Austin Local to Know: Shakey Graves
In my experience, it feels like wishes take awhile to process — because of the bureaucracy of the universe or something. I think life’s a lesson about knowing what you want, but it’s also about knowing what you don’t want. When I first started out, I’d play house parties, or shows I found on craigslist. I was ambitious and one of those was playing at a Chinese restaurant on the Sunset Strip. People hated it. But no matter what, other musicians were always supportive of what I did. I was poor as sin, but they’d take pity on me because I think in my eyes they saw that I was there. There was something I was trying to pull off. They’d help me feel encouraged, and I had a lot of faith in what I had to offer. Maybe not where I was at that exact point, but I really felt like I was getting somewhere. I trusted my own learning process. And once I got a thesis together of what I wanted to create in the world, I chose to do it in Austin. I packed up all my pride, and all my stuff, and moved back into my parents house with no cool points to my name. It was just, ‘Alright. I got defeated by the world and I’m back in my momma’s house. It’s over.’ But in the back of my brain, it was really, ‘This is just the beginning.’
Shakey’s Austin Must: I’m a margarita nut-job and the go-to for me is Polvos on South 1st. It’s your typical kind of sugary, extremely alcoholic frozen margarita. There’s also an awesome salsa bar and the food is pretty great.
Shakey’s Austin Listen: Catch some of the old tried and true folks. Jimmie Vaughan is a guitar legend in town. There’s also a guy named Redd Volkaert that plays a weekly gig on Mondays. Just an incredible shredder dude that destroys.
