Country music performance by Ricky Stein featuring Alex Saxon, with Gary Newcomb on pedal steel, Phil Morris on bass and Erin Stein on backing vocals.
Ricky Stein plays Cactus Cafe on Friday, September 4, with Alex Saxon. It's a KUTX-booked show, and Stein is an Austin-born songwriter who's been based in New York City for a while now. He describes his songs as seeking spiritual common ground between West Texas and South Brooklyn, and that distance shows up in the set: the earnest baritone of his singing backed by a group of local Austin pickers.
On stage with him will be Gary Newcomb on pedal steel, Phil Morris on bass, and Erin Stein on backing vocals—Erin is his younger sister. Among the songs he'll play are "Night Shines On," "American Dreaming," "The Great Empty," and "The Tex-Mex Song," which is about cheese enchiladas. The Austin Chronicle called his debut album, Crazy Days, "excellent right outta the gate," and his second, Long Summer, "among the best country sounds to come out of Austin this year."
Cactus Cafe is in the Student Union of the University of Texas, at 2308 Whitis on the Austin campus. It opened in 1979 and has since hosted a long list of legends: Townes Van Zandt, Lyle Lovett, Guy Clark, Joe Ely, Nanci Griffith, Butch Hancock, Shawn Colvin, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Jerry Jeff Walker. The room is known for its quiet, intimate atmosphere and its red-velvet-backed stage.
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The show runs from 7:30 to 9:30 PM, with doors opening at 6:30 PM.
