Old Settler's Music Festival Blurbs

Jitterbug Vipers

Thu., 7:10pm, Campground stage Smoky retro jazz sets a chill vibe for OSMF's annual soft opening on Thursday, equally at home around the campfire as a dark nightclub. Slim Richey's six-string wizardry and Sarah Sharp's languid vox lead the veteran Austin quartet on 2013's Phoebe's Dream, a sumptuous sound guaranteed to mellow whether your tea's for drinking or smoking. – Doug Freeman

Bill Kirchen

Thu., 8:50pm, Campground stage High school classmate of Jim "Iggy Pop" Osterberg, Bill Kirchen arrived in 1971 by twisting the guitar hook in Commander Cody's hippie-billy hit "Hot Rod Lincoln." An asphalt-burning career as a roots road dog supreme followed, Telecaster gymnastics obliterating genre constrictions and sucking everything into a high-speed, rockin' country stew that leaves honky-tonks gasping for air. – Tim Stegall

Langhorne Slim & the Law

Fri., 6:45pm, SouthStar stage Langhorne Slim has rolled through several band incarnations, but found a tight bluesy folk groove with his latest quartet the Law on 2012's The Way We Move. The Pennsylvanian's raw, twinging vocals scratch restless ballads that balance a mellow poignancy with his rambling yelp and holler. He sweeps from the soulful "Fire" to banjo-crackled "Just a Dream" and stomping "Great Divide." – Doug Freeman

Ray Wylie Hubbard

Fri., 10:45pm, Bluebonnet stage This Texas songwriting legend endures as one of the last country music outlaws. Counting friends including Ringo Starr and the Eagles' Joe Walsh, the 68-year-old Wimberley dweller serves as mentor for a whole new generation of troubadours. His new The Ruffian's Misfortune finds Hubbard as rough and tumble as always, mixing cool blues and stomping Lone Star country as only he can. – Jim Caligiuri

Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis

Sat., 4:40pm, Bluebonnet stage Austin's First Couple of country music comes loaded with Robison originals and Willis' surefire taste in songwriting. Back-to-back collaborations Cheater's Game and Our Year proved just that, last year's latter disc covering the Zombies for the title track along with Tom T. Hall's "Harper Valley P.T.A.," which sat comfortably next to Robison's rich and rambling "Anywhere But Here." – Jim Caligiuri

Shinyribs

Sat., 10:50pm, Bluebonnet stage; Sun., 4pm, Campground stage Kevin Russell originally migrated here from Shreveport, La., in the Hüsker Dü-like Picket Line Coyotes. Pausing two decades for "Gin and Juice" with the Gourds, the twang twister now fronts Shinyribs' highly charged Americana. Imagine the Band's Big Pink gone swamp. – Tim Stegall