Runaway Sky’s “Sweet Things”
In one of those right place/right time situations, country-influenced folk pop duo v formed after its two singer-songwriters, Taylor LaCourse and Simone Nicole, literally crossed paths at a 2021 mixer put on by the nonprofit local-artist promotions agency Hear Fort Worth.
“I was on my way out,” Nicole recalled, and LaCourse said, “I was on my way in” before adding, “and then I think we just said ‘hi.’ ”
Normally, those kinds of momentary interactions are forgotten in the jumble of everyday existence, but this one turned out to be something special, like a mind-blowing sunset that’s amazing in part because you decided to look up in time to catch it.
“We followed each other on the socials,” Nicole said, “and then we were like, ‘Do you want to try to write a song together?’ The song was called ‘Bad Decisions,’ and it was really quite magical.”
The two were low-key floored at how well their voices intertwined.
“We started singing and harmonizing together very naturally,” LaCourse said, “and we were just like, ‘Uh, this is really easy!’ We were just giddy.”
Since then, they’ve played a bunch of gigs ranging from cover-heavy sets at places like Troy’s at Texas Live! to opening for touring acts like Alexz Johnson, Tim LightYear, Billy King, and the Bad Bad Bad, plus ’90s folk-pop stars Sixpence None the Richer. In between those gigs, LaCourse and Nicole have been working on an EP and finishing the songs for their full-length debut. Ahead of those projects, the duo just released a new track.
“Sweet Things” is the follow-up to the duo’s 2024 debut single, “Arizona,” which put their gorgeous harmonies into regular rotation on KXT. In the way that “Arizona” sounds inspired by self-titled-album-era Sheryl Crow and Stevie Nicks’ The Wild Heart, “Sweet Things” appears to have roots in Kacey Musgrave’s Golden Hour and Wide Open Spaces Dixie Chicks, then you hear the vibraphone and slide guitar, and the song jumps and skips into its own thing entirely. Harmonizing a sunny meditation on the joys and pitfalls of attraction, LaCourse and Nicole’s lyrics work out the knots of the matter across a soundscape of twinkling vibraphone and subtle, Spaghetti Western-inspired twang.
Produced by Timothy Allen (Tim LightYear, Shane Smith & The Saints) and mixed and mastered by Bradley Prakope (Averi Burk, Shane Smith & The Saints), the track backs LaCourse and Nicole with an ace studio band: Allen on electric, acoustic, and baritone guitar joined by drummer Matt Mabe (Big Mike’s Box of Rock, Polydogs), bassist Ryan Stogner (Local Union, Breaking Bad Co.), and percussionist Nick Werth (Galaxe, Ghost-Note) on vibraphone. The combination of Allen’s arrangement assists and Prakope’s expansive mix gives the duo’s harmonies endless space to roam, like a pair of white-winged doves flying over a mystic desert.
Runaway Sky is headlining The Cicada (1002 S Main St, Fort Worth, @The_Cicada_FTW) on Fri, Jul 25, with Remy Reilly and Ryker Hall filling the opening slots. Like that mind-blowing sunset, you don’t want to miss them.
Tulips’ $2 Tuesdays
To help grow the local scene, Tulips FTW (112 St. Louis Av, Fort Worth, 817-367-9798) is launching a weekly, all-ages, all-local/semilocal-band showcase night on Tue, Jul 22, with a $2 cover and employee pricing on drinks. Aptly named “$2 Tuesdays,” the shows open at 7pm and will typically feature a three- or four-band bill. The first kicks off with Glüestick, Spun, Dead Stereo, and Yellowbelly.
You’d be forgiven if you haven’t heard of all or any of them, but introducing new music to the local scene is kind of the point of these shows.
“We want to field as many bands as we can,” wrote Tulips media rep Conor Dardis in an email. “We want to help the scene … want to have space for local bands to blossom.”
Though the first $2 Tuesday lineup’s bands hail from neighboring scenes — Glüestick’s members come from all over North Texas, Spun and Dead Stereo call Denton home, and Yellowbelly claims Arlington — Dardis said Tulips would “give preference to Fort Worth bands.”
The $2 cover (which pays the audio engineer) is hella cheap, and a show that starts at 7 or 8pm is ideal for those who are inclined to comment (in the Facebook/Instagram conversations about show attendance) that they would go out to shows if only the start times were earlier. And the cover more affordable. If you have teenagers at home wasting the summer in a TikTok hole, a $2 Tuesday sounds like a good pretext for dragging them out of the house. And if you’re a person (parent or not) of a certain age — i.e., old enough to have been young when Pearl Jam was new — the kickoff $2 Tuesday lineup will probably light up certain circuits in your brain, particularly the ones electrified whenever “Wicked Garden” or “Angry Chair” floats out of a bar’s PA. Glüestick calls their sound “girl punk,” and I kind of think they sound like if Bikini Kill were a garage-rock band. Spun sounds like Soundgarden doing crossover thrash. Dead Stereo’s grungy hardcore could be affectionately described as “Nü-rvana,” and Yellowbelly’s “bootgaze” aesthetic could easily have been dredged from Mudhoney’s super-fuzzed fury. Taken together, these bands will probably remind you of long-forgotten pastimes like getting sunburned at Edgefest and programming your VCR to tape 120 Minutes.
That the new bands in Tulips’ inaugural $2 Tuesday lineup have semi-throwback alt-rock vibes — they all sound (at least to my ears) inspired by the heavier wing of the ’90s alt-rock pantheon — is incidental. Dardis said that Tulips intends to book $2 Tuesdays that are across genres to draw attention to “local flavor,” whatever that may be.
“Might be rock or hip-hop, alt or country,” he said. “It’s the Fort Worth sound we’re trying to promote.”
Maybe that means a show that pairs Toxic Madness with Gabby Minton or Sheprador with J/O/E, but mixing a lineup’s genres up is also kind of the point.
Of the local bands on his and Tulips’ radar, he said, “We’re really loving Labels, The Grae, Midnight Thirty, It’s Ernie, and Christian Carlos Carvajal” but that they are open and looking to new bands they haven’t yet seen or heard. “Please shoot us as many suggestions as you can! We need the community to help us make this grow.”
Dardis also said that playing a $2 Tuesday slot is an avenue for local bands to snag opening slots for bigger, touring acts. “The goal is to help local bands grow from $2 Tuesdays into feature nights and marquee slots with appropriate touring artists.”
For bands interested in playing a $2 Tuesday, Dazdis said to reach out at Conor@TulipsFTW.com and mention $2 Tuesdays in the subject line. Showcasing bands are paid a percentage of bar sales, he said, though the venue is actively looking for a sponsor.
Regardless of the payouts, Tulips’ $2 Tuesday offers an opportunity for local bands to get their foot in the door at a prominent local venue that regularly books nationally touring performers, as well as foster the local scene.
$20,000 Venue Prize
Back in June, after a steep rent increase, a hike in overall costs, and the other realities of post-COVID economics, The Cicada nearly shut its doors. That it avoided that fate is thanks in no small part to the local bands who played a benefit show on Jun 8, as well as the venue’s fans and regulars who have supported the business throughout the rest of the month. But the Near Southside spot also got a much-needed lifeline courtesy the Fort Worth Music Office and Mullen & Mullen Injury Law Firm. After determining what The Cicada needed to remain open, the office and M&M teamed up, graciously contributing the necessary funds to keep the venue afloat.
While that one-time rescue is a feel-good story on its own, it sparked a bigger idea. Mullen & Mullen, who launched the JAMBALOO Music Festival earlier this year — a week of free shows across Fort Worth, Dallas, and Denton — as a way to juice the local music industry after the toll of the shutdown, saw an opportunity to further safeguard local venues: the JAMBALOO Venue Prize, a $20,000 annual grant with built-in operational support, awarded to one independent North Texas venue every year starting in 2026. The Cicada is the first recipient. Future winners will be selected through a public contest.
Talk about putting your money where your mouth is, right? The Mullen & Mullen Music Project, having started pretty big already with a week-long free music festival, is really leaning into its mission to uplift North Texas’ live music scene. With next year’s JAMBALOO in the works and the Venue Prize ready to launch, MMMP is supporting North Texas’ music scenes in ways that really matter. But no matter who’s helping, a music scene can’t exist without the people on the speaker-facing side of the stage. Whether it’s Runaway Sky at The Cicada on the 25th or some bands you’ve never heard of at a $2 Tuesday at Tulips, go see a show.
