Top Dawg Entertainment is in a league of its own. On top of curating a phenomenal soundtrack for the box-office-shattering Black Panther film, the West Coast label’s most prized artist, Kendrick Lamar, is redefining what it means to be a superstar rapper in 2018 and is piling up achievements some…
Big things ahead on the Dallas area concert calendar. We’ve got large-scale tours, Rock and Roll Hall of Famers and a couple of folks making some rare area appearances. Check out all the details. Drake is teaming up with Migos for the Aubrey & The Three Amigos tour. The 41-date…
The last time the Dallas Observer profiled Madison King was in 2014, just before King released her second country record, Onward & Upward. In March, King released her third record, the EP Livin’ Right. In the intervening years, King says, she has drifted further from music and closer to another…
A handful of third-party booking and promotion agencies in the Dallas area raise red flags for local musicians, but just as many concert and event promoters put music before money and base their businesses on trust and community in the local music scene. Spencer Wharton of Wharbaby Entertainment, a Dallas-Fort…
The deep, cavernous sounds of the cello are perfect for heavy metal. They can be dark and brooding. They provide a nice, long bass sound that provides a perfect backup to songs about sadness and destruction. They can also give a band that extra foundation underneath the sounds of guitars…
It seems like Nada Surf always hits Dallas whenever it tours, which is not a bad thing. With every album it puts out, the band comes here, but Thursday’s show at the Granada Theater is a slightly different affair. For the first time in its career, it’s doing an anniversary…
The music career of The Black Cassettes is best described as nascent. All three members reached legal drinking age within the last five months, so they’re cloaked in enviable youth. They formed three years ago but have yet to record a full body of music or go on an extensive…
If you’ve ever found yourself in Corsicana, a town about 60 miles south of Dallas off Interstate 45 that has about 25,000 residents, you may have encountered the statue of Lefty Frizzell. Born in that area in 1928, Frizzell went on to become one of the most influential singers in country…
Late last month, Homegrown Festival founder Josh Florence sent an email to industry insiders about the uncertain fate of the festival due to poor ticket sales. Thanks to the efforts of those insiders and the Dallas music community at large, Homegrown lived to rock into its ninth year celebrating the…
There are about 7,000 adolescents experiencing homelessness in the Dallas and Fort Worth school districts. On May 10, Texas Rangers radio broadcaster Eric Nadel and Focus on Teens, a nonprofit organization, put on a show at the Kessler Theater to help support the needs of these children. Eric Nadel’s Seventh Birthday Benefit…
Great Heart is the progressive and psychedelic solo project from Andrew Moss, and the music lives up to the name of the project. The Sunrise Machine EP is dripping with real, heartfelt emotion that will have listeners exploring ideas of self-reflection, heartbreak and personal salvation on what Moss describes as…
In the spot of the former Luscher’s Red Hots at the corner of Commerce and Pryor streets, next to Dot’s Hop House & Cocktail Courtyard, Ruins celebrated its grand opening Wednesday night with all the style and sophistication we’ve come to expect from the team of Dan Murry and Peter…
Alternative rock is more than just the alternative this week with acts like of Montreal, Franz Ferdinand, Charly Bliss, and the ninth annual Homegrown Music and Arts Fest featuring Explosions in the Sky. These artists take the norm, smash it on its head and create something unique. If you feel…
Mike Portnoy likes to joke that he plays drums in dozens of bands, which is a slight exaggeration. Since 2010, he’s recorded and toured with Avenged Sevenfold, Twisted Sister, Adrenaline Mob, Metal Allegiance, the Winery Dogs and the Neal Morse Band. This year, he’s touring with a new band called…
You may know Kiefer Sutherland as President Thomas Kirkman in ABC’s hit political drama series Designated Survivor. Or maybe as agent Jack Bauer in FOX’s 24. Now you know the action star is a country singer — a surprisingly a good one. Sutherland performed Friday at Billy Bob’s Texas and showed that…
Austin City Limits announced the line-ups this week for its two-weekend extravaganza in October. Over the next couple of weeks, expect many of the artists involved to announce some DFW area shows to pass the time between weekend appearances. In the meantime, we’ve got some stellar additions to the concert…
For some up-and-coming bands, snapshots of their shows seem priceless. There is, for the most part, a symbiotic relationship between concert photographers — who offer free press, promotional material and a glimpse into the magic onstage — and the performers they shoot. Once these acts reach a certain level of stardom,…
The fine folks at Live Nation have declared this week National Concert Week. As part of the celebration, they’ll offer more than a million tickets for shows across the country for the low, low price of $20 all-in. And while a double sawbuck is usually enough for a lawn seat…
A variety of Latin artists are performing at Dallas between April and August. The Latin community might recognize some artists from their parents’ ’80s Spanish rock and pop music, which eventually adapted into the ’90s rock en español movement and into the modern 2000s. Most of these artists have been…
As a sold-out Bomb Factory audience witnessed firsthand Sunday night, a Jack White live show is a two-hour trip inside the manic mind of an innovator. There were howling roars of his signature blues riffs, jacked-up country-twang interludes and sizzling funk/hip-hop influences all on display just in the first three…
For the first weekend in what feels like forever, the weather worked in the favor of music fans seeking outdoor fun and live music. The familiar scents of sunblock and barbecue welcomed Fortress Festival, Fort Worth’s annual two-day music fest, as music fans from neighboring cities came together in the…
At the Weird Al Yankovic show Friday, for perhaps the first time in music history, the entire audience stayed for the encore. Everyone. As soon as Yankovic ended his set, people stood up and clapped and whistled and cheered and hollered. “We love you, Weird Al,” someone shouted from the…
