DALLAS

Never Stop Rocking
Will Johnson, the 43-year-old Austin singer-songwriter who in the nineties left his mark on the robust Denton music scene, has amassed a discography suitable for a couple of lifetimes. Through a solo career and eight different bands—including the Monsters of Folk supergroup, with Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes, and M. Ward of She and Him—Johnson has put out 26 full-length albums. His latest, “Take Pride in Your Long Odds,” is with the group he is most identified with, Centro-matic, the four-piece band that will perform the last show on its current tour Saturday at the Kessler Theater. The album’s title befits Johnson’s workmanlike approach to making music and is reflective of Centro-matic’s sound: a no-frills yet solid mix of the loud and bombastic with the somber and reflective, glued together with persistent melodies and thoughtful lyrics.
Kessler Theater, June 14, 7:30 p.m., centro-matic.com 

SAN ANTONIO

Matisse’s Colors
“In the end, there is only Matisse,” Pablo Picasso said in 1954 upon the death of Henri Matisse, the French artist. Sixty years later the San Antonio Museum of Art is revisiting Matisse’s career with “Life in Color,” an exhibit that is on view starting Saturday. More than eighty pieces will be on display, including sculpture and works on paper, culled from the Cone Collection at the Baltimore Museum of Art, a vast post-Impressionist collection assembled by Claribel and Etta Cone, socialite sisters from Baltimore who traveled regularly to Europe. The Cone sisters met Matisse while on a visit to Paris in 1906 and remained friends with him for nearly forty years, acquiring more than five hundred pieces of his work. Matisse played an active role in establishing the Cone Collection as the finest representation of his oeuvre, making sure definitive paintings like “The Yellow Dress” (1929-31), “Large Reclining Nude” (1935), and “Purple Robe and Anemones” (1937) were included. These three works—favorites of the greeting card business, and great sources of inspiration to Picasso—will highlight the exhibit, which will be viewable with timed tickets.
San Antonio Museum of Art, June 14-Sept. 7, samuseum.org

ARANSAS PASS

Shrimp All Ways
A century ago, Aransas Pass had around three hundred shrimp boats. Now there are only three working shrimp boats docked at the area’s commercial fishing pier. That striking decline of an industry in what was once known as the Shrimp Capital of Texas will not, however, affect the palates of the roughly 45,000 foodies who will attend this weekend’s Shrimporee, the annual festival started in 1948. There will be more Gulf shrimp than all those people will be able to eat, whether it is fried, grilled, raw, or prepared in other ways. Live music from acts like Pat Green, Emilio Navaira, and Los Texmaniacs will fill the time between the Sexy Legs Contest, Great Outhouse Race, and obligatory Shrimp Eating Contest.
Johnson Community Park, June 13-15, aransaspass.org

BEAUMONT

Happy Trails
Before rodeo officially called it steer wrestling, the event was known as bulldogging. In the late nineteenth century, Bill Pickett, an African-American from the Taylor area, is said to have invented this act, in which a cowboy on horseback who is chasing a steer disembarks and grabs his prize by the horns and wrestles it to the ground.  At the tenth annual Trail Ride Zydeco Festival and Rodeo, bulldogging—said to have originally involved bulldogs—will be the way a cowboy can make a name for himself. Those who are less reckless may opt for the parade-style Trail Ride during this weekend of cultural immersion that pairs the Western and Creole heritages of Southwest Texas and Louisiana.
Laday’s Arena, June 13-15, bptrailriders.com 

ALBANY

Do the Fandangle
Relive the Wild West at the Fort Griffin Fandangle, the oldest outdoor musical in Texas, involving a cast of about four hundred locals acting out a historical-fiction tale of the region’s bygone days as the war-ravaged frontier town where Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp first met.
Prairie Theater, June 19-21 & 26-28, fortgriffinfandangle.org

MARBLE FALLS

Go, Speed Racer
The Marble Falls Soapbox Classic is an adult soapbox derby, which means its contestants generally weigh more than the children participating in traditional soapbox derbies—and that means not just faster speeds, but bigger wrecks.
Third and Main Streets, June 13-15, adultsoapboxderby.com