Leadbelly

Scott H. Biram at the Continental Club, 5/17/13

Lightnin' Hopkins Finally Wins a Grammy

It took the Texas Historical Society long enough to appropriately recognize Houston bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins, but not as long as the Grammys. As part of the run-up to Sunday night's 55th annual Grammy Awards, its governing body the Recording Academy announced that Hopkins, who died in 1982, will ... More >>

Not Fade Away Soundtrack Offers Up a Fistful of Blues, Stones

Not Fade Away, Director David Chase's period piece about a burgeoning rock band in the '60s, is still playing on limited screens in New York and Los Angeles, but this week preview copies of the soundtrack hit mailboxes. It is a sprawling double-disc, double-LP collection featuring vintage Rolling St ... More >>

Peter Case: Ex-Plimsoul Heads Back to San Francisco's Beatnik Nights

Old-school punk impresario, power-pop godfather, and singer-songwriter extraordinaire Peter Case (The Nerves, The Plimsouls) continues to thrive on the weary road, armed with a sense of honesty and history in the newfangled digital era. Rocks Off spoke with him recently before he arrives in Houston ... More >>

The Coolest and Uncoolest Songs About America's Coolest City (Us)

Above is Dean Martin doing "Houston" on his television show. Epic fail, but nice outfit. As you may have read, Forbes magazine recently determined that, by their measurement criteria, Houston is now America's coolest/hippest city. Of course, while the rest of the world has looked down its nose for ... More >>

A God-Fearing Boogie Man

Reverend K.M. Williams says the blues aren't the devil's music.

Hootenanny 101: Folk Songs to Help You Study for Finals

Lead Belly​It's the last week of classes for most of us who are still in school, which means that next week is finals time. We here at Rocks Off feel your pain -- it's hard trying to cram for five finals on only 60 milligrams of Adderall. Hell, we have two projects due tonight by 7 p.m. and we ... More >>

Pop Rocks on Sting: "Rock Stars...Is There Anything They Don't Know?"

You rotten flexible bastard.​ Sting. He's the artist we love to hate: Sting, everyone's favorite somnambulant acoustic pop star, has developed a somewhat checkered experience in Central Asia. In 2009, Gulnara Karimova--herself a fledgling pop singer under the name GooGooSha and daughter of ... More >>

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap: Music Fans Love Their A-Holes

You rotten flexible bastard.​Sting. He's the artist we love to hate. From The Atlantic: Sting, everyone's favorite somnambulant acoustic pop star, has developed a somewhat checkered experience in Central Asia. In 2009, Gulnara Karimova - herself a fledgling pop singer under the name GooGooSha ... More >>

Leadbelly's "Midnight Special" Prison in Sugar Land Closing (Although It Might Not Be the Prison He "Wrote" It in)

Texas legislators are likely to agree to closing the century-old Central Unit prison in Sugar Land, mostly because it sits on land near the airport that can be developed. It's one of several Texas Department of Criminal Justice units in the area; a compound of four units is nearby in unincorporated ... More >>

Five Murderers' Unreleased Children's Albums

​Reading this article from our San Francisco sister blog All Shook Down got Rocks Off thinking: If Leadbelly could murder a man in cold blood, yet also excel in the gentle whimsy of children's music, could there have perhaps been other killers who tried to record children's albums that, for on ... More >>

Five Essential Boogie-Rock Albums

​Boogie-rock has probably been derided by critics more times than people have torched a doob while listening to BTO. Intellectual types tend to write it off as guys with feathered bangs, mustaches and shirts open to their navel playing songs about cars, girls and partying (and partying in cars ... More >>

Six Things The White Stripes Leave In Their Wake

​In the wake of the White Stripes' official breakup last week, the music world reeled with the loss of one of the defining bands of the past decade. Some applauded the end of a band they saw as too simplistic, buoyed by a sub-par drummer and warbling attention-addict. Different strokes, y'all. ... More >>

Rocks Off's Favorite Non-2010 Music Of 2010

Editor's Pick: It was probably Uncle Tupelo's Anodyne, same as last year. So how about Nirvana's In Utero, which I dragged out of mothballs when we did our article about Nevermind's anniversary in September. In Utero fried my hair all over again, and then got me thinking about the band's cover of ... More >>

Happy Anniversary, Nirvana's Nevermind

​This past Friday, a significant musical anniversary came and went with barely a peep. It was only 19 years to the day the last album to cause a legitimate sea change in popular music - both the industry and the art - was released. Rocks Off knows that was a few days ago, but hey, we had a bus ... More >>

Johnny Falstaff And Friends Make Quite A Spectacle At Blanco's

Photos by Melissa NobleLeft-right: Johnny Falstaff, Jo Bird, Carly Wolf​Lonesome Onry and Mean is a huge fan of Elvis Costello's Spectacle TV show. It would be wrong to say there was a "best" night, but our favorite is the Renee Fleming episode. Fleming, New York's reigning Metropolitan Opera ... More >>

Friday Night: Dr. John At House of Blues And Jon Cleary At The Big Easy

Photos by Jason Wolter​Dr. John/Jon Cleary House of Blues/The Big Easy August 20, 2010 In spite of all the BS whining that we don't "support the local scene" or that we have our head up somebody's ass, it's a great time to be a music journalist in Houston. Friday night was no exception, as Af ... More >>

Beyond His Years

A bluesman since age ten, Bernard Allison has learned his lessons well.

Lonesome Onry and Mean: The Shadowy Depression-Era Roots of Modern Country and Bluegrass

As LOM promised in last week's blog about bluegrass, here are some precursors to that art form. These are some wonderful tunes to listen to on your boom-box or iPod while tending your illegal still. Charlie Poole: Charlie Poole is the iconic model for every hard-drinkin', guitar-plunking, Appalachi ... More >>

True Blood, Episode 8: Lyle Lovett's Prison Song and Redemption on a Dallas Hotel Roof

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. Though we're picking up midway through Season 2, from here on out as ... More >>

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 >>

House of Blues Takes Area Students to Blues School

Photos by Chris Gray Class has begun, school is in session and all the pupils are attentively waiting to hear what the teacher has in store. But there are no desks, tests or No. 2 pencils anywhere in sight. These H.I.S.D. students are seated at a special assembly to receive a lesson of great importa ... More >>

Defending Bob Dylan and the Mac Guy

Bob Dylan: Together Through Life

God, Texas and Tom Waits

Tom Waits may not come from around here, but a good chunk of his favorite music does

Drenched In Blog: Nirvana’s Unplugged on DVD

Free for All

A brief history of musicians giving it away

Day of the Dead at the Graves of Southeast Texas Music Legends

Stage Capsule Reviews: Arsenic and Old Lace, Black Pearl Sings, The Daughter of the Regiment, Fools and Rumors

Radio Houstoned: Black Pearl Sings at Stages Repertory Theatre

Black Pearl Sings

Stages presents world premiere

Drenched in Blog: Hall of Fame Nominations a Big Cleveland Steamer

A Paean to Texas Blues in Arlington?

Houston's Very Best Songs Ever

...otherwise known as the H-Town 20

Lomax on Lomax

Rockin' Renewal

The imminent launch of new venue Warehouse Live makes it official: Downtown is now Houston's live music hot spot

The Real Deal

Who is the more "authentic" bluesman -- Bobby Bland or T-Model Ford?

Armand Van Helden

New York: A Mix Odyssey (Tommy Boy)

Blues Lucifers

San Antonio's Boxcar Satan rumbles in from the west with its punk-roots noise

The Gossip

Saturday, February 7

Banjos and Body Piercings

William Elliott Whitmore brings old-school bluegrass to the punk underworld

City Under Siege

Musicians provide HPD with plenty of overtime pay

Bluegrass Meltdown, Montrose-Style

Medicine Show, J.W. Americana and Two Star Symphony have the cure for the Monday-night blahs

War on War Songs

Iraq and roll don't go together well when rockers protest

Meet the New Boss

John Nova Lomax

Folk Art

More than 30 years after opening "Alice's Restaurant," Arlo Guthrie still packs 'em in

Leary of Home

The forgotten treasure found at King's X

Lost Legends

Tary Owens helped rescue the early roots of Texas music. Then those songs saved Owens from himself.

Blast from the Past

Bridging Lead Belly is a new release of recently discovered songs

Mo' Better Blues

Art imitates life in the music of Keb' Mo'