Wanda Jackson

Seven Recent Albums By '60s Artists That Don't Suck

Age gets us all eventually. I'm only in my early twenties and already I'm having to do stupid things like eating healthier, quitting the smokes, and watching my blood pressure. So it really shouldn't come as any surprise that musicians start to slow down in their old age, especially if they've been ... More >>

Slip Slidin' Away: My Life as a Rock Journalist With the Houston Press

I had a hernia operation in the early summer of 2006, and had nothing to do all day but hobble around with cool cane a borrowed from Grandpa Hlavaty and play on the Internets for two months or so. I had developed the injury while working at Domino's, but it was cool because their insurance helped ... More >>

Houston's the Beans Grind Out an Album the Natural Way

The Beans have noticed a pretty insane trend lately; the Houston band has found itself compared to the likes of Texas rock legend Janis Joplin and Brittany Howard, vocal empresaria for the Alabama Shakes. The only problem in this equation? It's a band chock full o' dudes. They're cool with it, tho ... More >>

Rockabilly Legend Wanda Jackson: "I Do Music People Like"

>Wanda Jackson has had a career most musicians would envy. The "Queen of Rockabilly" has entertained audiences for decades with such songs as "Hot Dog! That Made Him Mad," "Hard Headed Woman" and "Fujiyama Mama," displaying an originality and bravado that helped pave the way for artists as diverse a ... More >>

Upcoming: Band of Horses, Devin the Dude, Keane, Shadows Fall, Etc.

The Abyss, PuraPharm, The Scars Heal In Time, Obscured by Echoes: Sat., Oct. 13, 8 p.m., $5/$8. Notsuoh, 314 Main, Houston. Amplified Heat: Fri., Oct. 19, 9 p.m., $10. Continental Club, 3700 Main, Houston. Band of Horses: Wed., Oct. 24, 8 p.m., $25.00-$30.00. House of Blues, 1204 Caroline, Houston ... More >>

Rockabilly Filly Rosie Flores Slings a Working Girl's Guitar

Rosie Flores, known these days affectionately by many as the Rockabilly Filly, has had several careers: Punk rocker, cowpunk alt-country badass, potential country star, rock and roller, and rockabilly queen. Born in San Antonio, she spent her teen years in San Diego before striking out to find a car ... More >>

Upcoming: Glen Campbell, Toadies, Norah Jones, Crystal Method, Etc.

13 Black Coffins, Ese, Zipperneck, The Failed Attempt: Fri., June 1, 7 p.m., $10. Mango's, 403 Westheimer Road, Houston. 23 Shades, The Solidier Thread: Fri., June 1, 8 p.m., $10/$12. The Bronze Peacock Room @ House Of Blues, 1204 Caroline, Houston. Aesop Rock: Fri., Aug. 10, 8 p.m., $18/$22. Fitz ... More >>

Ten Albums That Should Be Grammy Nominated Over Linda Chorney's

Photo by Jason WolterJason Isbell (left) and Amanda Shires (right) are both more deserving than Chorney.​The small world of Americana music is all a-twitter over New Jersey woman Linda Chorney's nomination for a Grammy in the Americana category. In case you haven't been following the story, Ch ... More >>

10 Things We're Probably Doing At ACL This Year

villagevoice.comBjork at ACL '07, when part of her staging caught fire.​This is the Rocks Off team's (well, Craig Hlavaty and Chris Gray) fifth year covering the Austin City Limits Music Festival. The first year this smart guy wore black jeans and a black shirt to try to look cool, which made ... More >>

2 Become 1: Musical Match-Ups We'd Like To See

​Kanye "Hitler" West and Jay-Z released their (overused music writer word alert) epic Watch the Throne album this week, to mostly great reviews. This fall the first fruits from the recently announced Lou Reed/Metallica collaboration should be on the store shelves, which still sorta weirds us o ... More >>

Top 5 Songs About Being Dead Broke

​Rocks Off caught a little of the coverage of the Obama adminstration and Congress' deadlock over the country's impending default on its debt this morning. We could barely make heads or tails of it, but the underlying message was fairly clear: Holy shit, are we ever fucked. We are already abo ... More >>

Lemmy & HeadCat Mates Walk The Rockabilly Walk

​You could say that the members of roots-rock trio HeadCat got together to pay tribute to the King. But instead of the baby Jesus of Bethlehem, these three wise men -bassist/singer Lemmy Kilmister (Motörhead), drummer Slim Jim Phantom (ex-Stray Cats), and guitarist/pianist Danny B. Harvey (ex ... More >>

Musicians Remember Chadd Thomas As Funny, Dedicated Musician And Father

"Celebrating Chadd Thomas" on FacebookCrazy Kings Dylan Cavaliere and Chadd Thomas​After learning of the death of Austin rockabilly frontman and bandleader Chadd Thomas of the Crazy Kings earlier this week, Rocks Off decided to reach out to a few of his friends and former bandmates to get a be ... More >>

ACL Fest Schedule Released; Your Guide To The "Death Duels"

Stevie Wonder on FacebookStevie Wonder: Even My Morning Jacket will be watching.​This morning, the organizers of the Austin City Limits Music Festival announced the schedule for the September 16-18 Zilker Park throwdown. We all knew there would be some tough choices, but Rocks Off found that w ... More >>

Wanda Jackson Loves Jesus, Jack White & Adele

​Rocks Off conducted an unusual interview this week. We say "interview," when perhaps a better word is "exchange." Recently we have been tinkering with the composition of our interviews, in the hopes of avoiding boilerplate questions like "Who are your influences?" in favor of something, we h ... More >>

Johnny Dowd Joins Ranks Of Oklahoma Music Greats

johnnydowd.comJohnny Dowd, one of the weirdest musical Okies of them all.​Poet, musician, avant-garde musical thinker and doer, Johnny Dowd may live in upstate New York these days, but that fellow is 100 percent died-in-the-wool Okie through and through. When Dowd opens his mouth to sing, Dust ... More >>

Upcoming: Bootsy Collins, Dave Alvin, Wanda Jackson, Etc.

​Amplified Heat: Sat., May 21. Continental Club. Avett Brothers, Langhorne Slim: CHANGED Fri., May 20. Verizon Wireless Theater. Band Of Mercy, Titan Blood: Thu., May 12. Mango's. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Paul Wall: Sun., May 22. Arena Theatre. Boney James & Regina Belle: Thu., May 26. Arena ... More >>

SXSW: The 10 Best Of The Fest This Year

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​

SXSW Saturday: Hot Sauce Hawker Billy Gibbons Smokes Elmore James At Rachael Ray Party

Craig Hlavaty​ Billy Gibbons sat in with The Cringe at Rachael Ray's Feedback Party at Stubb's just after lunchtime for a cover of Elmore James' blues standard "Dust My Broom". The ZZ Top guitarist also mentioned his BFG hot sauce line, which he had a bottle of in his back pocket.

White Stripes Break Up After Exactly Two Houston Shows

Ed. Note: Rumors are floating around about a third Stripes show here, before the Rudz date. If anyone can confirm this, please let us know. White Stripes at Rudyard's, Sept. 14, 2001​About an hour ago, Rocks Off got the news over Twitter that the White Stripes, easily the biggest indie-duo of ... More >>

Kim Lenz & Her Jaguars

Midnight Movers

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

Wanda Jackson

FAIL: Morrissey, Scott Weiland, Whitesnake, Conspiracy Theorists

​Morrissey Loves Animals So Much It Makes Him Racist: Morrissey has been one of the biggest ambiguously snarky pussies in all of rock music for some years now, popular among 15-year-old bisexuals of all races and creeds. Sometimes, however, the former Smiths frontman likes to make a straightf ... More >>

Upcoming: Dawes, GWAR, ICP, Paul Oakenfold, Talib Kweli, Etc.

​Badfish (Sublime Tribute): Fri., Jan. 28. House of Blues. The Bellamy Brothers, John Slaughter: Fri., Nov. 19. Cypress Saloon. Casiotone For The Painfully Alone: Tue., Sept. 28. Khon's. Dash Rip Rock: Fri., Nov. 12. The Bronze Peacock Room @ House Of Blues. Dawes, Pete Wolf Crier, The Ro ... More >>

SXSW Aftermath: A Spry Wanda Jackson And Our Friends Mariachi El Bronx

Photos by Craig HlavatyWanda Jackson​ As the first night of SXSW 2010 got underway a pall came over the crowd, at least from those who had been glued to their smart phones by the news of the passing of Big Star lead singer Alex Chilton in New Orleans. The influential power-pop band was due to clos ... More >>

Hlavaty On The Hloose At SXSW: Roky Okkervil Close, Stoner Blooze, Nigerian Neo-Soul, Silver Robots, Green Dreads...

Craig Hlavaty5:19 p.m.: "That's respect. Lording over Sixth Street."​ 5:08 p.m.: "This is how Roky should sound." 5:09 p.m. Rocks Off Sr.: "How's that?" 5:09 p.m.: "Starry Eyes. Man, when he's backed by true fans he is on fire. Will and the guys and lady do him more than justice."

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 >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: The Rockabilly Country Soul of Big Al Downing

Maybe the most successful African-American country artist of the post-Charley Pride period was Big Al Downing. Talk about a guy who could blur the line between country and soul. An affable Oklahoman, Downing had a huge baritone voice that could melt hearts. Downing's career began in rockabilly. Aft ... More >>

Aftermath: Wanda Jackson, Queen Mother of Rock and Roll, at the Continental Club

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​ Wanda Jackson, unquestionably the true Queen Mother of rock and roll, was fashionably late getting on the stage Saturday night at the Continental Club. It was her seventy-second birthday, and she had played Austin the night before. Who could blame her for being a little sl ... More >>

Fall In

Distant Early Warning: Alice Cooper, BT, Drive-By Truckers, Neko Case, Skinny Puppy, Wanda Jackson, etc.

​Alice Cooper: Sun., Oct. 11. Verizon Wireless Theater. Bamboo: Fri., Oct. 2. Arena Theatre. Billy Joe Shaver: Sat., Nov. 28. Dosey Doe Coffee Company. BT: Fri., Sept. 4. Rich's Houston. Colin Hay: Sat., Oct. 17. Dosey Doe Coffee Company. Dave Seaman: Fri., Nov. 27. Rich's Houston. Drive-By Truck ... More >>

Aftermath: Miss Leslie and Heather Myles at Under the Volcano

Photos by Reg BurnsIt's not often the Wednesday-night act at Under the Volcano arrives with special guests in tow, but local songstress/honky-tonk goddess Leslie Sloan presented Californian Heather Myles to the Houston music crowd last night. If you call 25 totally mesmerized honky-tonk fanati ... More >>

They Don't Make Cop Concerts Like They Used To In Beaumont

Via Bayou, the Beaumont Enterprise's lively blog, we got directed to an old posting on the Octane Radio Network.And let's just say -- they don't make police concerts like they used to. In 1957 -- when Rock and Roll was still the Devil's Music -- the Beaumont cops bring in Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee ... More >>

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inducts Metallica, Run-DMC, Jeff Beck, Wanda Jackson

Yesterday marked a tremendous day for rappers and thrashers across the world: Metallica and Run-DMC were announced as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's newest inductees, along with Jeff Beck, Wanda Jackson, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Bobby Womack, two members of Elvis Presley's backing band ... More >>

The Shredder

One Show, One Sentence

Mike Ness, with Jesse Dayton

Wanda Jackson

Wanda Jackson appears Thursday, October 19, at the Continental Club, 3700 Main. Call 713-529-9899 for more info.

Various Artists

Rockin' Bones: 1950s Punk & Rockabilly

The Voodoo Chile's Slight Return

Greg Ashley resurrects the Mirrors for a summer tour; also: beware of Zipperneck

Letters

Notes on Cool

Elusive and ineffable, style itself cannot be sold, except perhaps at Buffalo Exchange

Roundabout Way

Cornell Hurd finally finds his musical niche

Press Picks

The Reason of Rimes

LeAnn Rimes has taken country music by storm. She's only 14. And that's the rub.