Brad Paisley

How to Spot Hollywood’s Nonthreatening Black Man (NTBM)

So About This Idiotic "Accidental Racist" Song...

So somewhere along the line, a very strange, slightly racist, and incredibly awkward brainchild -- aptly named "Accidental Racist" -- appeared to Brad Paisley and LL Cool J. Instead of shoving that idea into the box labeled "Hell no," they decided to record it and put it out into the universe for al ... More >>

First Taylor Swift, Now Carrie Underwood

It's going to be a blonde spring, when it comes to wholesome country-pop role models touring through Houston. Days after Taylor Swift announced Houston will be part of her upcoming "Red" tour on May 16 (venue TBD), Carrie Underwood's Web site unveiled the dates of her 40-city spring 2013 outing beh ... More >>

4:50 a.m.: The 15 Best Fishing Songs We Could Find

Rocks Off never thought we'd say this, but the country eye candy behind "Pretty Good at Drinkin' Beer," Billy Currington, turned out to be pretty wise. He was smart enough to record the song "Bad Day of Fishin'" anyway, which contains the sage advice "a bad day of fishing beats a good day of anythin ... More >>

Hank Williams Jr.'s Top 10 Patriotic Lyrics

As 2012 reaches the halfway point, one of the most gratifying musical comebacks has been none other than Bocephus himself, Hank Williams Jr. It's not a very long list, either - the Beach Boys, Fiona Apple, and now the late-breaking Blur; we're still not sure Chris Brown and Beach House count as "com ... More >>

Who's Got the Power?: The Musicians On Forbes's Most Powerful Celebrities List

Fame and fortune might not be the ultimate goal for every person to ever write a song or learn an instrument, but it is for a lot of people out there. It would be lovely to believe that music is done 100% of the time for the "right" reasons, but most of us are cynical enough to know otherwise. Some ... More >>

Darrell Scott: Loving Life Way Outside The Nashville Mainstream

Since moving to Nashville in 1995, 52-year-old Darrell Scott has had a career most who take that Hillbilly Highway to Music City USA would envy. A triple-threat talent, Scott was for years a session warhorse, a guy who could play about anything with strings on it as well as possessing a fantastic ea ... More >>

Bonna-What?: How 7 U.S. Music Festivals Got Their Names

This whole week, the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, featuring the Black Keys, Radiohead, Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg, Pulp, At the Drive-In, the Shins, AVICII, David Guetta and maybe one or two others, will be all anyone who follows music these days will be talking about. Then early next week, it' ... More >>

15 Things Rocks Off Learned Watching The ACM Awards

Sunday nights, I usually like to watch The Amazing Race after 60 Minutes. I don't usually watch much reality television at all, but something about the combination of total incompetence, vicious backstabbing and exotic locales as several, two-person teams race around the globe is completely intoxica ... More >>

Hanging At The Hideout: Country Comes To Town At The Rodeo

This was my first rodeo. Before Friday I had never been to a rodeo let alone the rodeo. While I might have been there to cover the post-rodeo entertainment, it was also my chance to get the full rodeo experience. Compare me to the food critic excited about Olive Garden coming to town if you must, ... More >>

Saturday Night: Brad Paisley At Reliant Stadium

Brad Paisley RodeoHouston, Reliant Stadium March 17, 2012 Brad Paisley is an easy guy to hate. He is talented in a way that seems effortless: Whether it's writing catchy hooks, laying down solid guitar solos, or making silly jokes, everything he does seems to come easy. It would make me sick if he ... More >>

Last Night: Alan Jackson At Reliant Stadium

Alan Jackson RodeoHouston, Reliant Stadium March 18, 2012 Be sure to check out our slideshow of Alan Jackson and the final day of RodeoHouston. By the time Alan Jackson's 2012 RodeoHouston season-closing show was over, his missing moustache already had its own Twitter account. No, it was not I who ... More >>

Last Night: Blake Shelton At Reliant Stadium

Blake Shelton RodeoHouston, Reliant Stadium March 7, 2012 See more pictures from Wednesday's rodeo in our . Blake Shelton could very well be the Vince Vaughn of modern country music. Or is that Brad Paisley? No, I think Brad Paisley is the Paul Rudd and that would make someone like Jason Aldean th ... More >>

2012 RodeoHouston Lineup Features ZZ Top, Train, Kid Rock, John Legend, Enrique Iglesias

The Houston Livestock And Rodeo continues it's march it's non-country waters with today's musical announcement, with Houston's own ZZ Top (March 8), Train (March 16), Kid Rock (February 29), John Legend (March 2), and Enrique Iglesias (March 6) topping the pop and rock segment of this year's bill. ... More >>

Rodeo Houston Announces First Four Performers

Photo by Marco TorresZac Brown Band will be on the list of Rodeo Houston 2012 performers.​Yeehaw. It's not even December, but it's apparently time to talk rodeo. This is Texas, after all, and boots are in season, even if in Houston you're more likely to see Prada than cowboy despite what north ... More >>

Top Five Cannibal Country Songs

​Songs about singers and other songs has long been one of Rocks Off's favorite fields of study within the wide-ranging curriculum of popular music. Off the very tippy-top of our heads, ABC's "When Smokey Sings," the Replacements' "Alex Chilton" and the Pogues' "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda ... More >>

Out Today: Other Things Besides Born This Way... Seriously

​This past weekend was magical, what with Rocks Off finally getting to see Foo Fighters play songs from Wasting Light and all. You may remember that we have been wanking over Light since it came out in April, but it's really good. Best rock album of the year? Maybe, unless Jack White or Josh H ... More >>

Idol Beat: Democracy Doesn't Work

So, professor: would you say it's time for everyone to panic?​Well, I feel like an idiot. Flush with victory over my (sole) successful pick of the season in (finally) getting Jacob's booting correct, I was confident that James Durbin had the right combination of talent and appeal to the ladie ... More >>

Saturday Night: Brad Paisley At RodeoHouston

Photos courtesy of Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo​Brad Paisley Reliant Stadium March 19, 2011 Aside from the fireworks, there was no grand entrance for Brad Paisley, who practically ran to the stage later than usual for a Saturday night at RodeoHouston. He had no time for chit-chat as he dove ... More >>

Rodeo Houston Sets Attendance Records

Photo courtesy of the Houston Livestock Show and RodeoBrad Paisley brought 'em in Saturday night.​The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo set an attendance record this year with 2,262,834 total visitors including a single-night record of 150,948. That same night, the rodeo recorded its third high ... More >>

KISS, Kid Rock, Janet Jackson Head 2011 Rodeo Lineup

​KISS, Janet Jackson and Kid Rock head the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo's 2011 concert schedule, which the rodeo announced earlier Monday morning. Among the other 13 entertainers rounding out this year's lineup are recent rodeo stalwarts Alan Jackson, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw and Lady Antebe ... More >>

Plus-Size Songs For Those Post-Holiday Pounds

​One of the reasons Lonesome Onry and Mean's local waterhole is our local waterhole is its excellent, eclectic, even exotic jukebox. There's truly something for everyone. For the novices and/or narrow-minded, there are easy defaults like Willie Nelson & Family's Live, the Stones' Exile on Mai ... More >>

Miranda Lambert Added To Rodeo's 2011 Lineup

Trace Adkins, Martina McBride, Hideout schedule also announced ​Miranda Lambert, the Lindale native currently nominated for five Grammys, including four for her album Revolution, will return to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo March 16 at Reliant Stadium, the rodeo announced this morning. ... More >>

Fired Up

Self-proclaimed dad-rockers Bright Men of Learning urge Houstonians to look in their own backyard.

Rodeo 2011: Sugarland, Zac Brown Band, Selena Gomez...

​The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo announced the first four entertainers for its 2011 season, scheduled for March 1-20, 2011 in Reliant Stadium: Sugarland (March 3); Selena Gomez (March 6); Zac Brown Band (March 17); and Brad Paisley (March 19) You were expecting Arcade Fire, perhaps? Onc ... More >>

How Much Does Houston Like Rush? A Lot.

Photos by Groovehouse/ Click link for a slideshowRush's Geddy Lee: "Hmmm... looks like a sellout to me."​Rush's "Time Machine" tour was well-named in more ways than one. Not only did the Canadian trio perform 1981's Moving Pictures in its entirety, but the tour transported the concert industry ... More >>

"Monkey With Arthritis": Top 10 Cattiest Musician Insults

​Think of Tony Bennett and you'll probably picture the kindly older gentleman crooning "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" and any number of other pop standards, or perhaps the guy who upstaged Alec Baldwin as "Anthony Benedetto" (his birth name) on a 2006 episode of Saturday Night Live, turnin ... More >>

Aftermath: Brad Paisley, Honorary Houstonian, Keeps His Feet At The Rodeo

Photos courtesy of Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™​ In front of what looked liked a Super Nintendo rendition of country life, Brad Paisley put on quite possibly the best performance of RodeoHouston this year. The country singer knows how to bring a crowd to its feet and had no trouble connecti ... More >>

Rocks Off's Rodeo Concert Guide: Brad "Not Jake Gyllenhaal" Paisley

Date: March 11 Name: Brad Paisley AKA: "Isn't That Jake Gyllenhaal?" Genre: Freemason country Best Known Song(s): "Alcohol," "She's Everything," "Ticks," "Ow, My Back" Key Demographic: Confused Brokeback Mountain fans, people who only eat the vanilla section of Neapolitan ice cream Previous HLSR A ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Nashville Veteran Has A Few Issues With Paper's Country Music Poll

Some people are downright up in arms about the Nashville Scene's Best of Country Music poll. One of LOM's correspondents who went ballistic is a longtime Nashville musician and producer. To say he thinks the whole argument that Brad Paisley and Miranda Lambert deserve to be winners because they are ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Nashville Scene Critics' Poll Lauds Brad Paisley's So-Called Edginess

Lonesome Onry and Mean didn't vote in Houston Press ex-sister paper Nashville Scene's annual Best of Country Music poll, but that doesn't mean we won't comment on the results. This year's poll essentially boils down to the Big Four: Brad Paisley, Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert and Jamey Johnson. Com ... More >>

RodeoHouston 2010 Entertainer Lineup Includes Mary J. Blige, Black Eyed Peas, Justin Bieber and Some Country Folks You Can Probably Guess

​Monday morning, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo announced the remainder of its Reliant Stadium entertainment calendar for this year's rodeo, which begins March 2. Debuting on Reliant's revolving stage this year are Jason Aldean (March 6) and Texans the Eli Young Band (March 19). Returning fr ... More >>

RodeoHouston Announces Dierks Bentley, Rascal Flatts and Gary Allan Dates Next March

​The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo announced three more performers for its 2010 concert series Monday morning, joining the previously announced Jonas Brothers (March 7), Tim McGraw (March 8), Brad Paisley (March 11) and Brooks & Dunn (March 20) dates. The performers announced Monday morning ... More >>

It's Brodeo Time! RodeoHouston Announces Jonas Brothers, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley and Brooks & Dunn for 2010

Daniel KramerThe Jonas Brothers at RodeoHouston 2009​ Monday morning, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo announced the first four entertainers next March's musical entertainment at Reliant Stadium. Jonas Brothers, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, and Brooks & Dunn have all been tapped to perform at ... More >>

George Strait

Not Too Late for Half Price Live Nation Tickets

Rocks Off meant to post this as part of "Bayou Beat" Tuesday, but we got so excited about seeing Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten - which is excellent, especially if you like campfires - that, well, we forgot. Luckily, this week's Live Nation "All In" ticket deal requires minimal explanation: b ... More >>

Hell on Earth

Long Island hardcore quartet This Is Hell thrashes till the sun goes down.

Distant Early Warning: Avant, Brad Paisley, Fear, King Sunny Ade, Ra Ra Riot and More

Avant, Mateo:  Thu., Aug. 13. House of Blues. Babyface, Frankie Beverly & Maze: Sat., Nov. 7. Reliant Arena. Brad Paisley: Fri., Sept. 11. Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Candlebox, Earshot: Mon., July 6. House of Blues. Celtic Thunder: Tue., Nov. 17. Verizon Wireless Theater. Datarock: T ... More >>

Creep Show

O Pioneers!!! turns growing up into unrelenting punk rock.

Don't Ever Count Britney Out — Just Like These Others.

Back in Black

Aftermath: Hank III & Assjack at Meridian

Photos by Daniel Kramer/ Click here for a slideshowRight now there are about 1,000 people in the Greater Houston area nursing crippling hangovers, and Aftermath is right proud to be among their ranks. Must've been the pills I took. No, wait, that's not it. Pretty sure it was the whiskey. And ... More >>

Music's Ickiest of the Icky, Circa 2008

Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

More Ike-Related Music News

Just How Texan are Hayes Carll and Miranda Lambert?

Giddyup!: Full RodeoHouston Lineup Announced

Country Music Awards

Down-Home Delights

Ten of the best from Nashville and elsewhere

David Allan Coe

Friday, September 2, at Texas Tumbleweeds, 13101 Kuykendahl, 281-872-7829.

Brad Paisley

Time Well Wasted

Various Artists

Sharp Dressed Men: A Tribute to ZZ Top (RCA)