Where there’s a will
Will Sexton is a couple of years younger than his brother Charlie, and it’s often seemed that they’ve followed the same path, separated only by a couple of years.
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Both brothers spent their pre-pubescent days accompanying their mom to rock clubs and both became highly proficient on the guitar at an age when most musically inclined kids are only begining to master the B-flat-concert scale for their school-band tryouts.
In both cases, they were blues-guitar phenoms who adapted to the fashion (and the hairstyles) of the times when A&R men came calling. Charlie made a commercial splash in 1986 with the Bowie-esque “Beat’s So Lonely” and couldn’t dent the charts again. Will and his band The Kill made their major-label debut in 1988 to great interest in Austin, and minimal interest elsewhere.
| Matt McCormack with Will Sexton and Friends 8:30pm Fri, Apr 14 $8 Red Room 1903 S. St. Mary’s 218-3442 |
Ultimately, both brothers took a break from the record-industry hype and settled on the kind of rootsy, introspective music that their earliest fans always hoped they’d make. Charlie’s guitar wizardy is more impressive, and he’s built a stellar career as a sideman and producer, but Will has quietly found his own voice as well.
After six years of silence, in 2001 he released Scenes From Nowhere, a moody, idiosyncratic record that suggested intriguing possibilities for a still-young artist who only seems to have been around since the dawn of recorded sound. At the newly established Red Room, he’ll support fellow Austin songwriter Matt McCormack for a night geared to singer-songwriter aficionados.
