MUSIC MVP
Why Charlie Sexton is revered in Austin
Scene One: It’s a late-summer evening in 2017 at the Erwin Center, and an allstar cast has gathered to raise money for Hurricane Harvey victims. There’s Willie Nelson and Paul Simon and James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt and quite a few more, backed primarily by Austin musicians. Slipping in and out of the frame all night is the musical director who meshed all the gears onstage at this extraordinary event. Near the end of the night, a simple, heartfelt acknowledgment comes from Edie Brickell: “Did anybody introduce Charlie Sexton?”
In Austin, Charlie Sexton is the man who needs no introduction. Seemingly destined for stardom since his early teenage years, the 49-year-old musician cut his own path instead. Raised in blues clubs and launched into the pop-idol spotlight before he could vote, Sexton ultimately has built a life not as a marquee performer, but as a masterful force just beyond the focus of center stage.
Touring guitarist, record producer, session player, musical director, movie actor: Sexton does it all, applying one bedrock principle to everything he does. “The number one thing you have to do, out of anything you do in your career or in life,” he says, “is just be as pure of heart as you humanly can be, and be sincere.”
Such no-nonsense humility is a big reason Sexton is widely beloved and revered in the local community. For his part, he’s the first to spread the credit around for the projects he takes on. “All this stuff that happens, you can’t do it without everybody,” he says, stressing that last word. True as that may be, it’s natural to look at the career arc of Sexton’s achievements and conclude that he is Austin music’s most valuable player.
On Feb. 28, Sexton will be back in a familiar spot, serving as music director of the Austin Music Awards for the fourth straight year. He’s done this a lot in recent months, including memorial concerts in December for journalist Margaret Moser and bassist George Reiff. And then there was that Hurricane Harvey benefit in