Rolling Stone's venerable critic Ben Fong Torres dubbed Austin Willacy's music the "music of tomorrow." His "stunning choir boy vocals," described as a "tongue in your ear," are a visceral thrill, compelling the listener to return to the source, again and again. Austin's sensibility is simultaneously old school while entirely fresh, a graceful wallop that seduces with magnum force. Cleveland, Ohio, where Austin grew up, is a music town: Tracy Chapman, Joe Walsh and the O'Jays are from Cleveland. The blues, rock and soul that Austin listened to early on were influences later distilled into his own music. austin's first instrument was the bass guitar, and he got into singing entirely by accident - a girl in his high school that he was sweet on invited him to join the chorus. The rest, as they say, is history. Austin didn't plan on pop stardom, but went to Dartmouth and graduated with a degree in psychology. His studies were not wasted, however, as his keen sense of observation and his genuine interest in people were put to good use in his songwriting. Austin's lyrics reflect an essential optimism, tempered by the knowledge that the road to "happily ever after" isn't quite as simple as his buoyant melodies would suggest. austin first came to public notice as a member of the a cappella group The House Jacks, who were signed to Tommy Boy/Warner Bros. Records. This initial success and years of touring (opening for acts such Ray Charles, James Brown, The Temptations, The Gap Band, LL Cool J, Run DMC, Crosby, Stills and Nash and many more), whet Austin's appetite to develop and perform his solo material, leading to a deal with APG Records, a now-defunct San Francisco-based indie label. A 5 song EP, "akw," was followed in quick succession by his debut release, "american pi." Both discs received play on college and AAA stations (most significantly on AAA powerhouse KFOG), and were glowingly reviewed, described as "smart contemporary rock…mainstream music as it should be." Austin was featured on MP3.com, myplay.com, tucows.com, thatslive.com, riffage.com, ubl.com, listen.com, vitaminic.com and garageband.com, and accompanied on "pi" by an A-list of top players: Jon Evans (bass, Tori Amos), Andrew Borger (percussion, Tom Waits, Norah Jones) as well as the members of Tin Hat Trio: Mark Orton, Rob Burger and Carla Kihlstedt. Meanwhile, Austin found time to appear on the House of Blues syndicated radio program, produce CD's for several other artists (including "Call to Honor", a song to benefit Transforming Violence and the American Red Cross in the wake of the attack on the World Trade Center) and perform at the Electronic Freedom Foundation Concert in Golden Gate Park. A steady progression of live shows, not only in San Francisco, but also in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, has spread the Willacy gospel. With the release of page 7, Austin's music was discovered by MTV, who picked up several of the songs for "Road Rules," and "Little Kids Rock," who asked austin to guest with Bonnie Raitt, Jason Newsted and Tom Waits at a benefit to promote funding for music programs in public schools (Rolling Stone captured the event with a photo in issue 936). In addition, Austin was chosen by Westlake Audio in Hollywood to be their featured artist, gifting him with five days of recording time (Alanis Morrissette, Staind, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Bruce Springsteen are just a few of the artists who have recorded at Westlake, so Austin's in good company). Since October 2003, Austin has contributed dozens of vocals to Karaoke Revolution and Guitar Hero, two award-winning video game series for Xbox and Playstation2 on which he can be heard as the voices of Queen, Jamiroquai, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Incubus, Michael Jackson and George Michael. In 2006, Austin had over 150 performances. During breaks in his tour schedule he somehow managed to record, 9 impossible proofs, his brand-new album, released June 2007 on antebellum records.