Music Archives

Singer Grant Knoche is representing Texas on NBC's

April 4, 2022

Texans, We Can and Must Unite to Win ‘American Song Contest’

We can’t let California win, y’all. Here’s everything you need to know about how to vote for Texas in the pop song competition.

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April 4, 2022

A New Selena Album Will Mark Her 24th Posthumous Release. Whom Are These Albums For?

In an upcoming record, the singer’s voice will be digitally aged. The Quintanilla family continues to misunderstand why Selena’s fans adored her.

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Luck Reunion festival goers line up for the next performance at the chapel on March 17, 2022.

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March 23, 2022

Back in Luck: Willie Nelson’s Annual Reunion Returns

Photos from this year's Luck Reunion, which welcomed back attendees for the first time since 2019.

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March 22, 2022

SXSW 2022 Felt Like SXSW, and That’s Impressive

The festival was smaller and less overwhelming than in times past, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing—or a sign of things to come.

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Dolly Parton performs on stage at ACL Live during Blockchain Creative Labs’ Dollyverse event at SXSW on March 18, 2022.

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March 22, 2022

Welcome to the Dollyverse: Dolly Parton Makes Her First-Ever SXSW Appearance

The country legend dropped NFTs, an album, and a book before putting on a dazzling performance at the Moody Theater.

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March 22, 2022

A Ukrainian Pop Star Delivers a Defiant Message at SXSW

Kazka’s male members took up arms to repel Putin’s invasion. But the band’s singer, Oleksandra Zaritska, was still determined to appear at the festival.

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The Return of Tanya Tucker - featuring Brandi Carlile film review SXSW

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March 18, 2022

In New Documentary, Tanya Tucker Is All Legend

No country music fan will be disappointed by ‘The Return of Tanya Tucker,’ which puts the focus on artistry and that one-in-a-million voice.

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. . . And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead band members AJ Vincent, Alec Padron, Conrad Keely, Ben Redman and Jason Reece.

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March 16, 2022

How Austin Punk Band Trail of Dead Survived a “Perfect Album” and “Young Devilry”

Trail of Dead was “the band that trashes everything.” But on its eleventh album, ‘XI: Bleed Here Now,’ it’s finally grown into the classic rock group it always wanted to be.

By Sean O'Neal

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March 10, 2022

Live Music Is Back at SXSW. Don’t Miss These Texas Artists.

Four sibling punk rockers, Houston’s greatest soul band, and three more acts you need to catch at SXSW 2022.

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March 9, 2022

Texas Soul Has Gained a Thrilling New Album and Lost a Young Talent

Bastards of Soul front man Chadwick Murray died last September. His bandmates now reckon with the release of his final album.

By Chris Vognar

Nina Diaz in her home recording studio, in San Antonio, on February 21, 2022.

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March 8, 2022

Nina Diaz Almost Lost It All. Now She Wants to Guide San Antonio’s Next Rock Star.

The Alamo City legend broke up Girl in a Coma and decamped to L.A. She’s back with a new solo album, a recording studio, and some hard-earned wisdom.

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Emily Robison, Natalie Maines and Martie Maguire of The Chicks.

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February 28, 2022

The Strange Case of the Chicks’ Missing Texas Tour Dates

For the first time in four years, the Chicks are back on the road—but one big state (and a bigger part of the band's history) is notably absent from the list of stops.

By Chris Vognar

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February 25, 2022

At One of the Last Classical Music Stores, CDs Still Rock

Streaming services don’t exist inside Classical Music of Spring, one of the few remaining classical-focused shops in the country.

By Brian Reinhart

The Crockett Gardens on the Goodwater Loop Trail.

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February 18, 2022

TM Recommends: A Glorious Georgetown Hike

Plus: a Motown dance party and an existential visit to West Texas.

By Texas Monthly

Texas artists who have covered Brooks and Dunn's Neon Moon: Cigarettes after Sex, Leon Bridges, Kacey Musgraves

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February 11, 2022

How ‘Neon Moon’ Became a Texas Standard

With covers from Leon Bridges, Fat Tony, and more, the 1992 country single continues to find new life across genres.

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Mickey Guyton performs at the 2021 ACM Party for a Cause in Nashville.

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February 10, 2022

Mickey Guyton Was Ready to Quit Music. Now She’s Performing at the Super Bowl.

The Texas native talks about her debut album, finding herself, and how she’s changing the country scene just by being herself.

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February 9, 2022

Lucifer on the Sofa With Diamonds

A Spoon fanboy overthinks the new record, classic rock, cowboy hats, and Jeff Bezos.

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February 4, 2022

TM Recommends: An Austin Musician and a Drag Star Walk Into a Bar . . .

Listen to the unforeseen collaboration between Shakey Graves and Trixie Mattel.

By Texas Monthly

Characters Dolores and Mirabel Madrigal sing

Film & TV|

January 25, 2022

The Chart-Topping Songs of Disney’s ‘Encanto’ Give Latino Families a Voice

The characters might be fictional, but to the Latinos who see their own families reflected in them, it’s a relief to see them say what we wish we could.

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January 25, 2022

Eighty Years Later, We’re Still ‘Deep in the Heart of Texas’

How a simple, two-chord song written by an Iowan became (clap clap clap clap) our unofficial state anthem.

By Sean O'Neal

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January 14, 2022

The Man in the Eyeball Mask

Hardy Fox, founder of the strange and influential band the Residents, developed his bizarre sensibility while growing up in small-town East Texas.

By Andy Beta

Art|

January 4, 2022

Most Legendary Musicians Write Memoirs. Terry Allen Created an Entire Exhibition.

The singer-songwriter-artist reveals the inspirations behind his music in a multimedia museum show in Austin.

By Michael Agresta

Horses roam at the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range, near Grand Junction, Colorado.

Art|

December 31, 2021

Our Favorite Photos of 2021

From Leon Bridges’s home in Fort Worth to a vibrant coral reef near Galveston, this year took our photographers to some truly unforgettable places.

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December 29, 2021

The Best Songs From Texans in 2021

This year, we jammed to new music by Kacey Musgraves, Leon Bridges, Megan Thee Stallion, St. Vincent, and others.

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December 17, 2021

Texans Mourn the Death of “El Rey,” Vicente Fernández

Little Joe Hernández, George Strait, educators, and fans of the legendary Mexican singer speak about his impact on their lives and the legacy he’s left behind.

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December 17, 2021

The Texan Who Saved the Beatles

In Peter Jackson’s documentary ‘The Beatles: Get Back,’ Houston-born pianist Billy Preston makes a strong case for himself as the fifth Beatle.

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December 16, 2021

Buffalo Nichols Comes Home to the Blues

The Austin musician has made an excellent traditional blues album—but to get there, he studied punk, West African music, and Ukrainian folk.

By Bryan C. Parker

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December 14, 2021

The Best Things in Texas 2022: Megan Thee Stallion

The rapper and freshly minted Texas Southern University graduate lassoed up trophies and brand deals and gave plenty of Houston shout-outs.

By Texas Monthly

The Texanist|

December 6, 2021

The Texanist: What’s the Best Texas Christmas Song?

An El Paso woman is looking for the finest example of Lone Star holiday musical jollity. But can there only be one?

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December 3, 2021

Jason Boland & the Stragglers’ New Album Is a Galactic, Time-Traveling Journey

‘The Light Saw Me’ is maybe the weirdest, most unexpected post-pandemic album to come out of the Red Dirt country scene. Just in time for Omicron!

By Preston Jones

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November 26, 2021

A New Dawn for Horizon, the Groovy Granddaddy of San Antonio Funk

The near-forgotten River City boogie-funk band has reunited and a fresh anthology gives a new generation a chance to enjoy this sequin gem of a band.

By Andy Beta

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November 23, 2021

Scholar Emcee Mexstep Drops Some Lessons on ‘Vivir’

University of Texas at San Antonio professor Marco Cervantes mixes history, activism, and hip-hop on his latest album.

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kathy valentine go-go's inducted into rock and roll hall of fame

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November 20, 2021

The Go-Go’s’ Big Night at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Austin's Kathy Valentine takes us behind the scenes at the star-studded ceremony, which debuts on HBO this month.

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willie-nelson-new-album-family-lukas-bobbie

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November 19, 2021

‘The Willie Nelson Family’ Takes Us to Church

The Nelson clan’s new gospel album meets the grief and trauma of the pandemic with spirit and hope.

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November 18, 2021

How a Band of Hippies and Potheads Kept Western Swing Alive

Asleep at the Wheel (belatedly) celebrates fifty years of championing a genre once considered all but dead.

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November 10, 2021

Bushwick Bill Was One of Houston’s Most Provocative Rappers. A New Documentary Reveals the Man Behind the Outrage.

As one third of the Geto Boys, he pushed the boundaries of hip-hop. But the group’s lyrics often clashed with his own values.

By Ben Moskow

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November 9, 2021

The Last Ballad at the Dry Creek Cafe

For 68 years, hippies, rednecks, and college kids drank beer at the Austin roadhouse, which received a final sendoff from famed country group Freda and the Firedogs.

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Astroworld Festival Memorial at NRG Park in Houston

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November 8, 2021

After the Astroworld Disaster, a Reckoning for Music Festivals

International crowd-safety experts say better planning could have prevented the eight deaths and dozens of injuries at last week’s Travis Scott concert.

By Michael Hardy

Best Thing In Texas|

November 2, 2021

Mariah Carey Armors Up Against a Dallas Bar’s War on Christmas

A bar decreed “All I Want for Christmas Is You” non grata, and the queen of Christmas isn’t happy about it.

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October 28, 2021

Keep Austin Spoon

With its tenth album, ‘Lucifer on the Sofa,’ the city’s signature indie-rock band has made its most Austin record yet.

By Jason Cohen

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October 22, 2021

Can Paul Cauthen Make Tyler . . . Cool?

The outlaw-country star joins an unlikely cultural movement in the Rose Capital of Texas.

By Scott Bedgood

Sophia Bush and Michael Dorman in Hard Luck Love Song.

Film & TV|

October 12, 2021

‘Hard Luck Love Song’ Is A Tune You’ve Heard Before, But It Hits All the Right Notes

Austin-raised writer-director Justin Corsbie’s debut about a down-on-his-luck troubadour feels as warmly familiar as the Americana songs that inspired it.

By Sean O'Neal

Miley Cyrus during Weekend 2 at ACL 2021

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October 11, 2021

Tales From ACL Fest: Miley Cyrus’s Janis Joplin Cover and Charley Crockett’s Insane Whataburger Order

The first full-fledged ACL Fest since the start of the pandemic is a wrap. ‘Texas Monthly’ recalls Megan Thee Stallion’s twerk-team auditions and other highlights.

By Texas Monthly

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October 6, 2021

Mushrooms, Moms, and “Manifesting” Greatness: Three Days at a Mid-Pandemic ACL Fest

Despite the specter of COVID, Texans and out-of-staters flocked to Zilker Park for a sweaty weekend of debauchery.

By Tyler Hicks

Olivia Rodrigo performing during her set at an Austin City Limits taping.

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October 6, 2021

Olivia Rodrigo Proves She’s the Real Thing

The teenage Disney actress and singer-songwriter sensation performed her first full-length set in front of a live audience, at an ‘Austin City Limits’ TV taping.

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ACL Fest 2021 Artist Fashion Erykah Badu

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October 5, 2021

Megan Thee Stallion, Miley Cyrus Bring Back Pink at ACL Fest

Pinks and purples dominated the stages at ACL Fest, whether Charley Crockett's dashing lavender suit or Marc Rebillet's fluttering pink-trimmed bathrobe.

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