Another recording artist from North Texas has reached major-label status. The iconic Cash Money Records has signed “Fill Up Da Bagg” Pleasant Grove rapper Fat Yunginn in a seven-figure deal with a $250,000 advance, according to a press release. Born Jakeldrick Strain, 26-year-old Fat Yunginn says that the passing of…
Our crush this week is musician Nicole Marxen, one of the shiny dark innovators behind glam rock band Midnight Opera. The singer and synth player’s onstage showmanship follows the concept band’s high-drama, ever-changing narrative. The artist, muse and costume queen’s appeal is transporting, taking us through the ages and many…
If it’s not entirely impossible to keep from using the word “soul” when describing Zac Wilkerson’s music, it is certainly ill-advised. For starters, the Dallas resident’s excellent 2016 album is titled Dustbowl Soul, and plenty of the songs on his new record, Evergreen, feature R&B-powered full-band arrangements, which lend themselves…
The element of competition is woven into the fabric of hip-hop culture and it’s part of what inspires rappers to create their best work — there are different styles and skill sets within the genre and it’s grown to include sub-genres and hybrid artists. But let us focus on the…
Our crush this week is singer Bree Parker, who fronts jazz and R&B fusion group Bree & the Fellas. A sunshine-like source of delightfully absurd talent, Parker is a master of vocal control who’s often lighting up stages in Deep Ellum. And she doesn’t litter. Swoon. What’s one song everyone loves that…
According to the Chinese zodiac, 2020 is the Year of the Rat, a time of wealth and abundance. It’s also shaping up to be a time of redemption and retrospection for North Texas megastar Jessica Simpson, who joins power blondes Taylor Swift and Paris Hilton in setting their demure (dare…
In a move many critics are referring to as daring and cavalier, local singer-songwriter Connor Overton announced that he is genre-fluid. “I don’t adhere to the genre binary,” he declared Monday night at a Garland Central Library open mic event. “People like to pigeonhole me into either folk or rock,…
Many fans of Texas country and red dirt music will recognize some key figures who give life to the music they love so dearly. The unmistakable voices of Jack Ingram, Robert Earl Keen and Randy Rogers are universally revered, and they’ve soundtracked our lives for over two decades now. But…
It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from Taylor Young. Outside of a few one-off shows with his long-running folk-rock band The O’s, Young has been laying low, running a small mortgage company through First United Bank Mortgage and writing songs that he just couldn’t find a home for. “I had…
It’s a given that in the pop music industry, sex will always sell. But when female artists decide to complement their music with a risqué look, it’s often to mixed reviews. Take Taylor Swift, for example, who revealed in the documentary Miss Americana that she developed an eating disorder after…
It’s off to the races for North Texas recording artists right now, if they aspire to follow in the path of 2019’s breakout stars like Yella Beezy and Kaash Paige. Many established acts leading the pack are preparing for highly anticipated spring arrivals, and we’ve also got some new returns,…
Ebo has 10,000 laughs: One is a mischievous chortle. One is a riotous, hyena-esque cackle that crescendos then falls, ending with the rapper shaking her head and saying, “I’m dead, I’m dead.” Ebo’s most common laugh might be what her friends call “the dad laugh,” a soft, polite chuckle that…
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, millions are celebrating their blossoming courtships, while others are bitterly seething with envy and contempt over those who are. Whichever camp you fall under, if either, the fact remains that love is one of the most precious things we have in this life, and music…
Scented products inspired by … erogenous zones … seem to be the latest home goods trend. Last month, Gwyneth Paltrow released a candle that smells, she says, like her vagina, to coincide with the premiere of her Netflix docuseries The Goop Lab. Erykah Badu announced last week that she will…
Déjà vu washed over songwriter Andrew Jones like a tidal wave the day that Kobe Bryant died. The way the country collectively mourned this larger-than-life celebrity reminded Jones of the death of another superstar: Michael Jackson. When Jackson died in 2009, it seemed like the whole world grieved — Jones…
Although there’s certainly more to the story of how Chadwick Murray became the lead singer for local soul band Bastards of Soul, the Dallas music veteran sums up the essence of his journey and current status rather succinctly. “So, yeah, after 30 years of being involved in music as a…
The first thing you need to know about Famous Exchange is that they are more than a band. Sure, they are a trio of musicians who play shows, produce songs and release them into the world. Sometimes those songs get a serious lift from the Spotify algorithm. Sometimes they get…
In Miss Americana, Netflix’s newest documentary about pop star Taylor Swift, the turning point of the movie comes when Swift sits down with her parents, Andrea and Scott, and tells them her plan to finally voice her political opinions. “Why would you?” Scott Swift asks his daughter. “I mean does Bob…
There are plenty of big acts rolling into town this week. Celine Dion and Miranda Lambert will be jamming at American Airlines Center. Dashboard Confessional and Periphery will take over the House of Blues. Then there’s Wolf Parade and The New Pornographers in Deep Ellum and so many more. If you…
In the hurly-burly of the holiday season, the news might have just slipped past all but the most attentive North Texas music fans. On Dec. 20, 2019, the Fort Worth-based quartet known as Black Tie Dynasty played its first show in more than six years at Dallas’ Double Wide —…
Some artists go to great lengths to bring together a space where their creativity can thrive, spending large sums of money (often while living on lackluster means) to create studios that allow for the freedom of expression, not just for themselves, but their friends and guests. Whether it’s to create…
Waco-based hip-hop producer Symbolyc One (or “S1,” for short) can look back on a life of astonishing achievement, but as far as he’s concerned, he would not have developed the lofty bully pulpit he stands comfortably on were it not for God or, on a more tangible level, those peers…
