***This Week In Texas Music History is supported by Brane Audio***
On March 14, 1990, Nanci Griffith, Townes Van Zandt, and Daniel Johnston all performed at the 9th annual Austin Music Awards at Palmer Auditorium.
This unique assemblage of local artists is indicative of the nature of Austin’s music scene at the time. Seguin-born singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith had recently seen significant success in Nashville with her 1987 album Lone Star State of Mind and was returning from a UK tour that had brought Griffith a newfound international following. She shared the stage with one of her songwriting idols, Townes Van Zandt, who was well into his seasoned career and about to embark on a two-month North American tour with the Cowboy Junkies.
The two folkies were joined by soon-to-be indie legend Daniel Johnston, who had a special relationship with the founders of the Austin Music Awards and its close siblings, the Austin Chronicle and South by Southwest.
After his Austin Music Awards performance, Johnston notoriously boarded a two-seater plane to West Virginia, piloted by his father. In a manic episode, Johnston yanked the key from the ignition and thew it out the window, forcing the plane into a crash landing. Thankfully, Johnston and his father only experienced minor injuries.
For the awards segment of the show, nominees from a multitude of categories were voted on by Austin Chronicle readers. In addition to fifteen nominations and awards for Album of the Year, Best Single, and Musician of the Year, Stevie Ray Vaughan was also named Artist of the Decade that evening – speaking to his remarkable influence across the nation in the 1980s.
The 1990 Austin Music Awards was one of Stevie’s very last public appearances in Austin before his tragic passing a few months later in a helicopter crash. Until recently held in conjunction with South by Southwest, the Austin Music Awards carries on the tradition of bringing local talent into the spotlight for a night of celebration.
Sources:
Austin Powell and Doug Freeman, eds. The Austin Chronicle Music Anthology. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011.
Greg Beets and Richard Whymark. A Curious Mix of People: The Underground Scene of ‘90s Austin. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2023.
Brian Atkinson. Love at the Five and Dime: The Songwriting Legacy of Nanci Griffith. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2024.
“The Man Who Discovered Daniel Johnston.” Interview with Louis Black, 2019. https://www.thefader.com/2019/09/16/the-man-who-discovered-daniel-johnston
Austin Music Awards archive, Austin Chronicle. https://www.austinchronicle.com/austin-music-awards/
