Jeff Tweedy

Seven Recent Albums By '60s Artists That Don't Suck

Age gets us all eventually. I'm only in my early twenties and already I'm having to do stupid things like eating healthier, quitting the smokes, and watching my blood pressure. So it really shouldn't come as any surprise that musicians start to slow down in their old age, especially if they've been ... More >>

Top 10 Educated Guesses for Free Press Summer Fest

Tomorrow, we will know who will be playing the fifth annual Free Press Summer Fest June 1 and 2 in Eleanor Tinsley Park. We know this because Monday, our rivals over at the Houston Chronicle revealed that they will have an exclusive announcement of the FPSF lineup sometime Thursday, thanks to what w ... More >>

Ten Cruises We'd Rather Take Than the KISS Kruise

​Imagine a vacation where made-up members of your favorite glam rock band wander the decks of a cruise ship. Does that sound like heaven on earth? Well, glam boy, you're in luck as the second annual (yes, they've done one before this) KISS Kruise sets sail this October featuring that cuddly '7 ... More >>

Aftermath: Our Favorite Shows of 2011

Photo By Craig HlavatyRex's War Face: The crowd's at June's Free Press Summer Fest were feral and friendly. ​This week we asked our pool of Rocks Off writers what their favorite shows of 2011 were, the ones that brought joy to their hearts to attend and helped them make magic with a keyboard h ... More >>

Father Figures: 100 Famous Musicians' Paternal Professions

If you're a Texan of a certain age, this week you've probably spent some time mourning the death of Jerry Haynes, the children's TV host better known as Mr. Peppermint. Haynes' show on WFAA-TV in Dallas, Peppermint Place, ran from the '60s to the '90s and was widely syndicated across the state, incl ... More >>

How To Survive An Outdoor Concert Disaster: Ten Semi-Helpful Tips

​The summer festival season is winding down, but even as that stops, the fall festival season begins. The weather will be getting nicer, and it will actually be pleasant to be outside, so we're looking forward to it, especially with Austin City Limits, our own BestFest and Fun Fun Fun Fest all ... More >>

Friday Night: Wilco At Verizon Wireless Theater

Photos by Jason Wolter​Wilco Verizon Wireless Theater May 6, 2011 Jeff Tweedy's kind of an asshole. But it's okay, because we're familiar with the type:The guy who grew up a snotty punk-rock kid in the '80s, went on to form a band that just happened to become one of the most critically laude ... More >>

Some Can Whistle: A Playlist To Don't Worry, Be Happy

​It's often the little things that make our favorite songs our favorites - the curious, unforeseen additions of small touches like an understated bit of whistling. For those who like to categorize their playlists into themes, we present you with the Rocks Off approved Whistle Playlist. The S ... More >>

Top Five Musician/Journalist Feuds

"Like, what is your problem?" Jason Nocito​Hell hath no fury like a spurned musician, but a critic's vengeance doesn't lag far behind. This week in the Houston Press, you can read an interview Noah Bailey at our sister paper the Dallas Observer did with Dr. Dog's Scott McMicken, who says he h ... More >>

Houston's 10 Favorite Rainy-Day Albums

Hola, Hermine...​Weather like Houston had this past week seems to make everyone "sad panda" and turn to lusher, less upbeat music. snuggle-rock, dad-rock, beard-rock - music you hear in coffee shops seems to be ruling our city's personal airwaves. As Tropical Storm Hermine trampled through H ... More >>

The 7 Most Polarizing Albums In Recent Memory

​This Monday night, MGMT hits the House Of Blues behind new album Congratulations, which has been getting one of the most tepid responses for a new album by a buzz band in recent media memory. The people that jumped on the bandwagon in 2008 after the Brooklyn-based then-duo released Oracular Spect ... More >>

5 Songs That Are No Day At The Beach

This past weekend, Craig's Hlist spent a good solid two days at the beach playing in the surf down off Mustang Island just south of Corpus Christi. It was one of those mental-health weekends that if we hadn't have taken, we would have ended up throwing beer bottles against the wall at an old folks' ... More >>

Five Memorable Artist-Audience Altercations

Chris GrayWilco's Jeff Tweedy in a much better mood, March 2008There may be a very good reason Van Morrison said practically nothing from the stage Saturday night at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Judging from the plentiful comments here, here and over at the Chronicle's review, it would have ... More >>

Love and Theft

The decade with no name left behind plenty of memorable music.

Uprising

2009 wasn't a great year for albums, but songs were a different story.

Aftermath: Regina Spektor Wins a New Fan at Verizon Wireless Theater

Photos by Jody Perry​"This bed is on fire with passionate love..." Aftermath has always loved James' "Laid." It's one of our absolute favorite '90s songs, and there couldn't be a better one to preface Regina Spektor's impending appearance at Verizon. The crowd is young, mixed (but mostly white), w ... More >>

We've Been Had: The Enduring Wisdom of Uncle Tupelo's Anodyne

Anodyne: Noun. Anything that relieves distress or pain. (dictionary.com)​When Son Volt goes onstage tonight at the Continental Club (we've heard around 11 p.m.), there's an outside chance the band might pull out Doug Sahm's "Give Back the Key to My Heart" - we are in Texas, after all. Otherwise do ... More >>

Rocks Off Succumbs to That Evil Facebook "Bands I've Seen" List

Chris GrayWilco's Jeff Tweedy at Verizon Wireless Theater, March 2008​If you're reading this at all, Rocks Off will just assume you're fairly familiar with the Internet, and therefore that you more than likely also have a Facebook page. Congratulations - don't you feel special? Rocks Off was recen ... More >>

Burnin' for You

Aftermath: Son Volt at the Continental Club

Photos by Jay Lee"Now and then it keeps you runnin', never seems to die..." The opening line to Son Volt's soothing elegy "Windfall," which closed out Tuesday's main set at the Continental Club - just like almost every other SV set since the band's 1995 debut Trace - goes a long way to explain ... More >>

Can't Get It Out of My Head: "New Madrid"

Wilco, "New Madrid," live at the Fox Theater, Boulder, Colorado, May 1995 Rocks Off is never really not on an Uncle Tupelo kick, but it sure came flooding back after he heard "New Madrid" on Fred Imus' Saturday-morning Trailer Park Bash satellite-radio show last weekend. Even among such fut ... More >>

Hitsville: The Year in Music, by the Numbers

You don't need a half-wit music critic to tell you it's been a remarkable year for America, one historians will be discussing and researching for centuries to come. War, financial collapse, politics, technology: All have been dinner-table topics for many Americans. Racial barriers in 2008 were demol ... More >>

Tonight: Lowell Thompson at Rudyard's

Friday Night: Wilco at Verizon Wireless Theater

Our Favorite Albums of 2007

Panning for gold in an avalanche of 2007 releases

The Literary Greats

File under easy listening

Charlie Louvin

Drenched In Blog: Bob Dylan, Robert Earl Keen, Billy Joe Shaver, Wilco and My Morning Jacket Round Out the Weekend

Rick Mitchell Pops His ACL Cherry

Magnolia Electric Co.

Partners in Rime

People Under the Stairs fix the leak

Loose Fur

Born Again in the USA

Wilco

Kicking Television: Live in Chicago

Son Volt

Okemah and the Melody of Riot

The Litmus Band

Is Wilco still trying to break your heart, or has it done so already?

Sex, Drugs and Jeff Tweedy's National Geographic Collection

Rock memoirs take us behind the music

Take the Skinheads Bowling All Over Again

Camper Van Beethoven hates this part of Texas. Just kidding, maybe...

Wilco

A Ghost Is Born (Nonesuch)

Cry Uncle

For Uncle Tupelo fans, there's No Depression in reissue heaven

Wilco

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Nonesuch)

A New Tune

After September 11, some new songs just don't sound the same

Letters

Sympathy for the Angel

Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and the scourge of great art

Rotation

A Whole Lot Country

And quite a bit rock and roll add up to No Depression music

Rotation

Rotation

Critic's Choice

All Bottled Up

The Country of Rock and Roll

From the ashes of Uncle Tupelo springs Wilco, genreless and great

Pop Moment