Disko Cowboy Interview | Austin City Limits 2022
Interview by Wesley Smoot
Disko Cowboy at Tito’s Vodka Stage- ACL 2022
Weslo: This is Wesley Smoot, with Unleashed LGBTQ, I’m here at Austin City Limits in Austin, Texas with Disco Cowboy... How are you today? I heard you crushed it at last year.
Disko Cowboy: Thanks brotha. I’m great, how are you?
Weslo: Not bad at all. How’s your ACL?
Disko Cowboy: Actually, it’s my first day here. But it’s been awesome.
Weslo: So, you’re going on soon.
Disko Cowboy: That’s right, here in about an hour.
Weslo: Yassss… You’re a Texas boy, what’s your thoughts on the scene? You've been here a while.
Disko Cowboy: I grew up outside of Austin, this is my permanent residence now, looking at about 8 months. Austin is great, it’s not what it used to be, but you can say that about most places.
Weslo: I'll agree wholeheartedly. You're not only a musician & producer but a designer and entrepreneur. You’re the founder of Vinyl Ranch, a really hip apparel company, can you tell our readers about the line?
Disko Cowboy: Sure, it’s kind of more of a pop-culture mash-up, obviously rooted in country music and dance music culture— I just kind of pull off kinds of topical references from what I’m doing. I try to keep myself open to always receiving new, creative ideas.
Weslo: I can dig it. I’m seeing so much overlap and synergy between pop music and country, things like Lil Nas X with Ol Town Road, do you see this growing as more of a sub-genre?
Disko Cowboy: Definitely, that’s been a whole conversation lately. I almost feel like with most genres, the lines are blurring in every direction– there doesn’t need to be a singularity of what a music genre is. It’s just gonna be music, kind of like food. Now, we’re all just cooking gumbo, it's actually a great time to be making music.
Weslo: I can see that. I saw Diplo wearing your gear, it seems like Vinyl Ranch is blowing up. Congrats! Can you tell us more?
Disko Cowboy & Diplo wearing Vinyl Ranch
Disko Cowboy: Yes! I did a merch collab with him. I helped design his merch for Stagecoach in April. I’m actually collaborating with him on some other live events– stay tuned. I just DJ'd the Stagecoach launch party in LA. I think everyone is assuming a partnership has developed. But yeah, he’s been a big supporter of Vinyl Ranch. It’s cool to work with people that have brands that are so expansive and universal. He’s obviously one of the most prominent, famous Djs in the galaxy. To have someone like that put you on, it’s a real honor.
Welso: I dig it. So back to music, anywhere specific you pull inspiration from?
Disko Cowboy: Everything. I’m so curious about everything. I love the term country-curious (laughing), but I’m like, curious about everything. Anything that I can experience that will make an impact in my creative statement, I’m always open to living it, learning it, loving it.
Welso: Are there close connections or overlap in the creativity of fashion and music?
Disko Cowboy: Absolutely. I think they're so interdependent on one another. I’ve always been at the intersection of the two, ever since I was a kid. I have polaroids of me dressed as Michael Jackson, sleeves rolled up– my mom said I used to cut my own hair because I had to be in control of my own look, style. I think the two will always go hand-in-hand.
Disko Cowboy at Tito’s Vodka Stage- ACL 2022
Welso: Well as you know, we are Unleashed LGBTQ, we know you do not identify as queer yourself, but you mentioned before the interview started, you have always got lots of inspiration from queer artists.. We can definitely see that in your fabulous outfits. Can you tell us more?
Disko Cowboy: I have lots of LGBTQ+ influences. When I was younger, my mom’s two best friends, Eric and Michael were really influential to me. They were a gay couple in San Antonio, Texas, “roommates” – my grandfather was queer as well, a great man. But, when I first started DJing, I was playing raves and a gay club in San Antonio, called The Saint, this was many, many years ago in the Y2K. But I’ve always had friends in the community, I was always proud to be an ally, it’s thanks to my upbringing that I was open and accepting, we’re all just people, we all need love.
Welso: I love that. As far as gay music, who were your influences?
Disko Cowboy: George Micheal, 100%. The day George Michael died; I’ve been wearing this dangly earring. I’ve been wearing it ever since. When I was a kid, my mom had two cassettes: The Judds and George Michael, Faith. And when I was a young boy, I'd see this cassette every day on the way to school, I’d think to myself, that’s what I want to look like. To this day I rock a five o’clock shadow and my tight jeans. He could have been gay, straight, a fucking martian… I knew I idolized him. To this day, universal sex appeal.
Disko Cowboy & Wesley Smoot ACL 2022
Welso: Well, he’s still one of the most beautiful men to have walked the planet. Not to mention his charitable contributions and influence on the actual music industry/business.
Disko Cowboy: Absolutely, George Michael and Prince both. It takes individuals as talented and bold as them to stand up to the industry giants. What they did for all musicians, songwriters, publishers, should never be forgotten.
Welso: Amen, boo. Thank you for taking the time to chat with us. You’re an ally and a hell of a talent. I look forward to catching you on stage and keeping up with you.
Disko Cowboy: This has been my pleasure. Thank you, Wesley.
Disko Cowboy has been pioneering and redefining urban cowboy culture through Vinyl Ranch and his own DJ prowess since the brand launched in Houston in 2007.
He has become especially known for his country disco music mashup DJ party that's grown in popularity across the country. In fact, Disko Cowboy is one of the only DJ's regularly booked on big festival bills like Bonnarroo (for the last two years), Stagecoach this year where he did a merch collaboration with Diplo, the inaugural FORMAT Fest last weekend in AR, now ACL Fest both weekends for the second year in a row, Lucktoberfest this Halloween in Austin opening for Orville Peck, and partnering in a big way on a brand new fest coming very soon -- more in store to be revealed.
This is all without consistently publishing new music, yet staying relevant with his unique style reinforced through the Vinyl Ranch brand.
C3 PRESENTS IN COLLABORATION WITH THE LADY BIRD JOHNSON WILDFLOWER CENTER ANNOUNCE THE AUSTIN DEBUT OF BRUCE MUNRO’S FIELD OF LIGHT IMMERSIVE LIGHT INSTALLATION
“Mr. Munro… has become the Christo and Jeanne-Claude of fiber-optic light environments.”
—The New York Times
AUSTIN, TX - Austin’s own C3 Presents, in collaboration with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas at Austin, is proud to announce that highly acclaimed British artist Bruce Munro’s Field of Light will debut on September 9, 2022, at the Wildflower Center.
Illuminating 16 acres in the Arboretum at the Wildflower Center, Field of Light is a stunning display of 28,000 stemmed spheres that are subtly lit by solar powered fiber-optics. Field of Light beautifully showcases the intersection of art, technology, and nature and its purpose is to inspire a sense of shared existence, and of being part of life’s essential pattern. The installation unites with the outdoors, celebrating the natural topography of the landscape and creating an immersive and emotional experience for guests.
“Austin is such a unique destination that embodies many of the core values of this installation. My hope is that the Field of Light installation will inspire visitors to contemplate a kinder and more connected world,” said Bruce Munro. “The Wildflower Center is the ideal venue for this exhibition simply because it brings people, art and nature together.”
“We’re thrilled to host Munro’s Field of Light in collaboration with C3 Presents and share this world-renowned exhibition with our community,” said Lee Clippard, executive director of the Wildflower Center. “The shifts of color and light will be a unique and provocative way to celebrate our Central Texas landscape.”
Bruce Munro is best known for large-scale light-based artworks inspired by his continuous study of light and his curiosity about shared human experiences. With a fine arts degree, early career training in the lighting design industry and an inventive urge for reuse, Munro creates art that captures his responses to literature, music, science and the world around him. His work has been commissioned by and displayed in special exhibitions in galleries, parks, grand estates, cathedrals, botanical gardens and museums around the globe.
The New York Times says of Munro’s Field of Light in Paso Robles: “There is nothing quite like the mind-bending spectacle now on display at dusk in the hills of Paso Robles. … That is the witching hour when thousands of solar-powered glass orbs on stems, created by the artist Bruce Munro, enfold visitors in an earthbound aurora borealis of shifting hues.”
Tickets will be on sale in July. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Wildflower Center. Guests can enjoy the exhibit from September through December 2022. Click here to learn more, or get social media updates at @fieldoflightaustin on Instagram and Facebook.
Jake Wesley Rogers to Perform at Austin City Limits
Rising superstar Jake Wesley Rogers is set to play ACL both weekends with sets Sunday 10/9 and 10/16 @ 1:15pm on the Miller Lite Stage. Attendees will not want to miss this electrifying, live show.
With the release of new song “Hindsight” for gay rom-com film, BROS this past Friday, major buzz is surrounding up-and-coming queer artist and advocate Jake Wesley Rogers.
Jake released his first major-label single “Middle Of Love” last May, Paper Magazine said “Give Jake Wesley Rogers a stadium” and now he is performing in arenas across the country, opening for Panic! at the Disco.
“Hindsight” along with earlier releases from this year including “Modern Love” and “Lavender Forever” which he performed on Ellen and HBO Max’s Legendary can be found on Jake’s upcoming EP.
"My new song Hindsight is very special to me, especially since it will be the end title track in Billy Eichner’s historic new film, “Bros”—the first gay rom-com made by a major motion picture studio. I wrote it with my go-to collaborator Justin Tranter, as well as the producer, Jason Gill. The song is about looking back at the past and longing to make the future better, by actually living and loving (and dancing) to your fullest potential." – Jake Wesley Rogers
Interview coming soon.
3x GRAMMY Award-Nominated Alphabet Rockers Raise Children's Voices for Change on New Album, The Movement
Oakland, Calif. -- Tuesday, October 4, 2022 -- Alphabet Rockers have captured the attention of families and the music industry with their authentic voices for change since the influential group's first GRAMMY Award nomination in 2018. Alphabet Rockers raises the bar - and ante up for big moves - with their fifth album, The Movement, featuring the children of Alphabet Rockers as songwriters, lead vocalists and the compelling voices of our times. Building on their mission to produce music that creates change, Alphabet Rockers crafted 13 new songs with a clear message - we have the power in our community to build a world of justice and belonging. Alphabet Rockers will tour The Movement in selection markets across the country, including an appearance at Austin City Limits in October 2022.
When the world shut down in March 2020, the Rockers were coming off their second GRAMMY-nomination for "Best Children's Album," and persisted with their intergenerational anti-racism work online through free community workshops, curriculum (We Got Work To Do), and virtual creative sessions with their core group of youth artists. The seminal work caught the eye of CBS Mornings who ran two national features on the significant positive impact the Alphabet Rockers had on children during these challenging times. The COVID-19 global pandemic was a racial reckoning across all industries, including children’s music and the GRAMMYs; Alphabet Rockers worked to transform family music by centering Black voices into the conversation and dismantling racial bias within the industry as co-founders of Family Music Forward. 1 Tribe Collective, a Black artist collective, emerged from this work and recorded the album All One Tribe, bringing Alphabet Rockers their 3rd GRAMMY nomination.
Alphabet Rockers utilize important questions to drive its creative process, including how to create justice in a country facing its racist truths – this led the group to an artist fellowship at the Othering & Belonging Institute at U.C. Berkeley supporting their early development of The Movement. The collective of children and adults asked questions, as simply as "when do you feel powerful, and when do you feel powerless?" and as complex as the tween writers asking, "how can people see that someone has changed?" and "how can the government use its resources to support the people, not just its systems?" The songs that came from this creative process on The Movement are bops -- with a depth that serves their intended audience - children wanting for everyone to be treated fairly and feel loved.
The Movement opens with an invitation to "connect the head and heart" as "when people connect -- that's how we find unity." The songwriters reflect on real moments from their lives, and lean on the conversations and interviews they conducted with restorative justice practitioners from Oakland and leaders like Angela Y. Davis. As writer Maya Flemingsays in her song, "Our Turn": "I've got a voice and I'm using it /And its way past time that you're hearing it /You can find a lot when you listen up." The voices of Alphabet Rockers are the balm for the reckoning of 2020. The Movement helps the whole family to understand their power, break biases, disrupt systems of oppression, and find community care. And "When it's all said and done - the word is LOVE."
The Movement will be released on all platforms on Friday, September 9.
For more information on Alphabet Rockers, please visit:
BMI IS BACK FOR 2022 AUSTIN CITY LIMITS FESTIVAL
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (September 9, 2022) – Broadcast Music Inc.® (BMI®) is thrilled to be back at Zilker Park for the 2022 Austin City Limits Music Festival on October 7-9 & 14-16, 2022. For the 18th year, BMI brings its curated, musically diverse lineup to ACL for two consecutive weekends of exciting music discovery.
The festival kicks off on Friday, October 7th with indie-pop sensation, girlhouse, followed by the energetic and expressive Lilyisthatyou, and Austin-based indie-rock band Sarah and the Sundays, along with several others. Additional Weekend One performers include sibling duo Aly & AJ, Craigslist-based songbirds Darkbird, and the haunting Isaac Dunbar.
Weekend Two will find more exceptional talent on the BMI stage, including the trailblazing country writer Lily Rose, psych-rock and indie-folk band The Brummies, and post-punk rockers Urban Heat. Other acts include R&B songwriter Siena Liggins and avid storytellers Sloppy Jane.
“BMI is always excited to return to Zilker Park for Austin City Limits, and this year is no exception,” says Mason Hunter, AVP Creative, Nashville. “We love working with C3 and are thrilled to be partnering with them for another four years, so that we can continue to invest in the Austin community and highlight our best and brightest talent on the BMI stage.”
For well over a decade, the BMI stage at ACL has had a hand in launching some of music’s biggest stars, including memorable performances from Miranda Lambert (‘03), Alessia Cara (‘15), Luke Combs (‘16), City and Colour (‘08), Gary Clark, Jr. (‘11), Shakey Graves (‘13), Jon Pardi (‘11, ‘14), Catfish and the Bottlemen (‘14), lovelytheband (‘18), and Maren Morris (‘16), who went on to win a GRAMMY within a year of appearing on the BMI ACL stage.
Each year, the BMI Lounge provides shade, rest, food, and drink for our performers and guests. This year’s lounge is sponsored by Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Waterloo Sparkling Water, and Liquid Death Mountain Water.
For more information about the BMI stage at 2022 Austin City Limits Music Festival, please visit aclfestival.com or check out https://www.bmi.com/news/entry/bmi-is-back-for-2022-austin-city-limits-festival. The full BMI stage lineup is below.
WEEKEND ONE
Friday, October 7
Girlhouse
Lilyisthatyou
Sarah and the Sundays
Saturday, October 8
Katzu Oso
Jessia
Charlotte Sands
Aly & AJ
Sunday, October 9
Chicocurlyhead
Darkbird
Isaac Dunbar
WEEKEND TWO
Friday, October 14
Early James
Dro Kenji
Lily Rose
Saturday, October 15
Izzy Heltai
Ben Reilly
Sloppy Jane
The Brummies
Sunday, October 16
Siena Liggins
Joshua Ray Walker
Urban Heat
Jackson Dean