of enjoying his music.

I also read that Austin designated Feb. 9 as Shakey Graves day. I had a few questions out to him through his publicist, that was one of them: what is it like for your hometown to honor you that way? I never heard back. I am genuinely curious. If Ashland ever designated a Krister Axel day, I would lose my mind. :)

If you're not familiar with with the music of Shakey Graves, his latest release is a great place to start. He combines a flair for folk storytelling with a foundation of gritty blues, offered next to a worldly sensibility that feels both genuine and playful. This is the kind of art that moves me: offering a sense of being grounded in folk-blues history while also feeling fresh and unshackled. This is an artist who does not feel beholden to existing tropes in pop music.

Shakey goes his own way, and we love him for that.