Artist of the Week: Austin Hartley-Leonard
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rtist of the Week is Back! At least for now. From the 2010 SXSW torrent file, available free, I found Austin Leonard’s Golden Opportunity. It is one of those feel good songs. It’s pretty chill.
Where to find him?
Austin Hartley-Leonard began as a solo singer/songwriter in Austin, TX. His first demo earned him an invitation to the SXSW Music Festival. Soon after, he started looking for other musicians to round out the band, and the group St. James Inc was born. The band went on to see success in the Austin music scene and was invited to perform at the Austin City Limits Festival..
After releasing the “8 Hours” EP in 2006, St. James Inc performed at the Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago and then relocated to Los Angeles, where they continued to see great success. You can hear their tunes in the film “Moving McAllister” and the hit show “Men In Trees” on ABC.
After meeting producer Charles Newman (Magnetic Fields, Black Kids, AM) in Los Angeles, the two began work on Austin’s debut solo record “Franklin Ave” in December 2007. With Mother West labelmates The Bowmans adding a sprinkling of harmonies, Doug Pettibone (Lucinda Williams, Tift Merritt) on pedal steel and guitar, Carrie Rodriguez on fiddle, Matt Ramsey on guitar and vocals, and members of Brian Wright’s Waco Tragedies as the backing band. Recording was finished at Mother West NYC in March 2008. Austin played 5 shows at SXSW 2009 including a slot on The Hotel Cafe Showcase night.
Austin has recently written songs that have been used in a Troy Bilt lawnmower ad and an upcoming episode of The Ghost Whisperer, as well as the song “Heart Attack” from Franklin Ave being used in the new Steve Buscemi film Handsome Harry. He also has a song appearing on an upcoming episode of Chuck on NBC in late March.
He is currently in the studio working on a new disc to be released later this year. (From SXSW)