Accomplished USU alumnus to perform locally
A lot has changed since Austin Weyand first performed at WhySound in Logan, Utah nearly six years ago. For one thing, Weyand said, the venue now has carpet.
“It’s really kind of a funny story,” said Weyand, a former alumnus of USU’s guitar performance program. “I was the first person to perform there when they first opened up. It was just a concrete floor, and I think they were still in the process of renovating the room and painting everything.”
The musician will return to perform at WhySound on Thursday, Sept. 5 at 8 p.m.
During his undergraduate studies at USU, Weyand’s musicianship was recognized throughout the music department. A winner of the Outstanding Guitarist Award and two-time winner of the USU Concerto Competition, Weyand studied under former professor Michael Christiansen and received a baccalaureate degree in guitar performance.
After graduating from USU, Weyand went on to earn a master’s degree in guitar from Northern Illinois University, studying with classical, jazz and world music recording artist Fareed Haque. He said he has kept busy with music since then, playing Celtic and bluegrass music on a European tour, taking a rock band through the intermountain west, adding his Spanish Flamenco playing to an eight-week stint on the United States premiere of the musical Zorro and recording two full-length albums.
“I’m always trying to stay busy,” Weyand said. “I’m always working on something new.”
The Austin Weyand Band has gone through several different incarnations and lineup changes, but the upcoming performance will find Weyand accompanied by cellist Sam Runolfson and percussionist Colin Jensen.
“Olson is a phenomenal cellist,” Weyand said. “His cello lines take on the role of the bass player and really add another dimension to the songs. Colin Jensen’s percussion and drum playing is really unique. He has a style that really helps to drive us along without taking anything away from the rest of the music.”
Weyand has inspired other guitarists and musicians with his abilities and his approach. Rich Bischoff, a fellow musician and proprietor of Studio 14 in Brigham City, remembers the first time he saw Weyand play in the Kent Concert hall.
“It was 1995, and I was required to go to a guitar concerto as part of credit for a class,” Bischoff said. “As the concert began, a young man who seemed about my age played beautiful pieces of music accompanied by stringed and other instruments. I was mesmerized.”
Soon after this first encounter, Bischoff met Weyand, who was working at a music store in downtown Logan at the time.
“He would loan out guitars from the shop for me to play at gigs with my college band, Brot
her Sage,” Bischoff said. “It was cool to know someone so good on the guitar was such a nice, normal guy. He continues to inspire me with his playing and I have had the opportunity to do shows with him, record him in my studio and do video work for him. Austin is the real deal. The guitar is his life and it is an honest form of communication for him.”
During his upcoming performance, Weyand will play songs from both his albums – “Too Much Information,” released in 2007, and “They Call Me Dad,” released in 2012. The latter album features violin and guitar arrangements of songs Weyand wrote for his three daughters and instrumental versions of songs that hold special meaning to his family, including Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle.”
Stephen Severn, an audio engineer at WhySound, called Weyand a “true musician.”
“I did sound for him once almost a year ago,” Severn said. “He uses interesting time signatures, like 15/3. It’s uncommon and shows off his ability and knowledge.”
Weyand said he’s looking forward to returning to Logan.
“WhySound is always a nice place to play,” he said. “And since it got carpet, it’s really become successful.”