Texas Guitar Women at Antone’s

There are many excellent female musicians in Texas, and on Thursday March 22nd, some of these were gathered at Antone’s to celebrate the birthdays of Marcia Ball, Nancy Kaplan and Nancy Fly. The concert was also done in the spirit of Etta James.

First out were The Bluebonnets, an all girl band led by ace guitarist Kathy Valentine. The members live in Austin and LA, and they have shared the bill with great Austin acts like Bob Schneider, Guy Forsyth, Jimmie Vaughan and Carolyn Wonderland. They did a vigorous and rocky set before they introduced the Texas Guitar Women.

The main act were a band with Cindy Cashdollar, Carolyn Wonderland, Shelly King, Marcia Ball, Sandrah Brown and Lisa Pankratz, plus a guest appearance by Rosie Flores. Each of them are succesful and well known at the Austin music scene, and also outside Texas. They did songs by Etta James, plus some of their own songs.

The crowd really liked the show, and the band gave us 90 minutes of pure joy with some spectacular singing and playing. I am looking forward to see them again, either as the Texas Guitar Women or in their own settings.