Lucinda Williams

Houston's Top 10 Unsung Music Venues

There's no other way to say this except to say it: Houston has a lot of music venues, a lot of music venues, but most of the high-profile shows around here get routed into a handful of places. This happens for any number of reasons, most of them financial: Very few promoters in town can afford to pu ... More >>

Chafing 101: Rocks Off's 2011 Music Festival Odyssey

Music festivals are now a part of our lives, just like deadlines, angry commenters, lack of sleep, and eye fatigue. And eating at our desk. That sucks. But at least we have food and a desk, right? Rocks Off ventured all over the state -- OK, really mostly Austin -- to cover festivals for the blog. ... More >>

Commercial Break

103.7 is winning fans with its "adult alternative" format.

Vintage Pics Of Destiny's Child, ZZ Top, Blue October & More

Photo by Steve Harris/Compadre RecordsHayes Carll before he was old enough to shave... not that he ever has.​The other day, one of the Rocks Off Crew was rummaging around in the Houston Press office and came across a bunch of publicity stills for various musicians. Allow us to explain what th ... More >>

Emmylou Harris

Silk Degrees of Separation

Boz Scaggs turns to jazz, knows his Lightnin' Hopkins.

Lucinda Williams, Spearhead, Kronos Quartet Headed To iFest

​The Houston International Festival, better known as iFest, announced its 2011 lineup late Thursday night. Here are some of the highlights: FRIDAY, APRIL 29 World Stage: Kronos Quartet feat. Homayun Sakhi; Houston Youth Symphony String Quartet; Houston Grand Opera SATURDAY, APRIL 30 World ... More >>

Wanted More Dead Than Alive

Gurf Morlix reflects on compadre Blaze Foley.

For the Sake of the Song: Sanitized, Still Essential

​No discussion of Houston music history is complete without mentioning Montrose folk venue Anderson Fair. The list of performers alone is staggering, but there's more to the old spaghetti restaurant than just the people who've graced the stage, and that's what documentary For the Sake of the S ... More >>

For the Sake of the Song

PR maven Sarah Gish celebrates a decade of success

Last Night: The Black Keys At The Woodlands

Photos by Marc Brubaker​The Black Keys Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 20, 2010 "Howlin' at midnight, winter creepin' in/ Feel like I've gone and lost my best friend" - Lucinda Williams, "Howlin' At Midnight" Did you see the moon Wednesday night? The "Super Harvest Moon" that, acco ... More >>

Simple Plan

Chef Randy Evans's idea for a "seasonal kitchen" at Haven mostly succeeds.

Mike Stinson's Paranoid-Musician Nightmares

From time to time, Rocks Off thought we'd ask both local and touring musicians to tell us the worst gig they've ever played, in the hopes that the next one won't be quite so awful. We asked Houston honky-tonk transplant Mike Stinson, whose new CD The Jukebox In Your Heart is now in regular rotation ... More >>

New, Hidden Americana Gems From Philly, Nashville And The Ozarks

Desoto Rust​ Too many records, too many records, too many records. Sometimes Lonesome, Onry and Mean just has to take a deep breath, swallow hard and admit we can never give a fair listen to all the stuff that shows up in the mailbox. And since we seldom do actual album reviews in print anymore, w ... More >>

Documentary On Anderson Fair Gets Thumbs-Up From Hollywood Reporter

​For the Sake of the Song , the documentary on Montrose's legendary Anderson Fair, is about to make the festival rounds; this week it had its world premiere at SXSW.The influential trade publication Hollywood Reporter reviewed the Austin showing and was enthusiastic, which is always a good thing.T ... More >>

Leon's Lounge Needs Some Soul. Brett "Dirty Honey" Koshkin Has The Platters.

​ Leon's Lounge, the venerable Midtown throwback dive, is currently closed for renovations as new owner Pete Mitchell (Under the Volcano) gives it a good scrubbing, but it should be back open before too much longer. Maybe as soon as next month. Earlier this week, Rocks Off heard some equally good ... More >>

American Man

Chuck Prophet's ¡Let Freedom Ring!: Political songs for nonpolitical people.

Still Not Sold On SXSW? How About Smokey Robinson, High On Fire, She & Him, Band Of Horses, Drive-By Truckers, Deer Tick, Anya Marina, Black Angels, Major Lazer...

Today the organizers of the SXSW Music Festival announced their showcase schedule for the music portion of the industry fest starting on March 17. This is the news Rocks Off has been looking for, so let's get it on. We are now one month away from Sixth Street and one of the world's biggest conglome ... More >>

Attention Houston: What To Do When a Beloved Music Venue Says It's Shutting Down

​Rocks Off is here to help. That's why we keep an eye out for stories that, while they may not have anything to do with Houston per se, can still provide a valuable lesson. So as much as we delight in poking fun at Austin, the recent plight of the Cactus Cafe - the on-campus acoustic venue that ha ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Two Top Producers Recall Their Earliest Musical Memories

Two of the better known roots producers on the scene have radically different memories of the first music of their childhoods that gripped them by the ears and heart. Gurf Morlix, whose notable production credits include Lucinda Williams' Grammy-winning Car Wheels on a Gravel Road as well as stella ... More >>

Random Notes from ACL: The Grass Is Always Greener...

Chris GrayIt's a little more crowded than this at Zilker now, but it was fun while it lasted.​ The grass is especially sweet at this year's ACL festival. The new turf at Zilker Park is nice too.Now we are in the media tent, surrounded by friends and family: Rocks Off's Austin Chronicle mentor (and ... More >>

Burnin' for You

Lonesome Onry and Mean: "Killing the Blues" with Plant and Krauss

Led Zeppelin shouter Robert Plant and country/pop vocalist Alison Krauss seem like a highly unlikely duo. When I heard they'd made an album together called Raising Sand, the pairing seemed so odd I didn't really even want to hear it. I thought their two voices would clash like Lucinda Williams and R ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Gurf Morlix and Last Exit To Happyland

Photo by Lynne Hawrelko What a beautiful world we'd be living in if Joel Osteen or Pat Robertson or Rush Limbaugh used Gurf Morlix as musical director. His new Last Exit to Happyland is full of aching songs full of deep humanity and decency as well as head-shaking social accusations and knife-to-the ... More >>

Chart Check: Texans on Amazon.com

[Rocks Off scrolled through the various Top Sellers lists on Amazon.com this afternoon to see which albums by Texas artists are moving, and where.] Top Sellers Overall 2. Steve Martin, The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo 7. Willie Nelson & Asleep at the Wheel, Willie and the Wheel ... More >>

Remembering Martin Luther King Jr. in Song

In the Name of Love

New Year's Resolutions from a Few Big Musical Names

Fine in '09

Lonesome Onry and Mean: 2008's Heavy Rotation

For the second (third?) year in a row, LOM didn't vote in either the Nashville Scene's best of country music poll or the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop best of American music poll. I'm just not a good list-maker. Detest that stuff. Just trying to compile a list of possibles makes my brain hate me. ... More >>

Top Ten Americana Albums of 2008

Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category. Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen Trapper's fantastic ... More >>

Turkey Trot

Artists choose the songs that rocked their 2008 worlds

Artist of the Week: Debbie Forrest

Music's Ickiest of the Icky, Circa 2008

Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

Denice Franke: Gulf Coast Blue

Weekend Music Part 2: Randys Travis and Weeks, Yuppie Pricks, Jackyl, Spain Colored Orange and More

Charlie Sexton

Grand Theft Auto X: The Screwston Chronicles

Anne McCue

The Houston 100: From Sir Douglas Quintet to Guy Clark

Randy Weeks, with Tony Gilkyson and Mike Stinson

4 p.m. Sunday, March 19, in-store at Sig's Lagoon, 3710 Main, 713-533-9525; 7 p.m. show at McGonigel's Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk, 713-528-5999

Dana Cooper

Made of Mud

Mary Gauthier

Thursday, April 15

Still Young

Neil Young and Crazy Horse ride into town with Lucinda Williams

Amy Rigby

Thursday, June 19

Bill Chambers

Saturday, August 3

Norah Jones

Wednesday, March 27

Shelf Life

Long after Britney Oops her way to obscurity, these releases will continue to sing

Artsy Activist

Slinging a guitar and the New Testament, Bruce Cockburn preaches the gospel of progressive politics

Gracious Angel

A box set doesn't mean Emmylou Harris's career is done; it may mean it's just beginning

Rotation

Folk Hero