Dupree, Longriver set for Arts & Craft appearance Sept. 6

Special to the LPR

Plum Creek Records & Tapes presents Alex Dupree with his “Texas Doesn’t Care Tour” kickoff, along with Longriver at Lockhart Arts & Craft on Friday, Sept. 6.

The doors will open at 7 p.m. and the music begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 on the day of the show.

Alex Dupree

Dupree, an Austin poet and songwriter, got his musical start in Austin before moving to California to study poetry at UC Irvine. During this time, songwriting was never far from his mind, and he continued to write and perform with multiple Los Angeles country bands. He has since returned to Texas, where he is again focused on his own music.

Despite a deep love for country music, Dupree’s songs never quite settle into that category, absorbing additional influences from the likes of Laurie Anderson, Arthur Russell, Bjork, and John Cale.

Dupree’s 2022 album, Thieves, was produced by Michael Krassner and features Max Knouse, Aaron Stern, Stephen Hodges, Buck Meek, as well as longtime collaborators Aisha Burns and Matt Matherne.

This fall, Dupree is undertaking an extensive tour of Texas in anticipation of the release of his album You Winsome, You Lonesome. A “Texas Edition” of the vinyl will be available on Sept. 6 — exclusively via Bandcamp and in-person at shows — with a worldwide release set for Nov. 8.

This tour takes its name from the first single off of You Winsome, You Lonesome: “Texas Doesn’t Care.”

 “I wrote it for my sister, but I ended up living the story myself,” Dupree said of the song You Winsome, You Lonesome. “It’s a song about coming home and the perverse comfort of knowing that, no matter what has happened, Texas will always welcome you back. Because Texas doesn’t care.”

You Winsome, You Lonesome is available for pre-order at TexasDoesntCare.com.

Longriver
After circulating tapes during a few years of international touring and cultivating his following in Austin, David Longoria has recorded his debut studio album as Longriver: Of Seasons, a folk-animated meditation on time, death, and whispers of transcendence.

Before Longriver, Longoria played with acts diverse as And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead and Bill Baird, as well as producing records such as The Blue Dirt of Paradise.

But his main operation was fronting his own multi-piece rock set, The Black, whose record Sun in the Day Moon at Night got “pretty damn close to the mythical ‘cosmic American music’ that GP was trying to pin down,” according to My Old Kentucky Blog.

The work of Longriver, however, is quieter and operates in more intimate spaces and moments. Such work could be called a breather when it comes to speed, a temporary release from our culture of acceleration.

Longriver’s poetic approach to music invites listeners to let their suffering be witnessed and touched.

Of Seasons is led by Longriver’s lyrical, Fahey-styled guitar picking, accompanied by upright bass and ambient organ, piano and cello. The first track places us on a boat and sets off on the odyssey of the record.

“When the ark was building Noah, and I was sitting nowhere” is the refrain of the song, and Of Seasons is full of such mythic, existential lines that make you grateful the album includes liner notes.