Songwriter
Move over, Anna Nicole Smith. Mexia’s biggest celebrity is Cindy Walker, who penned hits made famous by everyone from Eddy Arnold to Bob Wills.
Move over, Anna Nicole Smith. Mexia’s biggest celebrity is Cindy Walker, who penned hits made famous by everyone from Eddy Arnold to Bob Wills.
Folk hero.
Long John Hunter and his guitar-slinging friends sharpened their axes in and around Port Arthur, so their recent return was truly a homecoming.
They’re a major nuisance in rural Texas— but, boy, do they taste good.
A tejano rift widens.
An A&M extension class gets beefy.
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.
He’s one of the most influential men in American music. So why haven’t you heard of Alan Lomax?
Okay, he isn’t exactly sexy. But he’s hot! And he’s dead! The busiest balladeer in Texas these days is… Roy Orbison.
Diversity U.
Long before they were chart-topping musicians, Erykah Badu and Roy Hargrove made the grade at an arts magnet school in Dallas.
His mentor, Sam Cooke, is long dead, but Dallas’ Johnnie Taylor is alive and well and still living at the top of the charts.
Joe Ely hits the road.
Which version of history should be promoted by El Paso’s new statue series: the Wild West or the mild West?
The newest bilingual TV star.
An East Texas hot links meat-and-greet.
After years in New York’s jazz trenches, trumpeter Hannibal Lokumbe has come home to Smithville in search of the simple life.
The heavenly hits of God’s Property.
Little miss hits.
Spicy-food impresarios turn up the heat on each other.
For decades, Bobby Bland has personified the definitive post–T-Bone Walker Texas R&B style. Even at 67, no one can dethrone him.
Dallas sax player Marchel Ivery has impressed jazz greats like Red Garland and Art Blakey. So why isn’t he more famous? For one thing, he won’t blow his own horn.
A knockout boxing program in West Texas.
After playing for years in relative obscurity, 57-year-old Ronnie Dawson is the latest cult hero in the cultish world of rockabilly.
TEN DAYS AFTER HE CELEBRATED HIS FOURTEENTH birthday by downing a seafood dinner and playing a concert in Milwaukee, Quindon Tarver is on top of the world. Actually, he’s on top of Reunion Tower in Dallas, sucking down a virgin piña colada at the Antares restaurant and talking about his
Fourteen-year-old country prodigy LeAnn Rimes is singing a Blue streak. But she’s not the only Texas teen tearing up the music scene.
By John Morthland, Jason Cohen and Ramiro Burr
The voice of God.
Listening to conjunto queen Eva Ybarra.
Cesar Alejandro’s low-budget action movies aren’t exactly number one with a bullet, but the El Paso director is sure he’ll be hot in Hollywood—some day.
Beloved by bubbas and the Butthole Surfers alike, 350-pound yodeler Don Walser is country’s current cross-generational king of cool.
Freddy Fender has one of the most affecting voices in the music business. So why isn’t he a star?
A veteran filmmaker’s new documentary looks at the rich history of tejano.
San Antonio accordionist Mingo Saldivar is knocking them dead in northern Mexico.
Son of a gun, you’ll have big fun—and terrific fresh crawfish—at these seven Louisiana seafood joints.
When country hunk Billy Ray Cyrus his megahit “Achy Breaky Heart” in 1992, country dancing—or at least a modern version of it—returned to vogue. Cyrus’ novelty song was released with a video that showed a line dance specifically created for the song, and—in a flashback to the Urban Cowboy craze of
Bugs Henderson doesn’t lhave an “act” — he’s simply one of the best blues guitarists around.
In Houston a handful of juke joints and beer bars offers blues the way they used to be—a soulful, gritty communal rite.
Can tejano heartthrob Emilio Navaira survive the crossover to country music?
When Stevie Ray Vaughan died, Texas lost its premier guitarist. Can any of these ambitious young players fill his boots?
A new album showcases the smoky vocals and guitar of Long John Hunter—the man who gave West Texas the blues.
For years, no one took cowboy poetry seriously. But Buck Ramsey’s epic verse has taken the genre to new heights.
How a cut of meat from the wrong side of the street rose to culinary stardom, plus a guide to Texas’ most authentic fajitas.
Nearly everyone agrees that the nation’s best college jazz program is in Denton, but critics wonder if it isn’t mired in the past.
Juan Espinoza’s classy cabrito puts Johnny’s restaurant in front of the herd.
Welcome to Llano, the real barbecue capital of Central Texas. The proof is in the pit.
When Lubbock-born songwriter Butch Hancock steps onstage, West Texas haunts his music.
The habanero chile stokes the burning desire of pepper lovers everywhere.
The music of T-Bone Walker, the Texas guitarist who put the boogie into “jump” blues, is now definitely on record.
Carrollton’s Vanilla Ice is the country’s coolest rapper, and several other Texas acts are hot on his heels.
When country singer Charley Pride isn’t on the road, chances are he’s puttering around a Dallas golf course—or riding herd on his business holdings.