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What Was Different About The Austin Chronicle's 2000-2001 Music Poll? Looking at the cover of March 5, 1982, it doesn't seem that long ago that 28 musicians gathered on the steps of the Capitol in honor of winning. There was no awards ceremony that year, just the hour or so that it took to wait for a few stragglers, make Keith Ferguson hide the beer in his coat pocket (you can see his left hand covering it), announce that Stevie and Double Trouble's van broke down and they wouldn't make it in, and get the jazzbos to talk to the punks who were intimidated by the blues players who only really knew the songwriters. I remember watching them all, thinking it was the perfect mix of old and new.

The number of musicians who would win the polls and appear on the covers throughout the Eighties was amazing; 50 or 60 musicians were being gathered annually, another couple dozen on the road and unable to attend. Some would go platinum and appear on MTV and in movies and win Grammys. With the Nineties came the Butthole Surfers, Shawn Colvin, Fastball, Jimmie Vaughan, Toni Price, Arc Angels, and Storyville, all names that gave that decade its own identity.

Each year of the poll has its own sound and look and this one is no different. It has a younger curve to it, with Slaid Cleaves, Vallejo, and Kissinger all stepping forward into top spots. Newcomers include the Riddlin' Kids, Blaze, Los Aztex, Human, La Tribu, Schrödinger's Cat, Correo Aereo, and the Tosca Strings. That's the future of Austin music and it's a beautiful noise.

There's a great comfort in seeing familiar names too, with Eric Johnson, Lisa Tingle, Austin City Limits, Bob Schneider, KGSR, Monte Montgomery, and Antone's. These names give that future its rich and colorful past. It's the perfect mix of old and new.

What was really different about The Austin Chronicle's 2000-2001 Music Poll? Look at the poll carefully. There are no ties.

BEST COUNTRY BAND
1. Dale Watson
2. Blind Luck
3. Reckless Kelly
4. Pat Green
5. Pete Benz
6. Don Walser
7. Kelly Willis
8. The Derailers
9. Willie Nelson
10. Shaver