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

Bold drama Anora finds the limits of a dancer's girlfriend experience

Photo courtesy of Neon

Mikey Madison in Anora.

Writer/director Sean Baker’s filmography is full of films that aim to show stories not typically seen in mainstream movies, ones that often feel so true to life that they can be tough to watch. His latest film, Anora, is similar to his previous content in some ways, but much different in others.

Anora (Mikey Madison), aka Ani, is a stripper/sex worker who works at a club in Brooklyn. Because she can speak Russian, she is assigned to dance for Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), who she discovers is the son of a Russian oligarch. With an unlimited supply of money, he pays Ani for sex and, enjoying spending time with her, for her to pretend to be his girlfriend for a week.

That week sees them do a lot of wild stuff, most notably an impulsive trip to Las Vegas where they — almost as hastily — decide to get married. Their elopement doesn’t stay secret for long, though, with Ivan’s parents especially upset. A trio of henchmen track them down, enlisted by Ivan’s parents to force them to get the marriage annulled at all costs.

Baker is not your typical storyteller, and so even though the film has three distinct acts, they don’t play out in ways that will be familiar or comfortable for many filmgoers. Much of the first act involves Ani in states of undress, either dancing for customers or having sex with Ivan. Although the “rich guy paying for the company of a sex worker” echoes a film like Pretty Woman, the comparison doesn’t really fit, especially because the immature, video game-playing Ivan is about as far from romance as you can get.

Whatever appeal he might have had disappears in the second half of the film when he’s confronted with his parents’ displeasure. It’s here that Baker seems to play with moviegoer expectations the most. With three goons sent to get Ani and Ivan to take back what they’ve done, it feels like Baker is going to go down the typical mob movie road. Instead, what transpires can only be described as an intense farce, with Ani resisting the trio’s efforts with all her might, causing lots of comedic chaos.

What plays out throughout the film, and especially in the final act, is a disparity of wealth. While Ani being willing to have sex with a rich guy who comes into the club could be viewed in multiple ways, it does hint at her need to make money however she can. Conversely, Ivan spends money with abandon and acts accordingly, like someone who will never have a care in the world. After much frivolity, this imbalance hits like a ton of bricks in the film’s final minutes.

Madison, who’s had small but showy roles in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and the reboot of Scream, proves herself to be a star in this role. She owns every part of the performance, from the New York accent to the pole dancing, and she is the fire that keeps the film humming. She is especially important because Russian actor Eydelshteyn is only intermittently effective. Special note goes to Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, and Yura Borisov, the three men who come for Ani and Ivan. Each walks the line between drama and comedy especially well.

Taken at face value, Anora could be viewed as a merely titillating and somewhat shallow film. But Baker doesn’t do anything without a purpose, which is why the subtext of the story gives the film its power, with a bravura performance by Madison to put it over the top.

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Anora is now playing in theaters.

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