Muddy Waters

Houston Artists Up For Some Big Blues Awards Tonight

Blues artists -- like real, legitimate rhythm-and-blues players -- aren't in the headlines very often these days. But whenever they are, Rocks Off is both happy and proud to point out that unlike most other places, Houston still has quite a few of them, many of whom continue to do excellent work. T ... More >>

Muddy Waters and the Stones Get Their Mojo Workin'

Muddy Waters and the Rolling Stones Live at the Checkerboard Lounge Chicago 1981 Eagle Rock, 106 min., $14.98 DVD/$19.98 DVD/CD What a great time it is be a classic-rock fan with eyes as well as ears. Between a trove of rare and unreleased concert and TV appearance videos readily available on YouTu ... More >>

8 Cool & Cheap Weekenders: Houston SunBurn, HPMA Showcase, Etc.

This is... impressive. It's called Houston SunBurn, and it's somehow related to famous Nevada freakfest Burning Man. It's tomorrow at Jet Lounge, the Engine Room and Last Concert Cafe, and looks like a who's who of local fringe talent - experimental electronica to Americana, and literally everything ... More >>

''One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer — Guitar Art, No Strings Attached''

Last Night: Ian Moore Band At The Continental Club

Photos by Jason Wolter​Ian Moore Band Continental Club August 11, 2011 Nostalgia has a funny way of creeping up on you when you least expect it. Aftermath suspects the Ian Moore Band would agree. As the quartet hit the home stretch of its 90-minute set Thursday with "Blue Sky" and "How Does ... More >>

Remember Le$'s The Beautiful Struggle?

Houston's history is dotted with albums that, fairly or not, have been swept aside. We'll examine them here. Have an album that you think nobody knows about but should? Email sheaserrano@gmail.com. ​Le$ The Beautiful Struggle (Self-released, 2010) Le$, the least burly, most modern Boss Hogg ... More >>

Johnny Winter's New Orbit: Roots, William Shatner & Sly Stone

bobmargolin.comLondon, 1979 (l-r): Bob Margolin, Johnny Winter, Muddy Waters​Beaumont-born bluesman Johnny Winter is having a very busy year for a man who is 67. Not only is he set to release his first album of newly recorded material in eight years, Winter is also featured on I'm Back! Family ... More >>

Bright Light Social Hour's Favorite Summertime Jams

Bright Lights, White House: Bright Light Social Hour in front of Obama's DC crib. ​With a sound influenced by Sly & The Family Stone, The Allman Brothers, Daft Punk and Muddy Waters, Austin's Bright Light Social Hour has become one of the city's most prominent party bands. Imagine Foxy Shazam ... More >>

Buddy Guy

The Best Albums Of 2011 (So Far)

​The year isn't quite half over, but as of today, "summer" is officially here - even if the calendar needs a few weeks to catch up - and by the time summer is over, so will 2011. Or close enough. So Rocks Off asked our staff to give us their favorite two albums of the year so far, plus one out ... More >>

Tracy Nelson, Victim Of The Blues, Embraces Muddy & Lightnin'

Robert Hakins​Long acclaimed as one of the truly great singers of the modern era, at 66 Tracy Nelson still has the fire for performing great songs. Her latest project, Victim of the Blues, is a loving caress to her original passion: Old-school blues, particularly the Chicago variety. Nelson's ... More >>

RIP Pinetop Perkins: Blues Legend Dead At 97

Ralph Mooney, former Waylon Jennings steel guitarist, also dies Steve Azzato/pinetopperkins.com​Legendary multi-Grammy-winning blues pianist Pinetop Perkins has died at his home in Austin, according to his Web site. Perkins, who was part of Muddy Waters' band for years, was 97. No cause of ... More >>

Steve Miller Band

Friday Night: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers At The Woodlands

Photos by Jim Bricker​Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 24, 2010 In a catalog studded with them, one of the saddest songs Tom Petty ever wrote is also one of the most revealing. As far as we know, it's never seen the light of stage since the tour for its ... More >>

Dialtone Records Showcase

Answers To Rocks Off's Musical Nickname Quiz

​Rocks Off hopes you enjoyed our musical nickname quiz earlier today. We have had a few nicknames ourselves over the years - our dad called us "Boog" after former Baltimore Orioles first baseman Boog Powell, and we were known for years around the Austin Chronicle offices as "Weezer," which we ... More >>

Howlin' Wolf Hits 100; Did He Ever Hit Houston?

​Like Tom Petty - heard the new album yet? - once sang, it's good to be king. While Rocks Off No. 2 is saddled with justifying his tendency to sing "Over the Rainbow" in the car when (he says) no one else is around, we've been looking into the local connections of someone else with a birthday toda ... More >>

Aftermath: The Fabulous Thunderbirds Warm Up The Rodeo BBQ Cookoff

It never fails to amaze Aftermath that what little real spring Houston actually gets usually happens during the three weeks the rodeo is in town. If the city is in the grip of winter when the cookoff crews fire up their BBQ pits, you can bet AC units across town will be going full-blast by the time ... More >>

He Said She Said: Songs That Make Us Feel Like a Man, Baby!

Mad Men's Christina Hendricks makes us feel like a man in the best possible way...​He Said's view of manhood wasn't built on sweat and labor the way most guys would probably say. Early on in our musical journey, we always equated music to being sleazy and slithery, or just dancing. It makes sense ... More >>

Aftermath: Buddy Guy, Silly but Still Scorching at House of Blues

Photos by Eric Sauseda/ Click here for a slideshow​ Of all the still-living bluesmen whose careers were firmly established before the likes of Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, etc. came along in the mid and late '60s, the knock on Buddy Guy is that live, he is the most inconsistent. Convent ... More >>

Aftermath: Big Walter "The Thunderbird" Price's Birthday at the Big Easy

Reg Burns​While the indie-rock world dodged lightning strikes Sunday afternoon, Houston's blues community gathered inside the Big Easy Social and Pleasure Club to pay homage to its most elder statesman, Big Walter "The Thunderbird" Price. The venue was packed with dancers, drinkers and a plethora ... More >>

Get Lit: Delta Blues by Ted Gioia

Raw and untamed in its sound, performed by larger-than-life characters who might have popped out of fiction, and shrouded in a (often self-mythologizing) mystery, it's no wonder that the Delta blues attract such interest and scholarship, and is lauded as the most "true" distillation of the genre ... More >>

Nicholas Tremulis Orchestra

Eyeballin': Down the Tracks: The Music That Influenced Led Zeppelin

Even the most naïve and surface Led Zeppelin listener tell you at least that they were influenced "by the blues." But this insightful and surprisingly solid documentary goes way further in delving into the sound and the performers which were in the minds (and on the home stereos) of Mssrs. Page an ... More >>

Cadillac Records Can't Handle the Truth

Spinning Blues into Lies

The Hacienda Brothers mourn fallen bandmate Chris Gaffney

Brothers in Arms

Dax Riggs

Johnny Winter

Texas musician plays red-hot blues

Last Night: Scott H. Biram at the Continental Club

Flipping the Script

Who's partying like rock stars? Rappers!

Taking Liberty's at Fitzgerald’s

Bonnie Raitt

Bonnie Raitt appears Saturday, October 7, at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 2005 Lake Robbins Dr., The Woodlands. Call 281-363-3300 for more info.

Hound Dog Taylor

Release the Hound (Alligator)

Blue Christmas

Joe's Roadhouse pays homage to the melancholy side of the season

Bob Margolin

Friday, July 25

Moment in the Sun

Helios shines on undiscovered talent

Racket

The Last Concert Cafe has glimpses from its unique history

Still Howlin'

Omar Dykes keeps finding ways to push the blues out there

Bravehearts

The Battlefield Band

Old School

MU330 makes ska as it was intended

Playbill

Muddled Muddy

My Kinda Sound

Chicago plays home to the blues in Houston

Black Blues, White Label

Just the Basics

Earl of Blues

Tupelo's Curse

Nails in the Coffin

Five decades of Chess Records lead to a blues stalemate

Bo Knows

New Blues

Alternative rock robs pop's cradle