XL Fortunate 500

Music stars

People in tune with the Austin music social scene

By Joe Gross
Wednesday, May 10, 2006

When aspiring singer-songwriters, folkies or Americana mavens move to Austin, Cash Edwards is, without a doubt, the first person they should call.

Having spent more than 20 years as a booking agent, informal consiglieri to new artists and publicist to everyone from Arlo Guthrie to the national Folk Alliance, there isn't much in the acoustic music business she doesn't know about, and there are few Texas folk scenesters she doesn't know.

"I'm a facilitator," Edwards says over lunch at Shoreline Grill. "I bring people together."

In graduate school at Texas A&M in the mid-1970s, she started out as a fan of the College Station guitar pulls that included Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen. But she's quick to credit her tireless parents and Air Force brat upbringing for exposing her to all sorts of culture.

"We lived in Japan, Germany, England, all over the place," Edwards says. "They took us everywhere, always to the local museums, churches, the London symphony, flamenco. So my two sisters and I grew up to be art appreciators, and being exposed to all these cultures developed for me a huge interest in my own culture. All this music that I'm into — bluegrass, Cajun, blues, the singer-songwriters — is American music. It's our culture."

Edwards split Austin after the early 1980s real estate bust and headed west, first as a publicist with the Freight & Salvage Coffee House, then with her own Under the Hat booking agency, which lasted from 1986 to 2000.

These days, she's the publicist for the Folk Alliance and was instrumental in bringing the yearly folk conference to Austin and adding local touches. For example, Guy Juke designed the logo and a lyric from Townes Van Zandt ("For the sake of the song") served as the theme.

"It was a huge learning experience," Edwards says. "Holding it in one hotel (here, the downtown Hilton) puts such a fun spin on things. Everyone has better access to everyone else."

She also runs a music services company that handles publicity for a variety of clients and offers business consulting for younger artists. A trained yogi, she also wrote a book, "Yoga Between Two Beds: A Guide for Touring Musicians."

But she says there's always room for more. "I wish Austin would build more on our artist service industries — booking agents, music publishers; these are the industries that we really lack," she says. "We have all these songwriters and we need people in this town selling them."

Clifford Antone
Antone's

Susan Antone
Antone's

Marcia Ball
'Live Down the Road,' Charity Partners of Austin

Ed Bailey
KLRU, 'Austin City Limits'

Chris Bell
Recording Academy

Bavu Blakes
World Trade, Mr. Blakes

Mike Booher
The Parish, Zykos

Jim Butler
City of Austin

Nancy Coplin
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport

Amy Corbin and Charles Attal
Capital Sports and Entertainment, Charles Attal Presents, Stubb's BBQ

David Cotton
Saxon Pub

Kevin 'Kumbala' Crutchfield
Longbranch Inn

Steve Dean
The Oaks

Joe Ely
The Flatlanders

Lisa and Freddy Fletcher
Pedernales Studios

Bruce Gardner
Flipnotics

Larry Gatlin
'Quanah: The Parker Family Saga'

Angela Gillen
Flamingo Cantina

Frank Hendrix
Emo's

Sara Hickman
Charity Partners of Austin, Austin Race for the Cure, SafePlace, Habitat for Humanity, House the Homeless, SPCA

Iluminada and Hartt Stearns
One World Theatre

Theresa Jenkins
Recording Academy

Brenda Johnson
Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau

Charlie Jones
Capital Sports and Entertainment

Bruce Kalmick
K&B Talent International

John Kunz
Waterloo Records

Harold McMillan
DiverseArts

Michael Miller
The Blue Flames, El Buen Samaritano

Paul Minor
Hole in the Wall

Casey Monahan
Texas Music Office

Margaret Moser
Austin Chronicle

Tim Neece
UT Performing Arts Center

Phillip Nitch
The Back Room, Jolly Garogers

Tim O'Connor
Direct Events

Dan Plunkett and Blake Carlisle
End of an Ear Records

Mark Proct
Antone's

Rapid Ric
The Mixtape Mechanic, Whut It Dew Family

Ruben Ramos
The Texas Revolution

Nikki Rowling
Austin Music Foundation

Lisa Schickel
Capital Sports and Entertainment

Charlie Sexton
'Cruel and Gentle Things'

Shawn Sides and Graham Reynolds
Golden Arm Trio, Rude Mechanicals

Craig Stewart
South by Southwest, Emperor Jones Records

Donya and Randall Stockton
Beerland

Roland Swenson
South by Southwest

Bernard Vasek
Musicmania

Phil Waldorf
Misra Records, Emo's

Susan and Jerry Jeff Walker
Tried and True Music

Steve Wertheimer
Continental Club

Annetta and James White
Broken Spoke

Graham Williams
Emo's

Constance Wodlinger
Music and Entertainment Television

Jay Woods
New West Records

Wendy WWAD
Reloaded Monthly, Back Room, Headhunter's