Music Matters
Famed Austin musician lets fans pay what they want for 3 days only
An Austin musician is giving back to fans and charities with a unique program. On February 9-11 you can pay what you want for Shakey Graves' entire discography, 10 albums of one-man-band folk jams and electric blues hits, for a good cause.
The online release is part of the sixth annual Shakey Graves Day. Once a year local singer-songwriter Alejandro Rose-Garcia adopts a pay-what-you-want model for 72 hours — but this time, instead of pocketing the proceeds, he will donate half to causes concerning science, human rights, and general empathy.
"Every day it seems we awaken to news that some new hole has been slashed in the foundations of everything we've held true concerning science, human rights, and general empathy," he writes.
"I realized that throwing a party and putting some tunes on the internet didn't seem to match up with my desperate yearning I feel to help in some way. So I decided that, from now on, I'm going to donate half the proceeds of the album sales to one or more good causes. These can be charities, think tanks, frozen natives, music programs, homeless shelters, basically anything nice you can think of."
The musician will take suggestions for deserving organizations through his official Facebook page and via email; a list of recipients will be revealed after the three-day period.
The main attraction of Shakey Graves Day is a concert which will take over The Mohawk on February 9 with Rayland Baxter, David Ramirez, Los Coast, and the Snacktown All-Stars. A ticket lottery is current open on the singer's website, but a handful will be available at the door.
