Reivers Pick Favorites of 2013

The five years since the 2008 reunion of the Reivers have seen the band gigging around Austin, adding a new band member in keyboard player Eric Friend, temporarily changing their name to Right Or Happy, and writing and recording a batch of new songs.

In 2013, the aptly named Second Story – the first new music released by The Reivers since 1991 – was issued to unanimously positive reviews. The Austin Chronicle said the album “contributes confidently to the legacy, its gems shining sweetly next to the Reivers’ best”, AustinPost said it’s a “lovely, kinetic and resonant album”, and Stereophile called Second Story “a worthy appendix to a splendid, under-the-radar career.”

In March, the Reivers received the Hall of Fame Award at the Austin Music Awards ceremony, and in October they performed their first show outside of Austin in over two decades. The show, in Houston, was a dynamic success and included a number of new, as yet unrecorded tunes – promising a continuation of the momentum established with Second Story.

While the band has been quite busy the past year, they haven’t just been listening to themselves.
Here’s some of the other music they’ve been grooving to in 2013:

Kim:
“You Be the Mountain (I’ll Be Mohammad”) by Churchwood (from Churchwood 2)

Kim says “I also rediscovered Ronnie Lane. I fell in love with the song ‘Annie’ [from Rough Mix by Ronnie Lane and Pete Townshend] and learned it – I want to teach my kindergarteners that one…especially now that it’s gone cold here in Texas. An old boyfriend of mine was Ronnie’s bass player back when Ronnie lived here. We had one car between us, so I’d drop him off for rehearsal and hang out a bit and listen to practice in Ronnie’s living room, when I’d pick him up. I had not heard of the Small Faces back then- I knew they were influential in the Brit-invasion- but I’d not had direct contact. I got to know my future bro-in-law from that band too. He played drums with Ronnie. That’s how he hooked up with Ian McClagan, who I’ve seen many times. I guess Ian inspired me to get some learnin’. We have friends who have a house in the country. Every few months they have a hootenanny, where all these musicians come out with their guitars and sing their favorite songs. I heard a Ronnie song last time I was out there- I guess that inspired me too.”

John:
Kings of Leon: Mechanical Bull
Jake Bugg: Shangri La

Cindy:
“Shiny Ribs for me!” (Shiny Ribs: Gulf Coast Museum)

Garrett:
Neko Case: The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You
Arctic Monkeys: AM
Elvis Costello and The Roots: Wise Up Ghost

Eric:
Eleanor Friedberger: Personal Record
JAABS: Odd Jaabs
“It’s a friend’s band, Roman Kuebler who lives in Baltimore. I have been listening to it a lot this year. I think this is their first album as this band. He used to be in a band called The Oranges who I really liked as well.”