Gram Parsons

Austin's New (C)KOKE-FM Can't Beat The Real Thing

Lonesome, Onry and Mean had been hearing about the new KOKE-FM progressive country station in Austin for a few weeks. One friend in particular kept raving about the station, so today we finally sauntered over to KOKE-FM (99.3) on the world wide web. Back in the day when we were in Radio/Television/ ... More >>

Visiting Brits Search For The Soul Of Rock And Roll

Live Fast, Die Young: Misadventures in Rock 'n' Roll America by Chris Price and Joe Harland Trafalgar Square Publishing, 320 pp., $13.95 Friends and former coworkers at the BBC -- where they programmed radio and video music -- Price and Harland's jumping-off point for this music travelogue across ... More >>

The Damn Quails & 10 Other Bird-Brained Bands

Tonight the Houston Press Concert Series resumes at Pub Fiction with Oklahoma duo the Damn Quails. The Quails' song "Fools Gold," from their 2011 album Down the Hatch, is tearing it up on Texas country and roots-rock radio right now, landing them three Lonestar Music Awards and airplay on BBC roots ... More >>

Joshua Tree: 7 Musicians Who Have Felt The High Desert's Pull

Twenty-five years ago today, U2 released their paramount record, The Joshua Tree. The record was intended to be a spiritual quest for Bono: A meditative dissection of the "spoiled child" he saw in American culture. Before Bono blessed the area with his humanitarian spirit, however, many other musici ... More >>

Together Always: Country Duets for Valentine's Day

Maybe it's because I'm a Libra, but I believe that everything in life should be as harmonious as possible-love, especially. Duets might be the ultimate musical testament to such a theory. I'm not talking about the resonance that's created when a woman is vacuuming while her man watches television. I ... More >>

No Surprises: Rock Hall Set To Induct Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys

Photo By Marco TorresGuns N' Roses are Rock Hall bound, but which version of GNR will show up? ​This morning (well, it leaked last night) the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland announced their 2012 class of inductees. Included on the list are Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Bo ... More >>

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Snubs Rush...Again

Photo by Jeff Balke​A couple years ago, I was sitting on the back porch at the Continental Club talking music with a fairly well known music writer who seemed to believe that anything with a big hook or the slightest inkling of musicianship beyond the garage band aesthetic was utter garbage. I ... More >>

G N' R, The Cure & Chili Peppers Could Be Hall Of Famers Next Year

Oh, this will be a fun induction ceremony...​This morning, The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland announced the list of nominees for its Class of 2012: The Small Faces & The Faces, Freddie King, The Cure, Guns 'N Roses, Heart, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Spinners, War, Joan Jett and the Bl ... More >>

Last Night: Emmylou Harris At Verizon Wireless Theater

Photos by Jason Wolter​Emmylou Harris & the Red Dirt Boys Verizon Wireless Theater June 22, 2011 The song about the Italian painter wasn't in the set, and at the end it seemed like it was the only song not in the set, but watching Emmylou Harris and her Red Dirt Boys paint the curtained-off V ... More >>

Not A Drop Of Rain: 10 Modern-Day Dust Bowl Songs

Barry Sigman​Rocks Off just walked outside and saw something we almost didn't recognize: Rain clouds that look like they might, you know, rain. We'll believe it when we see it. Even if we do get some relief in the next couple of days, it won't be enough. Rocks Off forgets the exact number - w ... More >>

Emmylou Harris

Cracker: A Belated Hillbilly Revelation At Fitzgerald's

Photos by Jason Wolter​Sometime after Cracker deposited Rocks Off's jaw on the floor of Fitzgerald's Thursday night, we decided reviewing the show would be superfluous. Our buddy Lonesome Onry and Mean was standing next to us the whole time, and we told him afterward it was hard to think of an ... More >>

Byrds, Burritos, and Bluegrass: Chris Hillman Interviewed

"'Pay attention. It's very strange out there.'" Chris Hillman (left) and Herb Pedersen​Often overshadowed by flashier, more volatile, or more tragic bandmates, singer and multi-instrumentalist Chris Hillman's cred as a pioneer of country-rock is nonetheless impeccable. As a co-founder of the ... More >>

Charlie Louvin, Country Music Hall Of Famer, Dies At 83

​Country Music Hall of Fame member Charlie Louvin, who with his brother Ira ranked with Ralph and Carter Stanley as one of the greatest duos in bluegrass history, passed away overnight. Louvin, 83, had been receiving experimental treatment for pancreatic cancer. Nashville-based entertainment ... More >>

Otis Redding, Jayhawks Help Us Overcome The Mailbox Cringe

​Sometimes we cringe when we go to the mailbox, but the past few days have brought Lonesome, Onry and Mean an eclectic trove of cool stuff. New Mystery Girl is Austinite Chrissy Flatt's new project with longtime collaborators Eric Hisaw and Ron Flynt. Twist City is a no-frills roots-rock disc - li ... More >>

News on the March

Wednesdays are Honky-Tonk Heaven In Houston, and Thursdays are Hillbilly Hell

Photos by Chris GrayRobert Ellis & the Boys, under the blue neon​ It's no secret Rocks Off is a big fan of the country music, which is why we're starting to get a little excited about the inner-loop honky-tonk scene that's taking root. Over the weekend, we caught Sean Reefer & the Resin Va ... More >>

Houston 101: You Knew We Would Have To Do This One -- Liberty Hall

​Liberty Hall, by the 1970s, had somewhat survived its time as a church and an American Legion hall to become probably the hippest rock club in the city.Comfortably seedy, the Hall hosted legends like the Velvet Underground, Gram Parsons (with Neil Young and Linda Ronstadt sitting in), the Ramones ... More >>

Live at Liberty Hall

The short but storied past of Houston's legendary live music venue.

Two Tons Of Steel

Papermoons

Selecting The Proper Valentine's Day Soundtrack

A Fine Romance

Get Lit: Hot Burritos: The True Story of the Flying Burrito Brothers by John Einarson with Chris Hillman

Texas supergroup the Flatlanders (although it still exists) may have been "more legend than a band" but the same could also be said for the Flying Burrito Brothers (above, with female friends). The pioneers of country-rock were a short-lived act that went though numerous lineup changes, but record ... More >>

HPMA Aftermath: L.L. Cooper, Miss Leslie, Scattered Pages, Free Radicals and Hearts of Animals

Going to the Chapel, Going to Jail

Tom Russell

Flying Burrito Brothers: Live at the Avalon Ballroom 1969

Get Lit: Twenty Thousand Roads: The Ballad of Gram Parsons and His Cosmic American Music, by David N. Meyer

Charlie Louvin

Get Lit: Exile on Main Street: A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones, by Robert Greenfield

Murder Inc.

Not many musicians have health insurance, but Murder by Death does

I See Hawks in L.A.

Friday, June 9, at the Continental Club, 3700 Main, 713-529-9899

The Essex Green, with I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness

Thursday, May 11, at Walter's on Washington, 4215 Washington Avenue, 713-862-2513

Randy Weeks, with Tony Gilkyson and Mike Stinson

4 p.m. Sunday, March 19, in-store at Sig's Lagoon, 3710 Main, 713-533-9525; 7 p.m. show at McGonigel's Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk, 713-528-5999

Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen

Saturday, March 4, McGonigel's Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk, 713-528-5999.

Down-Home Delights

Ten of the best from Nashville and elsewhere

Freakwater

Thinking of You...

Elvis Costello

The Delivery Man (Lost Highway)
il Sogno (Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft)

Rock and Roll Dream Team

Forget the office-football draft, dude. Here's a far cooler way to waste your time and your employer's money.

Albert and Gage

At Anderson Fair (Moonhouse)

Ryan Adams, with Alanis Morissette

Saturday, May 18

Rotation

The Jayhawks -- The Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Big Country

Buddy and Julie Miller --

Rotation

Night & Day

April 30 - May 6, 1998

Rotation

Utmost Blue

Hats Off

Dwight Yoakam's the last great country singer -- and he doesn't need a twang to prove it

Gracious Angel

A box set doesn't mean Emmylou Harris's career is done; it may mean it's just beginning

Rotation