AUSTIN BLUES

A Vietnam War veteran dives into Austin’s burgeoning music scene while pursuing a law career in Keith’s novel.

After recovering from an injury sustained fighting in the Vietnam War, Sanders Eden attends Texas Tech on the GI Bill. He doesn’t quite fit with the crowd in Lubbock, so when it’s time to choose a law school, he heads to Austin. What really excites him is Austin’s music scene; it’s the ’70s, and the venues are scrappy, loud, and amazing. Sanders (Sandy to friends) lives it up at Antone’s, Liberty Lunch, Hole in the Wall, Armadillo World Headquarters, and other local spots. Bar fights, meeting girls, the amazing array of musicians—it’s a whirlwind of blurry, drunken, and memorable nights. Fatefully, Sandy eventually meets Bev, a young academic. She later recalls, “I got to Austin in 1986 and eventually found Sanders, another breed of southern man—one fiery, physical, intellectually alive, and with a modern social conscience.” They marry, and as Sandy’s law career takes off, a personal injury case keeps his name in the papers. But it’s a whistleblower that really puts Sandy in the middle of Austin’s combustible political scene as an explosive ethics case hits close to home and tests Sandy and Bev both personally and professionally. Keith’s boisterous, rollicking story starts with a bang and never really slows down. The protagonist is pursuing a legal career, but that doesn’t stop him from jumping into the middle of the whiskey-fueled action, whether at a honkytonk or in a courtroom. The descriptions of the Austin of yore, with its myriad musicians and nightspots, feel earthy and real, striking a strong note of authenticity. The novel is not perfect—the chapters are told from different perspectives, and they are not always labeled, causing confusion. The second half of the narrative is more about legal and political issues, and the plot can get lost as the writing bogs down in related details.

A scrappy, exciting, liquor-fueled journey through Austin, Texas.