1. For George Strait, the road doesn’t go on foreverI was tooling around Austin in 1981, enjoying the free-love vibe and listening to the radio, when I first heard George Strait. His voice came out of my little dashboard speaker so strong and clear I ran two lights and a stop sign.
Sure, Rick Perry doesn't want to expand Medicaid. But can he afford not to?
Will a tea party darling be the state’s first Hispanic senator?
As Jan Reid's new biography makes clear, Ann Richards was one of the most magnetic politicians of the past thirty years. So why didn’t she leave much of a legacy?
When a third of its citizens vote, can Texas really be called a democracy?
America is chasing the myth of Texas. Fortunately, we aren’t.
A new album by Alejandro Escovedo.
On their new album, Kin, and more.
A new album by Willie Nelson.
Houston and that brilliant artist of light James Turrell have proved to be an enduring couple, what with the California native’s inspiring work at the Live Oak Friends Meeting house and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. But the Skyspace installation Turrell created to honor Rice University’s centennial is perhaps
The Dallas photographer shows us where she works.
The new Dallas smartly pretends the nineties never happened.
What lies beneath the hood of ExxonMobil, the world’s largest oil company?
The musician shows us some of his gear.
Have you heard the one about the Mormon polygamists who descended on a tiny West Texas town? It would be funny if it wasn't so serious. (Okay, it's pretty funny too.)
Can the T. D. Jakes brand go mainstream—and live to tell the tale?
José Hernández on flying the space shuttle.
Ten years after the Challenger disaster, there are still dark clouds on the horizon for NASA’s space shuttle program.
Joe R. Lansdale has made a career out of a hard-boiled vision of East Texas.
There’s no more-welcome sign of the summer reading season than Joe R. Lansdale’s Vanilla Ride, featuring the troublemaking and problem-solving escapades of Hap Collins and Leonard Pine. The unlikely pair of crime fighters (Hap is a white, determinedly heterosexual, underemployed construction worker; Leonard is a black, loudly queer,
Is Eva Longoria doomed to be tabloid fodder the rest of her days?
On their new album, Rockpango, and more.
The multiplatinum success of their debut made San Angelo’s LOS LONELY BOYS one of Texas’s biggest musical exports. Small wonder. The Garza brothers—Henry, Ringo, and JoJo—oozed charisma and played a melodic, amped-up brand of rock and roll. There are a few embellishments sprinkled about—keyboards, percussion, Willie Nelson—but the formula remains
The musicians show us their home on the road.
A tribute album by Willie Nelson, Wynton Marsalis, and Norah Jones.
“Overexposed” doesn’t begin to cover it. After innumerable recent releases, not to mention all the seventy-fifth birthday hoopla, Willie Nelson again? You’d think no one else made records in Texas. Actually, Two Men With the Blues (Blue Note) was recorded in New York City. What distinguishes it from
Recording for almost two decades under the name Smog, BILL CALLAHAN attracted an intensely devoted fan base as his work grew from lo-fi origins to a more orchestrated sound. Over a chugging rock beat, he juxtaposed his sad, narcissistic poeticism with a vocal range a notch above monotone, making his
A new album by Bill Callahan.
Early on, when he was still calling himself Smog, indie rocker Bill Callahan buried his baritone voice beneath chugging, repetitive beats. Since he began recording under his own name, his rock drive has dissipated somewhat, but the thing that has continually made Callahan’s recordings so fascinating—a complete abhorrence of
The Speaker lets us into his office.
When I moved to Austin in 1974, I used to play on the Drag near the vendors. You’d go down there and people would be everywhere. There was a certain vibe in the air. I always thought it was like how it must have been in San Francisco in the
Ferguson, who grew up in San Antonio, has been booking bands for almost thirty years. Since 2000, she has worked exclusively for Gruene Hall, near New Braunfels, the oldest continuously running dance hall in Texas.In college my friend Denice Franke hooked up with three guys and formed the Beacon City
Gruene
1. Alibi BoutiqueGruene’s unofficial motto may be “Gently Resisting Change Since 1872,” but a new(ish) retail spot southwest of the town’s historic heart has shoppers altering their usual itinerary. This fashionable women’s shop could double as the personal closet of an eco-minded, paparazzi-aware young actress. Decked out in an organic
Mickey Rosmarin on selling high-end women's fashion.
On New Year’s Day superstitious Texans take out a symbolic insurance policy by helping themselves to a heap of black-eyed peas—a practice that, according to tradition, guarantees one lucky day for each pea consumed. No one knows for certain how this ritual started, but one theory is rooted in horticulture:
“We’ve got roads to build and agencies to fix and health care to be dispensed and cancers to cure. And that’s what I’m focusing on.”
David Thomas on making Dr Pepper.
So much for the border fence.
Fifty years ago LBJ won—some say stole—a U.S. Senate runoff. What happened to the South Texas ballot box that saved his career?
Looking in on Jasper.
The chef shows us his boot collection.
“Here’s the thing: I was born and raised in eastern Kentucky. I wasn’t born in downtown Paris. What do I love? I love Southern food. I love soul food. I love barbecue. I learned about food in dives. ”
Why a lavish two-volume attack on the border fence, with photos by Maurice Sherif, misses the mark.
On two new albums, Edie Brickell and The Gaddabouts, and more.
Edie Brickell never seemed to like her fifteen minutes of pop stardom very much, so perhaps it’s fitting that the return of the original New Bohemians should end up such a well-kept secret. The same lineup that helped revitalize Deep Ellum in 1985—and made “What I Am” one of secretary-rock’s
The finest bands create not only great songs but also mood, and no one gets that like Austin’s Monahans. The four-piece group named itself after the tranquil West Texas oasis, but the band’s tone is dark and unnerving, like a storm rolling in— all pounding drums and big guitar
Singer Greg Vanderpool on the band's new online song series and more.
Onetime film professor Sam Beam, who makes his records under the nom de plume Iron and Wine (and at his home in Dripping Springs), began his career tentatively, whispering confessional tales over meager accompaniment. But he’s gained confidence and ambition over the years, so much so that The
A new album by Iron and Wine.
