Willie Nelson

Randy Rogers Band Springs Surprise Trouble Release Show at Firehouse Saloon Tonight

The Randy Rogers Band has become a big enough name on the highly competitive Texas country/Red Dirt circuit that the quintet was chosen to open for George Strait and Martina McBride on Strait's Houston stop of his "The Cowboy Rides Away" tour at Reliant Stadium back in March. Reached by phone from " ... More >>

Musicians, Music Offer Sweet Relief After a Terrible Week

Life can get pretty dreary at points, and last week was, without a doubt, the dreariest week in a long time. From the massive fertilizer-plant explosion that devastated West, Texas to the Boston Marathon bombing and everything in between, our nation faced some pretty horrific tragedies in which many ... More >>

Bizarre Acting Roles by 20 Famous Musicians

It's a toss-up whether actors or musicians will go to greater lengths to make rent, but some musicians have even found themselves so hard up they've been forced to take an acting gig. Such is the case with the haystack-sized Sleepy LaBeef, who in 1968's The Exotic Ones appeared as the "Swamp Monster ... More >>

Jazz Fest Scores With Willie, John Mayer, Frank Ocean, Fleetwood Mac, Patti Smith, etc.

Well, I never thought that I would have John Mayer and Patti Smith together in the same headline with Willie Nelson and Frank Ocean, but that's why I kinda love New Orleans Jazz Fest 2013, whose lineup was released earlier this morning. Rewind: A Texican in New Orleans: Lessons Learned from Jazz F ... More >>

Ray Price

Christmas Past: 10 Christmas Songs That Are Really About Drugs

While we celebrate the holidays, Rocks Off is resurrecting a few of our best Christmas-themed blogs from the past few years. (Wait... resurrecting is Easter. Never mind.) This blog originally appeared October 26, 2011. Halloween is right around the corner, so you know what that means: Time to start ... More >>

Introducing the Texas 30: The 30 Best Texas Albums of the Past 30 Years

We forget if it was Muhammad the Prophet or a different kind of prophet, Willie Nelson, who answered the question about why he climbed the mountain with a simple, "Because it's there." In Willie's case, the question would probably be why he continues to tour, but the answer is the same. In this wee ... More >>

Which Texas Musicians Would Get Page 1 New York Times Obits?

Like it or not, death is an inevitable part of the news cycle. A big part of the news cycle, most of the time. Look at Tony Scott, Phyllis Diller and... wait, what time is it now? Rocks Off is not trying to be flippant at all here, because we had our own brush with the reaper less than a year ago: ... More >>

Guess the Country Star by Only His Cowboy Hat

You'll ride a black tornado cross't the western skies Rope an ole blue norther, milk it till it's dry Bull dawg the Mississippi, pin it's ears down flat Long before you take this cowboy's hat. -- Chris Ledoux, "This Cowboy's Hat" A popular saying in Texas goes that a man who talks a good game but ... More >>

Missed Connections: 5 Summer Fest Weekend Team-Ups We'd Like To See

In terms of pure variety, the weekend of June 1-3 may be the most stacked weekend of music Houston will see this year, and that's not just because of Summer Fest. In addition to the wide variety of acts playing Eleanor Tinsley Park there's the regular weekend mass of shows taking place across the ci ... More >>

9 Cool & Cheap Weekenders: Alkari, Black Bananas, Chico Trujillo, Etc.

Pot luck show of the weekend: ElecTrick, The Space Villains and Los Area 51 tonight at Rudyard's. Free. It's the big Art Car Weekend, if you haven't heard, and you can get a peek at Saturday's parade at Discovery Green tonight at 6:30 with two solid hours of a murderer's row of local blues greats ... More >>

John Mayer, Cowboy?: 6 WTF Moments Of Musical Reinvention

Oh, you hadn't heard? At some point between his extended hiatus from singing and the recording of his newly announced album, Shadow Days, ol' big-mouth Mayer seems to have stumbled on some old Willie Nelson CDs and raided the nearest Cavender's in a transformation Rocks Off can only assume as bein ... More >>

Nine Covers of "Heartbreak Hotel" on Its 58th Birthday

Exactly 58 years ago, Elvis Presley released Heartbreak Hotel on RCA Records, which had just bought his contract from Sun Records for a measly $35,000. Heartbreak sold 300,000 copies in its first week and would eventually become the King's first certified gold record. Also, it's worth noting that, ... More >>

The Family Way

Mason Lankford and company bring their brand of Southern Gothic to Artopia.

10 Rock Stars the GOP Should Nominate for President

As the 2012 presidential race begins to heat up in earnest, Rocks Off can't help but feel that the front-runners for the Republican nomination are lacking a certain je ne sais quoi. Call it star power. Call it sex appeal. Whatever it is, these guys ain't got it. If the GOP is serious about wresti ... More >>

Bartender Chat: Matt Bradshaw of El Gran Malo

We stopped into El Gran Malo this week because nothing quite warms your chilled bones like a few shots of crushed black pepper, sea salt, cayenne and toasted Texas pecan-infused tequila. We sampled some of the bar's newest infusions, snacked on bacon-wrapped jalapenos that were so spicy my ears hurt ... More >>

Lyle Lovett

10 Christmas Songs That Are Really About Drugs

memecenter.comMerry fuckin' Christmas, mang.​Halloween is right around the corner, so you know what that means: Time to start making a list and checking it twice. Bourbon, gin, scotch, vodka, Xanax, painkillers... Walgreen's and CVS have already stocked their shelves with wrapping paper, plas ... More >>

Billy Joe Shaver

True Blood: A Bit Of Houston, A Bit Of Magical Murder

Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He's lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series, True Blood - which happens to be set in the Louisiana swamps, not terribly far from Houston. ​Johnny Bush, ladies and gentlemen. Even your resident goth ... More >>

Top 10 Healing Songs, From One Who Knows

Chris Nelson/FacebookClint Broussard in his natural habitat.​Rocks Off was happy to run into our friend and Blues In Hi-Fi DJ Clint Broussard the other day at Leon's Lounge (where else?). We were a little surprised too, because it was the first time we'd seen him with two shoes on in months. ... More >>

Stars & Stripes Forever: 10 Musicians Wearing Old Glory

​This ain't no rag, Charlie Daniels pointed out not too long ago. It's a flag. Fashion blog Thrifted thinks Old Glory is also one of the summer's hottest trends, so here are 10 musicians putting their patriotism front and center. Happy Fourth of July, everybody.

Billy Joe Shaver

The Five Most Texan Types Of Music

​Happy San Jacinto Day, fellow Texans and people who wish they were; i.e. everyone else. If you don't know why today is special, shame on you. But since us Texans are a friendly sort, allow Rocks Off to fill you in. On April 21, 1836, Texian forces under Gen. Sam Houston (aka "Big Drunk") lau ... More >>

Rocks Off's Fantasy RodeoHouston Lineup

Photos courtesy of Houston Livestock Show & RodeoGeorge Strait in 1996​If you walk through Reliant Center, hanging from the ceiling are banners listing almost every musical performer RodeoHouston has hosted since the '60s. The names reflect the hallowed history of country and fleeting fancies ... More >>

MCM: More Local Music News Than Ice On The Roads

Rocks Off readers, if the cold weather has bogged down your day, we've got just the trick - a slew of local music news hot off the presses. Our soundtrack this week is the folky Sarah Neidermeyer and the Devil, the new album from Horse. It's available now, so give it a listen and maybe even put it ... More >>

How Willie Nelson & Charley Pride Integrated East Texas

politicsworldwide.com​Willie Nelson's Conroe buddy Larry Butler was not only a performer, he also ran a series of clubs in the area over the past 50 years, including Willie Nelson's Night Life on FM 1960 during Willie's IRS problem years. And while Butler has some fond memories of IRS agents ... More >>

Conroe Man Could Have Bought Willie Nelson's "Crazy" For $10

larrybutlertexas.comWillie Nelson and Larry Butler at Willie's Place, May 2009​One day in 1960, Larry Butler was rehearsing his band at the Esquire Ballroom on Hempstead Highway when the manager approached and said a man at the front door wanted to talk to him. "So I told her to just show th ... More >>

Ray Price

Died And Gone To Houston: A Honky-Tonk Jukebox

​Besides the whomping pullout section with brief thumbnail sketches of every artist playing Saturday's Houston Press Music Awards showcase on Washington Avenue, in this week's print issue of the Press you'll find a feature story Rocks Off was proud to co-write called "Died and Gone to Houston. ... More >>

Rocks Off Has Some Issues This Morning, But Not as Many as This Guy

​Rocks Off came into the office this morning to discover we had been beset by a bad case of the gremlins. One of our photographers' Web site was down, there was another mix-up with the Willie Nelson photos from Saturday night (which has since been fixed) and... well, it's just a Monday. However, w ... More >>

Beyonce Leads 2010 Grammy Field With 10 Nominations

Beyonce leads all nominees for the 52nd annual Grammy Awards, reaping the benefits of her smash double album I Am... Sasha Fierce and her prominent role on the soundtrack to last year's Chess Records docudrama Cadillac Records, in which she appeared as an R&B diva from an earlier age, Etta Jame ... More >>

Listology: Honky-Tonk Man Mike Stinson Chooses His Favorite Drinking Songs

Markus Cuff​Honky-tonk man and recent Houston transplant Mike Stinson knows a thing or two about a bottle. Lonesome Onry and Mean asked him to list his all-time favorite drinking songs, many of which you will no doubt hear this evening at Under the Volcano. "So many classic drinking songs, I could ... More >>

Chart Check: Texans on Billboard

A periodic look at how Lone Star natives are faring in the national music biz...Hot 100 (singles) 10. Kelly Clarkson, "My Life Would Suck Without You" 12. Jamie Foxx feat. T-Pain, "Blame It" 16. Beyonce, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" 21. Beyonce, "Diva" 41. Beyonce, "Halo" Billboard 200 ... More >>

RIP Bob Dylan?

At first, when Rocks Off saw this flyer (right) come over ye olde MySpace, we didn't really give it much thought. It looked like a decent night of tunes from a bunch of dead rockers - maybe some "Lithium", a little "Purple Haze." After all, the night is dedicated to rockers who have gone on to t ... More >>

Sole of Houston: Airport Drive, The Finale (Including Unwanted Puke)

And here is the final installment of David Beebe and John Lomax's 20-plus mile hike from Intercontinental Airport to Spanish Flowers restaurant. Part one is here and part two is here.David Beebe's accounts of the same hike are here and here.Airline's furthest reaches are lined by sprawling and run-d ... More >>

The Top 10 Reissues of 2008

[Note: This is the first in a series of articles that constitute Village Voice Media's year-end music package. The others - pop, indie-rock, dance mixes, Latin, country, alt-country/Americana, metal, rap/hip-hop and special graphics breaking down the year in charts and 2008's worst lyrics - will be ... More >>

What to Get a Texas Beer Lover for Christmas?

The Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner celebrates its 100th birthday next year and while we'll have to wait until January for the anniversary beer to be released, a new book on the history of the brewery has already hit the bookstores--just in time for Christmas. The hefty coffee table book (beer table book? ... More >>

Joe Nick Patoski's Willie Nelson biography signings

Jesse Dayton, Johnny Bush

Merle the Pearl

Is the Hag the greatest three-tool talent in country music history?

Johnny Bush

Honky-tonk hero explores his hardscrabble Houston roots with an autobiography and a CD

For the Children

Renaissance Man

A cop learns the pain of piercing

A Kinky Kind of Campaign?

Friedman may be just the one to muss up Guv Goodhair's re-election plan

Downtown's Got Soulphilia

A superbad shindig at Dean's

Rites of Spring

Some early leaders in the ongoing Sweeps Games

Billy Joe's Blues

Billy Joe Shaver has known great blessings and great curses

Stolen Thunder

Quick fixes for thieves, and long suffering for victims: When guitarists lose their vintage axes

Mysteriously Musical

Kinky Friedman is still up to no good