Old 97's

Saturday Night: Old 97's at Sam Houston Race Park

Old 97's Sam Houston Race Park April 6, 2013 So, very rarely is it possible to see a decent band for six bucks. However, it was entirely possible to do so at the Sam Houston Race Park this past Saturday night. Oh, and not only could you see a band for way freakin' cheap, but that band was the Old ... More >>

DJ Sun's Guided Tour of One Hundred, Part 2

Wednesday DJ Sun, who has as good a claim as anybody we know on the title of Houston's Chillest Citizen, was kind enough to walk us through the first half of his brand-new (and first) full-length original album, One Hundred. Full-length is right, too: One Hundred stretches to 19 tracks, including a ... More >>

The 30 Best Texas Albums

Ranking the 30 best Texas albums of the past 30 years seemed like an impossible task. We did it anyway.

Last Night: The Old 97's at House of Blues

The Old 97's House of Blues August 23, 2012 Too Far to Care is an album about growing up the hard way but having a lot of fun while you do it. It was made by a band who thought the world was about to be at their feet, that they were about to break through to the big time. Showbiz! That isn't quite ... More >>

Too Far to Care

The Old 97's revisit a Texas classic on 15th anniversary tour.

The Old 97's Rhett Miller: "We'll Play Our Hit Twice"

Rewind: The Old 97's Rhett Miller: "Then the Stage Gets a Lot Bigger" Streets of Where I'm From (music feature) When Nirvana upended the music business in the early '90s, the major record labels saw dollar signs in every dive bar and honky-tonk in the lower 48. That extended all the way to Texas, ... More >>

The Old 97's Rhett Miller: "Then the Stage Gets a Lot Bigger"

Music Feature: Streets of Where I'm From This is an exciting time to be an Old 97's fan. Out of nowhere, almost, the Dallas quartet is now one of the longest-tenured and most successful Texas bands of its generation. All four original members are intact, they never "took a break," and they've never ... More >>

7 Cool & Cheap Weekenders: Soft Metals, Buxton, Grand Old Grizzly, Etc.

Tonight L.A.-via-Portland electro duo Soft Metals (synthy, spooky, dreamy) headline the return of the Musum of Fine Arts, Houston's Mixed Media social-hours from 8 p.m. to midnight. The space will be tricked out by presenting sponsor IKEA, so you know it's going to be modern. Also performing are loc ... More >>

Shot In The Dark: Angels & A-Holes

When you're in the photo pit taking pictures for a publication such as Rocks Off, you can become the unwanted center of attention from both the audience and especially the artists. Most of the time you are only a few feet away from the performer, and often in their direct line of sight. They can and ... More >>

Shooter Jennings

Last Night: Old 97's at House of Blues

Oh, dutiful journalism, the places I will go in your name. Last night, one of those places just had to be House of Blues. It's always a pleasure to watch Old 97's and I would put up that good fight to keep my spirits high in what is arguably my least favorite venue in town. But enough with the pouti ... More >>

Old 97's

Robert Ellis, Hayes Carll Honored by American Songwriter Magazine

Photo by Marc Brubaker​If one understands the historical depth and context of the singer-songwriter tradition in Houston -- and it was flourishing here long before it migrated to Austin or before a few (mostly Texan) outlaws started up a movement in Nashville -- it shouldn't come as much of a ... More >>

The Best & Worst Of All Possible Buzzfests

Photo by Marc BrubakerWe did it all for the nookie.​This weekend is Buzzfest XXVII in Houston, 94.5 The Buzz's bi-annual all-day throwdown at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Rocks Off has covered a few of the shows in the past few years, including the May 2010 edition where we took along ... More >>

10 Great Pictures Of Johnny Cash

​Do you remember where you were when you found out that Johnny Cash passed away, on September 12, 2003? This member of Rocks Off was in our tiny S-10 pickup, delivering pizzas somewhere in Pearland, when one of the country stations he was flipping through delivered the news that the Man In Bla ... More >>

Saturday Night: Robert Ellis Wins Nashville's Heart

Photos by Marc Brubaker​Robert Ellis & the Boys, Those Darlins, Old 97's Mercy Lounge, Nashville July 9, 2011 "It takes a lot of balls to do that in this town, but y'all pulled it off," a man in the second row yelled towards the stage amidst a wave of applause. Robert Ellis and his Boys had ... More >>

Out Today: New West Strikes Gold On Robert Ellis, Old 97's Discs

​It's a light batch this week as far as new releases go, with the Independence Day holiday cutting into the label's schedules. As it stands now, Rocks Off is holding a jug of coffee in our hands to try to wake up from the food and chill-time coma we embarked on last Friday. We are surely not in th ... More >>

Rocks Off's Must-See Music Picks For SXSW '11

​As you may have heard, there's a teeny-tiny little music festival going on in Austin later this week. Some of the early birds on team Rocks Off are either already there or well on their way, as a matter of fact. With more than 2,000 artists playing the official part of SXSW alone, trying to ... More >>

MCM: More Local Music News Than Fried Food At The Rodeo

Each week Rocks Off navigates the treacherous seas of the mysterious Internet, casting nets to bring you the finest and freshest music news from around Houston. Enjoy. ​Scale The Summit's new album, The Collective, was released this week, and the entire thing is up for streaming on Soundcloud ... More >>

Old 97's

Balaclavas, Moccs, Fat Tony Place In Pazz & Jop Poll

Show of hands, everyone who is surprised this is No. 1.​Music writers all know that once they get their Village Voice Pazz & Jop ballot in their e-mail inbox, that it's time to tally their loves from the last year. It's sort of like the leaves changing or the first freeze of winter coming. You ... More >>

Top 10 Recent TV-Show Soundtracks

​A few choice adjectives come to mind when musing on bawdy Eastbound & Down character Kenny Powers. "Inspiring" is not one of them. However, as Rocks Off watched this week's season finale of the side-splitting HBO series, we were pleasantly surprised as we heard indie troubadour Kurt Vile's a ... More >>

Old 97's: What's So Good About A Good-Time Band?

Photos by Jason Wolter​When Rocks Off was talking to Old 97's front man Rhett Miller last week, we told him it was going to be nice to see them at the Continental Club. He chuckled and said, "Yeah, it kind of feels like we're going backwards." It may feel like that for the band - who played H ... More >>

The Grand Theatre

Old '97s snap back with new album.

Rhett Miller Talks Old 97's, Bob Dylan, Trains And More

Piper Ferguson​The band probably doesn't remember this, but one of the first interviews Rocks Off ever conducted as a quote-unquote professional journalist was talking to the Old 97's in their tour van behind Austin's Liberty Lunch as opener Don Walser(!) yodeled in the background. That was ar ... More >>

Aftermath: Old 97's Match Their Grayer, Mellower House Of Blues Audience

Photos by Jason Wolter​ Some British band - it may have been the Thompson Twins - once sang about what a drag it is getting old. Aftermath is getting on in years, but still young at heart, which is what compelled us to go check out a similarly more seasoned Old 97s at the House of Blues Saturday n ... More >>

I'm Bound To Pack It Up: A Playlist for Team Coco

​Former management at NBC was smart enough to stick with Conan O'Brien's Late Night franchise despite an unsteady beginning, and were rewarded when Coco went on to build one of the most reliably solid shows in late-night history. He was afforded no such wisdom from Jeff "Soul Suckin' Jerk" Zucker, ... More >>

Twelve Musical Fuck Yous Better Than Gov. Ah-nuld's Coded Message

​Photo illustration by John Seaborn Gray​We admit, we never thought he had it in him, but apparently the Governator is capable of human cleverness - just like all non-cybernetic organisms. That is, if we accept that the acrostic in this veto message here isn't just a coincidence (read the first ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Blacktop Gypsy and Shurman

Two fine bands who don't come through much are playing just blocks apart tonight. Dallas's Blacktop Gypsy will be knocking the audience out with their amazing harmonies and the virtuosity of fiddler Heather Stalling (wife of Max Stalling) and former Lake Jackson resident Rodney Pyeatt. Stalling was ... More >>

HPMA Aftermath: MELOVINE, the Snake Charmers, LL Cooper, Peekaboo Theory and Buxton

Mark C. AustinThe Snake Charmers take a breather after bluesing up Martell's.​ It was hot as hell when the Houston Press music staff met up at the Flying Saucer ordering different shades of exotic beers and several different kinds of cheese. Bands were divided up between writers, and pretty much e ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Grant Langston's Plastic Honky-Tonk

 California, we have a problem. It is much the same problem we encounter with the whole Texas music phenomenon championed endlessly by Best In Texas music magazine: calculated, paint-by-the-numbers music and writing. This was one of LOM's chief criticisms of L.A. tonker David Serby's latest eff ... More >>

Saturday: Dash Rip Rock at the Continental Club

A sort of swampy Supersuckers, New Orleans trio Dash Rip Rock - whose last album Hee Haw Hell was the rather ambitious cowpunk retelling of Dante's Inferno - have returned to more earthly concerns on the new Country Grilfriend (Abitian). That means, according to the liner notes, "songs [that] will b ... More >>

Johnny Falstaff: Honky Tonkin' Daddy, John Evans Band: Lucky 13, Kanude: Kanude

Rhett Miller

Rhett Miller

The Old 97’s at ACL Fest

Confessions of a Classic Rock Whore, or One Man’s Journey

ZZ Top, David Allan Coe, Hank Williams III, Old 97's

ZZ Top, David Allan Coe, Hank Williams III and Old 97's perform Saturday, July 14, at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 2005 Lake Robbins Dr., The Woodlands, 281-363-3300.

Young Gun

Collin Herring hits somewhere between Merle Haggard and Hüsker Dü -- and that's a good place to be

Hot Shows

Summertime concerts that will leave you sweating

I'll Drink to That

Fuel your New Year's Eve with these boozy sing-along tunes

Old 97's

Drag It Up (New West)

Playbill

Hop Sing

1, Self-released

Miller's Crossing

Rhett Miller's Instigator isn't the wreck of the Old 97's. It's just what he does.

Letters 07-20-2000

New Old 97's

New Year's Eve Blastoff

All-Terrain Vehicle

Rock, country, punk, pop: Freewheeling Old 97's don't discriminate

A Whole Lot Country

And quite a bit rock and roll add up to No Depression music