Don’t miss your ’cue: We pick the top joints in Texas for brisket, ribs, sausage, and all the sides. Plus, the godfather of barbacoa, the biggest free feast in the state, and more.

Battles over the river’s precious waters are pulling in everyone from pecan growers in Central Texas to shrimpers in Matagorda Bay, not to mention thirsty cities like San Antonio and Corpus Christi. Who will be left high and dry?

That was the recipe for this year’s South by Southwest Music and Media Conference. Here’s how it all cooked up.

Galveston native Tilman Fertitta made his share of enemies when he was building his seafood empire in the eighties. These days, though, he’s winning over his hometown, and he’s doing it by taking on the island’s most influential family.

After more than two decades in the movie business—including star turns in Apollo 13, Twister, and now his own Traveller—Fort Worth’s Bill Paxton is finally getting what’s coming to him.

Now that both its building and its mission have been renovated, Houston’s Contemporary Arts Museum is ready to win back the public and reestablish its eminence.

Indian Creek native Katherine Anne Porter is the finest author ever to come out of Texas. But only recently has her home state stopped writing her off.

Why Texas needs an income tax.

Whether or not Erykah Badu is the Billie Holiday of hip-hop, her uplifting songs and soulful singing are winning fans from coast to coast.

As the Navy’s top civilian leader, Texan John Dalton has navigated one scandal after another. He might also be charting a course back home—and to elected office.

If you’re a celebrity who wants to pen a book, who you gonna call? Ghostwriters.

After its recent facelift, the state cemetery has Texas luminaries just dying to get in.

Charting the state’s museum-building boom.

A Wylie computer programmer flies high.

A South Texan adds a chapter to the Apollo 13 story.

Who gave Debbie Reynolds her name, and what did she have to learn to do before starring in Singin’ in the Rain?

Wild for wildflowers. Plus: Brushing up on bluebonnet art.

From Austin’s Eastside Cafe come three soups that will bowl you over.