The Austin 100: Invoke

By Stephen Thompson

Published March 1, 2018 at 6:00 AM EST

Hometown: Austin, Texas

Genre: Classical / Folk

Why We're Excited: Though Invoke is technically a classical string quartet, the boundaries of its genre classification are blurry at best. For one, Nick Montopoli's violin and Karle Mitze's viola often get swapped out for a banjo and a mandolin, respectively, en route to rustic forays into various strains of Americana: Appalachian fiddle music, bluegrass and so on. It all sounds impeccable without losing its sense of lightness and joy — no small feat.

SXSW Schedule:

March 14: The Hideout (617 Congress Ave.)

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Stephen Thompson

Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)

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