Johnny Bush

Mr. Record Man: Willie Nelson

In the Houston of 1959 and 1960, Willie Nelson was just another unknown musician. But not for long.

Working With Willie Nelson: Houston's Joe Sample Takes Us In the Studio

Working on this week's cover story on Willie Nelson was a blast -- and a blast from the past. One minute I'd be typing and the next the phone would ring. "Hey, this is Johnny Bush, I hear you're doing a story on Willie. Why didn't you call me?" Stuff like that just kept happening. Willie's world ... More >>

Notes on Nashville: The Finer Points of Sex and "Songwriting"

There's a saying in the music business that you have your whole life to make your first album, and a few months to make your next one. The second episode of a new TV show isn't quite the same thing (production schedule, for one), but it is just as useful for potential fans to decide whether or not t ... More >>

More Medical Trouble for Urban Cowboy-era Star Fiddlin' Frenchie Burke

Above: Frenchie Burke in a showbiz moment. Fiddlin' Frenchie Burke, one of the icons of Houston's "Urban Cowboy" craze of the late '70s, was diagnosed with an inoperable brain aneurysm yesterday in San Antonio, according to information on fellow fiddler Jody Nix's Facebook page. Known for his hug ... More >>

Top 5 Songs About Whiskey

Whether it's rye or bourbon, straight or blended, Irish, Scotch or Canadian, rock, country or classical, whiskey and warblers go way back. Even Stravinsky was quoted as saying "My God, so much I like to drink Scotch that sometimes I think my name is Igor Stra-whiskey." In whiskey-related weird news ... More >>

Gene Kurtz, "Treat Her Right" Co-Writer, Passes Away

Photo by Winker​Bassist Gene Kurtz, who co-wrote Roy Head's 1965 hit "Treat Her Right" and went on to play with a wide range of artists across rock, R&B, jazz and country, passed away Sunday night, according to a post on his Facebook page. Kurtz had just celebrated his 69th birthday last week. ... More >>

True Blood: A Bit Of Houston, A Bit Of Magical Murder

Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He's lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series, True Blood - which happens to be set in the Louisiana swamps, not terribly far from Houston. ​Johnny Bush, ladies and gentlemen. Even your resident goth ... More >>

Sunrise With Willie Nelson, Mickey Newbury And Darrell Royal

Courtesy of Lynda Higdon​Back when Willie Nelson had returned to Austin from Nashville and suddenly become the hillbilly crown prince of the Live Music Capital of the World - which was not yet known by that somewhat dubious nickname - one of his most visible supporters was then-University of T ... More >>

Johnny Bush, Gene Watson Recall Houston's Wooly Honky-Tonk '70s

Wyatt McSpadden/ johnny bush.com​When Rocks Off and Lonesome, Onry and Mean were working on our honky-tonk feature story a few weeks back, we had the pleasure of interviewing some of our heroes. Unfortunately not everything could make it into the story, but like those cooks who use even the sn ... More >>

Upcoming: Atari Teenage Riot, Heart, Rocks Off's "Reduxion," Etc.

Poster by DUAL​Atari Teenage Riot, Black Congress, Female Demand: Wed., Sept. 29. Numbers. Betty Wright, Willie Clayton: Sat., Oct. 2. Arena Theatre. Cory Morrow: Mon., Aug. 30, 5:30 p.m. Cactus Music & Video. Devil Driver, Kataklysm, Kittie: Tue., Aug. 31. Scout Bar Clear Lake. Flyleaf, ... More >>

Died and Gone to Houston

City is ready for another honky-tonk close-up.

Ray Price

Died And Gone To Houston: A Honky-Tonk Jukebox

​Besides the whomping pullout section with brief thumbnail sketches of every artist playing Saturday's Houston Press Music Awards showcase on Washington Avenue, in this week's print issue of the Press you'll find a feature story Rocks Off was proud to co-write called "Died and Gone to Houston. ... More >>

Dive Bars

A handcrafted tour of the best, most obscure places to lean on a stool in Houston.

A Musical Guide to Post-Secession Texas: Houston and "Brazoria"

The final installment of our Five States of Texas project brings it all back home, to the new state of Brazoria, encompassing all of Southeast Texas from the Brazos Valley to Sabine Pass. ​Patron Saint: Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. A master of rock and roll, country, Cajun/Creole, blues and jazz, n ... More >>

Houston 101: Magnolia Gardens -- Houston's Rockin' Little Riverside Beach

It may not look like much today, but back in the '50s and '60s, Magnolia Gardens was the place to be if you liked country music and rockabilly. The open-air dance hall/bandstand on the banks of the San Jacinto River was in a resort-like setting, with a restaurant or two and a few boat ramps scatter ... More >>

Before We Go: A Thousand Cranes, the Muses, Johnny Bush, the Old Quarter, Katy Perry, a Numbers Documentary and More

The above cartoon - give it a minute; it'll show up - is somehow tied into Saturday's show at Avant Garden featuring A Thousand Cranes, How I Quit Crack and Metal Rouge. Rocks Off wishes he could tell you how, but he digs the Monty Python and the Holy Grail homage. Colorado traditional Celtic duo t ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Comment on This One, We Dare You

Back in the Near Dark Ages when LOM was in grad-school journalism, one of the things that stuck with me was a lecture on "the lunatic fringe." These are the people who call in to radio talk shows or send long, vitriolic letters to newspapers, magazines and blogs. Negative reviews always bring out th ... More >>

Tonight: Carrie Rodriguez and Jubal Lee Young at Conroe's Free First Thursday

Carrie Rodriguez kicks of Conroe's free First Thursdays concert series tonight. After a long tenure as a duet with hall-of-fame-quality songwriter Chip Taylor, Rodriguez struck out on her own last year with She Ain't Me. The album is very much in a Patty Griffin vein, but the title track would d ... More >>

Could Alternative Country Work at the Rodeo?

Under the Volcano Calls Out the Rodeo

Under the Volcano has announced new bookings for March. Owner Pete Mitchell is launching what he hopes to turn into an annual month-long series to run during the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. "I haven't come up with a name for it yet - the Anti-Rodeo Series, the Real Country Series, so ... More >>

Sole of Houston: Airport Drive, The Finale (Including Unwanted Puke)

And here is the final installment of David Beebe and John Lomax's 20-plus mile hike from Intercontinental Airport to Spanish Flowers restaurant. Part one is here and part two is here.David Beebe's accounts of the same hike are here and here.Airline's furthest reaches are lined by sprawling and run-d ... More >>

SugarHill Studios Moves to Caroline Collective

The Houston International Festival Is Upon Us

Houston’s Golden Horn Is Silenced: Calvin Owens, R.I.P.

What Happened to Honky Tonk in Houston

Turn out the lights, the party's over

Texas Albums

2007's best Texas albums, from Houston, Austin and beyond

Jesse Dayton, Johnny Bush

RIP, Rory Miggins

Conroe Cajun Catfish Festival

Houston's Very Best Songs Ever

...otherwise known as the H-Town 20

The East End Trek

Where The Pyramid Meets the Fish Fry

Houston Mixtape Volume III

More local anthems

Houston International Fest 2007

The Bayou City's biggest festival continues making strides toward total recovery

Johnny Bush

Honky-tonk hero explores his hardscrabble Houston roots with an autobiography and a CD

Nobody Gets Out of Here Alive

The Houston rock scene and the cultural cringe

Mercy Eventually

More than 20 years down the road, Mary Gauthier is finally an emerging artist

Adios, KLOL

For the first time in Houston, Clear Channel makes a refreshing change

Defending the Dirty Thirty

And coping with Yankee slander

Midtown Honky-tonkin'

Trains and the vintage sounds of the Swank Countrypolitans bring a time warp to the Continental Club

Letters

Toro! Toro! Toro!

Home to pop queens and dance hall kings, Texas is still bullish about the music market

Achy Breaky Voice

Despite a vocal cord disorder, Johnny Bush still sings the praises of traditional Texas country music

Roundabout Way

Cornell Hurd finally finds his musical niche

Texas Music 1998: The Year That Wasn't

Rotation

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