Otis Redding

Soul Day at ACL: I Feel Good!

On the Waterfront

Lunch with Rory Miggins

Dan Aykroyd on the (Mostly Texan) Blues Brothers Band, Our New House of Blues, Lightnin' Hopkins, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Houston Kinfolk, SNL in Campaign '08 and More

Lunch with Rory Miggins

Lonesome Onry and Mean: New Records from Nicholas Tremulis and Felix Cavaliere

Nicholas Tremulis with Robbie Fulks, "Mystery Train" Some killer records have recently fallen through Lonesome Onry and Mean's cracks, either due to a lack of space in the paper or LOM having just found the CDs under the seat of his truck. Yeah, stuff happens. The Nicholas Tremulis Orchestra's Pin ... More >>

An Hour in Sunny 99.1's Holiday Hell

Band Aid: Do they know it's Christmastime at all? Most people I know hate Sunny 99.1, but not me. And I should really hate it. Any radio station supported by the American Dental Association has to suck. But every time I listen to it, I either hear something so corny and half-baked that I can't tur ... More >>

Songs Not To Play At Intercontinental Airport's New Karaoke Booth

So now there's a karaoke booth at Intercontinental Airport. According to the Houston Chronicle, travelers can choose from "hundreds of titles."We got to wondering this morning about what's in their song selections there and more to the point -- what isn't.We imagine that the management of IAH's kara ... More >>

The Best Local Songs of 2008, Part 1

"Song About My Mom," Jenny Westbury: This song likely encompasses all of Westbury's tunes. It's silly, serious and most of all lyrics meet instrumentation in perfect harmony. Westbury's lyrical phrasing makes it seem as though rhyming couplets pour as effortlessly out of her mouth as water does f ... More >>

SXSW Update: Sonics, Bar-Kays, Black Lips, Young Mammals, Wild Moccasins Added

The Sonics, "Psycho a Go-Go" Another week goes by, with yet gigantic list of SXSW performers coming to Austin in March. The final list comes out January 30, so be prepared for maximum bloggage. We're still crossing our fingers and polishing up the nondescript white van in the hopes that Katy Perry ... More >>

Feel for the Real

Burning Spear's gimmick-free reggae has all the earmarks of home

Aftermath: Lady Antebellum at RodeoHouston

Photos courtesy Houston Livestock Show & RodeoFrom one-night stands to missing the one that got away, love and country music go hand in hand. Monday night, fresh pop-country faces Lady Antebellum - reigning ACM Top New Duo or Group and CMA New Artist of the Year - rocked out to all of love ... More >>

2008 in Texas Albums and Local EPs

Photos courtesy Houston Livestock Show & RodeoFrom one-night stands to missing the one that got away, love and country music go hand in hand. Monday night, fresh pop-country faces Lady Antebellum - reigning ACM Top New Duo or Group and CMA New Artist of the Year - rocked out to all of love ... More >>

Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears

Photos courtesy Houston Livestock Show & RodeoFrom one-night stands to missing the one that got away, love and country music go hand in hand. Monday night, fresh pop-country faces Lady Antebellum - reigning ACM Top New Duo or Group and CMA New Artist of the Year - rocked out to all of love ... More >>

Jennifer "Miss Pop Rocks" Mathieu's Matagorda Island Discs

Photos courtesy Houston Livestock Show & RodeoFrom one-night stands to missing the one that got away, love and country music go hand in hand. Monday night, fresh pop-country faces Lady Antebellum - reigning ACM Top New Duo or Group and CMA New Artist of the Year - rocked out to all of love ... More >>

T-BONE TOM'S SUNSET SHOT

Photos courtesy Houston Livestock Show & RodeoFrom one-night stands to missing the one that got away, love and country music go hand in hand. Monday night, fresh pop-country faces Lady Antebellum - reigning ACM Top New Duo or Group and CMA New Artist of the Year - rocked out to all of love ... More >>

Detroit Cobras

Saturday, July 20

Big Country

Buddy and Julie Miller --

Tommy Castro

Saturday, March 18, the Continental Club, 3700 Main, 713-529-9666

Various Artists

The Kings of Hip Hop, Compiled and Mixed by DJ Premier and Mr. Thing

Greg Trooper

Saturday, April 30, at McGonigel's Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk, 713-528-5999.

Teenage Wasteland

Two artists ask how boys become men in a videocracy

Combat Rock

Near-brawls, bribery allegations and personal insults -- welcome to battle-of-the-bands land

Soul Nite

From Motown to the Orange Show, that’s quite a trip

Ten Cover Songs So Bad They'll Shrivel Your Soul

Two nights ago, while carelessly patrolling the back alleys of the internet, Rocks Off stumbled across Hilary Duff's execrable cover of The Who's "My Generation". Well, what did you think, YouTube commenters? ​ You sure you're not being too harsh? ​ Yeah... ours too. Someday, when we ... More >>

Aftermath: Lucero's Iron-Plated Soul and Douchebag Fisticuffs at Meridian

Photos by Groovehouse / Click here for a slideshow​ As we enter the second-to-last month of what was been an alternately amazing and confounding year for music, Aftermath has been thinking a lot about recurring themes we have encountered over the past twelve months. Seeing a rock and roll sh ... More >>

Sinking Ship

Pirate Radio gets a tame U.S. release, but we still love rock and roll.

He Said She Said: 10 Artists Who Never Got Their Due, Part Deux

It's the plight of every musician. You struggle and struggle to make it big in the business, only to find that even the most modest margin of fame barely comes with a modicum of respect. Even artists with a lot of influence on later, more popular musicians fall by the wayside in the annals of rock ... More >>

Inquiring Minds: Gov't Mule's Warren Haynes On Billy Gibbons, Lightnin' Hopkins, Ray LaMontagne And More

Shore Fire Media​ In this week's print edition of the Press, Warren Haynes talks about juggling his membership in the Alpha and Omega of jam bands, the Allman Brothers Band and The Dead, with the musclebound blues-rock engine he started in 1994, Gov't Mule. The Mule pulls into House of Blues Satur ... More >>

Booker T

Shore Fire Media​ In this week's print edition of the Press, Warren Haynes talks about juggling his membership in the Alpha and Omega of jam bands, the Allman Brothers Band and The Dead, with the musclebound blues-rock engine he started in 1994, Gov't Mule. The Mule pulls into House of Blues Satur ... More >>

The Musical Minds That Made Booker T The Soul Man He Is Today

​How good a musician is Booker T? Along with the rest of the MGs, the house band of seminal soul imprint Stax who had several instrumental hits of their own besides backing Stax's powerhouse roster (Rufus Thomas, Albert King, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding...) throughout the '60s, the Memphis-born m ... More >>

Aftermath: Booker T's Rock-Solid Soul And Farm-Fresh "Onions" At Wired Live

Photos by Brittanie SheyThat's right, Booker T also plays guitar.​ Booker T has had a hand (well, two hands) in crafting so many pop, soul and R&B staples that the hardest part of his pre-concert routine must be making out his set list. Where do you put "Green Onions"? How many of the dozens o ... More >>

The Domino Effect

Britain's The Big Pink fuses soul, drum machines and shoegaze on A Brief History of Love.

New On DVD: This Is A Radio Clash, From Pirate Satellite

​Out on DVD today is Pirate Radio, staring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Bill Nighy. So, walk right by Woody Harrelson's Defendor, Lauren Holly's The Final Storm and unless you're just a die-hard fan, Robert Englund's Nightmare on Elm Street collection. If you've got kids (or fond childhood memories) ... More >>

Too Beaucoup

An unassuming bar and grill turns out some damn good Cajun food.

Otis Redding, Jayhawks Help Us Overcome The Mailbox Cringe

​Sometimes we cringe when we go to the mailbox, but the past few days have brought Lonesome, Onry and Mean an eclectic trove of cool stuff. New Mystery Girl is Austinite Chrissy Flatt's new project with longtime collaborators Eric Hisaw and Ron Flynt. Twist City is a no-frills roots-rock disc - li ... More >>

Al Green Sanctifies, Electrifies The Arena Theatre

Photos by Marco Torres​ For more pictures from Sunday's show, see our slideshow here. In the middle of "Tired of Being Alone," one feverish mini-symphony of soul and salvation out of an even dozen Sunday night (counting an extended '60s medley), the Rev. Al Green asked out loud what his triumphant ... 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 >>

The Ladies Strike Back, Actually

Rocks Off is following our sister Houston Press blogs into the choppy waters of "Comment of the Day," choosing a comment or a handful of comments from the previous day we find especially enlightening, infuriating or just plain hilarious. We're glad our readers have opinions, whatever they are, about ... More >>

R.I.P.: Notable Passings Of 2010

​Editor's Pick: Dio, man. Neph Basedow: 2010 commenced on a sad note with the passing of Memphis garage rocker Jay Reatard (aka Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr.). I'd seen him play a tiny show at Chicago's Empty Bottle in 2008 and still consider it one of the best shows I've ever seen. It was definitive ... More >>

Some Can Whistle: A Playlist To Don't Worry, Be Happy

​It's often the little things that make our favorite songs our favorites - the curious, unforeseen additions of small touches like an understated bit of whistling. For those who like to categorize their playlists into themes, we present you with the Rocks Off approved Whistle Playlist. The S ... More >>

Steve Miller Band

​It's often the little things that make our favorite songs our favorites - the curious, unforeseen additions of small touches like an understated bit of whistling. For those who like to categorize their playlists into themes, we present you with the Rocks Off approved Whistle Playlist. The S ... More >>

Dead People We Wish We'd Seen

​Regrets, sang Frank Sinatra, Elvis and Sid Vicious, I've had a few. (Or, for Sid, a feee-yooouuu.) So have we all. But if you review concerts for a living, there's nothing worse than someone you like dying before you get the chance to see them live. So for this week's Round Table, Rocks Off ... More >>

Lady Gaga Sings The Big Easy Blues

Photos by Annelia WililamsEugene Moody​Rocks Off woke up to Lady Gaga on Good Morning America this morning. It looked like she was having a little trouble with her zipline. The reason Rocks Off woke up to Lady Gaga on Good Morning America this morning, instead of Channel 13's Eyewitness News ... More >>

Fifteen Of Our Favorite Cheating Songs

zazzle.com​Songwriters find inspiration many of life's varied realms: Joy, grief, sex, drugs, anger and, evidently, two-timing. Some are sad, some cheeky, some violent and revengeful, but we've collected a sad-sack grab-bag of cheating-related songs. Here is our Top 15, along with their lyric ... More >>

Jay-Z & Kanye West Bringing The Throne To Houston October 26

​This morning Live Nation announced that Jay-Z and Kanye West, two rappers you may have heard of, will bring their brand-new group The Throne's "Watch The Throne" tour to Toyota Center October 26. Rocks Off applauds the duo for reigniting mass interest in Otis Redding via their single, "Otis, ... More >>

Top 5 Songs About Coffee To Celebrate National Coffee Day!

nataliedee.comI need about a kiddie pool of coffee straight to my dome every morning. ​National Coffee Day is September 29. Most of us can't function without our morning cup, whether it's black, loaded with sugar and cream, or one of those $10 fancy-pants 20-ouncejobs. It's part of our mornin ... More >>

The Funky Chicken: Good Stuff in the Mailbox

Yeah, it's like that.​Once again our mailbox has filled to overflowing with CDs (and zip files). The desk looks like a Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown of jewel cases, and the entire room is littered with (largely unread) piles of hype-and-tout. And while much of what comes over the transom ... More >>

No Surprises: Rock Hall Set To Induct Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys

Photo By Marco TorresGuns N' Roses are Rock Hall bound, but which version of GNR will show up? ​This morning (well, it leaked last night) the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland announced their 2012 class of inductees. Included on the list are Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Bo ... More >>

Friday Night: Alabama Shakes at Continental Club

Photos by Jeff Balke​Alabama Shakes doesn't like the "retro soul" label that often is attached to their brand of music. But, if their raucous set at Continental Club on Friday night is any indication, they should embrace it because they certainly owned it. "Y'all gon' be alright," singer Brit ... More >>

Some Questions About the Texas Music Awards 2012 Ballot

Photo by Jim KrafkaLeslie Krafka nominated for her album White Cat Sessions​If you think we were flabbergasted by songwriter Bob Cheevers touting his election as 2011 Songwriter of the Year in the Texas Music Awards sponsored by mytexasmusic.com and "sanctioned" (a hedge word that appears freq ... More >>