Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings

4:50 a.m.: The 15 Best Fishing Songs We Could Find

Rocks Off never thought we'd say this, but the country eye candy behind "Pretty Good at Drinkin' Beer," Billy Currington, turned out to be pretty wise. He was smart enough to record the song "Bad Day of Fishin'" anyway, which contains the sage advice "a bad day of fishing beats a good day of anythin ... More >>

Zoo Station: A Noah's Ark Of 75 Animal Songs

And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee ... More >>

Summer Fest Saturday: A Sizzler With Beirut, Big Boi, Black Joe, Fucked Up, Sharon Jones, Ween & More

Ed. Note: We're not done yet... Chris GrayRusted Shut​Chris Gray: I think the quickest way to sum up Summer Fest, environmentally, is in fact biologically: In eight hours at the festival Saturday, hydrating continuously with mostly water, I made my own water once, shortly before Beirut. Sunda ... More >>

Summer Fest Critic's Guide: Who We're Seeing At Tinsley

Jermaine Rogers​In three very short years, Free Press Summer Fest has gone from an experiment most people thought would fail to destination music festival most people wouldn't dare miss even if it is going to be 105 degrees outside. Rocks Off has seen quite a bit of online chatter from people ... More >>

Bear Hug

Life is sweet for Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears.

Summer Fest Releases Stage Schedule, Set Times

Jermaine Rogers​If Rocks Off learned anything at iFest these past two weekends, it's that we should have started our own bottled-water franchise. And that when you go to a music festival, it's a good idea to know who is playing and when. Running around willy-nilly is all well and good unless i ... More >>

Soul Patrol

Several Houston DJs are discovering it's a Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod world.

Fitz & the Tantrums

Summer Fest Adds Big Boi, Beirut, Girls, Killing Joke

Jermaine Rogers​Free Press Summer Fest has added four headliners to the two-day festival scheduled for June 4 and 5 in Eleanor Tinsley Park, organizers Free Press Houston and pegstar.net announced this morning. Atlanta rapper Big Boi (still one-half of OutKast, we think), Balkan-tinged indie- ... More >>

Weezer, Ween, Sharon Jones, Bun B Head Summer Fest Lineup

"I'm gonna pull out some shit on stage that will make the Flaming Lips cry and possibly retire in awe." - Hayes Carll, via @hprocksoff GroovehouseYeasayer at House of Blues, April 2010​Weezer, Ween, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Yeasayer and Houston rappers Z-Ro and Bun B head up the lineup ... More >>

Live From The Austin City Limits Festival, Day 2

Brittanie Shey: When you go to a festival lit this, you're always looking for the discovery. The one band that either blows you away or causes you to alter all your expectations. Today it was Dan Black, a performer we caught only because there was nothing else going on. As soon as we get home, we' ... More >>

Last Night: The Black Keys At The Woodlands

Photos by Marc Brubaker​The Black Keys Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 20, 2010 "Howlin' at midnight, winter creepin' in/ Feel like I've gone and lost my best friend" - Lucinda Williams, "Howlin' At Midnight" Did you see the moon Wednesday night? The "Super Harvest Moon" that, acco ... More >>

Friday Night: Sheryl Crow At The Woodlands

Photos by Marc Brubaker​Sheryl Crow Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion August 27, 2010 There is a mile-wide disparity between what Sheryl Crow is doing now and what her fanbase wants her to do, which was evident on Friday night at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. Touring behind a Memphis-sty ... More >>

A "National" Tour Is Not L.A. To San Francisco Or A Few Festival Dates

Pavement? Nope, not here.​Tuesday, Rocks Off was a busy beaver keeping up with all the concert announcements coming over the wire. Along with the Fitzgerald's news, it was hard to keep up with everything going on. Interpol, Stone Temple Pilots, Drake, and Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros all ... More >>

Heavy Weather

A band that started by accident, the Dead Weather is now here to stay.

Austin City Limits Festival Tickets On Sale Tomorrow At 10 A.M.

We're not saying Soundgarden is playing ACL, but you never know...​That's right. Now why would Rocks Off make something like that up? Hope you have $180 lying around and don't have any meetings or classes or anything like that tomorrow morning, because they're going to go quick. Better go ahead an ... More >>

SXSW Aftermath: Black Joe Lewis, Raphael Saadiq and Smokey Robinson

Photos by Katharine ShilcuttBlack Joe Lewis and the Honeybears​Joe Lewis alternated between sweating profusely into his harmonica and howling into the microphone, doubled over on the stage with the pain and joy of their fourth show of SXSW, as the white-shirted Honeybears -- minus keyboardist ... More >>

Still Not Sold On SXSW? How About Smokey Robinson, High On Fire, She & Him, Band Of Horses, Drive-By Truckers, Deer Tick, Anya Marina, Black Angels, Major Lazer...

Today the organizers of the SXSW Music Festival announced their showcase schedule for the music portion of the industry fest starting on March 17. This is the news Rocks Off has been looking for, so let's get it on. We are now one month away from Sixth Street and one of the world's biggest conglome ... More >>

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 >>

Nothing's Wrong

Scott H. Biram cuts back on the craziness...just not in his music.

Ghosts of Washington Avenue

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

Walter's on Washington Closing In October; Club May Relocate

Bill OliveSilver Jews at Walter's on Washington, September 2008​Rocks Off learned this morning that Walter's on Washington, one of Houston's primary venues for local bands, indie-rock, hardcore and touring acts not yet on the radar of Warehouse Live and House of Blues, will close at the end of Oct ... More >>

MP3 of the Day: Kenny "Roaster" Rogers at His Freakiest

​Because of Tuesday's We Were Wolves/Satin Hooks show (our ears are still ringing), the Mink moved its weekly movie night to 9 p.m. tonight, but it's worth the wait. They'll be showing the Coen brothers' 1996 classic The Big Lebowski, with $3 White Russians and a pair of Sunny Day Real Estate tick ... More >>

Screen Plays

Rosa's Photo Corner: Pierced Arrows, Six Organs of Admittance, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and X

"Tri-X 400. Nikon FA, F1.4 at 1/60 of a second. I accidentally overcooked the negative in a D76 soup that was too hot to begin with, but the resulting effect really illuminates the experience even with the scance information in the composition - his closed eyes, the microphone camouflaging his gap ... More >>

Aftermath Extra: The Best Concerts of the Year, Part 1

[Note: Aftermath attended all these shows and reviewed most of them. Even he couldn't see them all.] Six Organs of Admittance, Walter's on Washington, January 18: "[Ben Chasny's] quieter moments reminded me of the softer side of bands like Pavement and Guided by Voices, and the mournful specte ... More >>

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

The Best of ACL Fest

Soul Day at ACL: I Feel Good!

The Mighty Hannibal, Barbara Lynn, Archie Bell

Welcome back, Toadies

No Deliverance from Evil

Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears

Has ACL Festival Jumped the Shark?

This Just In: H-Town Remains Soul City

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings

Local Motion

Texas Albums

2007's best Texas albums, from Houston, Austin and beyond

Our Favorite Albums of 2007

Panning for gold in an avalanche of 2007 releases

Local Motion

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings

100 Days, 100 Nights

Local Motion

Local Motion

The Houston 100: The Master List

The Rough Guide to the Music of Vietnam; The Rough Guide to Latino Nuevo; The Rough Guide to Salsa ; Bokoor Beats; Bonde de Rolê, With Lasers; Kenge Kenge, Introducing Kenge Kenge; The Budos Band, II

Notable recent releases from beyond borders

Houston's Very Best Songs Ever

...otherwise known as the H-Town 20

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings

Saturday, September 10, at the Continental Club, 3700 Main, 713-529-9899.

Mama's Got a Brand-New Bag

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings carry old-school funk into the new millennium