George Strait

Slip Slidin' Away: My Life as a Rock Journalist With the Houston Press

I had a hernia operation in the early summer of 2006, and had nothing to do all day but hobble around with cool cane a borrowed from Grandpa Hlavaty and play on the Internets for two months or so. I had developed the injury while working at Domino's, but it was cool because their insurance helped ... More >>

Goodbye, George?

Strait's "The Cowboy Rides Away" tour closes out this year's rodeo.

Last Night: George Strait at Reliant Stadium

George Strait Reliant Stadium March 17, 2013 Sunday night, George Strait wrangled 80,020 fans into Reliant Stadium for what is surely to be just one of his first "farewell" shows here in Houston. This glut of country fans -- only few thousand short of the total population of Santa Monica, Californi ... More >>

Rodeo Explains Thousands of Ticket Cancellations

The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo has cancelled several thousand tickets to this month's rodeo, including 800 to the March 17 George Strait concert that were going as high as $8,100, after they allegedly fell into the hands of ticket brokers. According to a report in the Houston Chronicle, the rode ... More >>

Fair Play

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo wii do whatever it takes to keep its revolving stage from going dark.

Toby Keith, Demi Lovato, Luke Bryan Kick Off RodeoHouston 2013

Moments ago, the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo announced its first four non-George Strait entertainers for the 2013 season: Toby Keith (February 25), teen stars Demi Lovato and Austin Mahone (March 3), Jason Aldean (March 11) and Luke Bryan (March 16). As usual, the rodeo is offering two pocket-si ... More >>

Bon Iver, Hipster Doofus

The Cowboy Prepares to Ride Away: George Strait Announces His Touring Retirement

Today country legend George Strait -- King George around these parts -- announced during a live YouTube broadcast from Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame that he is hanging up his touring boots and saddle after decades on the road. Strait is still slated to close out RodeoHouston's 2013 seaso ... More >>

The 10 Funniest & Weirdest Country Song Titles

Country music has come a long way as far as popularity goes over the years, from the likes of such bygone greats as Ernest Tubb and Eddy Arnold to current favorites Sugarland and Dierks Bentley. But it has always had some rather... interesting-sounding song titles to grace listeners' ears. Shall we ... More >>

Strait Bonin' Turns Our Beloved Icon Into King Of Porn Country

Of course you all know that today is George Strait's 60th birthday, and the King Of Country just announced that he is coming back to RodeoHouston next spring for a March 17th date with Martina McBride and the Randy Rogers Band. What a great end that will be to a torrid week at SXSW in Austin. This w ... More >>

RodeoHouston Adds Special George Strait Concert March 17

It's getting a little late, but Rocks Off figured we can go ahead and tell you now. The Houston Livestock Livestock Show and Rodeo just announced a tweak in its schedule: There will be no bulls or broncs the final day of RodeoHouston 2013 -- a Sunday that happens to fall on St. Patrick's Day, March ... More >>

Jane's Addiction & Other Big 1987 Debut Albums

Tonight Jane's Addiction comes to the Bayou Music Center, touring behind last year's The Great Escape Artist, only their fourth studio album in their nearly 27 years as a band. A few weeks back Rocks Off talked to lead singer and Lollapalooza honcho Perry Farrell about the band's future and what cou ... More >>

Jason Cassidy's 10 Country Songs You Should Hear Before You Die

Tonight traditional country upstart Jason Cassidy headlines Big Texas Dance Hall & Saloon out in Clear Lake. The strip-center venue, known for it's pretty girls with painted-on jeans and copious amounts of trucks in the parking lot and a Bud Light in every hand, has been host to Cassidy many times b ... More >>

French Onion Soup & Deathbugs: Our Nine Musical Turkeys Of 2011

Danzig Shame on us for thinking that a Danzig show would go off without a hitch, and infinite shame on Glenn Danzig for the debacle that was his "appearance" at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin. We will never look at French onion soup ever again without bellowing "Mother". Lulu We're not mad at Metall ... More >>

Wednesday Open Mike at Blanco's

The seating area next to the dance floor and stage. ​Guitarist Chet Akins, the Country Gentleman, would describe the Nashville sound by jingling some the change in his pocket and saying, "It's the sound of money." Mainstream country's lucrative turn toward pop in the late 1950s eventually blos ... More >>

George Strait's Top 20 Songs Of All Time: Nos. 5-1

​As Rocks Off dives into the top slots of our favorite George Strait songs from his 30-year career - see Nos. 20-16, 15-11 and 10-6 - we are waiting anxiously to see if King George was able to knock Lil' Wayne's Tha Carter IV from atop the Billboard 200. A top seat for the brand-new Here For a ... More >>

George Strait's Top 20 Songs Of All Time: Nos. 10-6

Before we proceed to today's portion of the George Strait countdown - catch up with Nos. 20-16 and 15-11 - here are a few interesting tidbits about King George. It is "fact-finding Friday," after all. Strait has been a spokesperson for Resistol hats, Justin boots, Wrangler jeans, Chevy trucks and ... More >>

George Strait's Top 20 Songs Of All Time: Nos. 15-11

​Today's installment of our 20 favorite George Strait songs, which we began Wednesday, comes with word that Billboard is projecting his brand-new Here For a Good Time to debut on top of next week's Billboard 200. It will take some work, but he could just knock off Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV. Wi ... More >>

George Strait's Top 20 Songs Of All Time: Nos. 20-16

​Tuesday, George Strait released Here For a Good Time, by our count his 39th album overall. Some may call that the Madness of King George, but Rocks Off the Elder and Younger have both heard Good Time; we both think it's one of his stronger sets, continuing the bout of second wind (Third? Four ... More >>

Here For A Good Time: George Strait Lives It Up On LP No. 39

Praise Be To Strait God​Today sees the release of George Strait's Here For a Good Time his 39th release counting compilations, live works and those Christmas discs. As one of Houston's most vocal champions of Strait (with a music blog, that is) Rocks Off deems the new album one of Strait's bes ... 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 >>

Rocks Off Wishes Wyoming A Happy Birthday

​If you're anything like Rocks Off, you've been marking off the days on your calendar until you could let loose and celebrate Wyoming Statehood Day this coming Sunday. OK, so that's a lie, but here at Rocks Off we do enjoy the lesser known-holidays and putting together playlists to honor them ... More >>

Rocks Off's Fantasy RodeoHouston Lineup

Photos courtesy of Houston Livestock Show & RodeoGeorge Strait in 1996​If you walk through Reliant Center, hanging from the ceiling are banners listing almost every musical performer RodeoHouston has hosted since the '60s. The names reflect the hallowed history of country and fleeting fancies ... More >>

Straight-To-DVD Music Sequels Soon To Come

​If you're a struggling writer, musician or filmmaker trying to work up the nerve to kill yourself, have we ever got good news for you! Your morale may have been damaged or even crippled by seeing bad music, bad movies and bad stories dominating the upper echelons of their respective fields, b ... More >>

George Strait: No Unflattering Photos, Please

Marc BrubakerEvidently shooting George Strait from this angle and distance is OK.​Rocks Off does our best to shield our readers from all the red tape we have to go through in order to bring you a steady stream of concert reviews. For one thing, it's pretty boring - a bunch of emails and relea ... More >>

Friday Night: George Strait & Reba At Austin's Erwin Center

Photos by Marc Brubaker​George Strait, Reba McEntire Frank Erwin Center, Austin January 14, 2010 Friday night, Aftermath drove to Austin to catch one of the lone Texas stops on this round of tandem touring by the King and Queen of Country, George Strait and Reba McEntire, with Lee Ann Womack ... More >>

George Strait Looking For Sea Of Red At Austin Show

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​Of course Rocks Off is driving to Austin on Friday night to see George Strait and Reba McEntire at the Frank Erwin Center. Who do you think we are? Isn't everyone driving to Austin to see the Morrissey of Texas and the Queen of Modern Country? Anyhow, Rocks Off will b ... More >>

Rocks Off Sets You Straight On Musical Happy Hours

​On newsstands now - or soon, depending on where in the metro area you live - you will find the Houston Press' new cover story, "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" - a guide to Jimmy Buffett's discography our city's varied, vibrant happy-hour scene, in which Rocks Off had some input. Naturally, we cover ... More >>

What Constitutes a Killer Show? Six Personal Case Studies

​ Rocks Off is going to suck it up and go on the record as saying we had a great time at the Lady Gaga drag karaoke event last Sunday at Guava Lamp. Perhaps it was just the impaired judgment induced by the holiday cheer we'd imbibed at the Christmas party before, but the show was thoroughly enjoya ... More >>

Fool Hearted Memory: Music That Chooses You, Not the Other Way Around

​ Someone once observed wryly that the only member of your family you'll ever actually choose is your spouse, and perhaps a whole lot of that observation is equally applicable to the music of our lives. A couple of years back we were sitting at Prince's Hamburgers off the Southwest Freeway in the ... More >>

He Said She Said: Our Favorite Fictional Performers, Part 2

​Why is that sometimes the fictional bands in movie and television are cooler than real bands? Sadly, some of He Said's favorite bands don't even have albums or videos to speak of, because they don't even exist. The fun part is imagining how awesome their full-length records and tours would be. Th ... More >>

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 ... More >>

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), on ... More >>

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 w ... More >>

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 ove ... More >>

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 song ... More >>

George Strait

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 ... More >>

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 wo ... More >>

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 Kin ... More >>

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 tr ... More >>

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 th ... More >>

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 ... More >>

A Stopover in Strait Country

Apocalypse Cow

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

Same As It Ever Is

The Strait Dope

Gettin' jiggy with George Strait at his country music festival

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