Big Mama Thornton

Houston Blues Museum Pushes For a Place of Its Own

The Houston Blues Museum is hoping to jump-start its campaign for a permanent home for its growing collection of recordings and other artifacts related to the city's rich blues history, which the foundation behind it hopes will become everything from a community center to a tourist attraction. Thi ... More >>

The 5 Best Shows In Houston This Week: Victor Wooten, Merchandise, etc.

Victor Wooten San Jacinto College Central Victor Wooten is the kind of musician who leaves other musicians, especially bass players, in awe. One of his four older brothers taught Wooten the four-string arts at age three, and he's gone on to a distinguished career that includes stints with both jazz ... More >>

''Blues in All Its Colors''

Women On Top: 10 Female Artists We're Way Into Right Now

March is Women's History Month, and Rocks Off has been thinking a lot lately about the indelible contributions to popular music made by women over the last few decades. After all, where would Elvis Presley be if it weren't for Big Mama Thornton? Probably still dead, we guess, but you get the point. ... 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, Veliot ... More >>

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-jobs with t ... More >>

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.

Half a Paycheck

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

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

Soul Power

Houston throwback singer Leela James does it again.

Live at Liberty Hall

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

The Mighty Stef

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 >>

Jill Scott

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

Overnight Express: Simply Red Does Bobby "Blue" Bland

Houston Musical Landmarks and the I.Am.We Collective

RIP, Rory Miggins

The Houston 100: From Scarface to Robert Earl Keen

Glory Days

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

Pack Fair & Square

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

Racket

The Last Concert Cafe has glimpses from its unique history

Overblown and Underrated

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

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

Internalizing the Blues

Blowing His Own Horn

Teddy Remembered

Rotation

Static

Get It While You Can

Jerry Ragavoy and the ghost of Janis Joplin

Static

Where Ya Been, Ms. Lynn?

Critic's Choice

Lovett Again

Rotation