Matt Deas’ rapper name, Legendary Fritz, pays homage to his late cousin (and “Harlem gangster”) Richard “Fritz” Simmons. The ‘Legendary’ part came later, when Deas’ was freestyling at Club Exodus in Dallas. Hip-hop legend KRS-One happened to be there, promoting one of his new albums. During his battle, Deas was…
We are known for sawing pigs’ heads off microphone stands. We are known for wearing barbed wire and hurting ourselves,” says Chris Smith, singer for the electro shock metal act Razorblade Dolls. But there are only so many people in North Texas willing to absorb that, and almost none of…
In an effort to help memorialize just a few of the great personalities we lost in the DFW music community in 2013, we talked to friends and collaborators. This year proved especially hard, and while this isn’t a complete list, all of these people made profound contributions to the unique,…
Any way you look at it, it’s been a banner year for local punk/metal band Power Trip. After four years of garnering a solid following, the band got signed to a national label, recorded a monumental full length and headed to Europe and Russia for the first time. From his…
Jerry Warden and Rick Perry know heavy metal. Warden has been promoting it for more three decades in the area, and Perry has been playing it. Warden is a metal historian who holds secrets to some of DFW’s legendary metal acts and venues, while Perry is the one Texas guitarist…
This week’s most unconventional show was not at a house in Denton or a taqueria somewhere. It was in Preston Hollow, where Dallas lawyer Lisa Blue-Baron booked Journey and Styx for her Christmas Party. Her neighbors are either very tolerant or very far away (probably that one), because the Blue-Baron…
Once described as one of America’s best singer/songwriters, Dar Williams has spent the better part of three decades living up to the accolades. A writer of intensely personal songs, Williams has just kept getting better and better and the evidence is on her last effort, 2012’s In the Time of…
The Dividends, the collaborative project between singer and songwriter Sarah Jaffe and Grammy Award-winning producer Symbolyc One (S1), piqued our curiosity with the announcement that they were working together on a new EP. Since we learned of the project, the duo has already gained momentum when news that a track…
Multi-instrumentalist Nico Turner sees herself as less a singer/songwriter and more a creator of soundscapes. When she was the central figure in Los Angeles’ Voices Voices, Turner led that outfit in all sorts of ambient and unconventional directions. Since going solo, Turner most high-profile gig has been as a member…
Update, 12/10: Last night, Guynes’ Crowdtilt campaign for “Jared’s Epic Party” surpassed its fundraising goal of $35,897.44 with just six days left to go, meaning the party will happen and he won’t have to sell one of his beloved pinball machines. Guynes wrote to his followers on his Facebook page…
On the heels of For You, one of the best rock records from a local band in 2013, Dallas’ Dead Flowers (Idol Records) offer up a gift to fans that have provided them with their best year as a band. It wasn’t long ago the group released the well-made, rambunctious…
Update, 9:00 a.m. OK, fair enough — seems pretty bad out there. Not that I would know, since my plan for today includes extra pairs of socks and not a whole lot else. At this point, just assume whatever show you were going to tonight is cancelled, except Kanye West…
It was on a Saturday in Deep Ellum, and the night seemed unnaturally dark. Outside, the first breezes of fall chilled the air, but inside Reno’s Chop Shop the air was humid and thick, like a warm locker room. As the bar buzzed with the aimless movement of incoming patrons,…
The last year or so has seen Dallas’ country-folker Ronnie Fauss gather musch-deserved praise from across the country for his 2012 full-length debut I am the Man You Know I’m Not. With 2014 fast approaching, Fauss and the folks at Normaltown Records, an imprint of Americana giant New West Records,…
To many, Connecticut’s Fates Warning is the first progressive metal act. Started in 1983, the band has gone through a dizzying array of member changes including replacing original lead singer John Arch with San Antonio native Ray Alder in 1985. Through it all, however, Fates Warning remained true to its…
Even though he was a star by the time he was five years old, Donny Osmond was always considered too clean and wholesome for many rock critics. Yet along with his brothers and sister Marie, Osmond has managed to stay relevant in pop culture for nearly five decades. Donny and…
In 2005, country music hit singer and songwriter Chris Young was fronting the house band at Cowboy’s Dancehall in Arlington. But by the spring of 2006, it seemed as though the No. 1 smash hits would be just around the corner for the Tennessee-born and raised crooner after he easily…
Just last year, you may not have even known who he was. But in October 2012, the release and subsequent success of The Heist (his album with producer Ryan Lewis) turned Macklemore into a household name. What’s even more astonishing is that he did it all as an independent artist…
It’s really easy to call Dallas-based country singer-songwriter Troy Cartwright a “young-gun” or a “promising up-and-comer.” Partly that’s thanks to the fact he can write and sing the hell out of a song in his early 20s the way most folk vets might once they’ve been around for a couple…
Attending a Cowboy Mouth show requires a couple of 5-Hour Energy shots just before you walk in the door. The audience is the most integral part of their shows. They are loud, raucous gatherings that can make your feet sore for days and your voice feel like you’ve been gargling…
With his handmade “guit-steel” guitar and deep, country drawl, Junior Brown makes a hell of an impression. Over the course of four decades, Brown has taken his blues-inspired honky tonk across the nation and around the world, thrilling fans of honest and well crafted roots music. In truth, Brown is…
Ask Ashley Guynes what she thinks of her husband Jared’s attempts to throw an “Epic Party” for Dallas and she’ll just sigh and smile at the big schlub who may be 29-years-old but is still clearly a giant kid fighting the inevitability of age, maturity and their effect on his…
