Clik here to view.
Review: Billie Joe & Norah – Foreverly
That such a description could equally fit the Everly Brothers’ Songs Our Daddy Taught Us — a 1958 collection of traditional material steeped in mortality — and this unlikely remake by Green Day’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: Spoon – They Want My Soul
It’s been a long wait since 2010’s Transference, but the little band from Austin is still in business. As always, there are some new wrinkles: indie producer Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Weezer,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: Jimmie Vaughan – Plays More Blues, Ballads & Favorites
“I want to bring it together; it comes from the same place.” Vaughan covers several styles here, from R&B (Ray Charles’ “Greenbacks”) to country (Hank Williams’ “I Hang My Head and Cry”),...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: Grupo Fantasma – Problemas
But before the storm hit, the group wrote a new batch of ambitious songs, brought in Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin to produce, and recorded this album, which they named for the confluence of problems...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: Eve & the Exiles – You Know She Did
A key member of the raging all-women outfit the BlueBonnets, Monsees steps front and center with her own band and drops rockers that range from punk to twangabilly to surf to slide-guitar blues. But...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dual Book Review: Ray Benson and David Menconi & Ray Wylie Hubbard, with Thom...
RAY BENSON and Ray Wylie Hubbard have more in common than their names. Both came from out of state, found open arms in Austin and set about making music that to most ears sounds quintessentially Texan....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: War Party – To Love and Fear It
Fort Worth’s War Party thankfully acknowledges this on its potent sophomore effort, To Love and Fear It. Instead of mimicking the chaos of the old-school hardcore of Black Flag or Minor Threat, War...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: Purple – Bodacious
But even a cursory listen to Purple will have you wondering why they haven’t blown up even bigger. The outfit’s 2015 debut, (409), provided a brash and unexpected introduction to this punked-up pop...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Book Review: Kent Finlay, Dreamer
GEORGE STRAIT WAS PREPARING to return to school at Southwest Texas State University when he won an audition with a fledgling San Marcos group called the Ace in the Hole Band. On Oct. 13, 1975, they...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: Guilla – Rap, Trap & Drums – Vol. II
Children of the Sun, the album released last spring by Houston rapper/producer Guilla, was a highly ambitious work inspired by sci-fi films and other influences outside of hip-hop. That record very...
View ArticleNoteworthy Albums: 2011’s ‘KMAG YOYO’ by Hayes Carll
As suggested by its title, KMAG YOYO, an acronym soldiers use that stands for “Kiss my ass, guys, you’re on your own,” Hayes Carll doesn’t concern himself with politeness or discretion. Instead, the...
View ArticleNoteworthy Albums: 2000’s ‘Relationship of Command’ by At the Drive In
When Relationship of Command hit CD racks in 2000, most rock fans around the world had little idea At the Drive In was a band from El Paso. As far as most were concerned, they might as well have been...
View ArticleNoteworthy Albums: 2001’s ‘The Earth Rolls On’ by Shaver
Shaver’s sixth album, The Earth Rolls On, was already finished when guitarist Eddy Shaver, the younger half of the duo, died from a heroin overdose on New Year’s Eve. It was already a great album...
View ArticleNoteworthy Albums: 2005’s ‘Who is Mike Jones?’ by Mike Jones
The Houston rap underground was heating up at the turn of the century, fueled by local mixtapes blasted out of car trunks, strip-club DJ booths and desktop computer speakers. And 2005 was the year it...
View ArticleNoteworthy Albums: 2005’s ‘The Great Battle’ by Jon Dee Graham
He looked like a traveling evangelist in his battered fedora and dark suits, except perhaps for the ever-present cigarette, his gravelly growl of a voice recalling the late Warren Zevon filtered...
View ArticleNoteworthy Albums: 2005’s ‘Paradise Hotel’ by Eliza Gilkyson
Eliza Gilkyson’s signature as an artist has always been her courage. She lays it all bare, in song and on stage. She’ll cry out boldly against war, then come back with the most delicate song about...
View ArticleNoteworthy Albums: 2005’s ‘Black Sheep Boy’ by Okkervil River
Since forming in the late ’90s, indie-folk-rock outfit Okkervil River has put together an impressive discography and developed a loyal fan base that happens to include former President Barack Obama,...
View ArticleNoteworthy Albums: 2016’s ‘I’m Not the Devil’ by Cody Jinks
With his smooth baritone and lonesome, dark-hued country songs, Cody Jinks is proving that country music rooted in authenticity can find its way to the masses. This didn’t happen overnight for Jinks,...
View ArticleNoteworthy Albums: 2017’s ‘The Lonely, the Lonesome & the Gone’ by Lee Ann...
After a long sojourn, Lee Ann Womack got her mojo back on 2014’s The Way I’m Living, and in 2017 she returned to her native East Texas to make The Lonely, the Lonesome & the Gone, as good an album...
View ArticleNoteworthy Albums: 2000’s ‘Broke Down’ by Slaid Cleaves
The Spring 2000 Texas Music — our second issue — included one of those moments we look back on and wonder. Our reviewer took Slaid Cleaves’ Broke Down to task. “The songs, with few exceptions,” he...
View Article
