[This entry is the first in a series of entries covering local artists traveling to Texas for a large music festival. Keep an eye out for photos and reviews of shows direct from Austin starting on Wednesday, March 17.]

Every spring since 1987, the city of Austin, Texas has played host to the South by Southwest Music Conference, and this year is no different. South by Southwest is 24 this year, and a cadre of musicians with quite strong local ties will spend the week in Austin hoping to find new fans and new opportunities. SXSW, as the festival is called for short, presents a rare opportunity for them to perform at a time when a large portion of the journalists, industry employees, booking agents, let alone peer musicians are in 1 place at 1 time.

The format of SXSW allows for a wide range of our local talent pool to showcase those talents for Austin's crowds. From the world of rock 'n' roll, Jason Stollsteimer (most recently of the Detroit based rock band Von Bondies) is taking his new band Hounds Below to the festival. Local natives and road warriors Tyvek and Awesome Color are currently on tour together and will be making stops in Austin along the way.

Southeastern Michigan's hip-hop community will be represented with a bevy of of MCs and DJs, among them House Shoes, 14KT, Invincible and Finale. Ann Arborites who have been in town for a while may remember the group Now On, who will be performing, and rounding out this group is venerable producer and Detroit native, Black Milk, of Slum Village.

Two larger musicians with local ties will be performing at the festival this year. Since his days as a jazz keyboard student at Community High and Island Records' "I Get Wet," Andrew W.K. (known locally as Andrew Wilkes-Krier) will be giving one of his first musical performances in more than 5 years, as well as speaking on a panel entitled "What Becomes A Legend Most." Wilkes-Krier, now married, resides in Manhattan with his wife and is the co-owner of the newly opened Santos' Party House.

Andrew Cohen, who now performs as Mayer Hawthorne will present a performance as well. Cohen cut his teeth with local hip-hop collective Athletic Mic League as DJ Haircut before setting off to Los Angeles and being signed to the venerable hip-hop imprint Stones Throw Records.

Over the past few years, a veritable cast and crew ranging from noise-grinders Wolf Eyes to indie-pop darlings Saturday Looks Good to Me and a host of artists in between have put the conference on their schedules for many of the same reasons: their label asks them to perform, they think it might be a fun break from the daily grind of touring from city to city, or they are hoping to get the chance to play in front of that industry executive who just might make their dreams come true. While the last example is not all that common these days, everyone who has attended the conference has a story of a band who was "found" during this festival.

As one can guess, the selection of artists can be dizzying — a fan can have 10 shows they might want to see at once, and making yourself stand out can be a bit frustrating. Complaints about the lack of individual attention and commercialization aside, the South By Southwest Music Festival maintains its luster as a "must go" for any band hoping to eventually make a full time living from playing music and touring.

A full listing of the artists from around the world that will make their way to this year's festival is located here.

Jeremy Peters covers what he likes to call the Underbelly of the Local Arts and Music Scene as a community blogger for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-217-4570 or jeremyjohnpeters@gmail.com.