I'm a music fan, like yourself (you would have to be if you have read this far :-) ), who spent time in college radio (at KTRU) as both a jazz and rock/folk/pop DJ. Upon eventually graduating, I gradually lost touch with the new recordings and new artists. (Working at a radio station is just grand for this; if you've got the energy you can get exposed to all kinds of new releases coming in.) I kept listening to NPR and local stations that provided different kinds of new music so I wouldn't get bored, but mostly got out of the habit of buying new music. I always checked for touring concerts of people I had become familiar with, and tried to make a point of attending (on an irregular basis). But basically I let all that go until I moved to Austin, when it was easy to get information about new stuff via the local alternative newspaper. Slowly I started getting back into new music until I now find myself once again pretty well immersed in it. However, it takes a lot of reading, hanging out in record stores, talking to people, and so forth.

Of course I never entirely lost touch with new music because one of my best friends remained at KTRU doing what he calls Chicken Skin Music (named after a Ry Cooder album): folk/blues/ bluegrass/old-style country/random mix. So whenever he would find something he thought I'd really like, he recommended it.

Also during this entire time I rarely missed a Kerrville Folk Festival (really a festival for "performing songwriters", very little of the music performed there is what would count as traditional "folk" music: no "Michael, Row The Boat Ashore", etc.) So this was always a way to get exposed to new artists. (Never mind the fact that I went there primarily for the beer at first :-) )

So now I go chase down new things in Austin and here I am recommending some of my favorites to you. That's it. My tastes are eclectic, may not match yours, and my list of musicians is similarly quirky and non-authoritative. (But, given the fluidity of the live music scene, there is no way to ever create such an authoritative list: by the time you got done, several bands would have broken up and reformed into new bands, and several musicians would have reverted to day jobs, and several more would just have arrived in town. Like the Web itself, the scene is far too dynamic to be pinned down.)