Bill Baird has spent decades operating just outside the boundaries of whatever the music industry thought it was doing — drawing inspiration from fellow true believers and beautiful misfits like Arthur Russell, Daniel Johnston, Roky Erickson, and Doug Sahm, while quietly assembling one of the most idiosyncratic bodies of work in American independent music.

His first major act, Sound Team, signed to Capitol Records and Parlophone and became the subject of Echotone, a documentary film that captured both the promise and the chaos of that era. His next project, {{{Sunset}}}, logged endless miles on the road alongside beloved California outfit The Range of Light Wilderness. Along the way, Baird crashed on Flea's couch, co-wrote songs with Pete Brown — the man who handed Cream "Sunshine of Your Love" — and somehow found time to teach songwriting at the legendary Esalen Institute on the Big Sur coast.

He dropped out of college young, lived out his Kerouac fantasy on the open road, and eventually circled back to academia, earning an MFA from Mills College — where the celebrated jazz composer Roscoe Mitchell once told him "You are a testament to the failure of the American educational system."

The records kept coming. Baird has released music on Dangerbird, Aural Canyon, Curly, Moon Glyph, in addition to a steady stream of self-released albums .He's been playlisted on BBC 6 Music, performed across their airwaves, earned Rough Trade's Record of the Month, and recorded at Abbey Road Studios twice. He's produced albums for Generationals and Garrett T. Capps, and traveled through India for six weeks shooting The Origin of Sound, a film made for Air India. The city of Austin once gave him his own day at City Hall — Bill Baird Day.

Critics who've caught up with him haven't been subtle. "In the sphere of psychedelic music, Bill Baird is without a doubt one of the top 2 or 3 songwriters in the world," wrote le Village Pop. Tiny Mix Tapes called him "one of the last of the living rock n roll geniuses." The Bay Bridged kept it simple: "Bill Baird is a genius."

He is currently back home in San Antonio, where he is working on a book about the 1968 World's Fair for Texas A&M University Press. His newest album Life Creates Itself is set to be released on September 25th 2026 by Royal Oakie Records.

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Mia Wilson is the debut album from Southern California singer-songwriter Mia Wilson. Produced by Tim Ramsey (Vetiver, Little Wings, Kacey Johansing), the album blends piano and guitar based compositions with lush orchestral arrangements to create a backdrop for Wilson’s introspective lyrics and captivating mezzo-soprano vocals. The album recalls the golden glow of late 60’s & early 70’s LA records like Carole King’s Tapestry, Judee Sill’s Heart Food, and Jackson Browne’s Late For the Sky.

Wilson and her partner Skyler Lusteg began writing the songs that would make up the album in 2021, just before meeting Ramsey and drummer Trevor Beld Jimenez (Fruit Bats, Tall Tales and the Silver Living, GospelbeacH) while opening for the their band Parting Lines on California’s Central Coast. Ramsey and Beld Jimenez encouraged Wilson and Lusteg to record a full length album, offering to breathe new life into their songs in the studio.

The majority of the album was recorded live over the course of three days in 2024 at 64 Sound in Los Angeles with Tyler Karmen (Sharon Van Etten, Alvvays, Richard Edwards) as engineer. The rest of the album was tracked in Ramsey’s home studio Endless Sound, with the exception of a studio session at Altamira Sound in Alhambra, CA with engineer Carly Bond (Meernaa). David Glasebrook (Patti Smith, Michael Nau, Sam Burton) later mastered the album at his studio The Garden Shed in Oakland, CA.

Lead single “It Must Be So Easy” explores existential themes of yearning & desire against a backdrop of piano, strings, and backing vocals by Alina Hardin, recalling early Harry Nillson. “I Want It All” came to Wilson and Lusteg all at once, both a paen to youthful joie de vivre and a bittersweet realization that there’s only so much time, featuring gorgeous strings courtesy of Kaitlin Wolfberg; while “Face To Face” features a Bass VI solo courtesy of Ramsey, a multi-instrumentalist with many contributions to the album, recalling Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman”.

Royal Oakie Records is excited to release Mia Wilson on November 14th 2025. Available worldwide on vinyl, CD, and digital platforms.
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A songwriter, singer, and guitarist residing in Northern California, Donald Beaman has released five albums since 2015. He performs both solo and with a backing band, and has shared the stage with Jonathan Richman, Sharon Van Etten, Michael Hurley, Mdou Moctar, Marisa Anderson, William Tyler, Xylouris White, Shannon Lay, Mary Lattimore, Six Organs of Admittance, Little Wings, and more.

Prior to his return to the west coast, as a member of The Double, he was at the epicenter of the New York City music scene of the early to mid 2000s. The Double released three albums – including Loose in the Air, on Matador Records; recorded a John Peel Session for the BBC at Maida Vale Studios; and toured extensively throughout the United States and in Europe, sharing the stage with: Feist, The Black Keys, Interpol, M83, Ratatat, The Mountain Goats, The Go-Betweens, Cass McCombs, TV On The Radio, Blonde Redhead, and many others.

Beaman’s fifth album Fog On Mirror Glass was released on Royal Oakie Records on June 14th 2024. Unfurling with a measured pace, the album combines elegiac lyrics with minimalist arrangements played with an jazz-like reverential expressiveness that MOJO called “the dictionary of less is more”, evoking the work of Cass McCombs, Will Oldham, and Jake Xerxes Fussell.

Bill Baird / Mia Wilson / Donald Beaman

Bill Baird / Mia Wilson / Donald Beaman