Rooted in Americana

Austin’s cherished Old Settler’s Music Festival returns with new COVID protocol for 2021

While the festival may look a little different this year, the music strums on.

Central Texas’ most cherished annual roots and Americana music festival — and a cornerstone of the Austin area’s treasured hippie-cowboy culture — is returning this fall after a canceled 2020 event.

Old Settler’s Music Festival, which began in 1987 as a one-day bluegrass fest and morphed throughout the years into a nationally recognized four-day camping and jamming event, will take to the stage in nearby Tilman, Texas (about an hour’s drive south of Austin), for its 34th annual installment October 21-24.

As usual, the festival includes a spectacular gaggle of masterful bands and musicians, many big Austin names among them (Jackie Venson, Bob Schneider, Carolyn Wonderland), and given the festival’s COVID-forced cancellation last year and subsequent postponement of the April 2021 reboot, Old Settler’s is taking no chances regarding safety at this year’s event.

In a news release from Wednesday, August 25, Old Settler’s says it will require festivalgoers to provide proof they have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19 within 14 days of the event or provide proof they received a negative COVID-19 test result within 48 hours of the fest. The rules apply to all attendees 12 and older.

It’s not the only area music event to recently announce attendees must provide proof of vaccination or a negative test for entry. On August 19, the Austin City Limits Music Festival released its COVID-19 safety guidelines for the two-weekend October event, noting it will require vaccination or negative test proof for every festivalgoer. That followed a similar announcement from Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival tour, which stopped in Austin on Sunday, August 22.

In addition to the vaccination and negative-test requirements, Old Settler’s main and second stages, attractions, and facilities will be arranged in a manner that provides extra room for music lovers to maintain safe social distances without sacrificing the friendly, laid-back vibe and sense of community the fest is known for.

And festival campers will be thrilled to learn Old Settler’s — a nonprofit, by the way — has been, well, settling into its new 145-acre permanent home by adding a fully electrified campground powered by renewable green energy that eliminates that annoying generator noise so friends can actually hear the tunes floating from one pickin’ circle to the next.

Though it’s subject to change, here’s the full Old Settler’s Music Festival lineup for this year:

Thursday, October 21

Campground Stage

Cari Hutson
Will Taylor and Strings Attached
Della Mae
Steep Canyon Rangers
Steve Poltz
Zen City

Late-night Stage

Steve Poltz

Friday, October 22

Original Black’s BBQ Stage

Sarah Shook & the Disarmers
Jackie Venson
James McMurtry
Della Mae
Jade Bird
Cedric Burnside

Bluebonnet Stage

Steve Poltz
The Deer
Kelsey Waldon
Tony Kamel
Kalu & the Electric Joint
Fruition

Platinum Cocktail Hour Stage

Kimber Ludiker (Della Mae)
Tony Kamel

Saturday, October 23

Original Black’s BBQ Stage

Elijah Delgado (2019 Youth Talent Competition winner)
Folk Family Revival
The Arcadian Wild
Jeremie Albino
Logan Ledger
Tomar & the FCs
Jamestown Revival
Sam Bush

Bluebonnet Stage

2021 Youth Talent Competition
The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys
2021 Youth Talent Competition winner
Hogslop String Band
Sierra Ferrell
Bonnie Bishop
The Travelin’ McCourys
Carolyn Wonderland and Shelley King
Cold Spring Union

Platinum Cocktail Hour Stage

Cari Hutson
Jackie Venson

Zen City Late-night Stage

Hogslop String Band

Sunday, October 24

Campground Stage

The House of Songs
The Cleverlys
Bob Schneider
Ray Wylie Hubbard

Tickets — priced at 2020 levels — are on sale now on the festival website and prices range from $25 for Sunday only to $950 for all-inclusive platinum passes. Four-day general admission passes run $169-$210, and pricing for camping, electrical and parking permits, and other add-ons is also available online.

Those holding tickets from the 2020 canceled event are encouraged to use the site’s LYTE ticket-exchange service to sell or gift tickets to a 2021 attendee.

music festivals

Movie Review

Highly anticipated Wicked movie adaptation deserves to be popular

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande-Butera in Wicked.

The musical Wicked is indisputably the biggest Broadway smash of the 21st century, having grossed more $1.6 billion in New York alone and achieving the rare feat of running for over 20 years. All of which is to say that the long-awaited movie adaptation of The Wizard of Oz prequel will most likely be a massive success whether it lives up to what longtime fans envisioned or not.

Part one — yes, this 2 hour and 40 minute film is merely the first act of the musical; part two arrives a year from now — introduces Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), the green-skinned witch who goes on to become Dorothy’s nemesis, and G(a)linda (Ariana Grande-Butera), the pink-garbed “good” witch, as they meet at Shiz University in Oz. Glinda is the ultra-popular one with sycophantic hangers-on, while Elphaba is shunned by almost everyone, sometimes including her disabled sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode), who’s desperate to make her own space away from Elphaba.

Her mistreatment by others leads Elphaba to get angry, which manifests itself in uncontrollable magic. Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) notices this and takes a personal interest in her, giving her one-on-one instruction in hopes of harnessing her power. In the meantime, Elphaba and Glinda attempt to go from forced roommates to actual friends, although Glinda’s entitled personality is more of an obstacle than anything else they encounter.

Directed by Jon M. Chu and written by original book writer Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, the film does a great job of distinguishing itself from the stage version while still remaining true to what made it so beloved. As Chu showed in his last film, In the Heights, he has an innate feel for how to tap into the essence of the source material while expanding it into something befitting the scope of a blockbuster movie.

In this case, he finds a way to give even greater emphasis to the bigotry that Elphaba faces simply because of her green skin; the fact that she is being played by a Black woman drives home the point even more. The story remains light and fluffy for the most part, but the ostracization/otherness that Elphaba feels is delivered in a powerful way, as is her empathy for talking animals like Dr. Dillamond (voiced by Peter Dinklage), who are facing their own persecution.

Of course, the highlight of the film is Stephen Schwartz’s music, and while not all of the songs are equal in impact, they still make for a cohesive whole. The number of songs and order they appear in the first act is identical to the stage musical, with the standouts remaining “The Wizard and I,” “Popular,” and “Defying Gravity.” While there is some superfluous action and cutaways added to certain numbers, it’s not enough to distract from what makes the songs effective.

Oddly, the progression of the friendship between Elphaba and Glinda works better on stage when the timeline is accelerated, but Erivo and Grande-Butera make up for this slight lack with their fantastic performances. The emotion each brings to their characters fits them almost perfectly, and there’s simply no denying the strength of each of their voices. Bode, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Ethan Slater as Boq, and more make for a solid supporting cast.

The well-known ending of the first act of Wicked is a huge high point that is so good that it almost makes up for the fact that audiences won’t see the second film for a long time. But if part one is any indication, part two should turn out to be another great musical theater adaptation in a decade that has already seen its fair share.

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Wicked opens in theaters on November 22.

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Movie Review

Highly anticipated Wicked movie adaptation deserves to be popular