Songwriter Showcase at The Armadillo Ranch

Kelley Mickwee is a Memphis-born, Austin-based singer-songwriter whose voice carries equal parts Southern soul, country grit, and lived-in grace. A longtime fixture of the Americana world, she’s toured and recorded with The Trishas, spent four explosive years as a Shiny Soul Sister in Shinyribs, and lent her voice to records by Ray Wylie Hubbard, Charley Crockett, Reckless Kelly, and more, all while co-hosting the beloved Red River Songwriters Festival. Her second solo album, Everything Beautiful (2024), marks a powerful return to her own spotlight — a cohesive, soul-leaning statement inspired by her Memphis roots and recorded at Austin’s Church House Studios with producer David Boyle. Seamless, warm, and unapologetically analog in spirit, the album showcases Mickwee at her most confident yet, delivering songs that feel timeless, deeply human, and soaked in honest soul.

Jeff Crosby is an Idaho-born songwriter whose road worn voice and storytelling reflect a life lived largely on the highway, logging more than 250 shows a year in his early career alone. Blending Americana, folk, and rock with raw honesty, Crosby has released multiple EPs and full-length albums, including Silent Conversations, which landed his music on Sons of Anarchy. His latest release, Waking Days, recorded in Los Angeles and Nashville and produced by John Gilbertson, finds Crosby fronting his longtime band The Refugees with a rich, cinematic sound shaped by loss, love, restlessness, and hope. Anchored by raspy, emotionally charged vocals and vivid, character-driven songs, Waking Days captures the push and pull of chasing meaning on the road — a deeply human record that feels both timeless and unmistakably American.

Bri Bagwell is a Texas Country powerhouse, crowned Texas Female Artist of the Decade and a nine-time Female Vocalist of the Year, with fifteen #1 singles on Texas Country Radio and a reputation as one of the genre’s most electrifying live performers. Raised in Las Cruces, New Mexico and now based in New Braunfels, TX, Bagwell blends fearless honesty, sharp songwriting, and road-tested grit into a sound that’s both heartfelt and hard-hitting, earning praise from People Magazine as a modern country truth-teller. Her acclaimed album Corazón y Cabeza produced multiple chart-toppers, while recent Nashville-recorded singles like “Border Girl,” a high-energy tribute to her borderland roots, and #1 hit “Hit the Highway” showcase an artist in full command of her voice and vision. A prolific touring artist, hit songwriter, and creator of the globally Top 10 podcast ONLY VANS, Bagwell continues to blaze her own path — authentic, unapologetic, and deeply connected to the roots that shaped her.

Walt Wilkins — Songwriter, singer, traveler, troubadour – the calling I answered, the life I chose, the way I make my way.

I chose to go full time on this road 25 years ago.   Its been a spiritual quest, an amazing trip, at turns heartbreaking & transcendent.   In that time I’ve made 9 solo records, 4 records with The Mighty Mystiqueros, 1 with my wife Tina, and there’s a new live record with my friend  Kevin Welch.  I’ve had 100 or more songs recorded by other artists, traveled a fair part of the world, and had some very, very large times.  I have these anchors:  Wednesdays with my brothers The Mystiqueros at The Saxon Pub in Austin,  the 1st Sunday of every month at Luckenbach, The Red River Songwriters Festival on the last weekend of January in the mountains of northern New Mexico, and Waltstock & Barrel, a Texas wine, beer & music festival near Fredericksburg on the 1st weekend of April.  I move around a lot.

I get to work with some inspiring artists on their records, most often with the coolest cat on the field, Ron Flynt, at his Jumping Dog Studio in Austin.  I play all over Texas & as much as the US as we can get to, and even in Europe, where our 2nd home is The Netherlands.   I know a wide, beautiful variety of mighty poets, pickers, philosophers, artists, and wild spirits.  I am a most fortunate man.  Mostly, I drive, play & sleep & dream.  Its a rich experience, a wild ride, and the way I make my way.  I hope to meet you if I haven’t.   If I have, I hope to see you again soon on this path.  Cheers.