Old 97's

Lights, Camera, Headaches

The quickest way to ruin a music festival? Get actors to show up.

UPDATED: Is ACL Festival Ignoring Houston? Does It Even Matter?

UPDATED (Thursday, 2:50 p.m.) to reflect the Houston-area roots of a few ACL performers this year, as pointed out by reader comments. We stand by our original point, though. As most of our readers no doubt know by now, the Austin City Limits Music Festival announced its 2013 lineup at the stroke of ... More >>

The Best Concerts In Houston This Weekend: Josh Turner, K-Rino, Romeo Santos, etc.

Josh Turner Nutty Jerry's (Winnie), April 5 It's hard to keep up with every new country crooner that comes over the pop-twang airwaves, but thankfully Josh Turner's deeper-than-the-holler voice manages to stand out from the Keith Urban clones, sounding way more trad-country than those other guys at ... More >>

10 Fun Food Festivals Coming Up This Spring

News of Houston's first big barbecue festival was announced yesterday, and fans have already begun buying up tickets to the appropriately-named Houston Barbecue Festival. Scheduled to take place on March 24, the festival has already booked such popular local smokers as Pizzitola's Bar-B-Cue, CorkScr ... More >>

Upcoming: The Zombies, Jewel, Knife Party, King Khan, Paramore, Son Volt, etc.

The Airborne Toxic Event: Mon., April 29, 8 p.m., $18/$25. House of Blues, 1204 Caroline, Houston. The Black Angels: With Hanni El-Khatib, Wall of Death., Fri., May 24, 8 p.m., TBA. Fitzgerald's, 2706 White Oak, Houston. Blowfly: Sun., Feb. 10, 8 p.m., $10. Walter's, 1120 Naylor St., Houston. Blu ... More >>

20 Essential Texas Albums From 2012

One of the quiet pleasures of (finally) putting 2012 to bed is mop-up duty. All year, I tried to keep a running list of albums released by Texas-based or Texas-related performers that I enjoyed listening to. Sunday night, I tallied them up. For some reason, besides that we've already handled the ye ... More >>

Upcoming: Ben Folds Five, D'Angelo, Go-Go's, Noel Gallagher, Ryan Bingham, Etc.

Adema: Fri., Aug. 24, 8 p.m., $15/$20. The Concert Pub (North), 2470 FM 1960, Houston. Alesana: Fri., Nov. 2, 8 p.m., $18/$22. House of Blues, 1204 Caroline, Houston. Ava Luna, Wild Moccasins: Wed., Aug. 1, 8 p.m., $8/$12. Fitzgerald's, 2706 White Oak, Houston. Band of Heathens: Sat., Aug. 11, 8 ... More >>

Top 10 Things to Expect at ACL Fest This Year

The Austin City Limits Music Festival burned the midnight oil overnight, announcing the 2012 lineup at precisely 12:01 a.m. Mercifully, all the rumor-spreading and speculation is now at an end and people can either go about the business of buying $200 three-day passes or shutting the hell up about R ... More >>

Upcoming: Young The Giant, Old 97's, Anvil, Mason Jennings, Poor Pilate

Anvil: Thu., Feb. 9. Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, Houston. Aaron Lewis: Thu., Jan. 12. Verizon Wireless Theater, 520 Texas, Houston. Andy Grammer, Ryan Star: Fri., Feb. 17. The Bronze Peacock Room @ House Of Blues, 1204 Caroline, Houston. ​Anthony Green, The Dear Hunter: Tue., Jan. 31. ... More >>

Photographic Memory

Robert Ellis heads into the great wide open on his first New West LP.

Saturday: New West Records Showcase At Cactus Music

Photos by Jim BrickerRobert Ellis & the Boys​New West Records showcase feat. Buxton, Robert Ellis & the Boys, Wild Moccasins Cactus Music April 16, 2011 Although they had a myriad of opportunities Friday night to make themselves bleary-eyed and drag-tailed - Aftermath chose The Wagoneers, and ... More >>

SXSW With LOM: French Rockers, Free Tequila And MXMW

Photos by Amy PrasadInspector Cluzo, aka The French Bastards​So we're checked in and we're on the way up to the room. Who's in the elevator with us? John Popper from Blues Traveler. In person, he looks like a cartoon character, something waxy and a bit spooky about his motel tan. He's all effu ... More >>

2011 South By Southwest Supplement

Buxton takes its bump to the roots-rock big leagues in stride.

Who Was The Best Female Artist Of The '90s?

The album that started the whole thing.​Rocks Off Sr. was straightening up our office a few days ago, something that happens like clockwork every time Middle Eastern governments start toppling like dominos. In one of the piles and piles of al fresco CDs, we ran across two of our favorite album ... More >>

Upcoming: Dwight Yoakam, En Vogue, Kylie, OMD, Etc.

​Anders Osbourne: Fri., March 11. Last Concert Cafe. Anthony David: Sun., March 6. Numbers. Axwell: Fri., Feb. 4. Stereo Live. Bobby Long: Sun., April 10. Fitzgerald's. Civil Twlight, Mother/Father: Fri., Feb. 25. Warehouse Live. cEvin Key: Sat., April 16. Numbers. Chrisette Michele: Th ... More >>

Rocks Off's Favorite Albums Of 2010

​Editor's Picks: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Mojo: Big surprise, I know. But not only did "I Should Have Known It" vault into my Top 5 Heartbreakers songs the first time I heard it - and make me a bigger Led Zeppelin fan in the process - but others like "Candy" and "Good Enough" also held ... More >>

Old Familiar Friend

Brendan Benson relaxes after The Raconteurs.

Upcoming: 30 Seconds To Mars, Kesha, Linkin Park, Etc.

​30 Seconds To Mars: Wed., Jan. 26. Verizon Wireless Theater. 12 Stones, Taproot: Fri., Jan. 21. Scout Bar Clear Lake. Acid Mother's Temple, Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers: Wed., April 20. Fitzgerald's. Adema: Wed., Jan. 12. Meridian. Agent Orange: Sun., Jan. 9. Fitzgerald's. Better Tha ... More >>

Midnight Movers

San Antonio's Girl in a Coma may stumble onstage, but not on Adventures in Coverland.

Upcoming: Buzzfest XXV, Chuck Prophet, Deer Tick, Lights, Posies, Etc.

Update/correction (10:03 a.m.): Big Boi is not playing Ghoulsfest after all. But if you happen to be on the U.S.S. Yorktown aircraft carrier in Charleston S.C. on October 28, you can see Sir Luscious Left Foot there. ​Bob Schneider: Thu., Oct. 28. McGonigel's Mucky Duck. Buxton, Cotton Jone ... More >>

Upcoming: Clay Aiken, The Cult, Old 97's, Smashing Pumpkins, Etc.

​36 Crazyfists, Straight Line Stitch, Taking Dawn: Wed., Sept. 29. Scout Bar Clear Lake. Attack Attack!, Emmure, Pierce The Veil, Of Mice & Men, In Fear & Faith: Thu., Dec. 2. House of Blues. Bob Schneider: Fri., Nov. 12. House of Blues. Bright Men Of Learning: Sat., Sept. 18, 3 p.m. Cactu ... More >>

Died and Gone to Houston

City is ready for another honky-tonk close-up.

Distant Early Warning: Fiery Furnaces, Keb' Mo, Merle Haggard/Kris Kristofferson, Warped Tour and the First iFest Names

​Billy Joe Shaver: Thu., March 11. Dosey Doe Coffee Company. Cody Canada, Kyle Hutton: Tue., Jan. 26. Dosey Doe Coffee Company. Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons, Dawes, Jason Boesel: Fri., March 5. Rudyard's. David Knopfler: Fri., May 7. Dosey Doe Coffee Company. The Fiery Furnaces: Fri., Jan ... More >>

Ghosts of Washington Avenue

Noise goes whistling through the scenester artery's music venue graveyard.

A Musical Guide to Post-Secession Texas, Part 2: "Trinity"

[Note: This week Rocks Off is looking at the musical heritage, highs and lows, for each of the five possible states that might result should Texas secede from the U.S. like Gov. Rick Perry wants it to. Yesterday we began with the Panhandle/West Texas "Palo Duro" territory; today it's northeastern qu ... More >>

The Gourds land a real Haymaker!

Dead to Rights

Tonight: Hayes Carll at Warehouse Live

Woodlands native turned Austin dweller Hayes Carll had an up-and-down year in 2008. His first Lost Highway release, Trouble In Mind, garnered worldwide attention. As he relaxed in the Ozarks with his in-laws before heading to Warehouse Live for tonight's gig with Band of Heathens a ... More >>

Texas Music on Sirius/XM's Outlaw Country

Rock The Bayou Is a Bust

2008 Houston Press Music Awards Showcase

A preview of the 60 bands and five DJs that are taking over downtown this weekend

Playbill

Slick Billies

Cowpunkers Slick 57 try to make people forget about their fancy college degrees

Chasmatic

Kicker Wisdom (Self-released)

Dallas Domination

The Metroplex schools Houston when it comes to the indie scene

The Price of Fame

Flickerstick's old fans worry that Bands on the Run has banned all the fun

Crap Shoot

Nothing's guaranteed at SXSW - not even a seat to Dee Dee Ramone's show

Amplified

Local Music News

Letters

Static

Strange Days

Rotation