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Storytelling and reviews about the artists and trends that define the sounds of the Lone Star State
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1551-1600 of 1827 Articles
Music|
March 1, 1999

Rockonomics 101

Purely in terms of record sales, the Austin band Fastball hit a home run in 1998. But does that mean its members are going to get rich? Not necessarily.

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Music|
March 1, 1999

CD and Book Reviews

Hot CDsJon Dee Graham is a journeyman whose frontman role has eclipsed his hired guitarslinger reputation. The Quemado native’s second solo CD, Summerland (New West), features his gritty, growling rasp and his incisive, somewhat pensive musings, which approach a kind of brilliance on “At the Dance,” a moody slice of

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Music|
February 1, 1999

Music to Our Ears

Texans (natives or onetime residents) have quite an impressive record when it comes to the Grammy awards. Most years we’ve practically dominated—big surprise—the country music category, but we chalked up our share of wins in other classes too. Here’s the score:• Total number of Grammys awarded to Texans from 1958

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Music|
February 1, 1999

CD and Book Reviews

Hot CDs Steve Earle Steve Earle’s The Mountain (E-Squared) is a set of bluegrass originals that joins the San Antonio-bred bad boy with pickin’-and-a-grinnin’ veterans the Del McCoury Band. Earle’s liner notes pay tribute to Bill Monroe and express the hope that at least one of his

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Music|
February 1, 1999

A Tribute to Me

Why did Willie, Lyle, and other big names pay homage to me by recording my songs? Because I asked them to. You got a problem with that?

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Music|
January 1, 1999

CD and Book Reviews

LEON RAUSCH If Cindy Walker had never produced another song besides “You Don’t Know Me,” her stature would be assured among country and pop writers. But the Mexia woman has written about four hundred others, including “Bubbles in My Beer” (Bob Wills) and “Two Glasses, Joe”

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Music|
January 1, 1999

Michael Martin Murphey

When I was seventeen, I didn’t have a band; I pretty much performed either by myself or with a bass player. I often played at a coffeehouse I started called the Windjammer. It was down on McKinney Avenue in Dallas, which was a really rough neighborhood at the time. One

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Dorough cut his major-label deal at 73.
Music|
December 1, 1998

My Hero, Dorough

He jammed with Miles Davis, enlivened Saturday morning children’s TV, and signed his first major-label record deal at 73. Meet jazz giant Bob Dorough.

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Music|
December 1, 1998

CD and Book Reviews

Hot CDsComing Home, the debut release from Paula Nelson (Luck Records), one of Willie’s daughters, proves that the 29-year-old shares at least one thing with her father: the ability to say so much with so few words. This contemporary singer-songwriter’s CD, which deftly weaves a “chamber pop” ensemble around torchy,

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Music|
December 1, 1998

Johnny on the Spot

Country singer Johnny Rodriguez has had a career full of highs and lows, but with a murder trial looming, his lowest day may be yet to come.

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Music|
November 1, 1998

Folk Hero

He’s one of the most influential men in American music. So why haven’t you heard of Alan Lomax?

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Music|
September 30, 1998

Lee Ann Climbs

Is country-chart-topping Jacksonville native Lee Ann Womack the real thing? Buck Owens and Loretta Lynn are among those who think so.

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Music|
September 30, 1998

CD and Book Reviews

Hot CDs“You’ve got to market this music like you were a dope dealer.” So goes a line in “Village Idiot Savant,” the opening track of The Right to Remain Silent (Heiress Aesthetic) by Cottonmouth, Texas, the nom de guerre of Jeff Liles, who was rapping when Vanilla Ice was still

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Music|
August 31, 1998

CD and Book Reviews

Hot CDsI was already familiar with James Brown’s Say It Live and Loud (Polygram), which was recorded live at Memorial Auditorium in Dallas on August 26, 1968. I was there, a couple of rows back from the front, and hearing it all over again is one sweet pleasure: the tight,

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Music|
July 31, 1998

CD and Book Reviews

Hot CDsYou could plunk Doug Sahm and Augie Meyers down on a stage anywhere in the world, with any sidemen, and they could deliver the irresistible dit-dit-dit they’ve plied for more than thirty years without missing a beat. On The Sir Douglas Quintet/Live Texas Tornado (Takoma), a reissue of a

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Music|
June 30, 1998

Soul Survivor

His mentor, Sam Cooke, is long dead, but Dallas’ Johnnie Taylor is alive and well and still living at the top of the charts.

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Guides|
June 30, 1998

CD and Book Reviews

Hot CDsInevitable baggage accompanies an album whose sessions splintered a great band, ousted three producers, and outlasted a record company. But if ex-Austinite Lucinda Williams is a paragon of self-doubt, she’s also a gifted writer who gets to the core of a character in the course of a three-minute tune.

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Music|
June 30, 1998

Destiny’s Child

They could be Texas’ own Spice Girls—if that’s what they wanted. Destiny’s Child, the vocal quartet from Houston, clearly has what it takes to make hit records: This spring, their song “No, No, No” reached number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles chart. But unlike the “Prefab Five,” as wags

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Guides|
May 31, 1998

Around the State

What a hall! The Houston Museum of Natural Science’s new wing has a mask of a pre-Inca lord, a re-creation of a Mayan temple, and more. Plus: An international opera star takes the stage in Fort Worth; boxer Oscar De La Hoya goes round and round in El Paso; the

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Music|
April 30, 1998

Sour Grupos

The bigger you get, the more people complain about you. That’s the sad fact of life La Mafia is learning to accept. In February the Houston sextet won their second consecutive Grammy, for best Mexican American/tejano music performance, and they’ve just released La Mafia: Hits de Colección, Vol. 1 (Sony

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Music|
April 30, 1998

Jazzed

Can yet another independent label survive in today’s rough- and-tumble music business? The young founders of Dallas’ Leaning House Records sure hope so.

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Guides|
April 30, 1998

Around the State

The Bass Performance Hall is open for business, and the acoustical expectations are high (Fort Worth). Plus: Readers and writers celebrate literary Texas (Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and elsewhere); the nation’s top golfers get in the swing (Dallas and San Antonio); Texas Czechs bounce to the strains of primo

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Guides|
April 1, 1998

CD and Book Reviews

Hot CDsThis month Texas music shines on the silver screen. The soundtrack for The Horse Whisperer (MCA) not only features cuts from Don Walser, George Strait, and Steve Earle but also a Butch Hancock—Joe Ely— Jimmie Dale Gilmore reunion (long removed from Lubbock, they are now called the Hill Country

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Music|
April 1, 1998

Full Nelson

Ain’t it funny how time slips away? Before you know it, you’ve made two hundred albums, thirty movies, and had one amazing career. What follows is the Compleat Willie: a discography—including every U.S. album release as well as his early 45 rpm singles (before he signed with RCA in

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Guides|
April 1, 1998

Around the State

For music fans in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Round Rock, and San Antonio, these are the fest of times. Plus: An oilman’s artistic vision is realized in San Antonio; a Dallas photography show honors lensmen from Mexico and Houston; Houston Grand Opera stages Arabella; and many of the nation’s swiftest athletes

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Music|
March 1, 1998

The Entertainer

How has Jacksonville native Neal McCoy, a self-described “easy-listenin’ kinda guy,” managed to sell five million country CDs and cassettes? It has little to do with his singing.

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Music|
March 1, 1998

Toad Warriors

Is there a black cloud hanging over Fort Worth’s Toadies? You might think so based on the alt-rock band’s recent history. Their major-label debut for Interscope, 1994’s Rubberneck—a painfully angst-ridden record—went platinum after two years of incessant touring, but some strange stuff happened during all that time on the road:

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Guides|
March 1, 1998

CD and Book Reviews

Hot CDsSan Antonio’s Monte Montgomery is a guitarist’s guitarist, but he doesn’t let that get in the way of the music on 1st and Repair (Heart Music). He brings taste, precision, economy, and a playful sense of timing to poppish songs with sturdy hooks and sings in a voice that’s

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Music|
March 1, 1998

Around the State

Around the State Gary P. Nunn and other singer-songwriters tour the state in celebration of Texas history. Plus: A collection of powerful photos are on display in Corpus Christi; a top Russian ballerina tiptoes into Houston; Golden Gloves boxers are a hit in Fort Worth; and guitar buffs come together

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Guides|
February 1, 1998

Around the State

A three-museum Robert Rauschenberg retrospective in Houston. Plus: Garth Brooks plays Dallas and Fort Worth; mountain bikers converge on Big Bend; Goya’s prints on display in Dallas; and Ellen Burstyn onstage in Houston. Edited by Quita McMath, Erin Gromen, and Katy Vine THE MAIN EVENT The Rauschenbergs Are Coming! The

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Guides|
January 1, 1998

CD and Book Reviews

Hot CDsTalk about a “solo artist”: On You Coulda Walked Around the World (rainlight records), Butch Hancock is record label boss, co-producer, photographer, singer, songwriter, and lone musician. The Lubbock-born Hancock left Austin for Big Bend about a year ago, and the result is a casually haunted album that’s suffused

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Guides|
January 1, 1998

Around the State

A Western photographer’s retrospective in Fort Worth will leave you thinking, Holy Cowboy! Plus: Lounging around in Houston; listening to the tenor of the times in Corpus Christi; staging something Wilde in Dallas; and grooving to the joy of sax in Houston.THE MAIN EVENTRange InterludeErwin E. Smith’s artistic vision had

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