Subject: George Strait

• Cowboy Up

  February 28, 2007

• Country Music Awards

  May 16, 2007

• A Stopover in Strait Country

  April 9, 2008

• The Wayback Machine: 15, 10 and Five Years Ago in Houston Music

  June 3, 2008

• XM Nation: Catching Up and Moving On

  September 8, 2008

• Texans Score 30 Grammy Nominations

  Allison Krauss, Robert Plant and T-Bone Burnett (far right) Texas artists landed 30 nominations in 20 categories when the contenders for the 51st annual Grammy Awards were announced today, including all five nominees for Best Tejano Album and four of the five Best Norteno Album contenders. All of this year's nominations are in what pols would call down-ballot categories, though. The only Texan up for any of the four major awards - Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year, Best

  December 4, 2008

• Things That Make Us Feel Old: The Year 1989

  "Hey Ladies" As another year begins, record labels start unleashing commemorative editions of classic albums to take advantage of anniversaries of release dates and more importantly, yo' money. We already got wind of the impending Pearl Jam reissues a few weeks back. Now we get word that the Beastie Boys polished up their sampling-as-art opus Paul's Boutique for re-release on January 27. The new edition of the 1989 classic was lovingly remastered by the Beasties, and will include expanded artw

  January 8, 2009

• Rotation

  August 7, 1997

• Rotation

  March 26, 1998

• Outside Looking In

  May 14, 1998

• Judge Not The Two-Step, Lest Ye Be Judged

  Yeah, so we judged a Texas Two-Step dancing contest last night.That's pretty much the equivalent of Sarah Palin judging a Dance Salad festival, but we tried.You know it's bad when the only song you recognize in the half-dozen or so tunes in the warm-up is George Strait's "Love Without End, Amen," and that's only because you can pretty clearly make out the words "love without end, amen" in the chorus. But Reliant Energy, which sponsored the event, seems to have faith in your ability to determ

  February 26, 2009

• Hill Country

  June 4, 1998

• Rotation

  June 4, 1998

• Rotation

  October 1, 1998

• Happy April Fool's Day: Fools in Popular Music

  Photo illustration by John Seaborn Gray In the Tarot, "The Fool is the spirit in search of experience. He represents the mystical cleverness bereft of reason within us, the childlike ability to tune into the inner workings of the world." Hat sold separately.As you've hopefully been able to tell from our previous two entries (and yes, we were KIDDING about both of them), Rocks Off has been having some fun with April Fool's Day today. According to Wikipedia - unless, you know, they're joki

  April 1, 2009

• Christmas Songwriters Showcase

  December 20, 2007

• Playbill

  July 15, 2004

• Gene Watson, In a Perfect World

  CD Review

  September 27, 2007

• Jamey Johnson

  June 4, 2009

• TUMBLEWEED TEXAS

  AMARETTO SOUR

  August 30, 2007

• Jim Lauderdale

  Jim Lauderdale performs Tuesday, November 28, at McGonigel's Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk, 713-528-5999.

  November 23, 2006

• Never Go to a Party in Friendswood

  Where does your town rank in the Houston-area good-taste stakes?

  February 2, 2006

• He's Gone Country

  The Nightfly tries out as the next Bocephus at Sam Houston Race Park

  February 17, 2005

• Queer Eye for the Country Guy

  Have today's C&W stars been consulting with the Fab Five?

  April 29, 2004

• Medley Fool

  DJ Jester mixes and mashes up Willie Nelson, Ice-T, the Carpenters and LL Cool J

  February 26, 2004

• David Brake and That Damn Band

  Lean, Mean Texas Machine (Westerland Records)

  September 11, 2003

• Apocalypse Cow

  Finding the press box at Reliant Stadium proves to be a journey into the heart of darkness

  March 6, 2003

• DJ Jester

  Friday, December 20

  December 19, 2002

• Back in the Saddle

  Clay Farmer

  June 8, 2000

• Letters

  May 6, 1999

• Same As It Ever Is

  April 15, 1999

• The Strait Dope

  Gettin' jiggy with George Strait at his country music festival

  April 15, 1999

• Before We Go: Odds and Ends on Mechanical Boy, Katy Perry, George Strait, Future Blondes and More

  "SWING LOW AND CARRY ME HOME" By Mechanical Boy from Michael Fodera on Vimeo. It's about time for Rocks Off to head off to the bunkhouse for some much-needed R&R, but first here's a few final tidbits that have recently come to our attention. Mechanical Boy just released its first video, "Swing Low and Carry Me Home" (above) and heads off on tour after its June 5 show at Fitzgerald's with Windsor Drive, Lake Charles' Magnolia Sons, the Testyclactics (ew), Better Luck and Spain Coloured Orange

  May 8, 2009

• Single-Album Sets We'd Like to See, Part 1: Bob Dylan, George Strait, The Pogues and More

  Initiated by indie-rockers like Sonic Youth, Slint and Built to Spill at mid-2000s festivals - UK/U.S. hopover All Tomorrow's Parties and its various tie-ins being the most prominent - playing a beloved LP front to back in concert is now the hottest thing going on the classic-rock circuit. Within the next month, Houstonians can see Aerosmith revisit 1976's Toys In the Attic (The Woodlands, July 17), Judas Priest do 1980's British Steel (Verizon, July 24) and Motley Crue gas up 1989's Dr. Feelgoo

  July 7, 2009

• He Said She Said: Songs for Getting It On, Part 2

  [Ed. Note: Here's Web Editor Katharine Shilcutt's top 10 picks for baby-makin' music. Now it's the boys' turn.] 1. Ryan Adams, "Come Pick Me Up": This has to work, because it shows vulnerability and warmth. It tells her you are the kind of guy who will be the one to get out of bed to get the Wet Ones or the dry towel. 2. Sam Cooke "Cupid": Chicks dig smooth-ass vocals, and it's got that deep sense of longing and just the right hint of dementia that comes with true love. Seriously, the song is a

  July 24, 2009

• George Strait Week, Part 1: Sad, Angry George

  Note: All this week, Rocks Off is previewing George Strait's first Houston show in several years by looking at different aspects of King Cowboy's catalog. A few months back, when Morrissey played Jones Hall, we were asking ourselves if there was an artist out there - a Texas artist, namely - who trafficked in the same torment and heartbreak as Mozz. Not in the same grandly emotional ornate way, but in a more sober and uniquely stoic Texas fashion. The way our fathers would deal with the heartbr

  August 4, 2009

• Upstairs, Downstairs: The Most Unoriginal SIN

  Every so often, when Rocks Off is lucky enough to spend an evening at home, he'll dig up a pen and paper and start scratching away. So it was Monday night...Joshua Black WilkinsHere Comes Trouble: Th' Legendary Shack Shakers​The longer you're in this business, the more you learn to appreciate the nights when no one goes out. Rather, the nights when the only people who go out are the people who spend the rest of the week taking food and drink orders from weekend warriors and dilettantes. Indust

  August 4, 2009

• Houston 101: "Amarillo By Morning," One More Goddamn Time

  ​Houston 101 is taking a bit of a road trip today in honor of George Strait. Our sister blog Rocks Off is counting down the days until Strait returns here for a non-rodeo appearance, and it put us in mind of the first time we'd heard a Strait song -- at the trial over one of the Texas political world's most notorious deaths.Price Daniel, Jr. was the son of a former Texas governor and U.S. senator. Junior got elected to the legislature and made a name for himself as one of the reformers who tri

  August 5, 2009

• George Strait

  August 6, 2009

• Summer Stock

  August 6, 2009

• George Strait Week, Part 2: Cajun George

  After Tuesday's look at the shockingly Morrissey-like sentiments of the many George Strait songs where his love interest is either already gone or on her way out the door, Rocks Off thought today we'd take a look at a much happier - and, it should be said, significantly smaller - subcategory of King George's prodigious catalog.​Distinguished by lively fiddle/accordion interplay and an up-tempo two-step or waltz rhythm, Cajun music has been cropping up in country at least since Hank Williams'

  August 5, 2009

• George Strait Week, Part 3: George's 10 Commandments

  As sad and downbeat as George Strait can be, the dude can also get hella domineering. When he's not doing his best Cajun jams or crying in his beer, he's telling you to do things. Nothing dirty - sorry, Mom - he just wants you to carry out various tasks for him. We read in a magazine somewhere that chicks like you to order them around and stuff. We think it was in Swank or something. Looking at the track listing for his new Twang album, released Tuesday, he won't be telling us off or ordering u

  August 6, 2009

• George Strait Week, Part 4: Actor George

  ​As our George Strait week comes to an end before the big show Saturday night at Reliant Stadium, Rocks Off takes a look back at his first and sadly only lead-acting role, 1992's Pure Country. The film is pure cornball cinema gold. We had the pleasure of re-watching it a few months back on CMT overnight and couldn't turn away. Each time we wanted to change the channel we resisted the urge. In the end, we loved every minute of it. The story is actually kind of intricate as far as most countrifi

  August 7, 2009

• George Strait Week, Part 5: Texas George

  Like the man himself said, easy come, easy go. Happy as we are that it's Friday, and almost quitting time to boot, Rocks Off a little sad too, because that means George Strait Week is almost over. But not quite. We're putting it to bed the only way we know how - with the King's five best Texas songs. "All My Exes Live In Texas" (Ocean Front Property, 1987): A masterpiece of whimsical honky-tonk with the dark implication that sooner or later, Strait's playboy lifestyle is going to place him at t

  August 7, 2009

• Aftermath: George Strait at Reliant Stadium

  Photos by Craig Hlavaty​ Aftermath escaped the first day of the inaugural Free Press Summer Fest to venture out to Reliant Stadium to catch country legend George Strait. It was like walking into a hella weird alternate universe where the musicians weren't five inches from your face, and everyone was fully clothed. Those who detest country music or are close-minded to anything un-indie would be very surprised to find that country crowds have a ravenous nature for their music that puts any sedat

  August 10, 2009

• He Said She Said: Breakup Songs to Help You Bawl, Part 2

  Ever since men and women set eyes upon each other at the beginning of time, there have been break-ups, and painful dissolutions of romantic escapades have made the best art in the world. Hell, somewhere in the world there is a probably a cave painting of a pretty young Neanderthal girl with devil horns and a tail drawn on her in disgust. The entire blues genre is based on the fact that men and women generally can't get along. That, and various demonic possessions of said females. Love lost is a

  August 11, 2009

• Lone Star Scorecard: How Accurate are Your Favorite Songs About Texas?

  ​Many songs about Texas are written by residents wishing to celebrate some part of their beloved Lone Star State. Others come from non-Texans who are unable to resist the je ne sais quoi of the place that produced both Walter Cronkite and Karl Rove. One thing that many of them have in common, however, is how much they get wrong. We at Rocks Off are committed to fighting ignorance wherever we find it, and will be examining the more egregious offenders in a new feature we're calling Lone St

  August 17, 2009

• StubHub: Houston Is More "Rockin'" Than Vegas, Less So Than Hartford and Milwaukee

  Craig HlavatyThe Phish of the Southwest and king of Houston's summer concert hill: George Strait​Online ticket broker StubHub.com released its annual list of America's Top 20 "Most Rockin' Cities" Friday, with Houston holding steady at No. 17 for the second year in a row. We probably would have been even higher - in several ways - if Vermont jam-band overlords Phish, who reunited this summer for the first time since 2004, weren't such pussies and booked some shows south of the Mason-Dixon line

  August 21, 2009

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: The Mucky Duck Hits a Hot Streak In the Cool Weather

  Lonesome, Onry and Mean just noticed that venerable listening room McGonigel's Mucky Duck has a major streak of high-grade talent Nov. 12 through 17. Beginning with the Subdudes on the 12th, the Duck quickly plows through Texas legend Ray Wylie Hubbard (13th), troubadour-poet Tom Russell (14th), one of Nashville's biggest talents, Darrell Scott (15th) and George Strait hit writer/two-time Grammy winner Jim Lauderdale (17th). Since reforming a couple of years ago, the Subdudes have been packing

  November 4, 2009

• He Said She Said: Songs That Remind Us of Our Grandfathers, Part 2

  He Said Grandpa Songs He Said was lucky to have spent twenty-five years on Earth with his Grandpa Hlavaty, who passed away in the summer of 2008 of a brain hemorrhage. The man was arguably one of the biggest musical influences in He Said's life. The intrepid and stealthy Grandpa Gonzalez is kicking the around the country somewhere on a sweet motorcycle or driving through the Midwest in his gigantic RV and his chihuahua with Grandma Ana watching a movie in the back. Seeing that He Said is one-hal

  November 5, 2009