Gary Clark

Houston Artists Up For Some Big Blues Awards Tonight

Blues artists -- like real, legitimate rhythm-and-blues players -- aren't in the headlines very often these days. But whenever they are, Rocks Off is both happy and proud to point out that unlike most other places, Houston still has quite a few of them, many of whom continue to do excellent work. T ... More >>

The Best Concerts In Houston This Week: All Local Edition (No Foolin')

DJ Sun The Flat, April 1 Now that some of the well-deserved publicity surrounding DJ Sun's first-ever full-length release, One Hundred, has subsided a little, his true accomplishment on the disc seems even more impressive. In the span of 70 minutes, he pours his 20-plus-year career as one of Housto ... More >>

Lightnin' Hopkins Finally Wins a Grammy

It took the Texas Historical Society long enough to appropriately recognize Houston bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins, but not as long as the Grammys. As part of the run-up to Sunday night's 55th annual Grammy Awards, its governing body the Recording Academy announced that Hopkins, who died in 1982, will ... More >>

Texas Blues Hero Jimmie Vaughan Recovering After Heart Attack

Guitarist Jimmie Vaughan, a founding member of the Fabulous Thunderbirds and one of the nation's leading solo blues artists, has been discharged from a California hospital after being treated for a heart attack, according to a statement from his management Thursday morning. Gretchen Barber, Executi ... More >>

Jazz Fest Scores With Willie, John Mayer, Frank Ocean, Fleetwood Mac, Patti Smith, etc.

Well, I never thought that I would have John Mayer and Patti Smith together in the same headline with Willie Nelson and Frank Ocean, but that's why I kinda love New Orleans Jazz Fest 2013, whose lineup was released earlier this morning. Rewind: A Texican in New Orleans: Lessons Learned from Jazz F ... More >>

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 >>

The 30 Best Texas Albums

Ranking the 30 best Texas albums of the past 30 years seemed like an impossible task. We did it anyway.

Paul Ramirez Band

Business as Usual at Music Town CDs & Records, Since 1979

When James May unlocks the doors to Music Town each day at noon, his little shop on Stuebner Airline across from Klein High School is mainly filled with CDs, new and used vinyl and an enormous amount of cassettes. When he first opened the shop in 1979, the sign actually said "Music Town Records and ... More >>

Shemekia Copeland: Never Count Out the Blues

She's never lived here, but Shemekia Copeland is Houston blues royalty all the same. Her late father Johnny Clyde Copeland was one of the guitar princes of the Third Ward scene from the '50s to the mid-'70s, lighting up clubs like Shady's Playhouse alongside Albert Collins, Joe "Guitar" Hughes, John ... More >>

ACL 2012: Sunday's 10 Best & Funniest Moments at Zilker

The rains came early on Sunday morning, but by the time the ACL opened up for business before noon, there was hardly a cloud in the sky, making for an extremely warm and muddy day. The biggest acts of the day -- Red Hot Chili Peppers, Iggy & the Stooges, Crystal Castles, and the Avett Brothers -- he ... More >>

5 Bands to Avoid & 5 Bands to See at This Year's ACL

If you are lucky enough to be going to ACL this weekend, you have no doubt been sitting in front of your concert schedule plotting your movements for this coming weekend. Alternately if you are missing out on ACL, a lot of the bands playing have been through Houston lately, or will be in town this ... More >>

10 More Things I'll Be Doing at ACL Festival This Weekend

That's right folks, it's ACL Music Festival time again in Texas, and Rocks Off will be flying to Austin on the private Rocks Off jet this weekend to cover the fest from Friday until the last notes of "Give It Away" at the end of the Red Hot Chili Peppers set on Sunday night. That's my way of telli ... More >>

#MadeInAmerica: The Heat, Crowds & Fireworks of Day 1

Rewind: #MadeInAmerica: Translation's Steve Stoute Talks Diversity, Honesty, and The Digital Revolution "If you put on a festival full of good music, people will find you". That was advertising executive and Jay-Z inner circle member Steve Stoute's answer to my question regarding the who/what/why ... More >>

#MadeInAmerica: Translation's Steve Stoute Talks Diversity, Honesty, and The Digital Revolution

This Labor Day holiday weekend in Philadelphia, Jay-Z is teaming up with Budweiser and Live Nation to curate the initial and inaugural Made In America Music Festival, a two-day, multi-genre event featuring acts such as Pearl Jam, Skrillex, Santigold, and Gary Clark Jr, and features the return of D'A ... More >>

Rocks Off's 2012 ACL Festival Houston Spillover Sweepstakes

This week has seen a temporary lull in festival season, after Bonnaroo and Electric Daisy Carnival this past weekend. Wait. Never mind. According to musicfestivaljunkies.com (who are these people?), three of them start today: BamaJam in Enterprise, Ala.; The Friendly Gathering in Windham, Vt.; and ... More >>

Top 10 Things to Expect at ACL Fest This Year

The Austin City Limits Music Festival burned the midnight oil overnight, announcing the 2012 lineup at precisely 12:01 a.m. Mercifully, all the rumor-spreading and speculation is now at an end and people can either go about the business of buying $200 three-day passes or shutting the hell up about R ... More >>

ACL 2012 Rumors: 10 Bands That Could Make the Cut (No, Not Radiohead)

Before we begin, Radiohead is in Europe for the duration of this year's Austin City Limits Music Festival. They will not fly 12 hours to play a field in Austin. Ah, it just wouldn't be May without ACL rumors running rampant. Rocks Off is guilty every year of stoking the fire, sometimes just one day ... More >>

A Texican In New Orleans: Lessons Learned From Jazz Fest

This past weekend was the last for this year's edition of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which started way back on April 27. The festival runs over two weekends, usually Thursday through Sunday. Obviously since it is a uniquely Nawlins institution going back to 1970, it's not a festival t ... More >>

Promised Land

SXSW 2012, from Bruce Springsteen to Buxton.

The Best of SXSW Music: Thursday 3/15/2012

If you're familiar with chaos theory, which in its basic form is the attempt to find patterns in the random acts of shit on Earth, then you may understand the difficulty that comes with describing a full day at SXSW. To break down the bright, scintillating chaos, Village Voice Media's roving music e ... More >>

Distant Early Warning: Social Distortion, Gary Clark Jr., Melvins, Girls, Maná, De La Soul

Photo By Jim BrickerBobby Womack onstage with Gorillaz in October 2010 at Toyota Center​2 Chainz, Paul Wall, Propain: Thu., March 1. Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, Houston. Anvil, Rotting Corpse, Metavenge, Fallacy: Thu., Feb. 9. Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, Houston. Asleep At The Whee ... More >>

Touch the Sky

The 2011 Austin City Limits Music Festival in exactly 12 paragraphs.

ACL: Molly's Revenge & Other Encounters

Jim BrickerColdplay: Also with the pretty lights.​A Zilker field. As Friday's shadows lengthened, a young woman - tall, pale, boots - approached Rocks Off. "Are you going to Pretty Lights?" "I don't think so." "Why not?" "I don't know." "Do you know where I can get some Molly?" "Uhhh... ... More >>

Five ACL '11 Bands That Could Headline In 2012

Jim BrickerSmith Westerns at Fitz in February​This Thursday night, Rocks Off leaves for the 2011 Austin City Limits Music Festival at Austin's Zilker Park. This year promises to be a hot one, from the killer temperatures, the constant wildfires just miles from the venue, and the mouth of Frida ... More >>

Upcoming: Black Angels, Dolly Parton, J. Cole, Mates Of State, Etc.

​Aaron Neville: Sun., Dec. 11. House of Blues. Carbon Leaf, Alpha Rev: Wed., Oct. 26. Fitzgerald's. Between The Buried And Me, Animals As Leaders: Thu., Nov. 17. House of Blues. Gunslinger, Black Queen Speaks, Sheila Swift, Tyburn Jig, Tyranny Of Bella: VIP ROOM., Sat., Sept. 10. Verizon W ... More >>

Discovery Green Lands Roots-Rock Royalty For Free Fall Concerts

Jason WolterTexas Tornados at Discovery Green, September 2010​A return engagement from Tex-Mex supergroup the Texas Tornados, reunited (after a fashion) roots-rock polymaths NRBQ - now featuring a former Houstonian on drums - and the honky-tonk hero who told Tiger Airways a thing or two highli ... More >>

ACL Fest Schedule Released; Your Guide To The "Death Duels"

Stevie Wonder on FacebookStevie Wonder: Even My Morning Jacket will be watching.​This morning, the organizers of the Austin City Limits Music Festival announced the schedule for the September 16-18 Zilker Park throwdown. We all knew there would be some tough choices, but Rocks Off found that w ... More >>

Gary Clark Jr.

The Bourgeois Gospels Preach To The Congregation

Each Wednesday (or thereabouts), Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to sheaserrano@gmail.com. ​General ... More >>

A Dream Austin City Limits Weekend For Houston

Craig HlavatyColdplay at The Woodlands, July 2009​Summer is creeping in, which means the fall concert calendars are filling up fast, and we should know which Austin City Limits Music Festival artists will book side dates in our area sooner rather than later. The standard disclaimer: Rocks Off ... More >>

Upcoming: Aretha Franklin, Blink-182, Kyuss Lives!, Etc.

​Agnostic Front, The Mongoloids: Mon., Sept. 19. Walter's On Washington. Amon Amarth: Fri., Aug. 26. House of Blues. Aretha Franklin: Tue., June 14. Arena Theatre. blink-182, My Chemical Romance, Matt & Kim: Mon., Sept. 26. Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Buxton: Fri., July 8. McGonigel' ... More >>

Aftermath: Derek Trucks Band at House of Blues

Photos by Craig HlavatyAt its best, music has a deeply spiritual quality, an ability to create some connection on a higher level between performer and audience that even someone with a bust of Madalyn Murray O'Hair on their mantle can get on board with. Thursday night at House of Blues, Derek ... More >>

2008 in Texas Albums and Local EPs

Honeydripper Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

SXSW Last Night: Houston Hijacks the Austin Music Awards

Carrie Ann & the Apocalyptics