From a sprawling vinyl collection to a home music studio, these three Austinites have created musically-minded spaces to call their own.  

Rooms speak volumes about the people who inhabit them, and in the creative spaces of manager Sam Shah, musician Ian Orth and ACL Live talent buyer Jack McFadden, music takes center stage. Whether it’s a coat closet full of records or an office lined with treasured guitars, these three musical havens offer a place for their owners to explore, create and bring the music home.

JACK MCFADDEN

What does a former coat closet filled with 2,000 records look like? Awesome, if it’s anything like ACL Live talent buyer Jack McFadden’s vinyl collection, located at one end of a modern living room in the South Austin home McFadden shares with his wife and two children.

It only makes sense that the “Live Music Capital of the World” should have its fair share of blogs dedicated solely to the best and brightest that this city (and the music industry at large) has to offer. Austin Writes Music, Austin Bloggy Limits and Covert Curiosity are just that — online outlets and resources that provide both blogger and reader a place to explore Austin’s unique music culture.

Covert Curiosity
Lawrence Boone

The “senior” blog of the bunch, Covert Curiosity (covertcuriosity. blogspot.com) started carving out its niche as a trusted source for local music information in July of 2006. “There weren’t really any specifically music blogs in Austin at the time, and I wanted a place to expose some of the interesting things I was getting into and discovering,” says Lawrence Boone of his blog.

By Day: He’s the cofounder and CEO of SpaceCraft, and she’s the owner and creative director of popular entertaining blog CamilleStyles.com.

How They Met
Camille says: I worked at Adam’s former company, Springbox. The first week of my new job there, I was in a car accident that put me in an ugly gray neck brace for the next three months. It’s funny to think that we actually got to know each other when I was feeling less than attractive; of course, Adam likes to say that he just got to know my inner beauty first!

By Day: Founders of the Beyond Batten Disease Foundation (beyondbatten.org)

How They Met
Charlotte says: We met while we were living in Paris. Craig was working for a company based out of Houston, and I had started a business exporting antiques back to the States. We met among a group of friends. Americans have a way of finding each other when they live abroad, and particularly since we are both from the South. Craig likes to say that I was the only other one who understood his French!

By Day: He’s a novelist and UT professor, and she’s an assistant attorney general.

How They Met
In the kitchen at a mutual friend’s house.

By Day: He’s an executive recruiter with the Innovar Group, and she’s a jewelry designer and owner of FALK Jewelry Designs.

How They Met
She was an undergrad, and he was a grad student at UT.

Kerrin says: My dad always emphasized the fact that it is important to meet someone while doing something you love to do...and I love going out! It was actually a particularly special night, though… I went to a Tim McGraw concert with my sister, where she met who would be her future husband. Dave was at the concert that night too, but we hadn’t met. After the concert I begged my sister to go to the Aquarium [a favorite Sixth Street watering hole], and that’s where we all met up. Nothing better than sisters marrying friends.

It's summertime and the livin' is easy in bold color and prints with a little bit of prep mixed in.

Location: Hamilton Pool

Models: Breauna, Chloe Jayne, Christian & Matt of Wallflower Management, Hair + Makeup by Franchiska Bryant of José Luis Salon, Styling Assistants: Linda Harrold + Avalon McKenzie
 

I will not shake martinis. I will not shake martinis. I will not shake martinis… This was the lesson of the day at Bar Congress, that — judging by the neat script on the chalkboard — at least one employee failed to learn. “When you shake a martini it gets cloudy, and one of the coolest things about a beautifully made gin martini is its crystal clarity. It should be so still and so clear that after a hard day’s work, you look at that, and it just calms you down.” This is bar manager Adam Bryan’s romantic philosophy behind his rule. He is one of the growing number of bartenders in Austin serious about their craft.

Peter and Penny met on a music video set in 1998. Penny caught Peter’s eye right away: “I thought she was totally beautiful when I first saw her and was definitely trying to flirt with her and get her attention.” But Penny had no idea. “He’s a bad flirt, which is actually a good thing.” Eventually, she picked up on it. They were married in 2001 and have been collaborating on commercial, television, and music video projects ever since. Peter is the director and Penny is the wardrobe stylist. Peter has directed videos for everyone from Brad Paisley to the Black Keys. In fact, Penny worked with Peter on the Black Keys’ “Your Touch” video. He wanted her to find an egg that would serve as a “mystical oracle” and carry through each scene in the video. Penny says, “it had to have some visual interest, but it also had to be small enough that it could go in a mouth—not that easy to find.

It was love at first sight for Anne and Sam, who first met at Stubb's at an iTunes party during SXSW in 2004. Before moving to Austin, Sam headed up A&R for the record company ATO Records while managing John Mayer and Ray LaMontagne and Anne ran a floral design business. Today, they run General Public Management, an Austin-based boutique artist management company, primarily focused on musicians, out of the chic, modern, and AIA award winning home they built together. From selling their Manhattan apartment, buying one in Brooklyn, getting married (after a four-day engagement) to starting a company and building a house, life has been a whirlwind for these two, showing no sign of slowing down anytime soon! But, they wouldn’t have it any other way.