Jimmy Smith

Last Night: The Gourds at Discovery Green

The Gourds Discovery Green June 14, 2012 I have lost count of how many Gourds shows I have seen over the years. I doubt I have seen any other band live more times than this one. But I never realized how much children loved the Gourds until Thursday at Discovery Green. Man, these kids loved the Gou ... More >>

RIP Levon Helm: The Band Drummer And Americana Icon Dies At 71

Levon Helm doing what he loved in Woodstock, N.Y., in 2004Levon Helm, the Arkansas-born icon of Americana music, passed away Thursday afternoon after a long battle with throat cancer, his family said on Helm's Web site. "He has loved nothing more than to play, to fill up the room with music, lay do ... More >>

Ten Albums That Should Be Grammy Nominated Over Linda Chorney's

Photo by Jason WolterJason Isbell (left) and Amanda Shires (right) are both more deserving than Chorney.​The small world of Americana music is all a-twitter over New Jersey woman Linda Chorney's nomination for a Grammy in the Americana category. In case you haven't been following the story, Ch ... More >>

Houston "Doghouse" Blues Pianist Earl Gilliam Dead At 81

​Rocks Off contributor William Michael Smith just called in to regretfully inform us that Houston blues musician Earl Gilliam has passed away. Gilliam's manager, Sheri Goodman, told Smith that Gilliam died at his home near Tomball of advanced lung disease. The piano player was famous for host ... More >>

Friday Night: The Gourds & Doyle Bramhall Sr. At Miller Outdoor Theatre

Photos courtesy of Miler Outdoor Theatre Advisory BoardDoyle Bramhall Sr.​The Gourds, Doyle Bramhall Sr. Miller Outdoor Theatre July 22, 2011 It was all Texas big beat Friday night as old-school Austin blues-rocker Doyle Bramhall Sr. and those funny, funny Gourds cut a groove in the Miller Ou ... More >>

Gourds Unleash Old Mad Joy On Unsuspecting Public

Joe Ryan​As an album title, Old Mad Joy sounds like redundancy when placed in the context of Austin roots rock gonzos the Gourds. As anyone who has ever been in earshot of the band or its records, if the Gourds could bottle the music and sell it at the drug store, the corporations who manufact ... More >>

Last Night: Foals At Fitzgerald's

Photos by Jim Bricker​Foals Fitzgerald's April 19, 2011 Just minutes after Fitzgerald's opened its doors for last night's Foals show, tickets were gone. The sold-out venue was packed before second opener Freelance Whales even hit the stage, and it's no wonder - Oxford quintet Foals, fresh off ... More >>

Last Night: Fitz & The Tantrums At House Of Blues

Photos by Jason Wolter​Fitz & the Tantrums House of Blues Bronze Peacock Room April 18, 2011 Soul music is about power, yoking that gospel id to the pursuit of more worldly affairs, but it's also about subtlety. Grunt all you want, but smooth and steady wins the race (and wins over the ladies ... More >>

Gourds Drummer Lives The Dream At Levon Helm's Studio

John Carrico​Hanging out with the Band's legendary drummer Levon Helm would be a dream for almost any other timekeeper. The Gourds have just returned to Austin from two weeks of recording at Helm's studio in Woodstock, N.Y, where drummer Keith Langford got to live the dream. The untitled albu ... More >>

Gourds, Bramhall Play Miller Outdoor Free Show July 22

Patrick McGown/thegourdsnews.blogspot.comThe Gourds' Kevin Russell and Jimmy Smith at the Houston Continental Club, December 11, 2010​Austin roots band the Gourds just announced via their Facebook fan page that they will play Miller Outdoor Theatre July 22. The band last played at Miller July ... More >>

Foals: The Beat Goes On For These Oxford Dance-Rock Scholars

Sub Pop Records​Hailing from Oxford, England, the five-piece group known as Foals have danced their way into acclaim with their second album, Total Life Forever. Musically, dance is where their rhythms lie, imitating beats from techno to funk to hip-hop. Instead of using conventional electroni ... More >>

Country Cool

A Gourd goes gospel

The Musical Minds That Made Booker T The Soul Man He Is Today

​How good a musician is Booker T? Along with the rest of the MGs, the house band of seminal soul imprint Stax who had several instrumental hits of their own besides backing Stax's powerhouse roster (Rufus Thomas, Albert King, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding...) throughout the '60s, the Memphis-born m ... More >>

New DVDs: Che, Henry Lee Lucas And A Boring Kate Beckinsale

​There's one thing you should remember about Che, being released today: this is a movie, not a documentary. Keep that in mind and you should be okay. History and director Steven Soderbergh have both been kind to Che, the revolutionary, some might say too kind. But politics aside, Che the fil ... More >>

ACL 2009 Day Three: Everybody Knows What Black Joe Lewis' Name Is Now

Photo by Katharine Shilcutt​It was almost like being back in Houston: Sunday was sticky and steamy as Rocks Off arrived at Zilker Park around noon, and the only way we knew we could make it through was with a stiff straight shot of Southern soul. Luckily, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears were ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: The Gourds, Part 3

[Note: This is the final installment of Lonesome Onry and Mean's interview with the Gourds' Kevin Russell. Don't miss Part 1 and Part 2.] John Carrico Lonesome Onry and Mean: To a lot of critics, "Steeple Full of Swallows" on Heavy Ornamentals was singled out as a new quieter, serious sound for th ... More >>

The Gourds land a real Haymaker!

Dead to Rights

Ramon Medina's Matagorda Island Discs

(In which locals sound off on the ten records they would take to Matagorda Island, the nearest major unpopulated sandbar to Houston.)

The Gourds

concert preview

Catfish Reef: Truckin' With Albert Collins

Catfish Reef: Truckin' With Albert Collins

The Gourds, with Last Train Home

Saturday, February 4, at the Continental Club, 3700 Main, 713-529-9666.

Stairway to Heaven

Gauging 2005's rock deaths with the Greil Marcus Death Meter

Welcome, Neighbors

Houston's music community responds to an unprecedented influx of talent

Houston's Gone Gaaga for Haaga

A former king of the Texas metal world unites Houston's warring rock tribes and wins a passel of Music Awards

Earl Gilliam

Texas Doghouse Blues

Drop Trio

Big Dipper, Self-Released

Bring Back the Funk

Lee Fields and the Sugarman 3 prove it's all about the groove

Barnyard Boogie

Former Houstonian Kev Russell talks about Snoop Dogg and Cow Fish Fowl or Pig

Hammond of the Gods

Eugene Hawthorne ditches his bass and goes barefootin' with soul-jazz

Playbill

Medeski, Martin and Wood

Various Artists

Ken Burns Jazz: The Story of America's Music (Columbia Legacy)

Utility Bassist

Christian McBride can do it all, and do it well

Jazz Warrior

Malcolm Pinson fights for bebop values

Hot Country Punksters

Hitting the Blue Notes

Rotation

Weird Ways

In Gourds' Country