Big Mama Thornton

Glory Days

The Houston 100: From Scarface to Robert Earl Keen

RIP, Rory Miggins

Overnight Express: Simply Red Does Bobby "Blue" Bland

Overblown and Underrated

So you know Houston's goats, heroes and high points? Think again.

Pack Fair & Square

Bluesman Big Walter celebrates his 87 years with star pupil Jerry Lightfoot

Rotation

Bluesman Big Walter celebrates his 87 years with star pupil Jerry Lightfoot

Critic's Choice

Lovett Again

Where Ya Been, Ms. Lynn?

Lovett Again

Static

Lovett Again

Get It While You Can

Jerry Ragavoy and the ghost of Janis Joplin

Static

Jerry Ragavoy and the ghost of Janis Joplin

The Nickel: A Musical History of the Fifth Ward, Part 4

[Note: Click on the numbers for parts 1, 2 and 3.] Fifth Ward music mogul Don Robey was so taken with Gatemouth Brown's talents that he built his entire Peacock label around him. Robey already owned the Bronze Peacock night club and various other business interests, but it was his meeting of Br ... More >>

Rotation

[Note: Click on the numbers for parts 1, 2 and 3.] Fifth Ward music mogul Don Robey was so taken with Gatemouth Brown's talents that he built his entire Peacock label around him. Robey already owned the Bronze Peacock night club and various other business interests, but it was his meeting of Br ... More >>

Teddy Remembered

[Note: Click on the numbers for parts 1, 2 and 3.] Fifth Ward music mogul Don Robey was so taken with Gatemouth Brown's talents that he built his entire Peacock label around him. Robey already owned the Bronze Peacock night club and various other business interests, but it was his meeting of Br ... More >>

Blowing His Own Horn

[Note: Click on the numbers for parts 1, 2 and 3.] Fifth Ward music mogul Don Robey was so taken with Gatemouth Brown's talents that he built his entire Peacock label around him. Robey already owned the Bronze Peacock night club and various other business interests, but it was his meeting of Br ... More >>

Internalizing the Blues

[Note: Click on the numbers for parts 1, 2 and 3.] Fifth Ward music mogul Don Robey was so taken with Gatemouth Brown's talents that he built his entire Peacock label around him. Robey already owned the Bronze Peacock night club and various other business interests, but it was his meeting of Br ... More >>

The Mighty Stef

[Note: Click on the numbers for parts 1, 2 and 3.] Fifth Ward music mogul Don Robey was so taken with Gatemouth Brown's talents that he built his entire Peacock label around him. Robey already owned the Bronze Peacock night club and various other business interests, but it was his meeting of Br ... More >>

Jill Scott

[Note: Click on the numbers for parts 1, 2 and 3.] Fifth Ward music mogul Don Robey was so taken with Gatemouth Brown's talents that he built his entire Peacock label around him. Robey already owned the Bronze Peacock night club and various other business interests, but it was his meeting of Br ... More >>

Juneteenth Revisited

Two arts organizations attempt a new spin on an old event

Vanishing Point

This 1971 film believes Easy Rider would be better in a Dodge

Houston Musical Landmarks and the I.Am.We Collective

This 1971 film believes Easy Rider would be better in a Dodge

Return of Los Vatos Rudos

Los Skarnales are set to release a new full-length with a new lineup

Gypsy Caravan II

Sunday, November 11

Racket

The Last Concert Cafe has glimpses from its unique history

Benefit for Pete Mayes and Hamp Simmons

A concert for under-the-weather bluesmen

Downbeat

Former drummer Ben "Scatman" Turner dies, and the heart of the jazz community skips a beat

Legacy of Gristle

Though Clarence Hollimon has passed, he lives on in his work

Love Supreme

Husband-and-wife R&B team are back in H-town

Houston Highwayman

Local Jimmy "T-99" Nelson sets the blues straight

Live at Liberty Hall

The short but storied past of Houston's legendary live music venue.

Soul Power

Houston throwback singer Leela James does it again.

A Musical Guide to Post-Secession Texas: Houston and "Brazoria"

The final installment of our Five States of Texas project brings it all back home, to the new state of Brazoria, encompassing all of Southeast Texas from the Brazos Valley to Sabine Pass. ​Patron Saint: Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. A master of rock and roll, country, Cajun/Creole, blues and jazz, n ... More >>

Listology: Nick Gaitan of the Octanes and The Umbrella Man's Favorite Female Vocalists

This is a big week for all-everything Houston bassist Nick Gaitan. Not only have his Monday-night Continental Club gigs with atomic-powered rockabilly trio the Octanes been steadily been picking up steam, his other band The Umbrella Man - which just happens to play Tuesday nights at the very same p ... More >>

He Said She Said: 10 Artists Who Never Got Their Due, Part Deux

It's the plight of every musician. You struggle and struggle to make it big in the business, only to find that even the most modest margin of fame barely comes with a modicum of respect. Even artists with a lot of influence on later, more popular musicians fall by the wayside in the annals of rock ... More >>

News On The March, White Stripes, Guitar Shorty - Rocks Off Will Be At Cactus Music All Saturday Afternoon

Just when Rocks Off was wondering how we were going to spend one of our last work-free days before SXSW, Cactus Music's weekly email circular showed up in our inbox. So now we know: We're going to be watching music. Shocker, huh? So much for laundry and shit. Here's what's going down: News on the M ... More >>

Last Night: Hole At House Of Blues

Photos by Groovehouse / Click here for a slideshow​Hole House of Blues July 6, 2010 It wasn't a train wreck. And we all had such high hopes. Courtney Love and the four-man retinue she calls Hole these days - mostly distinguishable by their wardrobe (dreadlocked drummer, Scally-capped keyboar ... More >>

Soul City: Unsung Blues Legend Joe "Guitar" Hughes

Black History Month is always a great time to recall some of Houston's greatest musical innovators and leaders. This is our final installment. ​Great Houston blues guitarists makes a long and storied list indeed, arguably headed up by Albert Collins, Lightnin' Hopkins, Johnny "Guitar" Watson ... More >>

Zoo Station: A Noah's Ark Of 75 Animal Songs

And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee ... More >>

Half a Paycheck

Dave Alvin is an inveterate troubadour and staunch advocate for Houston's blues history.

Earl Gilliam: "A Huge Loss That Can't Be Filled"

Another of Houston's unique blues treasures, the effusive, ebullient and always stylish pianist Earl Gilliam, has moved on to the big juke joint in the sky. Gilliam, 81, died peacefully this morning at his home in Tomball of advanced lung disease.

The Tedeschi Trucks Band Keeps in the Family

​Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks are married both to each other and their musical careers. She with a busy solo schedule, and he with full-time gigs fronting the Derek Trucks Band, playing guitar with the Allman Brothers Band [Derek's uncle is founding member Butch Trucks], and minor side-job ... More >>

RIP Johnny Otis, the Godfather of Rhythm and Blues

​Johnny Otis, one of the creators of rock and roll but primarily remembered as the godfather of rhythm and blues, has passed away at 90. Otis died at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Altadena. A consummate band leader and showman who was of Greek descent and changed his actual last name, ... More >>