photo by Jessica Lehrman

Have you ever gotten scabies from a hotel room? Fat Tony has. 

Fat Tony (government name: Anthony Obi) hails from Houston, Texas. When he isn't busy eating lemongrass tofu or being a regular customer at Whataburger, he can be found concocting some of the dopest underground raps today. His effortless delivery over his oft-collaboration partner Tom Cruz's hypnotic tracks show why Fat Tony has racked up nods from A$AP Rocky and Bun B to the Houston Music Press Awards as a three-time winner of their "Best Underground Hip Hop" title.

I think Angel Haze is one of my new heroes. She's a raw, unbridled, furious, ferocious, truth teller whose music is f'ing catchy as hell.

Raised in Detroit in a Pentecostal family, she's a rape and sexual abuse survivor and feminist who could probably kick your ass. It's like every ten years or so I get introduced to these female vocalists who make me wish they'd been around when I was coming of age musically (Otep was the last).

Angel Haze, born Raykeea Wilson, is performing four times at the festival: Thursday, March 14 at Easy Tiger at 1.15 am, Friday, March 15 at The Pandora Porch at 10pm, Saturday, March 16 at Austin Music Hall at 6.30pm and again on Saturday at Cedar Street Courtyard at 1am. Plenty of opportunities to hear the stories behind the scars.

Family of the year?  Cutest band of the year more like!

These charming Los Angeles transplants have made fans of peeps as diverse as Keith Lockhart, Ben Folds, and, you know, Steven Tyler.

photo by Luke Fontana

James Adomian is now 33-1/3 and the record has started to skip a bit.

James Adomian was born in Omaha but currently resides in New York City.

James Adomian was a finalist on Last Comic Standing and is pretty genius with the impressions. If you don't believe me, peep this.

Adam Cayton-Holland's Wikipedia page says he has a recurring dream that he is a pancake who is terrified of maple syrup. This entry also says "citation needed" which makes it quite a mystery but as with the X-Files, the truth is out there. Or was that Star Trek?

He told us that the first concert he ever went to was when he was five. It was Michael Jackson's Thriller and it ruled.

Cayton-Holland plays adult, co-ed indoor soccer and takes it way too seriously. He said, "I don't go easy on the girls. Because that is true feminism. Plus it helps pad my stats."

I've long been an admirer of Mr. Jim James and he's long been a pal o' mine. I first saw My Morning Jacket at SXSW in 2002, an event that charted my future on an interesting course for ten years. I've watched him stretch and grow musically and as a person and have always been impressed by his desire to explore and not lead a life that is stagnant in any way.

Regions of Light and Sound of God, his first major foray outside the boundaries of MMJ, is a beautifully paced cruise through Jim's universe and what it means to wonder, what it means to be alive.