SXSWORLD

Grulke Prize Winners Span Styles & Generations By linDa laBan know me, but if I can catch just one person's attention and they like me, then that's enough. I don't want to have too much pressure: I just want to do what I do."  The Lemon Twigs think they had at least one fan at SXSW. "There was one guy in an audi- ence with a stick with a couple of lemons pushed through it. We thought that was a great way to show appreciation," D'Addario laughs.  Hitchcock's appearances at SXSW previewed songs from his April–released self-titled album, which is laced with forthright, passionate opin- ions on the troubled state of our planet right now. "I'm not known as a social commentator. My work, some people don't understand it at all," he adds. "But we as a species are in a deep moral and spiritual crisis. The situation is very acute: a lot of us acknowledge we are all imperiled by this toxic alliance of the superficially inclined and the ill-informed. Especially now, when we live in a world where cartoon characters get elected to government."  Hitchcock remains a passionate artist with plenty to say: not deliberately as a way to court attention, but as a personal and socially relevant truth and great songwriting. Still, though he can't plan or "storyboard" his career, as he puts it, he agrees staying socially relevant is an important factor. "Is relevance relevant?" he fires back rhe- torically. "Yes, it is."  Hitchcock will stay busy through the year touring his record, and he's working on a track with Graham Coxon for "a movie, or TV; I don't know which." The Lemon Twigs have dates booked through the summer but are already at work recording tracks at their Long Island home studio in between tour dates for their second album, tentatively titled Go Back to High School. Following her break, Jain will return to touring with dates across Europe throughout the summer, along with a return to the U.S. for Lollapalooza and other dates in the fall.  "I wonder, how do they calculate such a thing?" says D'Addario about how a winner for the Grulke Prize is chosen from hundreds and hundreds of laudable artists. Jurors for the Grulke Prize include music critics, industry professionals and SXSW staff, many of whom knew and worked with Brent, a much-loved figure in the SXSW and Austin music worlds. Hitchcock, who first played SXSW in 1993 and returned many times, is among them.  "Brent used to sort me out. He would help me with where I could play, where I would stay," he recalls. "There were no record companies involved, so he was the person I went to and said, 'OK, Brent, where can I play?' Having an award that's dedicated to him makes it special for me." N ow in its fifth year, the Grulke Prize has become a touching finale to SXSW Music. It's a feather in the cap of the three art- ists or bands singled out to receive it, of course, but as it was developed in honor of SXSW's long- time Creative Director Brent Grulke, who passed away in 2012, the prize is a reminder of the passion that Grulke, the winners, and so many participants and attendees have for music.  This year's winners are Long Island ret- ro-pop duo The Lemon Twigs (Developing US Act), French world pop singer-songwriter Jain (Developing Non-US Act), and Nashville-based, English-born folk pop singer-songwriter and icon- oclast, Robyn Hitchcock. Hitchcock's long tenure in music—from the mid 1970s in The Soft Boys, then leading Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians until the early 1990s before going solo, and the fact that the 63-year-old is still just as viable as ever—placed him as this year's Career Act.  Of the three artists, only one, Hitchcock, had ever been to the festival before, let alone played it. The Lemon Twigs, New York City's worst kept secret, already had huge buzz in their hometown and on the indie pop scene when they released their kaleidoscopic, 1970s-influenced debut album, Do Hollywood, in 2016, but they hadn't ventured to SXSW before this year.  "We were still really naïve," says Twigs frontman Brian D'Addario. "We didn't really know about the impact of playing festivals; we didn't really know about SXSW's impact and we didn't have a team in place before, so we didn't think to try and play it.  "We didn't know what to expect from the fes- tival. It was chaotic and cool, and we were very grateful to be singled out among all those bands for the prize. It was a total and complete sur- prise," he adds.  Jain echoes that chaotic-cool sentiment: "I didn't really know what to expect. It was amazing and intense," she says. "We don't have this kind of festival in France. There were so many bands to hear around town, and the weather was like summer. So it was good for me when back home it would be raining."  Jain, real name Jeanne Galice, released her debut, Zanaka, in France in 2015, working hard in Europe and promoting the album to double platinum status in her homeland. Zanaka, which blends world music into pop, was released in the U.S. last fall, and Jain's SXSW appearance was part of a busy campaign that saw her U.S. debut in February on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and watched her embark on her first American tour through March and April. Still, playing SXSW was a standout regardless of the prize.  "I very much love festivals," says Jain from Paris during a spring break. "People are just experiencing this big event together. They don't

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