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GALLERY: SXSW Live Performances 2014

Everything from vintage Jazzmasters to dirty Danelectros made waves at the annual music fest in Austin, Texas.

Lucinda Williams—who began her career busking on the streets of Austin—performed with her trusty Gibson J-45 on March 12, 2014, at the Austin Music Awards during SXSW.

In case you couldn’t make it to the music world’s annual balls-to-the wall blitzkrieg of shows, we bring you there with a look at the players who rocked 2014’s Texan festival of rock.

Montana’s own Evel Knievel

If artists aren’t allowed to take risks, and even fail, great art will never be made. Need proof? Check Picasso, Hendrix, Monk, and Led Zeppelin.

In sixth grade, I went to a strict Catholic school. When you have an Italian-Irish mother, that’s just part of the deal. The nuns had the look and temperament of the defensive line of the ’70s Oakland Raiders. Corporal punishment was harsh, swift, and plentiful–particularly toward boys—and we all feared them. All but one second grader. I can’t remember his first name; nobody used it, because his last name was Knievel. His uncle was Evel Knievel, the greatest and perhaps only celebrity ever to come from my home state, Montana. On the playground, we would watch in awe as this wild Knievel kid raced by us, nuns chasing in an awkward, sluggish pursuit as he knocked kids over, dust, books, and gravel flying behind his path of terror. This kid was fearless. It was truly inspiring to watch.

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Nashville luthier and guitar tech Dave Johnson shows us the baker's dozen of tools he thinks any guitar picker requires to be a guitar fixer.

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Kemper updated the entire product range introducing the all-new Kemper Profiler MK 2 Series. More Power. More Flexibility.

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The Billy Idol guitarist rides his Knaggs into Nashville.

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