Butch Hancock

The Best Concerts In Houston This Weekend: Mydolls, Bang Bangz, Ferry Corsten, etc.

Mydolls, Vacation Eyes, Hearts of Animals Walters, March 22 Although they lost guitarist Kathy Johnston to leukemia in 2011 -- an illness that prompted the band to record the song "Don't Fucking Die" -- there's always reason to smile when the Mydolls book a gig. The band started by Trish Herrera an ... More >>

The Best Concerts In Houston This Weekend

Terry Allen McGonigel's Mucky Duck, January 19 It doesn't take long to notice that country-folk musicians from Lubbock are a little different. Whether it's all that flat surrounding them, the supposed UFO visits, or something else, they always seem a little more metaphysical than their peers. With ... More >>

Terry Allen

20 Essential Texas Albums From 2012

One of the quiet pleasures of (finally) putting 2012 to bed is mop-up duty. All year, I tried to keep a running list of albums released by Texas-based or Texas-related performers that I enjoyed listening to. Sunday night, I tallied them up. For some reason, besides that we've already handled the ye ... More >>

Behold the Texas 30, Plus Albums 40-31

At this point, hopefully you know what the Texas 30 is and why Rocks Off is counting down to the Top 30 Texas albums of the past 30 years, as determined by a statewide panel of professional music writers. The short answer is, of course, because we can, and because it was a great excuse to listen to ... More >>

10 Doug Sahm/Sir Douglas Quintet Albums You Need to Own

Tonight at the Continental Club, Austin's Freddie Steady 5 will head up a tribute to the late Doug Sahm focusing on Sahm's 2000 album The Return of Wayne Douglas, which he recorded only a few months before dying of a heart attack in November 1999. La Porte native Freddie Krc, leader of the 5, has ju ... More >>

The First Alt-Country Record? Flatlanders Rediscover The Odessa Tapes

A lot of stellar music came out of that flat land known as West Texas. Bob Wills, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, Terry Allen, Guy Clark, and the Sparkles are just a few artists who found something in the wind, the dust, the heat, the cactus, the mesquite, the sandstorms, the blizzards, t ... More >>

Which Texas Musicians Would Get Page 1 New York Times Obits?

Like it or not, death is an inevitable part of the news cycle. A big part of the news cycle, most of the time. Look at Tony Scott, Phyllis Diller and... wait, what time is it now? Rocks Off is not trying to be flippant at all here, because we had our own brush with the reaper less than a year ago: ... More >>

The Flatlanders

Capsule Art Reviews: "Collections: Annual HSPVA Juried Show", "Dan Kopp: TIMEAWAY" and "Josh Bernstein: Galveston", Hardbodies, Marc Swanson: The Second Story, Mitch Dobrowner: New Work, Musicians Who Make Art

Capsule Stage Reviews: Arline Fisch: Creatures from the Deep, Hardbodies, "Liz Hickok: Jiggling Geography", Lynda Benglis: Glass Masks, Marc Swanson: The Second Story, "Mitch Dobrowner: New Work", "Musicians Who Make Art"

Capsule Art Reviews: "The Clearing — Joey Fauerso" "Exurb: Input/Output" "George Gittoes: Witness to War" "Jenny Schlief Stock Photography: From the Woman Series" "Liz Hickok: Jiggling Geography" "Mitch Dobrowner: New Work" "Musicians Who Make Ar

Capsule Art Reviews: "The Clearing — Joey Fauerso" "Exurb: Input/Output" "George Gittoes: Witness to War" "Jenny Schlief Stock Photography: From the Woman Series" "Mitch Dobrowner: New Work" "Musicians Who Make Art"

Capsule Art Reviews: "The Clearing — Joey Fauerso," "Evergreen: Original Contemporary Prints," "Exurb: Input/Output," "George Gittoes: Witness to War," "Jackie Gendel: Fables in Slang," "Jenny Schlief Stock Photography: From the Woman Series"

Capsule Art Reviews: "Evergreen: Original Contemporary Prints" "George Gittoes: Witness to War" "Jackie Gendel: Fables in Slang" "Just Press Print!" "Musicians Who Make Art" "Voodoo Pop: Mary Hayslip and Trey Speegle"

Capsule Art Reviews: "George Gittoes: Witness to War" "Jackie Gendel: Fables in Slang" "Musicians Who Make Art" "Nathan Green: Fill the Sky" "Perspectives 174: Re: Generation" "Voodoo Pop: Mary Hayslip and Trey Speegle"

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 >>

Out Today: Arctic Monkeys Suck It And See, Black Lips Get Cosmic, Joe Ely Satisfied At Last

​This week of new releases brings a Mark Ronson-produced Black Lips album, the country debut of psychobilly idol Nick 13, an inventive career-spanning set from Randy Travis, and another Arctic Monkeys album, continuing their interesting progression from Brit garage brats into muscular rockers ... More >>

iFest's Second Weekend Brings It All Back Home

Jason WolterTexas Connection: Joe Ely, Lucinda Williams and Townes Van Zandt (not pictured)​See lots more iFest pictures from Saturday and Sunday (and some food) in our slideshows. Yes, it was hot at iFest this weekend. Houston hot. Sunday afternoon, partway through Lucinda Williams' surprisi ... More >>

Bobby Keys: iFest Nabs Rolling Stones Sax Maniac

The Rolling StonesBobby Keys takes an Exile on Main Street breather, Nellcote, France, 1971​Born in Lubbock and raised just east in Slaton, Joe Ely's home town, saxophonist Bobby Keys left Lubbock in 1960 looking for kicks. At 14, he was playing with Bob Dylan influence, Bobby Vee, before movi ... More >>

“Musicians Who Make Art”

Friday Night: Joe Ely Band At Rockefeller Hall

Photos by Jason Wolter​Joe Ely Band Rockefeller Hall February 11, 2011 Saturday night, almost exactly 24 hours after the Joe Ely Band's triumphant return to Rockefeller's Rockefeller Hall, Aftermath and a friend were chatting on Facebook about Houston's current bumper crop of up-and-coming in ... More >>

Joe Ely's Top Five Live Shots, By iFest's Rick Mitchell

Jason WolterJoe Ely (left) and David Grissom at iFest 2010​Next Friday, Feb. 11, the Joe Ely Band returns to Rockefeller Hall for the first time in more than a decade, since the legendary Washington Avenue showcase club stopped presenting live music to focus on the less risky business of priva ... More >>

Butch Hancock, Flatlanders Still Chasing The Horizon

​Pound for pound, Rocks Off's choice for greatest living Texas songwriter is Butch Hancock, who happens to play in the same band as his closest competition for that title - old Lubbock buddies and fellow Flatlanders Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. At McGonigel's Mucky Duck over Labor Day week ... More >>

Upcoming: Girl Talk, Kesha, Styx, Walkmen, Etc.

​Bad Boy Bill: Fri., Nov. 26. Rich's Houston. The Batusis, Zipperneck, Blower, Chelsea Hotel: Fri., Dec. 10. Mango's. Girl Talk: Thu., Jan. 13. House of Blues.

Saturday Night: Butch Hancock & Jimmie Dale Gilmore At The Mucky Duck

Photos by Jason Wolter​Butch Hancock & Jimmie Dale Gilmore McGonigel's Mucky Duck August 4, 2010 Even with a cover charge, spending an evening with Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, who have known each other for so long and written so many songs enshrined in the Texas-music pantheon, fee ... More >>

The Gulf Coast At iFest: Joe Ely's Rattlesnake Rock, Soulful Latinology, Voodoo Brass And Creole Zydeco

Over the next two weeks, Rocks Off will be previewing acts performing at this year's Houston International Festival Saturday and Sunday and April 24-25 broken down by genre (loosely, anyway) and with a guest pick from a true insider: iFest Director of Performing Arts Rick Mitchell. We're doubling up ... More >>

A Musical Guide to Post-Secession Texas: "Palo Duro"

View Five States of Texas in a larger map As any proud Texan can tell you, the Lone Star State is entitled constitutionally to split into five states if it so wishes. The scenario has rarely been more in the news than it has relatively recently, when Gov. Rick Perry played to the wingnut gallery in ... More >>

This Just In: The Flatlanders Cancel Cactus In-Store Gig

This morning word came from Cactus Music, via a quick MySpace bulletin, that the Flatlanders' in-store performance set for Saturday afternoon has been cancelled. No reason was given for the band backing out of the midday appearance. The roots-rock supergroup, made up of Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmor ... More >>

The Flatlanders: Hills & Valleys

Graham Weber

Settling in Austin by way of Los Angeles and a broken heart, this singer/songwriter is making a name for himself in Americana circles

Joe Ely

One of the original kings of alt-country is experiencing a renaissance

Unknown Legend

Roots renegade Joe Ely never achieved pop stardom, but that's all right by him...sorta

Joe Ely and Double Trouble

Joe Ely performs on Thursday, December 28, at Fitzgerald's, 2706 White Oak, 713-862-3838.

Joe Ely

Friday, June 9, at McGonigel's Mucky Duck, 2524 Norfolk, 713-528-5999

Jimmie Dale Gilmore

Thursday, May 26, at Zilkha Hall in the Hobby Center, 800 Bagby, 713-313-2525.

The Flatlanders

Saturday, February 28

Bill Chambers

Saturday, August 3

Roundabout Way

Cornell Hurd finally finds his musical niche

Texas Music 1998: The Year That Wasn't

Night & Day

April 23 - 29, 1998

Rotation

Leaving the Country

Jimmie Dale Gilmore broadens his horizons -- and if he's lucky, his listeners'

Rotation

Guit-in' Down

Postmarked Texas

Joe Ely sends a sad, beautiful Letter to Laredo

Border Songs

Ely, Allen and BBQ: The next best thing to Lubbock

Folk Hero

Press Picks