Grand Ole Opry House

The Best Concerts In Houston This Weekend: Josh Turner, K-Rino, Romeo Santos, etc.

Josh Turner Nutty Jerry's (Winnie), April 5 It's hard to keep up with every new country crooner that comes over the pop-twang airwaves, but thankfully Josh Turner's deeper-than-the-holler voice manages to stand out from the Keith Urban clones, sounding way more trad-country than those other guys at ... More >>

RIP Kitty Wells: Onetime Queen of Country Music Dies at 92

Legendary Nashville singer Kitty Wells has died at age 92, according to reports from Associated Press within the past hour. Wells was the first female to top the country charts with her song "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky-tonk Angels" in 1952. The song was a reply to Hank Thompson's "The Wild Side o ... More >>

Our Friends Puscifer Playing Bayou Music Center June 27

One of the most memorable shows I've seen in Houston thus far was Puscifer, the band that does for lascivious alternative electro-rock what Maynard James Keenan's other band Tool does for progressive metal. When Puscifer played Jones Hall in November 2009, I was expecting something like the grind-y ... More >>

Houston Scores Big-Time In Latest Edition Of Encyclopedia Of Country Music: Part 4

Our fourth installment of Houston-area country-music pioneers honored with inclusion in the second edition of The Encyclopedia of Country Music details the last of an amazing group of local musicians from the '30s, '40s, and '50s who left their brand on the people's music. While the Appalachian and ... More >>

Houston Scores Big-Time In Latest Editon Of Encyclopedia Of Country Music: Part 3

The further one digs into the second edition of The Encyclopedia of Country Music, the deeper one's appreciation of the contributions of Houston's country-music pioneers becomes. Yeah, just check out the black circles under the eyes and drunk-ass grins on Leon Payne's band above. That photo alone sp ... More >>

Elizabeth Cook

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 >>

Executive Entertainers: America's Most Musical Presidents

Big-money supporters were treated to the first indelible moment in Barack Obama's reelection campaign last Thursday when the President crooned the opening lyric from Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" from the stage of the Apollo Theater in Harlem. It was just the sort of off-the-cuff instance that c ... More >>

Del McCoury Band Decends on Conroe

​Conroe's Sounds of Texas Music Series has pulled a major coup that should have local bluegrass fans' hearts palpitating with their booking of the Del McCoury Band for February 4, 2012. McCoury and his band, which includes his sons Rob and Ronnie, both of whom are monster instrumentalists and ... More >>

Hank Williams: Lost Highway

Saturday Night: Josh Groban At Toyota Center

Photos by Jay Lee​Josh Groban Toyota Center May 14, 2011 Josh Groban is an unusual pop star. Unusual for 2011, anyway. One hundred years ago, many "pop stars" as we think of the term today drew their repertoires from light opera and Italian bel canto. The vocal techniques and subject matter ... More >>

Top 10 Louisiana Bands Of All Time

​Pardon the geographical pun, but besides Texas, our neighbor to the east may be the most musical state in these United States. And in terms of per capita, Louisiana, which ranks 25th in population to Texas' second, is probably second to none. Outside Nashville's Grand Ole Opry, the program m ... More >>

Top 10 Musical U.S. Presidents

"The future of our nation depends on providing our children with a complete education that includes music." - Gerald Ford gwu.eduWhen else are we going to use this picture?​Today is President's Day, and if you'll think back to high-school U.S. History, you'll remember that potential Commande ... 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 >>

Answers To Rocks Off's Musical Nickname Quiz

​Rocks Off hopes you enjoyed our musical nickname quiz earlier today. We have had a few nicknames ourselves over the years - our dad called us "Boog" after former Baltimore Orioles first baseman Boog Powell, and we were known for years around the Austin Chronicle offices as "Weezer," which we ... More >>

Honky-Tonk Houston

Readers weigh in on the pros and cons

What If The KTRU And Fitzgerald's Sales Were Reversed?

​Rocks Off is quite keen on alternate realities, the kind where The Joker is actually a superhero or Spider-Man joined the Fantastic Four. That kind of thing. This summer has seen two of Houston's seemingly most-stable institutions thrown into complete chaos. First, Sara Fitzgerald turned ove ... More >>

Flaming Lips Still On For Summerfest... For Now

Neuski via flickr.com​ The Grand Ole Opry, which was supposed to celebrate its 85th birthday party May 25, is currently underwater, like most of Nashville (above). Nashville Public Radio is reporting that the Cumberland River crested at a whopping 52 feet. When does hurricane season start aga ... More >>

Irlene Mandrell: Work Those "Thighs Of Texas"

​ Irlene Mandrell Texercise (1983) You already know the greats of Texas' recorded history. Roy Orbison. Lightnin' Hopkins. ZZ top. Jandek. But no Texas record collection is complete without this regional remnant of the exercise album craze, Irlene Mandrell's Texercise. Born in Corpus Christi, Irle ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Vince Gill Confirms for Conroe's Crighton Theater

Lise Liddell​ Lonesome Onry and Mean has been holding his breath for a few days, keeping a secret. We've been waiting on one last signature on the contracts before announcing one of the biggest shows ever at Conroe's Sounds of Texas music series. But Wednesday night we got an email from Mark Germi ... More >>

American Central Dust: The Americana Class of 2009, Part 2

​5. Great Lake Swimmers, Lost Channels (Nettwerk) Great Lake Swimmers frontman Tony Dekker has written his fair share of heartbreaking, reverb-soaked ballads in the past, but Lost Channels finds him and his band also dabbling in Waterboys-style folk rock. What results is the Swimmers' most varied ... More >>

Loretta Lynn

Aftermath: Hank III & Assjack at Meridian

Photos by Daniel Kramer/ Click here for a slideshowRight now there are about 1,000 people in the Greater Houston area nursing crippling hangovers, and Aftermath is right proud to be among their ranks. Must've been the pills I took. No, wait, that's not it. Pretty sure it was the whiskey. And ... More >>

Hank III and Assjack

B.J. Thomas

News on the March

Just How Texan are Hayes Carll and Miranda Lambert?

Fire on the Strings Bluegrass Festival, featuring The Claire Lynch Band

Marty Stuart's American Odyssey Does Houston

Weekend Music: Get Your Free On

R.I.P. Porter Wagoner

Charlie Louvin

Farce of a Champion

The Long Good-bye

Garrison Keillor's Prairie makes a fine pasture for Altman

He's Gone Country

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

Blue Christmas

Joe's Roadhouse pays homage to the melancholy side of the season

June Carter Cash

Wildwood Flower (Dualtone)

The Sound of Sphincter

What kind of ass would produce an entire album of kazoo tunes?

Being Gary P.

He packs dance halls across Texas. But how does he play in Peoria?

Holy Water

Saint Arnold's finds a little divine guidance in the form of Father Andrei Davydov

Rodney Hayden

True to Texas

Fill 'Er Up

Ten-gallon hats and ten-gallon gas tanks come to mind when BR5-49 plays

Under(ground) Achievers

Can Nashville's creative underbelly save country from Music Row?

Honky-Tonk History

He had 78 hits over 50 years and revolutionized country music. Now, Hank Thompson gets a new green light.

Rotation

Louvin It Up

The high, lonesome hardships of country's best duo are getting easier to hear

Fast Living

Press Picks

Press Picks

Bluegrass Angel