For over 20 years, the Mother Hips have expertly offered a soulful, psychedelic sound that just seems to flow in the Northern Californian waters. Although it’s been a while since the band’s last album, the groove-tastic Pacific Central Dust, was released in 2009, word has it that a new album…
Against all odds, the 2013 Grammys are not irrelevant–or, if you believe they’ve always been irrelevant, they’ve not become more irrelevant. They haven’t become more relevant, either, to be sure; their recent attempt to rationalize the increasingly abstruse and parochial categories was worthwhile–I suppose we can do without Best Rock…
Holly Williams, the 31 year old granddaughter of the iconic Hank Williams, has grown into a formidable artist all her own. Unlike her off-his-rocker dad and her crazy-ass half-brother, Hank Williams III, Holly hasn’t really dabbled in the stone-cold honky-tonk sounds that her family has been making for decades. She…
Texas Country, or Red Dirt, or whatever one wants to call it, has become big business these days. So, it’s not really shocking that a couple of television shows dedicated to artists fitting into the Lone Star-loving realm have popped up and are shedding light on the talent all over…
Ladies, grab your instruments and put on your hottest Annie Lennox ensemble. Girls Rock Dallas foundation has announced its first year of Ladies Rock Camp, featuring area band The Chloes. They will be hosting a weekend-long day camp and fundraising event held February 22 to 24, which ends with a…
It’s pretty rare for a band to wait nearly three decades to release its best album, but that’s exactly what Testament did. Last summer saw the release of Dark Roots of Earth, Testaments tenth and most accomplished work. Melding the old school fire of the band’s previous efforts with a…
Mumford and Sons have just announced a second Gentlemen of the Road tour, and one of the three U.S. Stopovers is in Guthrie, Oklahoma, a small town 3 hours and 45 minutes north of Dallas. Here’s how these things work: Towns apply to be selected for the show, and it’s…
At 67, Homer Flynn is a cool, calm and rather coy customer. Over the past four decades, Flynn has consistently denied being a member of one of rock’s truly unique outfits: San Francisco’s The Residents. Even with many musical sleuths claiming otherwise, Flynn has always stuck to his story that…
Last night, local filmmaker Jonathan Buchner announced to the world the project he’s been working his ass off on: a documentary on Spector 45. Called 45, those who know the band’s story know how incredibly emotional and sensitive this is to tell, but Buchner has captured something that should see…
Hailing from Athens, Georgia, the garage rock trio known as The Whigs has been plying their craft for over a decade. In that time, they have released four amazing records including last years’ Enjoy the Company. Speaking from a tour stop in Los Angeles and in anticipation of Friday’s show…
Jessica Simpson’s TV show–that is, her new TV show, a sitcom set to air on NBC–is going to be about her life as a celebrity. You should immediately be able to spot the problem, here: Her life as a celebrity is already about her life as a celebrity. The first…
Speaking from his home in Austin, Matthew Hines, comes across as one of those likeable nerds everyone knew in high school. As leader of the indie rock outfit The Eastern Sea, Hines has turned that nerdy charm into three compelling albums, especially 2012’s Plague. In anticipation of Friday night’s show…
Robby and Jennifer Rux greet me at the front door of an old brown fourplex, nestled comfortably on a tree-lined street in Fort Worth’s Fairmount Historic District. Their apartment, covered in posters, tapestries and age-old vinyl, serves as one of the few exclusively analog recording studios in North Texas. Together,…
When Arlington thrashers Warbeast flew overseas to co-headline a tour with legendary Pantera/Down vocalist Phil Anselmo, the band’s pulverizing riffs and grueling lyrics slew metal fans across Europe. A joint album seemed like another one of the devil’s pipe dreams until the two entities announced their upcoming split EP release,…
This year, Lights All Night has expanded to three nights, and is taking over Fair Park, a city-owned venue. On Sunday, the organizers sent out a press release (view below) alerting attendees that there is a curfew. Saturday and Sunday night’s shows will end at midnight, and Monday’s NYE show…
The holidays are over, and it’s nearly time shut down all the Christmas caroling, save for local outfit Bethan. “O Holy Night,” from their rather haunting EP of reworked Christmas hymns, found a home on WBEZ’s This American Life last Friday. The show features stories of families and loved ones…
Since 2009, the Denton-born Virgin Wolves have seen many incarnations, starting off as the husband-and-wife team of Chase and Jaimeson Robbins, armed only with a Macbook and a guitar. Three years and two EPs later, they have ditched the computer and added drums, bass and a second guitar, fleshing out…
I attended the Oral Fixation “Cold Turkey” show at the MAC last Tuesday night, mainly because Observer copy editor and beer enthusiast Jesse Hughey was going to be reading, and he ended up getting some of the biggest laughs of the night, from a crowd that took in some pretty…
Houston native Roger Creager has been a mainstay of the Texas-centric festivals and college-town honky-tonks that make up the Texas country circuit. Over the course of six full-length albums and 14 years, Creager’s become known more for his rambunctious live shows than he has his relatively small catalog of recorded…
Tonight at Texas Theatre, Oak Cliff Film Fest is presenting another “Show Your Shorts” night, featuring work from local filmmakers. The films must be shorter than 20 minutes, and they’re taking numbers over on the Facebook event page. TT’s Barak Epstein says they still have a couple slots open. One…
It’s impossible to discuss the magnitude of the Denton music scene without including Robert Gomez as one of its pivotal players. Since 1993, Gomez has been everywhere from Denton to Istanbul, and the list of musicians he’s played with include Norah Jones, Philip Glass and Tico da Costa. He’ll perform…
One night ahead of Sarah Jaffe’s late-night debut, Dallas soul singer Larry g(EE) performs tonight on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, thanks to OurStage.com, a social networking site that places emerging artists on the show, and also got him a handful of gigs on this summer’s Warped Tour. He’ll be performing the…
