The Nightowls, Courtesy Tier, Jessi Robertson

This fall, the 10-piece Austin-based "suave, energetic soul" (Austin Chronicle) band The Nightowls will hit the road for their largest tour to date, performing in 13 new cities including NYC, Boston and Washington, DC. The band, which spent part of last year driving 1,390 miles from their hometown to Muscle Shoals, AL to record their new LP, 'Fame Sessions' (Sept. 4 / Super Sonic Sounds) at the iconic FAME Studios, will bring new material and their "dynamic, dancing-in-the-street" (Texas Music Magazine) live show to new audiences.


Courtesy Tier is always a surprise, sometimes even to themselves. Layton (drums) and Omer (guitar) have been playing together for the last seven years, but they weren???t always a duo. As members came and went, they perpetually conceptualized themselves as a four and sometimes six piece band. Then, during their second winter in New York, the boys had run out of other band members. Regrouping in a closet size practice space under the Smith Street overpass, they finally had enough room to rehearse, and they liked the sound. By the following summer they were ready to record, but a New York budget requires some finagling. With three mic???s in a seven by seven room, ???The Resolution??? was born.

Courtesy Tier is a two man cadre. Whether invoking the Meat Puppets, Morphine, Ataxia, Fugazi, J Dilla, Don Caballero, or Chris Whitley they synthesize the soul of rock with melodic blues. While a forerunner of the DIY movement in Brooklyn, they aren???t your usual Brooklyn sound. The album name exemplifies their process: go with what you???ve got and you???ll find your way there.


From a soothing lullaby to a wild rock and roll wail, Jessi Robertson has the kind of effortless vocal range that others can only dream of. A singer/songwriter and skilled multi-instrumentalist (rhythm guitar, piano, organs, and synths), Jessi is fascinated not by perfection but by life???s contradictions and what she calls ???the accidental beauty revealed in the imperfections, the hopeless romantic who spurns love, the stubborn pride covering a grievous wound, the unshakable faith that no amount of darkness can kill.??? Those themes traverse her soul-baring sophomore release, I Came From the War, the majority of which was recorded live at The Bunker Studio in Brooklyn, New York. Backed by band members Omer Leibovitz (Courtesy Tier, Dan Abraham), Alex Picca (Courtesy Tier, The Press), and Layton Weedeman (Courtesy Tier, Isle of Rhodes), Jessi delivers the kind of raw, powerful performances that stir the listener to ruminate on the meaning of life