Dustbowl Revival & Hot Club of Cowtown: 'Willie and Bob'

Coming together again for a unique collaboration are Austin's beloved Western swing and string band masters, Hot Club of Cowtown (who once toured with Dylan), and LA's award-winning brass and harmony heavies, Dustbowl Revival. Take the journey from Dylan’s and Nelson's earliest old-time roots in Texas and Minnesota to their fearless modern sounds.

Following a successful barnstorming of the West Coast honoring the 50th anniversary of The Band together (with a signed copy of Big Pink sent from an appreciative Robbie Robertson), Hot Club and Dustbowl reunite to play classics and deep cuts from Dylan’s and Nelson's whole catalogue, as well as share their own originals.

Dustbowl Revival

Dustbowl is going strong into their second decade, after starting from a humble Craigslist ad posted in Bohemian Venice Beach. Some would say their ever-evolving collective plays a spicy cocktail of folky-funk or booty-shaking jangly rock ‘n’ soul, expertly mixing their New Orleans-tinted brass section with their signature Laurel Canyon harmonies and fearless lyrics.

Dustbowl Revival is a testament to building a fan base and their own sound the old-fashioned way, with hard work and moving songs that stick to your bones when you leave the concert. There’s a reason they continue to get written up in “Rolling Stone” and “Billboard,” and get played on AAA radio 16 years after they set sail.

After releasing seven acclaimed albums starting in 2008, including their beloved live record “With A Lampshade On (2015)” – recorded mostly at the Troubadour in LA – and their charting self-titled record (2017) produced by Grammy-winner Ted Hutt (Flogging Molly, Old Crow Medicine Show), perhaps their magnum opus is 2020’s deeply personal “Is It You, Is It Me,” produced by Sam Kassirer (Lake Street Dive, Josh Ritter). It showcases their penchant for orchestral brass and intricate string work with politically charged story-songs that unfold like mini-movies. It’s not surprising that Z. Lupetin was an award-winning playwright and screenwriter before music took the reins. “Get Rid Of You,” an ode to the courageous Parkland, Florida, students who stood up to demand common-sense gun laws be passed, is a heart-wrenching staple of each show.

While staying proudly independent, the band has garnered over 10 million streams and counting, with romantic jams like “Honey, I Love You,” featuring Blues master Keb’ Mo,’ and fan favorites like “Sonic Boom” and “Debtors Prison” leading the charge. Many first learned about the band after the now 98-year-old legend Dick Van Dyke let the gang shoot a music video with him dancing in his signature straw hat at his house. Of course, the quirky jam to “Never Had to Go” went viral.

They’re long known for their knock-out festival performances which often spill off the stage into the crowd. Recent notable appearances – Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco, Rhythm N Roots in Rhode Island, Waterfront Blues in Portland, The Cambridge Folk Fest in England, and Tonder Festival in Denmark – highlight a few of their favorite stops. Their state-department tour of China also prompted a funny mini documentary on YouTube.

Indeed, founder Z. Lupetin’s quixotic Craigslist ad hoping to find like-minded music-makers to play songs inspired by Wilco, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen, as well as Nina Simone, Fleetwood Mac, and Bill Withers, may seem confusing, but somehow it worked.

Hot Club of Cowtown

Since the late 1990s, the Hot Club of Cowtown has captivated audiences with incredible musicianship and exhilarating live performances. As proud members of the Texas Commission on the Arts, they draw inspiration from the Western swing of Bob Wills and the culture of the American Southwest, as well as the European hot jazz popularized in Paris by Stéphane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt during the same era. The band skillfully blends vintage string music, three-part harmony singing, and lively dance tunes, all delivered with unmatched joy and virtuosity.