Two Trips
Desert Folk’s ‘Little Love’
Desert Folk, the Americana project of local singer-songwriter Austin Clay Cox and drummer Sawyer McGee, is dropping a new single at midnight on Fri, Aug 21. “Little Love” will be the band’s sixth single in three years. The song is great, but I wonder if it will further confuse listeners’ ideas of what “Americana” is. I think “Little Love” has more in common with The War on Drugs than Tyler Childers or Uncle Tupelo. As a descriptor, “Americana” is almost as unhelpfully vague as “indie rock” — this substack called String Theories has an article called “30 Essential and Outstanding Americana Albums from 2025,” and it has one by blues-shredding rock ’n’ roller Samantha Fish, whom I probably wouldn’t call Americana, but whatever. Anyway, “Little Love” is big on emotive, soaring choruses and some very tasty country-rock guitar licks, so if that gives someone an idea of what Americana sounds like, whatever works, right? A good song is a good song, and “Little Love” has a hook that that will pop up in your brain all day long.
Cox said he wrote the track almost 10 years ago after enduring a not-great relationship. “In hindsight, I was obviously being very melodramatic. Sawyer and I were going through my list of unrecorded and unfinished songs, and we both liked the idea of the poppier ‘Little Love’ chorus. Around that time, I found myself having strong feelings about yet another less than ideal relationship situation, so it felt natural to finally record ‘Little Love’ as a Desert Folk song.”
Cox and McGee tracked it at Sunland Sound in East Dallas with engineer Michael Smith (Nelly Furtado, Taylor Young Band, All Clean), who also mixed it, with mastering by Austin studio Test Tube Audio’s Kevin Butler.
As for the band’s influences and how they create Desert Folk’s version of Americana, Cox said the band’s sound comes from a wide variety of musical influences. “Sawyer and I started playing music in church when we were young. I found my way into the post-hardcore, punk, [and] metal scenes, while Sawyer toured with Texas Country and Americana artists. Desert Folk has been an art project for us. The song is a mix of our love for ambient indie rock and alternative pop rock.”
So, “Americana”? Sure, why not. — Steve Steward
Stem Afternoon’s Bonsai Lumberjack
Boy, talk about sleeping on something. Stem Afternoon put out a new album in April that I briefly conversed with drummer Mike Garcia about and then unfortunately forgot to mention in a then-contemporaneous column. My bad, guys! Back then, I asked him to describe the album and how Bonsai Lumberjack made me think of either a miniaturized forester or a person who just hacks away at something when more intentional care is required. Garcia replied, “I think it’s probably our most dense and cinematic-sounding record. The title just sounded cool and almost like [an] imaginary film title. … I think we touch on spy/Italian horror/getaway film vibes and the usual psychedelic [influences]. The last two songs were pretty much improv, and we switched instruments around, but somehow it worked.”
Bonsai Lumberjack and Stem Afternoon’s entire back catalog are up at StemAfternoon.bandcamp.com. — S.S.
