Kevin Fowler

Seven Spring Music Festivals In Texas That Beat Staying Home

SXSW is officially over, thank the sweet baby Jesus. Now music fans have already begun to fan out to the four winds, seeking sunshine, swimsuits, alcohol, easy hookups and all the tunes they can handle until it gets ridiculously hot. Texans: you have about three hours. It's already begun over in Mi ... More >>

Last Night: Jason Aldean at Reliant Stadium

Jason Aldean Reliant Stadium March 11, 2013 Somewhere along the way Jason Aldean rubbed me the wrong way, and whenever I did have a stray thought about him, the words "massive tool" weren't far behind. I spent most of his RodeoHouston concert Monday night at (a packed) Reliant Stadium trying to fig ... More >>

A Full Dance Card

The 2013 RodeoHouston lineup reflects Houston, not Texas.

Rodeo Touches Every Corner of Pop Universe, Almost Misses Texas

I live too far away from the coasts to care about Coachella all that much, and have done far too much time in both the ACL and SXSW trenches to get too excited about anything that happens in far west Houston anymore. So instead, I have started looking forward to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo's ... More >>

6 Cool & Cheap Weekenders: Dinosaur Jr., Some Stones, Big K.R.I.T., Optimo Radio, etc.

Dinosaur Jr. Friday, Fitzgerald's Dinosaur Jr. may be one of the most underrated indie-rock acts of the past 25 years. They weren't as sexy as Pearl Jam or as populist as Nirvana, but the music dripping from the instruments of the criminally-unsung J Mascis, bassist Lou Barlow and drummer Murph has ... More >>

Ziegenbock Music Festival

Kevin Fowler Keeps Hangin' In and Hangin' On

Texas country rocker Kevin Fowler doesn't just have a new record label, he's also got a brand new back-to-the-basics kind of attitude. Shortly after Fowler signed with Lyric Street Records in 2010, the record label shut its doors, and Fowler was transferred to the label's parent company, Disney Mus ... More >>

Ryan Bingham: "It's Tough to Be That Vulnerable All the Time"

Talking to Ryan Bingham, you get the impression he's just as soon not carry around the official title "Academy Award Winner Ryan Bingham" the rest of his life. One clue is where he keeps the Best Original Song Oscar he and T-Bone Burnett won in 2010 for "The Weary Kind," but we'll get to that a litt ... More >>

4:50 a.m.: The 15 Best Fishing Songs We Could Find

Rocks Off never thought we'd say this, but the country eye candy behind "Pretty Good at Drinkin' Beer," Billy Currington, turned out to be pretty wise. He was smart enough to record the song "Bad Day of Fishin'" anyway, which contains the sage advice "a bad day of fishing beats a good day of anythin ... More >>

Top 5 Nearby Fall Festivals & County Fairs

As the recent weather has proved, there's no better time to be outdoors in Texas than fall. In springtime, there's always that lingering knowledge that summer is right around the corner, so this time of year there's nothing else to look forward to but Santa Claus. It's also harvest time, and the tho ... More >>

Six Market Blvd. Shakes It Down

Rising Texas country stars will sign anything you want, up to a point.

Pat Green: "I Don't Feel Like I Needed Rebooting"

Did Pat Green save country music? That is a contentious question no matter on which side of the Red River you're standing, but it's also a little beside the point. Nurtured by the storytelling culture of legendary Central Texas singer-songwriter rooms like New Braunfels' Gruene Hall and San Marcos' ... More >>

Last Night: Ten Man Jam At Verizon Wireless Theater

Photos by Michael LanierAlan Jackson​Holy honky-tonk hell, Houston. When you put on your cowboy boots, cowboy hats and drinking pants, you sure can throw down with the best of them. Wednesday night at Verizon Wireless Theater, 100.3 KILT continued its annual Ten Man Jam, with quite a solid li ... More >>

Dear Penis: 20 Songs About The Tube Snake Boogie

prince.orgGuess who turns 53 today?​Good Lord, what would we do if not for Weinergate? It's hot as hell outside, the Astros are terrible and Rick Perry might run for president next year. But as long as there are congressmen tweeting pictures of their junk to women they barely know, Rocks Off h ... More >>

The Five Most Texan Types Of Music

​Happy San Jacinto Day, fellow Texans and people who wish they were; i.e. everyone else. If you don't know why today is special, shame on you. But since us Texans are a friendly sort, allow Rocks Off to fill you in. On April 21, 1836, Texian forces under Gen. Sam Houston (aka "Big Drunk") lau ... More >>

Distant Early Warning: Ben Folds, Caribou, Lupe Fiasco, Randy Travis, Steve Martin, Etc.

​Authority Zero, Voodoo Glow Skulls: Fri., April 9. Wired Live. "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Live": Fri., April 16. House of Blues. "Bamboozle Road Show" With Hanson, Good Charlotte, Forever The Sickest Kids, Cartel, Boys Like Girls, All Time Low: Fri., May 28. Verizon Wireless Theater. Ben Folds: Sat ... More >>

Happy Anniversary Texas Music Magazine, or "Austin and (Maybe) Everything After"

​Towards the end of last week, Rocks Off got the latest issue of Texas Music magazine in the mail, which just happens to mark the quarterly periodical's tenth anniversary. Naturally, as just about every publication does when it reaches such an august milestone - no mean feat for a magazine in this ... More >>

2009 Concert Rewind, February: Killers Kill, Annuals Amuse, Hammered at Hank III, Spewing Slipknot and More

Mark C. Austin​ The Killers, Verizon Wireless Theater, February 2: "The general knock on the Killers is that they've achieved their relatively lofty position by standing on the shoulders of giants, which may well be true. But Monday night they showed that in reaching for the stars, they have yet t ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: That Sucking Sound You Hear? It's KILT's Upcoming "Ten Man Jam"

What a something-for-everyone mish-mash local radio station KILT's annual "Ten Man Jam," its tenth, is this year. For one thing, the two performers that Lonesome, Onry and Mean would most like to see are women: Miranda Lambert and young Nashville phenom Michelle Branch. KILT might want to consider ... More >>

Distant Early Warning: Bobby Bare, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Mariza, Green Jelly, Randy Rogers, etc.

​Between The Buried And Me, Devin Townsend Band, Cynic, Scale The Summit: Mon., Jan. 11. Meridian. Billy Dean: Fri., April 16. Dosey Doe Coffee Company. Bobby Bare: Sat., May 22. Dosey Doe Coffee Company. "The Canvas Grand Opening" With Chase Hamblin, listenlisten, Sideshow Tramps, The Mighty Orq ... More >>

Slide Show: July 4 at 3700 Main

Chris GrayHats off to a fine Fourth of July on the Island. With the sun beating down to the tune of 100 degrees in the shade and police checkpoints every mile or so, Rocks Off decided the most prudent way to spend his Fourth of July was to stay put. Luckily, the Island was hopping with a burlesque s ... More >>

Got Live If You Want It

Our Spring/Summer concert preview, part deux

Some Further Thoughts on iFest, and Festivals

Photos by Chris Gray Skyscrapers - something you won't see at Austin City Limits. Western Swing maidens the Quebe Sisters performed in the shadow of the Jesse H. Jones Library.Previously, Rocks Off's idea about what a "festival" should look like, and what to expect, came from his exper ... More >>

Could Alternative Country Work at the Rodeo?

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 >>

Oz the Great and Terrible

Happy Australia Day, everybody

Texas Music on Sirius/XM's Outlaw Country

The Shredder

One Show, One Sentence

Has ACL Festival Jumped the Shark?

Giddyup!: Full RodeoHouston Lineup Announced

Big State, Big Ideas

Kevin Fowler, Bring It On

www.kevinfowler.com

Houston Radio Still Sucks

David Sadof shares his dream station with Racket

Slamburgers

The care and feeding of reporters

Just Say No Más

In which we examine Cancuntry music

Various Artists

Heartworn Highways

Never Go to a Party in Friendswood

Where does your town rank in the Houston-area good-taste stakes?

Beer Run

Brew up some support at the Shiner Beer B.A.S.H.

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Don't Pass Glass

Twelve artists show us what the clear stuff can do

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

He's Gone Country

Jason Allen finds himself in the music he once tried to escape

Sultan of Swatch?

Babe's shirt goes in the cards

Art Partners

Microcinema International and Infernal Bridegroom Productions hook up

F.Co

The King of Texas (F.Co Music Management)

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Change of Beat

Just like the rest of Houston, the local music scene saw plenty of ups and downs

Toro! Toro! Toro!

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

Racket

In his first 24 years of life, Brad Turcotte has already become a music-business veteran

Playbill

River Oaks Music Festival