Ripped From the Bloodlines
James Lee Burke may split his time between Louisiana and Montana, but he's never really left Texas.
Jeff Salamon is an executive editor at Texas Monthly and previously served as an editor at the Village Voice and the Austin American-Statesman. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Spin, Details, and Artforum. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and a native of New York City. He lives in Austin with his wife, two children, two dogs, and one cat.
James Lee Burke may split his time between Louisiana and Montana, but he's never really left Texas.
By Jeff Salamon
A look at what to read, watch, and listen to this (wonderfully jam-packed) month in order to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
A by-the-numbers look at how much Texas will spend, per person, on a variety of budgetary items.
By Jeff Salamon
What to hear, read, watch, and look at this month to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
What to read, hear, watch, and look at to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
The map, reimagined
By Jeff Salamon
What to read, hear, and watch this month to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
Illustrations by Nicki Longoria. Click to enlarge.Elsewhere in this month’s issue, our political team considers which state legislators have earned our respect and which ones remind us why the stately granite building at Twelfth Street and Congress Avenue has long been the butt of countless jokes
By Jeff Salamon
What to read, hear, and watch this month to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
Five Texans who would be president.
By Jeff Salamon
The author of Black Water Rising talks about Houston neighborhoods, writing for a hot TV show, and her dad’s run for mayor.
By Jeff Salamon
What to read, hear, and look at to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
P.J. Proby is still here.
By Jeff Salamon
If you’re new to the state, there’s a good chance that you snickeringly regard the phrase “Texas literature” as a contradiction in terms. Well, wise up, wise guy: Texans have been writing memorable books about their state for a long time. So if you have some questions about the city you’ve
By Texas Monthly and Jeff Salamon
What to hear, read, and watch this month to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
What to hear, read, watch, and attend this month to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
Festival managing director Roland Swenson reflects on a difficult year.
By Jeff Salamon
What to hear, read, and watch this month to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
What to read, see, and watch this month to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
Austin concert posters.
By Jeff Salamon
Diana Natalicio’s under-the-radar transformation of the University of Texas at El Paso.
By Jeff Salamon
What to hear, read, and watch this month to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
Fourteen years under one governor.
By Jay Carr and Jeff Salamon
What to hear, read, watch, and look at this month to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
Why Texas stays red.
By Jay Carr and Jeff Salamon
The perils of writing steamy fan fiction.
By Jeff Salamon
Rick Perry’s legal options.
By Kelsey Davis, Mai Schotz and Jeff Salamon
What to hear, read, watch, and look at this month to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
The good humor of Dallas comic Cristela Alonzo.
By Jeff Salamon
Inside the mind of Diane Lawson.
By Jeff Salamon
Two takes on our conservative ways.
By Jeff Salamon
What to hear, read, and watch this month to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
What to hear, read, watch, and look at this month to achieve maximum Texas literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
Luling’s artful pump jacks.
By Jeff Salamon
What to hear, read, and watch this month to achieve maximum Texas literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
A bombastic face-off between Alex Jones and Glenn Beck.
By Jeff Salamon
Artist Trenton Doyle Hancock reflects on his East Texas roots.
By Jeff Salamon
What to hear, read, and watch this month to achieve maximum Texas literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
Click to enlarge.Thanks to the domino effect of Rick Perry’s retirement, an unusual number of high-profile Republican politicians have been vying for statewide office this year. Add to that the intensity that the tea party insurgency has brought to ideological debates within the GOP, and
By Jeff Salamon
Infographic illustration by Luke Shuman. Click to enlarge.When the INRIX company released its annual list of America’s most congested cities, the big news for Texans was that for the second year in a row, Austin was ranked the fourth-most-congested city in America—up from sixth two
By Jeff Salamon
What to hear, read, attend, and look at this month to achieve maximum Texas literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
What to hear, read, and watch this month to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
Infographic illustration by Luke Shuman. Click to enlarge.April may be the cruelest month, but not for the housing market, which always picks up this time of year, as families try to settle in to new homes before the fall semester. And this year’s real estate season
By Jeff Salamon
In 1997 when demographer Steve H. Murdock published his first book, The Texas Challenge, he was a Cassandra of sorts. He predicted the rise of the Hispanic majority, and he spoke early and often about the implications such a demographic shift would have on Texas’s economy. His devotion to the
By Jeff Salamon
What to hear, read, and watch this month to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
What to see, hear, read, and watch this month to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
By Jeff Salamon
Former state demographer Steve H. Murdock troves his data to illustrate the average Texan in two every different years—1950 and 2050.
By Jeff Salamon
How budget cuts are affecting the number of open teaching positions in our public schools.
By Texas Monthly Staff and Jeff Salamon
What to see, hear, read, and watch this month to achieve maximum Texas cultural literacy.
By Texas Monthly Staff and Jeff Salamon
Treasured recipes—and the stories behind them—from our staff.