AUSTIN, Texas — More than 100 bands performed along downtown entertainment strips, while the Austin Chronicle hosted the 19th Austin Music Awards, as the South by Southwest Music Conference got rolling Wednesday.

A feeling of anticipation permeated the popular schmooze-fest known as SXSW. Young bands hawking their shows passed out pamphlets on street corners as frat boys and sorority sisters on spring break walked side by side with powerful record-industry types at nightclubs along Sixth Street and in the revitalized warehouse district.

Inside the Austin Music Hall, some 2,500 local music fans watched such regional heroes as Trish Murphy, Vallejo, Kelly Willis, the Gourds, Terri Hendrix and Guy Forsyth accept awards from host Paul Ray.

Alt-country waif Willis performed a short set that included "What I Deserve" (RealAudio excerpt), with its poppy, Sixpence None the Richer flavor.

Among the VIP guests was actress Sandra Bullock — with her musician boyfriend, Bob Schneider, of the Scabs. Schneider took musician and songwriter of the year honors, while the Scabs were voted best band. Guitarist Eric Johnson and National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences President and CEO Michael Greene made the celebrity rounds, too.

Music, Music Everywhere

"This conference gets bigger every year," security man Bob Mercado said of the event that runs through Sunday.

Indeed, it seemed everywhere one walked, music could be heard spilling into the streets.

Singer/guitarist David Bielanko, of the Philadelphia band Marah — Steve Earle protégés who took their name, meaning "bitter," from the Old Testament — were signed in 1998 at SXSW. They're here this year to play with Earle at Stubb's nightclub on Thursday (March 16).

"Something good can come out of it," said Bielanko, who arrived with his band on Wednesday, to see Richard Buckner and Alejandro Escovedo at Gallery Lombardi Lounge, a small venue formerly known as the Electric Lounge.

Outside the club, in the parking lot, a mini-punk-fest rocked in sharp contrast to the moody and introspective sounds to be heard within.

The Buzz On Buckner

In light of the dizzying din at so many other clubs, the buzz on the street about folk-rock guru Buckner was especially impressive.

His husky-voiced, slurred intensity hushed the 300 fans in attendance with songs such as "4am," "A Goodbye Rye" (RealAudio excerpt) and "Six Years." Many sat on the floor, at the feet of the guitarist, who sat hunched over his Danelectro guitar, accompanied by wife Penny on drums and Eric Haywood on steel guitar, electric guitar and electric mandolin. Bucker called the seated fans his "anti-mosh-pit brigade."

Escovedo performed a moving acoustic set and would later sing with Buckner and even play drums, on "Surprise Az."

As Penny Buckner watched from stage left, the veteran of many SXSW showcases admitted to some ambivalence about her and her husband's participation this year.

"It's kind of a burn, really," she said. "I don't really see where the showcases help the bands. It's the clubs that make out."

Swishy Togas And Guitar-Case Dollars

Back on Sixth Street, the party atmosphere rivaled a good weekend in spirit, if not in strength of numbers. Members of the University of Pennsylvania track team, dressed in togas, joyfully swished inside the club Melagio as the street band Twang Bang collected guitar-case dollar bills on a nearby corner.

Singer/songwriter (and Robyn Hitchcock sideman) Tim Keegan's band, Departure Lounge, drew a packed house to Maggie Mae's with a quiet set of introspective, mostly guitarless rock. The shambling four piece featured a drummer who played keyboards, harmonica and sang backing vocals for Keegan's fragile love songs.

With most participants rolling into town Wednesday night or Thursday morning, Sixth Street, the festival's main artery, had only a trickle of the human wave that typically surfeits the sidewalks later in the week.

Punk club Emo's, normally crawling with tattoos and attitude, was host to a number of more experimental, psychedelic bands for the festival's first night.

Boulder, Colo.'s melodic Dressy Bessy paved the way for a set of modern-acid-folk, Brooklyn style, from the seven-piece Essex Green, at sister club Emo's Jr. The Olivia-Tremor-Control-meets-Grateful-Dead coed band charmed the crowd while New York drone band the Gunga Din played a set of druggy rock in the main Emo's room next door. Athens, Ga., four piece Macha closed the night with a long-delayed set of propulsive, polyrhythmic rock.

Aquarius Records Vice President Nanci Malek and Serial Joe manager Debbie Dennis — first-time attendees from Canada — walked west along Sixth Street, in search of Texas blues, and found their way to La Zona Rosa for Ian Moore's midnight show.

"This is absolutely amazing," Dennis said.

Earlier, in the afternoon, Crazy Town guitarist Rust Epique summed up why his seven-man hip-hop/punk collective was in town. "We just want to show the reps who have worked our record (The Gift of Game) that they've worked on something that's worthy," he said.

(Senior Writer Gil Kaufman contributed to this report.)