Robert Ellis

Houston Makes Great Strides In Selling Its Own Music Scene

A few months ago, Rocks Off wrote an article expressing our surprise and disappointment at the paucity of musical content on the City of Houston's tourism site, visithoustontexas.com, the Texas-friendly smiling face it offically presents to the Web and thus the world. There wasn't much at all, just ... More >>

Last Night: New Year's Eve Cataclysm at Fitzgerald's

Free Press Houston New Year's Eve Cataclysm Feat. Buxton, Infinite Apaches, Robert Ellis, Ben Godfrey Fitzgerald's December 31, 2012 Devil, your name be "Michelada." Who else could I blame for a New Year's Eve that seems to exist only as flashes and sounds and 11 pages of barely legible notes? Let' ... More >>

FPH New Years For-Eve-R Cataclysm

Ziegenbock Music Festival

Robert Ellis' New "Friends Like Those" Clip Uses Friends Like Yours

This week Robert Ellis released an interactive clip for his latest single "Friends Like Those" off of his 2011 Photographs LP. You can check out the clip here at friendslikethose.com preferably with your Google Chrome browser. The video, which uses a plug-in from your personal Facebook account and ... More >>

Last Night: Robert Ellis at the Mucky Duck

Robert Ellis McGonigel's Mucky Duck July 5, 2012 Robert Ellis has a variety of tools. With his clear and nasal voice, he can communicate powerful emotions in just a few words. He is easily a session-caliber guitar player. But his simple language and sometimes skeletal song structures should not be ... More >>

Best Of Free Press Summer Fest Day 2: Willie Nelson, Avett Bros., Wallpaper, Etc.

More FPSF 2012 Coverage: • Summer Fest line-up reviews on the Rocks Off blog. • Free Press Summer Fest 2012: The Sexy, Sweaty Crowds • Popsicles and Pizza: The Food of Summer Fest • FPSF: The Bands from Saturday • FPSF: The Bands from Sunday Nathan Smith: The best part of Summer Fest Day ... More >>

Americana Music Association Nominates Robert Ellis As Emerging Artist Of The Year

Houston's own globe-trekking Robert Ellis received an Emerging Artist of the Year nomination from the Americana Music Association Thursday afternoon. The ceremony was officiated by actor and musician John C. Reilly, and featured performances by Ellis and a few other big names like Lucinda Williams a ... More >>

Summer Fest Round Table: 9 Locals To Watch This Weekend

Rocks Off polled our writers to see which local or regional artist they most wanted to see at Free Press Summer Fest this weekend. Alexa Crenshaw: Robert Ellis recently rebooted his mid-week honky-tonk events, fittingly dubbed Whiskey Wednesday with Robert Ellis. The problem now, though, is that th ... More >>

Clouseaux, Trio Musette, Will Van Horn

Flaming Lips Return To Summer Fest With Avetts, Snoop Dogg, Willie Nelson, Descendents & Many More

Under cover of darkness, Free Press Summer Fest announced its 2012 lineup around 5 a.m. Monday morning. We'll get right to it: The Avett Brothers Snoop Dogg Willie Nelson Afrojack Primus The Flaming Lips (Performing Dark Side of the Moon)

Robert Ellis' Whiskey Wednesdays Returning... In Austin

Rocks Off thought we had written everything about Robert Ellis & the Boys' Whiskey Wednesday shows there was to say. After all, the weekly beer-soaked no-cover night of Texas-heavy vintage honky-tonk covers ended back in April. So we were a little intrigued when someone forwarded us this link earl ... More >>

Friday Night: Hayes Carll, Robert Ellis, and Shovels & Rope At House Of Blues

This Friday night set effectively set the tone for my New Year's weekend. It was raucous, relaxing, and poignant, shoving us into the new year with a bit of twang and grit - as if I didn't already carry enough in my DNA. With Hayes Carll closing, Robert Ellis in middle relief, and Charleston, Sout ... More >>

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 >>

Locally Speaking

My Top Ten Local Albums of 2011

Where to See Some Live Music on Thanksgiving (and the Wednesday before)

We all need a place to mellow out after a day of dealing with family. Don't get us wrong, we love our families. It's just that, getting together with the extended crew can take a toll and relaxing with some live, local music helps take the edge off. Holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving fit neatl ... More >>

Your 2011 Houston Press Music Awards Winners

Photo By Marco TorresAll night, attendees to the awards show signed a special banner for Chris Gray.​Check out our slideshow of this year's Houston Press Music Awards winners. It was a dandy of an evening last night at Warehouse Live as we handed out those silver records to some of Houston's ... More >>

Drinking With Drinkify: Website Concocts Cocktails For You Based On Your Musical Tastes

​The website Drinkify combines your musical tastes with your booze tastes, with sometimes hilarious and dangerous results. The site does what we have been doing since we first took our first sip of the hard stuff, and that's finding the right music for your liver-killing. Though, if you foll ... More >>

The 2011 Houston Press Music Award Nominees

​Took us long enough, right? It's been so long since we've had the Houston Press Music Awards, which were last handed out the evening of August 11, 2010, that we almost forgot we were having them. Not really. How could we? If our numbers are correct, in the two weeks this year's nomination b ... 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 >>

Last Night: Robert Ellis & The Boys At Fitzgerald's

Photos by Jim Bricker​Robert Ellis & the Boys (CD release), Jonny Corndawg Fitzgerald's July 6, 2011 See more Photographs from Ellis' homecoming in our slideshow. Robert Ellis' record release show last night wasn't short on thrills, from the openers to the closing moments from Ellis and his ... 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 >>

Photographic Memory

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

Out Today: Bon Iver's Bandwagon Bait, Weird Al Goes Gaga

Greetings From Bon Iver Land! Now, grab a rifle. It's almost dinner time.​In the next few weeks, you may be reading about the new Robert Ellis album, Photographs, so we are just giving you fair warning. It's a stunner through and through, and goes nicely with early morning traffic. Have you ev ... More >>

Brew Blog: Beer, Burgers and Gary U.S. Bonds at the Texas Beer Festival

Home Brew Demo at Texas Beer Festival. For a slideshow of the event, click here.​Last week's post about the Texas Beer Festival garnered some interesting responses. Most seemed excited about an event born out of the desire to showcase Texas beers. A few notable exceptions were voiced. Well, no ... More >>

Last Shot Of Whiskey Wednesday Is Powerful Stuff

Steve Jansen​Rocks Off doesn't know where you went to school, but Robert Ellis & the Boys' final Whiskey Wednesday at Fitzgerald's last night felt a lot like the prom/graduation party we always wanted to have. With maybe just a little more beer. 'Tis the season. As the ceiling sagged from th ... More >>

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 >>

Instant Crunk: All The Local Music News You Can Handle

​It's that time again! We've slogged through Twitter streams and RSS feeds just to bring everyone up to speed on Houston's prolific music scene. So let's get down to the business of getting down, starting with our soundtrack for the week: a 49-minute mix from DJ Sun, performing at The Flat. I ... More >>

30 Seconds With Robert Ellis

Danin Drahos​Rocks Off sat down with Robert Ellis to see what we could learn about the singer-songwriter, 2010 Houston Press Best Country award winner and in-demand guitarist in 30 seconds... Rocks Off: What is the worst song in the world? Robert Ellis: "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" by Dr ... More >>

The Most Anticipated Albums Of 2011

​NATIONAL White Lies, Ritual: They killed at festivals in 2008 and 2009, but do London's Interpol-styled lads have longevity? Dr. Dre, Detox: It's been on hold or gestating since at least Clinton was in office. Will it continue to be hip-hop's Chinese Democracy? R.E.M., Collapse Into No ... More >>

Canned Acoustica

Blinded by the Light

Sacred Steel gives Grandfather Child an epiphany.

Hands Up Post: Honky-Tonk Houston's Done Got Out Of Hand

​A recent thread on the Hands Up Houston message board found poster "honky honk" complaining (and mangling the English language): Dear Houston. Why are you excepting [sic] this right wing, overtly white genre of music known as honky tonk or country? Why do we have to travel that far back ... More >>

Pregame at the Houston Press Music Awards Ceremony

Photos by Kendra BerglundA Dream Asleep​The winner's envelopes are here and the room is starting to fill up as bands gather to find out who are the winners of this year's Houston Press Music Awards. Our staff has been milling around and have reported back to us these nuggest. How was your sho ... More >>

Fat Tony, A Dream Asleep and Robert Ellis Sound Off on HPMA Showcase and Fitzgerald's

Photos by Kendra Berglund​"It was ok," said Fat Tony, who plays at 8:30. "The sound wasn't good, and people don't like when the sounds not good. But I got paid, so..." Tony's looking forward to a fun-filled evening, even though he only gets to play two songs, "Like Hell Yeah", which has been ... More >>

Ozeal, Satin Hooks, Zydeco Dots, Kristine Mills Simmer On Showcase Saturday

Photos by GroovehouseOzeal and friends, just getting started...​2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, and nobody's home at The Drake. The place is a bit hidden, with its posh entrance tucked around back, hidden from the street by the abandoned industrial façade. The cool, dark interior provides a ref ... More >>

Furor To Frenzy: HPMAers Plump, Two Star, Tramps, Runaway Sun

[When last we left Nick Hall, he was dodging "mandannas" after some surprise Louvin Brothers from Robert Ellis and friends.] Photos by GroovehouseSticky and tight: Plump.​Stepping out into the heat just long enough to see that Runaway Sun hasn't started up at the main stage, Aftermath dashes ... More >>

Died and Gone to Houston

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

Robert Ellis & The Boys Back In Full Swing At Mango's

Zoe CorsonMike Stinson and Pamela Des Barres dodge the dancers at Mango's.​Mango's was packed last night for the return of Robert Ellis & the Boys' Wednesday-night Montrose barn dance. Ellis recently got back into town from a three-week solo tour that took him New York City and Chicago. Only ... More >>

2010 Music Awards Nominees, Part 1

​Rocks Off is sorry this took so long, but between sifting through dozens of categories with dozens of nominations apiece, and shuffling back and forth to the doctor's office thanks to an unfortunate spill last night, we've been working as fast as we possibly can. Even so, we decided to split ... More >>

iFest Aftermath: Not Bad For a Non-Music Festival

Breaking iFest news: Nigeria's King Sunny Ade & his African Beats have been forced to cancel their entire U.S. tour, including a scheduled appearance Saturday at iFest. According to a press release from the group's PR firm, Rock Paper Scissors, the U.S. Embassy has refused to grant visas to two ... More >>

Spacetaker's Apocalypto

The nonprofit arts organization honors its founder, David Brown

SXSW News: Adds Include DEATH, Voivod, Neon Indian, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Trae Tha Truth and Chamillionaire & Paul Wall, Together Again

This past week a few Houston musicians began getting their dreaded SXSW rejection notices; most notably we heard that Robert Ellis' entry was not accepted. That's a tough bullet to take, considering how well his band does on Wednesday night at Mango's and the quality of his solo album. Either way E ... More >>

Guitar Zero, or One Old Dog Attempts to Learn a New Trick

[Ed. Note: What happens when Rocks Off finds out one of our writers recently began taking guitar lessons? This.] ​Some men hit their 40s and lose their minds a little. They trade in their minivan for a Corvette, or their wife for a similarly newer model. I have a history of getting these kinds of ... More >>

Honky-Tonk Revival

Is Houston ready for country? Again?

Wednesdays are Honky-Tonk Heaven In Houston, and Thursdays are Hillbilly Hell

Photos by Chris GrayRobert Ellis & the Boys, under the blue neon​ It's no secret Rocks Off is a big fan of the country music, which is why we're starting to get a little excited about the inner-loop honky-tonk scene that's taking root. Over the weekend, we caught Sean Reefer & the Resin Va ... More >>

Things to Do This Weekend If You're (Almost) Broke

Friday​The freaky folk band everyone's talking about, listenlisten, helps Block 7 Wine Co. (720 Shepherd) celebrate its grand opening this evening with Robert Ellis. Festivities continue Saturday with Runaway Sun (9 p.m.) and Sunday with Kenneth Scott (8 p.m.). No cover. The adorable Cop Warmth he ... More >>

Enjoy the Silence

Singer-songwriter Robert Ellis stands up for piping down.

THE ROBERT ELLIS

A singer-songwriter cocktail at MANGO'S