Get on Board the Austin Express
by Matt Robinson
Live to learn. That could be a motto for Making Music's readers—intrepid, inquisitive folk who enjoy a challenge, like to break out of routine once in a while, and know the thrill that the spark of discovery causes.
It’s also a motto for Road Scholar (www.roadscholar.org), a company that invites people to explore the world through learning and travel opportunities and encourages them to share their journey with like-minded travelers.
One of these programs is called “Austin Express,” which encourages musicians and nonmusicians alike to dig into the thriving Austin, Texas, music scene and investigate the complex life of this unique musical crossroads—home to gospel, blues, country, and Tejano music—billed as the “Live Music Capital of the World.”
Inner Circle
“You’ll meet the best scholars, professional musicians, club owners, and everyone else we run into,” says program coordinator and University of Texas Professor Gavin Garcia, who introduces the Austin music scene with visits to notable clubs (including legendary, eclectic Threadgill’s, where Janis Joplin got her start), recording studios, and even a rousing Sunday morning gospel service followed by a gospel brunch at Stubb’s BBQ.
“The program allows a musically savvy person to become part of the ‘inner circle’ of one of the world’s most creative communities,” explains Garcia. The list of Austin musical alumni, native and adopted, is impressive: Joplin, Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Lyle Lovett, Townes Van Zandt, Kinky Friedman, Pinetop Perkins, and Shawn Colvin, to name a few.
Road scholars on board the Austin Express meet the rising stars of Austin’s future and learn some of the secrets to making music, from writing to recording to getting it across live. “Regardless of their musical background, once we dip our travelers in this energetic music incubator, it stirs their imagination,” says Garcia.
In addition to visits to clubs and concerts, Austin Express offers presentations by local scholars—including author Larry Willoughby, musicologist John Wheat, and two-time Grammy winner Floyd Domino—about the region’s music and culture and how the two intermingle.
Gratifying Thing
“It’s a relaxing, easygoing tour,” Garcia insists, “and our speakers help create a convivial environment. Even if you’re not a musician when you arrive, you’ll leave with an awakened sense of your own creativity!” Garcia hopes the Austin Express program, which will be presented again in October, enlightens guests to the commonalities of music across many genres, especially those found in Texas.
Among the regular program participants is 67-year-old Rodolfo Lopez, who drives from San Antonio to Austin every time the Austin Express gathers steam. Very dedicated to his music making, today Lopez is a resident artist with the Texas Commission for the Arts, although he didn’t always have so much time to spend with his passion.
After a career as a civil servant and a second one as an educator (“The most gratifying thing I have ever done”), Lopez retired to his ranch to raise ponies for inner city and handicapped children to ride. A longtime singer, Lopez always loved music but had never actively pursued it. “But when I turned 50,” he recalls, “I decided I was going to learn an instrument.”
After trying the guitar, Lopez met a friend who played the accordion, a key ingredient to the region’s conjunto (also called norteño) music. The other crucial instrument in this native sound is a 12-string guitar called the bajo sexto, so Lopez decided to give it a try. “All my friends were playing accordions and none of them were playing bajo sexto,” he explains.
New World
After teaching himself the basics, Lopez began taking classes at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in San Antonio, home to the Tejano Conjunto Festival, now in its 26th year. “I started playing out with an accordion player who was just seven years old at the time,” Lopez says, “and my music making just continued from there.”
The more Lopez played, the more he wanted to find out. “I was like a flea,” he laughs. “If I heard a bajo sexto player, I was on him, because I wanted to learn!”
The bajo sexto offered a way back into teaching for Lopez. After receiving a grant from Texas Folklife Resources, he started a conjunto program at a high school outside of San Antonio. “It is now in its ninth year,” he says proudly. “I teach bajo sexto and my partner teaches accordion.” Four years ago, Lopez started another program in San Antonio called The Conjunto Heritage Taller (or “workshop”).
“The motto is ‘musica tradicional for students of all ages,’” he explains. “We teach conjunto to pre-teens and to people in their late 60s, and everybody is learning, so we must be doing something right!”
Whether playing for himself, for friends, or for students, one thing remains fundamental for Lopez—“I love music!” he exclaims. “It’s been a completely new world since I started playing.” And that’s why he so enjoys performing with other dedicated musicians visiting Texas with the Road Scholar program.
Keep Playing
One such visiting musical compadre is Susan Kravitz, 59, a psychologist from Long Island who has more than a casual creative streak. In addition to making her own jewelry, Kravitz writes and performs her music wherever she can. In fact, while in Austin, she sang and played on stage at Stubb’s famous Gospel brunch, and in the historic Driskill Hotel, which serves as the luxurious home base for the Road Scholar trip.
Kravitz had taken some piano lessons in her earlier years, but says that her first real exposure to music came as a teen at camp. “The counselors had guitars and were playing the great music of the ’60s,” Kravitz remembers. “I loved it and remember saying to myself I wanted to play.”
After word got out that she had learned a few chords, Kravitz found her new talents in high demand. “People would ask me to bring my guitar to parties and school functions,” she recalls, “so I just kept playing!”
Though she had a brief professional music career playing in a restaurant, Kravitz decided to pursue psychology and make music just for fun, with friends and in college bands. Then marriage and motherhood cut back her playing even more. “My music went dormant for a while,” she admits, “although I used to play and sing lullabies to my son.”
Higher Plane
Then, about seven years ago, Kravitz was asked to serve as the lay cantor at her synagogue. “Friends started asking me to write music for bar and bat mitzvahs,” she recalls. “Then I wrote a one-woman show with original songs and parodies of well-known songs and put together a fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Katrina.”
Recently, Kravitz stepped into the studio to record a collection of her numbers. “I never intended for music to be my main dish,” she says, “but as I go into act two of my life, I plan to play more.”
As she and her optometrist husband love to travel, the Road Scholar Austin Express trip seemed to be a perfect way to combine two hobbies in one. “This trip is also called ‘Riding the Music Train,’” Kravitz says, explaining why she chose to vacation with Road Scholar, “and in the brochure it described all the music that I love!”
While Kravitz expected to enjoy the music scene in Austin, she was surprised by other aspects of the trip. “What is so great is that I didn’t anticipate finding out how much music is integrated into the lives of the locals,” Kravitz says. “They go to live music almost every day of the week and every audience was really respectful.”
“Music can connect you to a higher plane and with other people,” muses Kravtiz, recalling the uplifting Gospel service she attended, among other memorable performances. One of the musicians with whom Kravitz connected was Lopez—the two performed together on the last day of the trip. “That was a thrill,” Lopez says. “I hope I get to hear more of her songs.”
