How One of Houston’s Most Celebrated Rappers Started His Career in a Car
Hip-hop mainstay Lil Keke tells the story of how he earned his musical chops driving around Houston.
April 2020
Features
A Life Surrounded by Vinyl Records
The Corpus Christi DJ, producer, and nu cumbia pioneer El Dusty talks about the music that shaped his trajectory.
It Started With a Road Trip and Ended in a Nightmare
Austin singer-songwriter Walker Lukens often writes songs based on readers’ confessions. This is what he’d own up to.
Moving to Austin Changed This Singer Songwriter’s Life—and How She Thought About Death
Shawn Colvin on her early days in Texas, and thinking ahead to her final days.
Boogie Woogie May Be Texas’s Most Influential Musical Export
But for decades the town where it was created had no idea.
Two Trailblazing Country Musicians From San Benito Led Parallel Lives Decades Apart
Charley Crockett grew up watching Freddy Fender perform. He tells us how his life in music took a similar path.
How a Cringeworthy Sound Check Changed This Classically Trained Violinist’s Life
The bandleader and composer Carrie Rodriguez, who grew up in Austin, changed her course after reconnecting with Texas music.
This Lead Singer Had a Successful Career in Oil and Gas, Then She Got an Offer to Play Letterman
The Suffers’ front woman, Kam Franklin, on quitting her job to do music full time.
The Stories Behind the Music
Texas musical luminaries reveal the family histories, powerful influences, and big breaks that made them the artists they are today.
The Delicate History of the Puffy Taco
Who invented San Antonio’s signature Tex-Mex dish? And why hasn’t it blown up (sorry) around the world?
Latest in Longreads
The School Shooting That Austin Forgot
In 1978, an eighth grader killed his teacher. After 20 months in a psychiatric facility, he was freed. His classmates still wonder: What really happened?
The State
The Lion Tamer
Remembering my grandpa, who soothed wild beasts—and played poker with the devil.
How Nineteenth-Century Texas Created American Liberalism
After the Civil War, a group of politicians fought—and failed—to empower everyday Texans. But we can see their influence in the New Deal, the Great Society, Donald Trump, and Bernie Sanders.
Meanwhile, in Texas
A squirrel went postal in a Houston suburb, and Waco finds something new to feel some civic pride about.
Is Climate Change Denial Thawing in Texas?
Surprising statements by oil industry leaders have grabbed headlines. But the bigger change is underway more quietly, among young Republicans.
Playing With Fire at Chef Kevin Fink’s Hestia
From the team behind Emmer & Rye, this new Austin restaurant is a work of hearth.
From the Editor, April 2020: The Hunger to Know
Robert Draper, like the people he interviewed for this month's cover story, is driven by a need to understand the past.
Dining Guide: Highlights From Our April 2020 Issue
Texas Monthly adds and updates approximately sixty restaurant listings to our Dining Guide each month. There’s limited space in the print issue, but the entire searchable guide to the best of Texas cuisine is at your fingertips online! Below are a few highlights from the new restaurants reviewed in our April 2020…
Three New Austin Hotels
Add these places to the list of stylish lodging options for travelers, with enticing restaurants and bars.
