DENTON

The Next McMurtry
Curtis McMurtry, an Austin singer-songwriter, will play at a CD release party for his debut album, Respectable Enemy, in the same town that his grandfather, the Lonesome Dove author Larry McMurtry, attended college in the late fifties. “He’s the reason I write every day, because he does,” Curtis McMurtry said of his grandfather. “When I stayed at his house growing up, I woke up to the sound of his typewriter.” McMurtry also has a well-known father: James McMurtry, the politically charged singer-songwriter. Though their styles are different—Curtis is baroque folk, with horns and strings, and James is gritty roadhouse rock filtered through a power trio—the son was inspired by the father in other ways. “My father’s songs taught me to enunciate when I sing, and to fit the lyrics to a strict meter to help get the meaning across,” McMurtry said. “I like my songs to hold up on the page independent of the melody, and that’s probably because my dad’s songs always do.” Love is a recurring theme on the album, with songs about characters who chase away their loved ones. “These people have all done something wrong and have chosen to blame someone else for it,” he explained. “They’re villains who think they’re the victims.”
Dan’s Silverleaf, Aug. 27, 7:30 p.m., curtismcmurtrymusic.com

HOUSTON

Dalí in 3-D
Whether seeing a painting in a museum or a poster in a college dorm room, most admirers of Salvador Dalí have experienced the Spanish surrealist in a two-dimensional format. But consider how much crazier those melting clocks might look in 3-D. In “Dalí: The Sculpture Collection,” more than two dozen large-scale works of art from the Dalí Universe Sculpture Collection are on display, including variations on the clock and depictions of both Venus de Milo and Adam and Eve. They were amassed by Beniamino Levi, a modern art collector and curator who commissioned Dalí to create bronzes based on the artist’s most famous images. The exhibit’s Houston stop is the only Texas destination on its North American tour and will include an array of works by the Spanish artists Picasso, Miró, and Goya as well. On Saturday and Sunday, Frank Hunter, the director of the Salvador Dalí Archives since 2003, will expound on Dalí’s many classics during special presentations.
Off the Wall Gallery, Aug. 22-Sept. 1, offthewallgallery.com

FORT WORTH

Manga Meal
The final week of a monthlong series on the films of Hayao Miyazaki, the Japanese manga master, will be a feast for the eyes and the stomach. On Saturday the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, in partnership with the Lone Star Film Society, will screen the most famous Miyazaki movie, Princess Mononoke, a fantastically revolutionary work of animation that Miramax distributed in the United States in 1999. On Thursday Alan Huang, the sous chef of the museum’s Cafe Modern—and former apprentice of Dean Fearing, known as the “Father of Southwestern Cuisine”—will present a six-course Kaiseki dinner and sake pairing. Contemporary radicalism and traditional conservatism come together in a celebration of Japanese culture.
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Aug. 23 and 28, 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., themodern.org

AUSTIN

Big-Kid Puppetry
This weekend’s fourth annual Austin Puppet Incident, a selection of short performances by local and national puppeteers who demonstrate how the medium is not all child’s play, will feature adult-oriented material, including an account of the “Worst Day Ever,” fairy tales gone wrong, and the artful genre of shadow puppetry. The production is a collaboration of the puppetry groups Glass Half Full Theater and Trouble Puppet Theater Company, both recipients of funding from the Jim Henson Foundation and winners of B. Iden Payne Awards, which acknowledge the best in Austin theater.
Salvage Vanguard Theater, Aug. 22-23, 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., austinpuppetincident.com

DALLAS

Fine Equines
The Andalusian, Friesian, Lipizzaner, and Arabian stallions in the Gala of the Royal Horses, an equine performance with flamenco dancers, have been so well trained by Rene Gasser, a seventh-generation horseman, that they are able to execute incredibly difficult dressage maneuvers like the capriole, in which the horse stands on its hind legs, leaps, and kicks out dramatically with all fours.
American Airlines Center, Aug. 23, 7:30 p.m., galaoftheroyalhorses.com

SAN ANTONIO

By and for George
Shooter Jennings, son to Waylon, grew up around a who’s who of country singers, but none was more influential to his development as a musician than George Jones. On Sunday, Jennings will play his final Texas show in support of his EP, Don’t Wait Up (for George), a tribute to the Saratoga native with originals and covers, including “She Thinks I Still Care.”
Sam’s Burger Joint, Aug. 24, 8:30 p.m., shooterjennings.com