Dirt Road to Psychedelia: Austin, Texas in the 1960s
Dirt Road to Psychedelia is available for purchase on DVD in THE STORE.
Also available at Waterloo Records, Antone’s Records, End of an Ear Records, Wild About Music, Oat Willies in Austin. Jackpot Records in Portland, OR and GetHip Records in Pittsburg, PA.
Janis Joplin the folk singer? Conn gives you photos and vocals to prove it as he traces the musical arc of the 1960s in Austin. Forget the oft-repeated Armadillo World Headquarters legend; this is what came before. The decade begins with the country/folk movement and builds to the psychedelic sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators, Conqueroo, and Shiva’s Headband. The drug-infused scene’s new headquarters was the Vulcan Gas Company, a freak fest just blocks from the Capitol on Congress, where old-school blues musicians like Muddy Waters mixed with a younger generation in full revolt. The film takes an interesting twist by including interviews with an Austin policeman from the era bent on eradicating drugs from the scene. Conn’s film is a love letter to a time period that seems quaint and innocent in retrospect. Longtime Austinites and curious newcomers alike will find this story, with its wonderfully grainy Super-8 footage, a righteous treat.
– Joe O’Connell
