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.
Storytelling and reviews about the artists and trends that define the sounds of the Lone Star State
This year, we jammed to new music by Kacey Musgraves, Leon Bridges, Megan Thee Stallion, St. Vincent, and others.
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.
In Peter Jackson’s documentary ‘The Beatles: Get Back,’ Houston-born pianist Billy Preston makes a strong case for himself as the fifth Beatle.
The Austin musician has made an excellent traditional blues album—but to get there, he studied punk, West African music, and Ukrainian folk.
The rapper and freshly minted Texas Southern University graduate lassoed up trophies and brand deals and gave plenty of Houston shout-outs.
An El Paso woman is looking for the finest example of Lone Star holiday musical jollity. But can there only be one?
‘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!
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.
University of Texas at San Antonio professor Marco Cervantes mixes history, activism, and hip-hop on his latest album.
Austin's Kathy Valentine takes us behind the scenes at the star-studded ceremony, which debuts on HBO this month.
The Nelson clan’s new gospel album meets the grief and trauma of the pandemic with spirit and hope.
Asleep at the Wheel (belatedly) celebrates fifty years of championing a genre once considered all but dead.
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.
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.
International crowd-safety experts say better planning could have prevented the eight deaths and dozens of injuries at last week’s Travis Scott concert.
A bar decreed “All I Want for Christmas Is You” non grata, and the queen of Christmas isn’t happy about it.
With its tenth album, ‘Lucifer on the Sofa,’ the city’s signature indie-rock band has made its most Austin record yet.
The outlaw-country star joins an unlikely cultural movement in the Rose Capital of Texas.
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.
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.
Despite the specter of COVID, Texans and out-of-staters flocked to Zilker Park for a sweaty weekend of debauchery.
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.
Pinks and purples dominated the stages at ACL Fest, whether Charley Crockett's dashing lavender suit or Marc Rebillet's fluttering pink-trimmed bathrobe.
These Gen Z guys just want everyone to chill, and enjoy their homage to the funky music from their parents’ record collections.
Photographer David Johnson pays joyful homage to the 49-year-old festival, where revelers gather for late-night jam sessions around the campfire.
Two-step with Strait, twerk with Megan, and don’t miss these six other acts during the first two weekends in October.
The multifaceted musician, former city-council candidate, and documentary star returns with an album of pristine guitar and gentle self-reflection.
The Texan singer-songwriter-guitarist’s second album of 2021 proves he still has something to say.
Dallas’s mercurial pop phenom writes and stars in this loosely autobiographical satire that raises questions it doesn’t deign to answer.
The oldest studio in Texas has recorded everyone from Lightnin’ Hopkins and George Jones to Beyoncé and Travis Scott—and it’s still making hits.
Six years after the Denton duo recorded its first and only release, the album is finally out—and worth the wait.
Does simply putting the Grand Prairie star’s name on some ice cream inherently raise its value? An investigation.
Plus: The simple pleasure of H-E-B’s tres leches cake and emerging Houston-raised artist Zach Person’s debut album.
Twenty-five years ago, fans accused the band of selling out. The group’s reply still stands: “Yeah, but who cares?”
The Texan dream-pop group talks going viral on TikTok and expanding the landscape of Latin music.
In ‘Star-crossed,’ Musgraves again defies labels, creating an epic requiem for lost love that spans disco, pop, and country.
The Fort Worth–based singer-songwriter’s attraction to a life she chose to reject fuels the artistry of her debut album ‘Bad Romantic.’
Composer Justin Sherburn drew on his own experience to write ‘Texas Workforce Commission Hold Music,’ which the agency officially adopted this week.
On ‘To the Passage of Time,’ the Fort Worth country singer, 46, meditates on the freedom that comes with age.
With his new album ‘The Horses and the Hounds,’ the Fort Worth-bred troubadour's age has caught up to his sound.
The East Coast may have invented rap, but today the Lone Star State rules the hip-hop world. Here’s a song-by-song history of how that happened.
Fans of the Seguin-born singer-songwriter, who died on Friday, are as uncategorizable as the artist they adored.
How Dallas-raised Basinski’s life of trauma and creation prepared him to compose ‘The Disintegration Loops’ and console a grieving nation.
Though uneven and at times lacking in self-awareness, Abraham Quintanilla’s book sheds light on the extreme approach he took to protect his daughter’s legacy.
The 26-year-old, who performs as Skirts, makes lo-fi pop that's perfect for a lazy Sunday.
This is how the Texas band ends.
Plus: guitarist Cameron Knowler’s new album, Connie Britton in ‘The White Lotus,’ and a good ol’ country drive.
Pioneering Houston rappers Willie D and Scarface reunite for a show that’s all about their community, not about them.
After seven decades behind the mic, the Conroe deejay still spins the sort of country records they just don’t make anymore—for a town that barely resembles the one she grew up in.
“ ... I’m not handsome enough to be here, I’m not a good enough songwriter. Just feeling like I didn’t deserve to be in the position that was handed to me.”