Notes on Life, Death, and Family From a Hill Country Deer Blind
"We both watch the blood and steam spill out into the winter air. At this point, it is not unusual for at least one of us to cry."
Meet Irvin Randle, the Sixty-Year-Old Instagram Star Your Grandma Has the Hots For
To his 650,000 Instagram followers, he’s a pioneering “grandfluencer.” But to his adoring second-grade students, he’s simply Mr. Randle.
Welcome to Alphaland, the Disney World for Bodybuilders
Meatheads from around the country fly in to the 30,000-square-foot gym in the Houston suburbs where you’re no one if you’re not flexing, vlogging, or networking.
The (Fake) Beto Diaries, Vol. 1: Piggly Wiggly in Muldrow, Oklahoma
Our hero reflects on hot dogs, ‘The Odyssey,’ and a killer Replacements track.
181 Articles
Music
March 29, 2024
Willie! And Five More Texan Moments in Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’
From the nods to outlaw country tradition to the rapturous ode to denim-covered butts, this is the H-Town hero’s most Texan album yet.
Film & TV
March 25, 2024
Texan, Forever
What makes someone a Texan?
Music
March 14, 2024
The New Billy Preston Documentary Will Take You to Church—When It Sticks to Music
The film on the Houston piano prodigy and so-called “fifth Beatle” honors Preston’s career but strays when it depicts his personal life.
Travel & Outdoors
March 12, 2024
From Here You Can Take In the Splendor of West Texas
A rustic bench in Davis Mountains State Park beckons hikers to sit for a spell.
Best Thing in Texas
March 7, 2024
A Rare “Lost Bird” Was Feared Extinct. Texas Scientists Just Found It in the Congo.
The yellow-crested helmetshrike hadn’t been seen in decades—and it wasn't the only little-known species spotted by a UT–El Paso team.
Critters
February 15, 2024
Nutria Deserve Their Reputation as Giant, Nasty Swamp Rats
Found in waterways across Texas, the invasive rodents destroy an estimated $1 million worth of U.S. crops per year.
Music
February 12, 2024
Our Hopes, Dreams, and Predictions for Beyoncé’s Most Texan Release Yet
With two new singles, Bey is planting a flag squarely in country music—and we have a feeling she’s about to school us on the genre.
Travel & Outdoors
January 17, 2024
Chip and Joanna’s New Hotel Is Just One Reason to Visit Waco
The latest Gaines project, Hotel 1928, beckons Magnolia fans with its on-brand decor, thoughtful touches, and excellent location.
Film & TV
January 11, 2024
Why Are So Many ‘Love Is Blind’ Contestants Suing the Show?
Multiple veterans of the Netflix dating show, including two from its Houston season, have filed lawsuits claiming negligence, sexual harassment, and illegal nondisclosure provisions.
Best Thing in Texas
December 5, 2023
A Texas Elementary School Might Have a Grammy in the Trophy Case Soon
Vicki Nichols, a music teacher at Grandview Elementary, has been nominated for the award for her innovative strings program.
Politics & Policy
November 14, 2023
The Massacre That Turned Texas Into the Most Gun-Friendly State in America
A 1991 mass shooting in Killeen inspired legislation that has made Texas America’s most gun-friendly state.
Film & TV
November 10, 2023
The Time Has Come for a ‘Real Housewives of Austin’
Andy Cohen, please heed this modest proposal.
Style & Design
October 26, 2023
Still Magnolia
The empire of Chip and Joanna Gaines has lasted twenty years. Where will we be in twenty more?
Music
September 11, 2023
Tanya Tucker, Outlaw
Decades after the Nashville establishment turned its back on Tanya Tucker, the spitfire from Seminole is finally getting the recognition she deserves. But maybe Music Row needs her more than she needs Music Row.
Style & Design
August 31, 2023
A New Texas Start-up Wants to Save Us From Mansplaining Contractors
Matriarchy Build connects home-improvement-seeking customers with a database of vetted tradespeople, all of them female or nonbinary.
Sports
August 9, 2023
Dispatch From Hell: Jake Paul Versus Nate Diaz Lands in Dallas
A night at the YouTube-influencer circus fights.
Music
July 6, 2023
Ryan Bingham Goes Nineties Dad Rock in a New Cover of “Possum Kingdom”
On the latest single from ‘Texas Wild,’ a forthcoming tribute album stacked with state classics, you can hear the joy in Bingham’s weathered voice.
Business
July 6, 2023
You May All Go to Hell, and I Will Go to the TexasLand Theme Park
“You don’t even need Disney or Universal. Texas itself is its own brand,” says Lizzy McGee, who is working to bring a Lone Star–centric amusement park to Houston.
Critters
June 14, 2023
All Hail Hardhead Catfish Dads, Which Protect Eggs by Carrying Them in Their Mouths
Anglers love to hate this slimy Texas fish, but its parental skills are unmatched.
Film & TV
May 19, 2023
Maren Morris, Hero, Turned Tom Schwartz’s Sob Story Into a Country Song
The award-winning hitmaker is just as obsessed with ‘Vanderpump Rules’ as we are.
Critters
May 9, 2023
Definitely Don’t Touch the “Blue Sea Dragons” Washing Up on Texas Beaches
This bizarre species has a more potent sting than a Portuguese man-of-war.
Style & Design
May 8, 2023
The Coronation of King Charles III Drew a Huge Crowd . . . to Houston
The British Consulate feted the crowning of a new king. H-town’s finest strapped on their fascinators to attend.
Arts & Entertainment
April 25, 2023
Matthew McConaughey Is Monetizing His Whole Vibe
In his Art of Livin’ live stream event, the Oscar-winning actor turns full lifestyle guru, with the help of Tony Robbins.
Travel & Outdoors
April 17, 2023
Want to Buy a West Texas Ghost Town? Now’s Your Chance.
The windswept outpost of Lobo is for sale.
Critters
April 3, 2023
All the Ways Ben the Bear Is Plotting to Bust Out of the Brownsville Zoo
A serial escape artist, he’s coming to Texas after the Saint Louis Zoo couldn’t handle his wily ways.
Style & Design
April 3, 2023
It’s Magnolia Pearl: The Internet Can’t Believe This Consumption-Chic Brand Is Real
The company, which offers pieces one might call “Victorian ghost meets Burning Man boho,” is going viral for its high ruffle count and even higher prices.
Critters
March 28, 2023
UT Scientists Discovered a Beaver Fossil and Named It After Buc-ee’s
Collected in 1941, A. buceei languished in a drawer for decades.
Business
March 23, 2023
An Elegy for Ten Late Great Texas Brands
Blockbuster, Bookstop, Furr's, and their ilk are gone but not forgotten.
Best Thing in Texas
March 22, 2023
Congratulations to Mr. Pickles, the Houston Zoo’s Elderly Tortoise, on Becoming a Dad
He and Mrs. Pickles are the proud parents of three new hatchlings.
Film & TV
March 14, 2023
Why 1980 Was the Year Texas Went Worldwide
The current Yellowstone-fueled “Westerncore” aesthetic is little more than a cultural blip compared to what Dallas and Urban Cowboy unleashed in 1980.
Film & TV
March 6, 2023
How Christy Carlson Romano Lost Her Disney Money and Founded an Empire
Ren Stevens and Kim Possible led the early aughts star to the role she was always meant to play—content strategist—in the place she was always meant to live.
Style & Design
January 24, 2023
How a Texas Baby-Clothing Company Took Target Down (a Peg)
When Adrian Layne saw her best-selling print on Target items, she was flattered. Then she was furious.
Texas Icons
January 17, 2023
The Great Texification of Dairy Queen
A stubborn and savvy group of franchisees turned the Midwest-based dessert chain into a Lone Star institution beloved for its steak fingers and Hungr-Busters.
Being Texan
December 20, 2022
15 Items to Add to Your Winter Emergency Kit
May we suggest tickets to Cancun?
Style & Design
December 14, 2022
Muggles Descend on Galveston’s Harry Potter–Themed Christmas Market
Locals kitted out in wizard robes to shop for wands, chocolate frogs, and Hogwarts-themed holiday ornaments.
Film & TV
December 8, 2022
The Ballad of Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and the Boy From Huntsville
Somewhere inside every story—including the one in which the Duke and Duchess of Sussex chose to step back from the royal family, as told on Netflix’s ‘Harry & Meghan’—lies a Texan.
Critters
November 22, 2022
Please Do Not Touch the “Toxic Toupee,” a.k.a. the “Mortal Mustache,” a.k.a. Texas’s Most Venomous Caterpillar
It’s furry and cute, but it can cause intense, throbbing pain for up to twelve hours!
Sports
October 26, 2022
I Watched Two Episodes of ‘Drive to Survive’ and Then Covered Formula 1
Gridlock, brand activations, and Austrian funnel cake ruled the weekend’s U.S. Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.
Meanwhile, in Texas
October 21, 2022
Marvel at This Footage of Somebody Stealing a 12-Foot Halloween Skeleton in Broad Daylight
It’s impressive, really.
Style & Design
October 14, 2022
How Ty Hunter Went From Working at the Galleria to Styling Beyoncé
In his new memoir, the Instagram star recounts his childhood in Austin and how he found his way in the fashion world.
Music
October 10, 2022
The Chicks’ ACL Set Would Have Been More Fun Anywhere Else
The band’s first Texas performance in six years celebrated family, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and (almost) harked back to the last time I actually enjoyed this music festival.
Style & Design
October 7, 2022
How the Scare Actors at a Texas Haunted House Get Ready (and Bloody) for Work
We followed the actors of haunted house Purgatory Scream Park near Houston as they prepped for a day at work.
Film & TV
September 30, 2022
Robert De Niro Wants You to Analyze His Personal Archives at Austin’s Harry Ransom Center
The legendary actor was feted at a glamorously hammy gala celebrating the Center’s collection, which is a treasure trove of film history that every good fella should study.
Music
September 29, 2022
Besides the Flute Lizzo Played, Here Are 9 Library of Congress Artifacts You Didn’t Know Existed
The classically trained Houston pop star played a two-hundred-year-old crystal flute at a D.C. concert, causing a meltdown in some corners of the internet.
Food & Drink
September 19, 2022
Love, Loss, and Cabrito at the World Championship Barbecue Goat Cook-off
The 48th annual event in Brady rekindled both treasured and painful memories for a writer who’s been attending since infancy.
Books
September 15, 2022
A Debut Novelist Brings Secrets, Queerness, and Potato Salad to Small-town Texas
Bobby Finger, host of the popular celebrity podcast ‘Who? Weekly,’ treats his subjects gently and imbues them with wit.
Art
September 12, 2022
Texas’s Biggest, Strangest, and, Yes, Most Venomous Roadside Attractions
Fancy a selfie with state icon Tex Randall? Perhaps a date with a llama? Pull over and stretch your legs at these can’t-miss pit stops.
Style & Design
September 7, 2022
Meet Irvin Randle, the Sixty-Year-Old Instagram Star Your Grandma Has the Hots For
To his 650,000 Instagram followers, he’s a pioneering “grandfluencer.” But to his adoring second-grade students, he’s simply Mr. Randle.
Critters
August 24, 2022
Inside the Fight Between Texas’s Most Infamous Prison and Almost One Million Bats
The Huntsville penitentiary wants to tear down the abandoned warehouse where a massive bat colony spends half the year. Locals and conservationists have banded together to find an alternate solution.
Arts & Entertainment
July 25, 2022
Welcome to Alphaland, the Disney World for Bodybuilders
Meatheads from around the country fly in to the 30,000-square-foot gym in the Houston suburbs where you’re no one if you’re not flexing, vlogging, or networking.