SXSW Guitar Hero : Weird Al, Gary Clark Jr, Matthew West

"WHEN MY TRAIN ROLLS IN"            GARY CLARK JR.

Austin, TX, blues guitarist who put out his debut CD in 2011.    Gary Clark has a unique mix of rock, soul, blues, and would definitely be someone I'd keep an eye out for in the future.    Rolling Stone Magazine agrees, they named him "Best Young Gun" this year.     This blues jam keeps changing the mood during the song.   Gary does this acoustic (not on YouTube) on his debut EP,  wait for the 6 minute mark and hear the upbeat funk jam.

"THE MOTIONS"                           MATTHEW WEST

Don't dismiss this song coming from a Christian based artist like Matthew West.     Imagine a singer/songwriter losing his voice for two months.    This happened to Matthew and during this period, he was inspired to write this moving song about taking chances and never settling.   Greatest line:   "I don't want to spend my whole life wondering WHAT IF if I had given everything instead of going through the motions"

"DON'T DOWNLOAD THIS SONG"           WEIRD AL

The King of Parody songs, Weird Al, with one of his best.   He put the song on his website for FREE and asked you to download, "Don't Download This Song" :)    The hysterical song talks about taking money away from Lars Ulrich of Metallica, how illegally downloading music will lead to bigger crimes, and it has a classic "We Are The World" feel to it.