Email Author Rob Patterson

2002 Stories by Rob Patterson

• Slick Billies

  published December 19, 2002

  Let's face it, folks, a degree from a respected college is rarely a good credential in a punk's résumé. The fact that members of the... More >>

• John Prine with Iris DeMent

  published December 5, 2002

  M.D. Anderson helped treat John Prine during his recent bout with cancer. Now the folk stalwart is thanking the cancer center by raising funds in... More >>

• Mando Saenz

  published November 28, 2002

  Everyone has to start someplace. Lyle Lovett, for instance, admits that he started out trying to be Willis Alan Ramsey. And whether it's by... More >>

• El Vez

  published November 28, 2002

  The King is dead. Long live El Vez! Yes, Elvis has left the building for good. Lucky El Vez is still with us and sees fit to grace us with a royal... More >>

• Glenn Tilbrook

  published November 21, 2002

  Glenn Tilbrook and his partner Chris Difford were the finest British pop-rock songwriting team since Lennon-McCartney, and their band Squeeze had... More >>

• Mark David Manders

  published November 7, 2002

  The shot heard round the world fired by Jerry Jeff Walker on ¡Viva Terlingua! echoes through the music of Dallas open-mike veteran... More >>

• Mount Bonnell Breakdown

  published October 31, 2002

  The South Austin Jug Band doesn't have a jug player, nor do they play jug band music. They do come from South Austin, where four of them live... More >>

• What Would Woody Do?

  published October 24, 2002

  Englishman Billy Bragg has just arrived in North America and barely has time to talk. And Bragg, as any fan can tell you, likes to talk. When his... More >>

• Wade Hayes with Daryle Singletary and Rhett Akins

  published October 17, 2002

  The past decade has offered many case studies indicative of just what is wrong with Nashville country music today. One of the clearest is that of... More >>

• Sloppy Joes

  published September 5, 2002

  Oops. Somebody forgot to tell the Weary Boys that moving to Austin to play country music was akin to shipping coals to Newcastle. No matter.... More >>

• Owen Temple

  published July 25, 2002

  At first blush, Owen Temple seems like yet another Texas singer-songwriter in a field already rather littered with those who strive to be... More >>

• Maura O'Connell

  published July 25, 2002

  The tag line on Grammy-winning chanteuse Maura O'Connell's Web site reads: "Just a singer." Talk about understatement. Her loamy Irish alto voice... More >>

• Cowpunk Deluxe

  published July 18, 2002

  The phone call catches Jason Ringenberg on the cordless hanging out with his daughters on his farm. It's an appropriate setting for the founding... More >>

• Tony Joe White/Mike Barfield

  published July 11, 2002

  Mention Tony Joe White, and many people think of "Polk Salad Annie," his 1969 hit that later became a signature song for late-period Elvis. Thanks... More >>

• Various Artists

  published May 16, 2002

  Tribute albums are generally "great ideas" that in most cases should have stayed just that. Sure, there are some that work -- from the Sweet... More >>

• Robert Earl Smith

  published April 11, 2002

  These days, the genuinely exceptional, low-key Texas country-folk album is a rare animal indeed, despite all the young Texas mongrels and old road... More >>

• This Is It

  published April 4, 2002

  Every once in a while, there comes a record you want to play for everyone you can. Will Kimbrough's This is one of those albums.... More >>

• A Piece of the Pie

  published March 28, 2002

  It's a drab spring afternoon, the Monday after South By Southwest, and Johnny Goudie has just enough time to fit in a caffeine- and... More >>

• Cheap By Damn Cheap

  published March 14, 2002

  Austin likes to think of itself as the Live Music Capital of the World, an unctuous bit of hyperbole if ever there was one. But this weekend,... More >>

• Cory Morrow

  published March 7, 2002

  Cory Morrow gave Music City the big ol' Texas middle finger with "Nashville Blues" on his last release. So why does he now sound even more like... More >>

• The Dictators

  published March 7, 2002

  In the annals of late-1970s New York City rock -- as fertile a place and time as ever existed -- this is the band that never received its due. The... More >>

• Caroline Herring

  published February 28, 2002

  Caroline Herring may be a throwback in some ways, but she's a welcome one indeed. While contemporary folk music (often called "new folk") has... More >>

• Alice Peacock

  published February 14, 2002

  In a contemporary indie singer-songwriter scene littered with artists who are as sincere as they are unimpressive, newcomer Alice Peacock stands... More >>

• Brother, Can You Spare the Time?

  published January 17, 2002

  Charlie and Bruce Robison, the crown princes of Texas country music, each had pretty good years in 2001. Charlie's Step Right Up generated... More >>

• Jon Dee Graham

  published January 17, 2002

  The ascension of Austin stalwart and former True Believer Jon Dee Graham to the status of respected solo artist is a gratifying development. Sure,... More >>