Seeking Comfort, and Innovation, at South by Southwest March 18, 2012, 5:34 pm AUSTIN, Tex. - Maybe it's just because it conforms to some Northerner's stereotype I have about Texas, but at South by Southwest almost anything Americana-flavored - country, folk, alt-country, cowpunk - sounds great to me. You encounter it even before you show your badge to anyone, in the Waylon Jennings on the van radio from the airport or the twangy din from the musicians who set up along Sixth Street, the chaotic festival thoroughfare here. And during the festival itself, it can be a comfort from some of the fly-by-night indie trends as well as a source of innovation. On Saturday, the last day of SXSW, I caught some great hip-hop (the Roots) and at least a couple of variations on "90s indie guitar rock: super loud (Sugar, the Men) and spooky-dreamy (Blouse, Dive). But the strongest impression was made by the folkier stuff. The Milk Carton Kids are the duo of Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan, who play a sweetly dazzling variation on close-harmony vocals, part Simon and Garfunkel and part Everly Brothers, with occasional acoustic prestidigitation. The Lumineers, as Jon Pareles noted, bring their earnest group chants and woeful melodies out into the crowd; I was also impressed at how the band was able to make this sepia-toned music in a church without seeming too overshadowed by the example of Arcade Fire. After that taste of the sacred I went for the intoxicatingly profane: the Waco Brothers with Paul Burch at the showcase for Bloodshot Records, a Chicago label that finds the common ground between the dirtiest country and the rawest rock. They nailed it with Bo Diddley beats and some shouted vocals that could have come from the mouth of Joe Strummer. Jon Langford, the Waco Brothers" leader, embodies the musical connection here: he's one of the founders of the Mekons, one of the primary British punk bands of the 1970s, who for years now has been indulging his love for country. He's also wickedly entertaining between songs. "We're going to do a song called "Cannonball," " he said. We've only payed it once before, and it was terrible. But of course it rocked.