Austin Legend, Emerging Stars Featured on New Episode of The Hook

It’s completely unacceptable to sit back and let AI, algorithmic scrolling, paid-for “influencers” and other inequitable regressions in the music industry sold to us as technological advancement completely erode the integrity of music. Instead of complaining about it, we have to step up and find meaningful ways to create new communities for musical creatives and their fans, and new avenues to find the next great artists and give them their first opportunities.

That is why The Hook was founded. It’s not just a glorified open mic. It’s a raised fist, and a barbaric yawp against everything evil overtaking music. It’s not going to solve all the ills of the music industry, and it most certainly won’t happen overnight. But doing nothing is no option, and the community aspect of it is already taking shape in meaningful ways.

Katrina Cain won the first Gold Patch on The Hook in Austin the first week it was filmed in early May. She returned as the special guest and guest panelist for Episode 11 on August 16th ahead of the release of what’s officially her debut album If There’s a Heaven on September 3rd. She sang a great murder ballad to start the show off called “Bury The Hatchet.”

Later another Austin-based songwriter named Taylor Graves was picked to play. Graves and Katrina Cain actually recently wrote a song together with Kyle Garrett called “D.U.I.” that Graves released on August 14th. Even more apt to the moment, “D.U.I” was written after Taylor Graves went on a blind date at Sagebrush where The Hook is filmed. The beau ended up getting arrested for driving drunk. “D.U.I” wasn’t the song Taylor Graves played though. Instead she unleashed her song “Ticket,” which is just about the perfect example of what a “hook” in a song actually is.

Episode 11 also saw the actual owner of Sagebrush and Austin Music legend Denis O’Donnell get picked from the hopper. Though O’Donnell is probably best known as a bar owner, he also happens to be an accomplished songwriter. He proved that by performing his song “Cold Turkey,” told from a very first-person perspective. Saving Country Music profiled Denis O’Donnell in 2024, and how he cultivated the Austin honky tonk scene starting at Hole in the Wall, then The White Horse, and now Sagebrush.

Other performers on Episode 11 included Scot Byrd, and his very involved song “Burning Daylight.” Nitin Annish returned to The Hook stage, and stimulated a great conversation with his song “Dear Scarlett” that doesn’t reference Hawthorne’s classic American novel The Scarlett Letter, but very well could have. Annish has also been helping out The Hook the last few weeks behind-the-scenes as a producer.

Jimmy Pizzanola from Houston also turned in one of the most impressive songs of the week with “A Cat Named Steve.” When he got on stage and hemmed and hawed a bit about what song he was going to play, it was fair to wonder if he was taking the opportunity seriously. But he won everyone over with both the humor, and the touching nature of the song. Pizzanola also happens to host songwriting events at La Carafe in Houston.

Scott Harley Crawford who spend years before the pandemic entertaining folks at the Fort Worth Stockyards entertained The Hook with his song “I Just Want To Be Loved.” This was followed by newly recurring character T.D. Stevens who sang a very personal song written that week about his family from Oregon called “Short Sands.” Episode 11 also saw the return of Kat, who sang a very intimate and moving song called “Nosebleeds.”

Episode 11 concluded with not one, but two Gold Patch winners cashing in their first opportunities to circumvent the signup process. Owen Salerno who was the story of Episode 10 and blew everyone away as a 19-year-old songwriter. He returned to perform his song “Indigo.” He was followed by Sachin and the Porch, who proved why he was Gold Patch worthy with his stunning song “Seven Feet of Snow in North Dakota.”

The next taping of The Hook happens on Sunday, August 23rd from 3:00 – 5:00 pm at Sagebrush in Austin. If you want to sign up for a chance to perform, arrive by 2:30.

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The Hook is not just for songwriters. Fans of songwriting are also encouraged to stop by. For more information, visit savingcountrymusic.com/thehook. Please subscribe to The Hook’s YouTube Channel, and follow The Hook on Instagram and Facebook.

You can now also stream the audio of The Hook via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, PocketCasts, as well as Deezer and other major podcast networks.

The Hook is sponsored by Ear Trumpet Labs, Keystone Artist Connect, The Willie Bus, Mule Kick Productions, JWA Media, and Sagebrush.

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