Randy Rogers Band House of Blues, November 28 & 29
About at a year ago, the Randy Rogers Band and a tribe of their soon-to-be-hoarse Hill Country fans gathered at the legendary John T. Floore's Country Store outside San Antonio for two nights of sawing fiddle, steamrolling drums and overdrive guitars. The weekend was captured on Homemade Tamales: Live at Floore's, two discs and nearly two hours of choice RRB cuts like "Better Off Wrong," "Buy Myself a Chance," "This Time Around" and a generous portion of tracks from 2013 studio album Trouble. As a gift for the Red Dirt fan in your life, it almost beats actual tamales.
Dwight Yoakam Arena Theatre, November 28
Dwight Yoakam has spent a good bit of this fall as the main support act on Eric Church's "The Outsiders" U.S. tour, which continues into January. At least for now, the tour is bypassing Houston (what else is new), but it's good to see Dwight in front of arena-sized crowds again, and speaks well of Church to invite a previous-generation country renegade along. Thankfully an open date in the tour allows Yoakam to honor his traditional post-Thanksgiving Arena Theatre show, which has become a Houston tradition right up there with the Uptown Holiday Lighting.
Wrestlers, Night Drive, FLCON FCKER Fitzgerald's, November 28
Stylish, eclectic electronica bill split Neapolitan-style: one big-hearted neo-disco duo; one shadowy Depeche Mode revival act; and one gonzo, abstract sound-quilter. A Soundcloud lover's delight.
Rev. Horton Heat, Supersuckers Scout Bar, November 29
Sub Pop Records' two main Southwestern standard-bearers throughout the '90s, the Supersuckers and Reverend Horton Heat blazed a trail of hellfire and brimstone through the Grunge Years that audiences in these parts lapped up like whiskey in a drought. Between Supersuckers shaman Eddie Spaghetti's forked-tongue take on country-punk and the right Reverend's Nudie-suited psychobilly, the two bands forged an easy kinship that endures to this day. They're always worth it when either one comes through town, which they do often, but as a double bill they simply can't be beat. With the Grizzly Band and Black Grass Gospel.
Night Ranger Concert Pub North, November 30
Night Ranger may be forever linked with the "bathrobe" scene in Boogie Nights, but there's a lot more to recommend them than just "Sister Christian." For a time the San Francisco rockers gave Journey a run for their money as the Bay Area's biggest selling band, and their somewhat underrated debut Dawn Patrol remains an early-'80s lite-metal classic thanks to air-punching anthems like "Don't Tell Me You Love Me." Still drawing denim-clad fans from coast to coast, Night Ranger put out a new album this year on Frontier Records, High Road, that is not half bad at all.
More shows on the next page.
