If yesterday was the day of BBQ excess, then today marked the beginning of three days of music excess. We arrived at Zilker Park around 11 am and set up our lawn chairs in our usual spot — in the shade of a tree in front of the BMI stage, which happened to be the site of our first show of the day. Ben Cyllus kicked things off for us with a roots-rock set that, in many ways, set the tone for the day. Next we made our way over to the WaMu tent to catch a few songs from The Jones Family Singers, who entertained us with a lively gospel show. Leaving the WaMu tent we scooted over to the AT&T Blue Room stage where we caught a few songs from the soulful Dan Dyer. At this point Shelly snuck off to catch a few songs from Autamata and Paula Nelson (daughter of some guy named Willie) while I staked out a spot at the AMD stage to watch Asleep at the Wheel. Shelly caught back up with me about halfway through Asleep at the Wheel’s run through Bob Wills tunes and other western swing favorites. ACL Fest never really starts until Asleep at the Wheel kicks things off, so their set left us ready to go. We strolled over to the AT&T Blue Room stage to see Austin natives What Made Milwaukee Famous churn out a set of solid rock. Again Shelly and I split up briefly as she went back to the WaMu tent for some more gospel, this time provided by Brotherly Luv while I went back to our chairs at the BMI Stage to see Sunny Sweeney who gave us a nice dose of mainstream country. Next we traipsed back over to the WaMu tent to catch a few roots-rock tunes from The Freddy Jones Band before swinging over to the Austin Kiddie Limits stage to watch the Paul Green School of Rock All-Stars who always put on an amazing show. As soon as that show wrapped up we walked to the adjacent AT&T Blue Room stage where we caught the end of Del tha Funky Homosapien’s show, which was raucous rap with an old-school vibe. From there we headed back to the BMI stage, stopping at the Austin Ventures stage to catch a listen to a few tunes from Delta Spirit who were cranking out folk-rock at high decibels. Once we finally made our way to the BMI stage we caught Bobby Bare Jr. (Son of country legend Bobby Bare Sr.) who, after a rough start, settled in to give us a dose of guitar rock with a hint of folk/americana at the edges. After all that we stopped to refuel with some food and beverages before returning to our chairs at the BMI Stage to see Ryan Bingham who delivered a hard-edged set of take-no-prisoners country music. Next we were pleased and surprised to discover Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (of Once fame) playing under the name “The Swell Season.” After their alternately ethereal and comical performance, we headed back, exhausted, to our chairs at the BMI stage for our final show of the night, Donavon Frankenreiter. Frankenreiter has a smooth funk sound, proving that a little bit of sugar does indeed make the funk go down. For his last two songs, Frankenreiter brought G. Love (sans Special Sauce) onstage to jam with his band while they absolutely brought the house down, providing a fitting finish for the night.
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