SAT. AUG. 31, 2002

Back when David Baerwald was topping the charts with “Welcome to the Boomtown,” Steamboat was still on Sixth Street and home to as many cover bands as not. A grueling 16 years later both Steamboat and Baerwald stand as living testament to both virtuosity and versatility. Steamboat’s maturation process follows closely that of Austin’s. As more and more original artists moved to Austin to take part in the live music scene, Steamboat began to book more and more live music, perhaps to its detriment on occasion. Today’s Steamboat makes it’s home South of the river and its weekly lineup is startling in quantity if not quality in comparison to its Eighties counterpart. Correspondingly, Baerwald has made steady progress through the last sixteen years in both the breadth and depth of his work. His post-David and David work has included an impressive list of soundtrack credits from movies like Hurlyburly, Kalifornia, and Echo Park and an Academy Award nomination for his single, “Come What May” from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack. His collaborative efforts are no less impressive: Seven Tracks on the Cheryl Crow’s Multi-Platinum Tuesday Night Music Club including the hit single “Leaving Las Vegas,” as well as work with artists as diverse as Fishbone and Olivia Newton John. Recently, Baerwald moved to Austin and staffed his band has with a crack squad of Austin musicians including Will Sexton, Bukka Allen, and Darwin Smith. This summer they’ve been busy promoting his new release, “Here Comes the New Folk Underground” (Lost Highway). You can catch them Saturday night when they return to Steamboat for a much-awaited follow-up to their July show. Gideon’s Press, Awake for Days and Pavlov’s Dog open.