Two Austin Musicians Killed In North Carolina Crash, Highway Patrol Office Confirms

AUSTIN, TX -- A North Carolina highway crash this week claimed the lives of two Austin musicians, according to the state's highway patrol office.

Chris Porter and Mitchell Vandenburg died in the crash that occurred Wednesday afternoon, while drummer Adam Nurre, 36, was injured but the extent of his injuries is unknown. The news was reported by various media outlets, including locally on Austin360, the music blog of the Austin American-Statesman newspaper.

The accident occurred on Interstate 95 near Smithfield, N.C., located southeast of Raleigh, N.C. A trooper told media outlets that the traveling vehicle in which the band was traveling was struck from behind by a tractor-trailer before being pushed underneath another truck in front of them.

According to the ABC 11 news station, the crash occurred at around 2:25 p.m. when several vehicles collied near MM 88. Investigators said a 2010 Kenworth tractor trailer was traveling north when it failed to reduce velocity and struck the musicians' vehicle that was stopped.

Around 2:25 p.m., several vehicles collided near MM 88.Investigators said a 2010 Kenworth tractor trailer was traveling north when it failed to reduce speed and struck the rear of a recreational vehicle which was stopped.

The musicians comprising the band Porter & the Bluebonnet Rattlesnakes had just played in a Charleston, S.C. gig the day before the traffic accident, and were heading for a show in Baltimore the next day, according to the music blog.

Porter, 34, moved to Austin from Alabama in 2012 after playing in the Birmingham bands Some Dark Holler and Back Row Baptists, according to the report. Since his relocation, he released a pair of albums recorded at Ramble Creek studios located in southwest Austin, the blog reported. In those recordings, Porter worked with such noted musicians as Centro-Matic lead Will Johnson, former Drive-By Truckers bass player Shonna Tucker and Americana duo the Mastersons, according to the blog.

"I called him Youngblood," Austin musician Jon Dee Graham told the blog. "I'm heartbroken."

For his part, Vandenburg, 30, had lately been playing in Carson McHone's band, along with Nurre, the blog noted. He also had played with Starlings TN, described as an indie-Americana group that started in Tennessee before relocating to Austin. While the band split up last year, its former members paid tribute to Vandenburg on Facebook.

A fellow musician described Vandenburg as the kind of artist who raised he bar when playing with others.

"As a band, we grew and expanded our horizons exponentially because of Mitch," he told Austin360. "He made us all better. I expect that is the case with everyone he came in contact with."

>>> Read the full story at Austin360

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