"Michael Corcoran culminates forty years of writing about Austin music with a history of the scene, going back to the German singing societies of the late 1800s and ending with the ascent of South by Southwest, whose registration line would become the Ellis Island of new Austin. Over fifty legendary Austin live music venues, starting with the Skyline and Victory Grill in the wake of WWII, are profiled in a rolling "Clubland Paradise" subsection. Told are the stories of Willie Nelson and the Armadillo, nascent Black radio DJs Lavada Durst and Tony Von, the making of Stevie Ray Vaughan, the significance of Sixth and Red River Streets, and how Aquafest went from Austin's biggest annual event to belly-up in five years. As a daily newspaper journalist for over twenty years, Corcoran is first about the facts in this dig for interesting stories and context from the Live Music Capital of the World"--