Drive-By Truckers

Meet the 2012 HPMA Showcase Nominees: Matt Harlan

Rocks Off reached out to the artists playing this year's Houston Press Music Awards showcase Sunday, August 5, and asked them to introduce themselves. Here's what they sent back. Catch up with the other showcase nominees and see our the rest of our HPMA coverage Rocks Off: When and where was your ... More >>

Promised Land

SXSW 2012, from Bruce Springsteen to Buxton.

Survival Skills

Jason Isbell sees a glimmer of hope in his true-to-life melancholy story-songs.

On The Road Again: Bikinis And Bands At The Hangout Festival

Photos by Craig Hlavaty Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, duh.​See the bands and bikinis of the Hangout Festival in our slideshows. Imagine the Austin City Limits Music Festival or even the rapidly approaching Free Press Summer Fest on pure, white sand just feet away from a (variably) blue ocea ... More >>

Raging Moderate

Between Facebook rants, David Lowery juggles Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven and a solo project.

Last Night: Lucero At Fitzgerald's

Photos by Jim Bricker​Lucero Fitzgerald's February 23, 2011 See more amber-colored images in our slideshow. About 12:30 a.m. this morning - we know because we wrote it down - Lucero front man Ben Nichols had a question. "Is there any more whiskey left backstage?" That he had to ask at all ... More >>

Top 10 Self-Titled Debut Albums

​It wasn't until we were discussing its release this week that Rocks Off realized we're basically the same age as Led Zeppelin's debut album. Recorded in October 1968 and released the following January, Led Zeppelin is 42 years old. It suffers from some of the same ailments as all of us who r ... More >>

The Ladies Strike Back, Actually

Rocks Off is following our sister Houston Press blogs into the choppy waters of "Comment of the Day," choosing a comment or a handful of comments from the previous day we find especially enlightening, infuriating or just plain hilarious. We're glad our readers have opinions, whatever they are, about ... More >>

ACL Day 3 Recap: Eagles, Norah Jones, Wayne Coyne's Diet

Ed. Note: Updated at 1:42 p.m. to include information on Don Henley's medical condition we received from Eagles manager Irving Azoff. Photos by Marco Torres​It's just a few hours after the Eagles left the stage at this year's Austin City Limits Festival, closing out the weekend. Rocks Off mad ... More >>

Springsteen 2.0: Can Baby Bosses Cruise The Backstreets?

Daniel Kramer​This fall, Houstonians salivating for another touring run by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band don't have to search to hard to find bands heavily influenced by the man's sound and work ethic. Even though Springsteen and his merry band of musicians may be cooling their road ... More >>

Drive-By Truckers: Hard At Work And Loving Hall & Oates

UPDATE: 6 p.m.: The contest is over. Thanks for playing! Danny Clinch​Grand Funk Railroad may have got there first, but Drive-By Truckers are an American band. If not for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, for whom the Truckers opened the Midwestern leg of their summer tour, the Georgia six-piece ... More >>

Austin City Limits Festival Tickets On Sale Tomorrow At 10 A.M.

We're not saying Soundgarden is playing ACL, but you never know...​That's right. Now why would Rocks Off make something like that up? Hope you have $180 lying around and don't have any meetings or classes or anything like that tomorrow morning, because they're going to go quick. Better go ahead an ... More >>

Booker T

G.I. Blues: A Soldiers' Playlist

​Today is the anniversary of one of the truly momentous occasions in popular music: On March 23, 1958, Elvis Presley reported for induction into the U.S. Army, thus opening up a thousand alternate timelines for musical historians to formulate "What if he hadn't?" scenarios. For the next few years, ... More >>

Still Not Sold On SXSW? How About Smokey Robinson, High On Fire, She & Him, Band Of Horses, Drive-By Truckers, Deer Tick, Anya Marina, Black Angels, Major Lazer...

Today the organizers of the SXSW Music Festival announced their showcase schedule for the music portion of the industry fest starting on March 17. This is the news Rocks Off has been looking for, so let's get it on. We are now one month away from Sixth Street and one of the world's biggest conglome ... More >>

Houston 2020: The Future Is Unwritten

But hey, that's not stopping Noise.

How Texas and Alabama Match Up... Musically

​ For once, Rocks Off is grateful for this sinus-splitting headache (thanks, Mike Stinson!), because it gives us something to focus on besides the fact that we are crawling out of our skin waiting for kickoff tonight. At this point, sports pundits have analyzed the Longhorns and Crimson Tide to wi ... More >>

Live with Me

The best Houston concerts of 2009: U2, George Strait, Kid Cudi, Jandek, Peaches and even T-Pain.

Uprising

2009 wasn't a great year for albums, but songs were a different story.

Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin': The 10 Horniest Christmas Songs Ever

​The approach of Christmas presents a number of dilemmas. Should you put the moves on that hot co-worker at the holiday party? Is now really the best time to come out to your heavily Pentecostal family? And what brand of top-shelf vodka best drowns out the drone of your in-laws and the shrieks of ... More >>

George Jones

Taking That La-Z-Boy Out for a Drunken Spin? Don't Forget the Tunes!

Where are the cup holders?​As part of our court-appointed public service, we at Rocks Off don't condone driving while intoxicated. But if you must get behind the wheel after having a few, there are far worse things to be driving than a La-Z-Boy. From Yahoo! news this morning: "A Minnesota man has ... More >>

Season of the Witch

U2's awe-inspiring Reliant Stadium show prompts a search for the unknown — and unknowable — in music.

Please Help Us Give Away This Live Nation "Club Passport" We've Been Sitting on for Way Too Long

[Note: While we're on the subject of House of Blues shows, please note the Goodie Mob/Scarface concert scheduled for tonight has been rescheduled for Thursday, January 14.]www.drivebytruckers.com​Once again Rocks Off allowed ourselves to get distracted and nearly forgot we've got this Live Nation ... More >>

Rocks Off Is Going to Become a Kings of Leon Fan Today If It Kills Us

​Rocks Off has always been a little puzzled we're not more of a Kings of Leon fan. It definitely puts us in the minority when it comes to our social circle, because everyone from cranky music critics and their musician sons to, well, pretty much every female friend or acquaintance we've got is in ... More >>

The Living Bubba

Bayou Beat: A 15-Foot Sculpture of George Jones' Head, $10 House of Blues Tickets, Free Tontons Show, etc.

​Heavy metal comedy troupe Steel Panther has cancelled tonight's Warehouse Live show. What's on VH-1 Classic? Tennessee-born artist Wayne White is crafting a 15-foot puppet head in the likeness of Saratoga-born honky-tonk legend George Jones. Entitled "Big Lectric Fan to Keep Me Cool While I Sleep ... More >>

Upstairs, Downstairs: Drive-By Truckers, "The Living Bubba" and the Steep Price of Radioactive Ice Water

​After many, many years, Rocks Off is beginning to realize that it's possible to have a worthwhile musical experience nowhere near a stage. Ironically, the band responsible is Drive-By Truckers, whom we've seen live more often than probably any other save Wilco, Rev. Horton Heat and a handful of o ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Blacktop Gypsy and Shurman

Two fine bands who don't come through much are playing just blocks apart tonight. Dallas's Blacktop Gypsy will be knocking the audience out with their amazing harmonies and the virtuosity of fiddler Heather Stalling (wife of Max Stalling) and former Lake Jackson resident Rodney Pyeatt. Stalling was ... More >>

Aquarium Drunkard (Snarkily) Remembers the Fabulous Satellite Lounge

Deron NeblettThe Hollisters at the Fabulous Satellite Lounge, circa 2000For a solid decade, Washington Avenue's Fabulous Satellite Lounge was Houston's go-to spot for roots-rock, alt-country and pretty much anything else that might get covered in the late, recently resurrected online No Depression m ... More >>

MP3 of the Day: Grizzly

There's nothing better on the Fourth of July than stumbling across a new band from your hometown whose surly, punk-flavored roots-rock is as American as hot dogs and waterboarding. That's what happened to Rocks Off this past Independence Day when, while wandering around the Island taking pictures, ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Another Record Store Day at Cactus Music

Cactus Music and the Record Ranch is having another Record Store Day Saturday, with a lineup of events that borders on serious party happening. The highlight of the day will be a live appearance by red-hot San Antonio band The Krayolas (above). San Antonio's oldest and most respected rockero outfit ... More >>

Listening Room: What's Been Tickling Our Earholes Lately

As Rocks Off has noted in our periodic Mail Call entries, even though the tide of promo CDs has been greatly reduced by the digital revolution - Rocks Off can count on one finger (the middle one) the times he's actually used the streaming/download email link publicists are ever more fond of these d ... More >>

Could Alternative Country Work at the Rodeo?

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Miss Leslie Takes Top Honors in Freeform Americana Radio Awards

Miss Leslie and Her Juke-Jointers, "Yes Ma'am" Houston's own Miss Leslie Sloan of Miss Leslie and Her Jukejointers was tipped for a slew of honors in the most recent Best of 2008 voting by FAR (Freeform Americana Radio) members. She was voted Female Artist of the Year over Eliza Gilkyson and C ... More >>

The Year in Albums

Santa Baby

What a few musicians want under their trees this year

Aftermath: Drive-By Truckers at Meridian

Drive-By Truckers, A to Z

Alabama Ass Whuppin'

Whither Southern Rock?

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Justin Townes Earle, Dustin Welch and Jubal Lee Young Crawl Out of the Shadows

Bettye LaVette's an old soul, through and through

Big State, Big Ideas

Bettye LaVette, The Scene of the Crime

www.bettyelavette.com

The Drams

The Drams perform Thursday, January 18, at the Engine Room, 1515 Pease, 713-654-7846.

Endangered Songbirds

The Wrens survived a near-decade of depression, debacle and disaster

Young Gun

Collin Herring hits somewhere between Merle Haggard and Hüsker Dü -- and that's a good place to be

Americana Pie

Grab a slice of 2004's best roots music while it's still hot

Americana Pie

Grab a slice of 2004's best roots music while it's still hot

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Greendale (Warner Bros.)