The Sessions' Inside Tracks

Austin's resident songstress: Exclusive new music from Joanna Barbera

Joanna Barbera

The living room of Sessions producer CJ Vinson was the perfect setting for a video with Austin songstress, Joanna Barbera. Watching her perform “Pretty” makes singing on camera look easy. Her acoustic guitar co-stars with her polished voice in this personal and up close shoot.

Originally from New York, Joanna Barbera fell in love with music early on and thankfully she has shared her passion and talent with The Sessions crew. Releasing her debut album Carnival Beginning in January 2009, Barbera gained fans with her remarkable vocals and incomparable songwriting skills — not to mention, several songs from Carnival Beginning have been licensed for MTV productions.

Being an independent artist can be a feat for any musician, especially one here in Austin, but Joanna has the music scene in this town under her spell. Taking over stages at the Cactus Cafe, Antone’s and Saxon Pub, Barbera definitely knows how to put on a show. No matter where she performs, her shows are intimate and always focused on her audience. Check her playing Mohawk’s inside stage on August 2. Tunes start at 10 p.m.!

After successfully funding her recent 2012 Kickstarter campaign, Joanna Barbera is back in the studio recording her follow-up album to Carnival Beginning. Keep your eyes peeled for updates here!

Don’t forget to “Like” Joanna Barbera and The Sessions Music LLC on Facebook!

"Pretty" from Joanna Barbera

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About The Sessions:

Producers CJ Vinson and Lauren Bucherie are musical tastemakers based out of Austin, Texas. They built their company around a simple wish: To diminish the boundary between art and audience. Their unwavering style and eclectic creative collaborations have made The Sessions sought-after team for musicians around the world. CJ and Lauren have worked with everyone from local favorites Cowboy and Indian, Suzanna Choffel and Dan Dyer to internationally-renowned acts like Fitz and The Tantrums and two-time Grammy award winners The Civil Wars.

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This week's hot headlines

Wurstfest waltzes into this week's 5 hottest Austin headlines

Photo courtesy of Wurstfest

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Editor's note: A lot happened this week, so here's your chance to get caught up. Read on for the week's most popular headlines. Looking for the best things to do this weekend? Find that list here.

1. New Braunfels sausage and beer extravaganza Wurstfest returns for 2024. German culture is on display in many subtle ways throughout Texas' historic towns; Wurstfest is not one of those ways. This oompah-driven, battered-and-fried, lederhosen-clad beer and sausage festival is coming back to New Braunfels for its annual festivities November 1-10.

2. Sixth Street icehouse branches out with posh, old-school sports club. There’s no shortage of spots to grab a drink in East Austin. But despite the area’s wide range of bar offerings — from cocktail lounges to dives — it comes up surprisingly short on sports bars. Enter Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (WTF) Sporting Club, which is taking over the giant East 7th space vacated earlier this year by Easy Tiger.

3. Austin's famous Katz's makes a comeback in the same location. There is good news this week for all Austinites pining for a simpler — and if you ask them, better — Austin of the past. The beloved West 6th Street eatery Katz's is making a comeback more than 10 years after it famously closed. Someone in the Katz family has re-purchased the original location and is hoping to bring back the good old days.

4. Popular Austin hospitality group stirs up sunny new daytime cafe. Since debuting in 2009, Jack Allen’s Kitchen’s weekend brunch has been a staple of Austin’s many best-of lists. Now, owners Jack Gilmore and Tom Kamm are upping the ante. The restaurateurs have founded a new concept, Day Maker Half Day Café, to bring that AM magic seven days a week.

5. Spectacular Austin Trail of Lights gets even more festive with weddings. Locals who feel sentimental about the 60-year-old Austin Trail of Lights now have a shimmering new way to make it part of their personal stories. Surely many have proposed to partners at the Christmas installation, but now they can get married there, too.