Once we got used to their abrasive calls, Hitchockian congregations at HEB Hancock, and overall recklessness, we’ve actually enjoyed being in good graces with grackles. Sure, they’re a bit more obnoxious than, say, the blind salamander, but squawking, flash-flocking and all, grackles instantly evoke a Central Texas aesthetic.

And we can say much of the same about musical up-and-comers Grackles; being loud is in their nature, they flock as octet in concert, and the Americana-country feathers they shed bear distinct characteristics of the Lone Star State. If you didn’t know, this formation is led by drummer extraordinaire Jimmy Paxson, Ben Harper guitarist Jason Mozersky, Austin’s own Noah Lit, and Edie Brickell/Paul Simon Producer Kyle Crusham, and for the past few months we’ve been monitoring Grackles’ migration towards their eponymous debut album, which finally releases this Friday.

That star power extends all throughout Grackles‘ ten tracks, but especially on its guest features, including two with Texas icon Kat Edmonson and two with Lauren Harris, who appears with guitarist David Grissom and real-life Elwood Charlie Musselwhite, respectively. So as we approach the Grackles release show 8PM this Saturday at Pershing Hall alongside Passiflora, let Musselwhite’s mouth harp and Harris’ vocals treat you to some extra twang with the Grackles’ road trip-ready alternate history anthem that is the LP’s first single, “San Antone”.

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