Houston Press | The Leading Independent News Source in Houston, Texas

The Sweet Soul (and Rock...and Gospel...) of Memphis

By Bob Ruggiero

Oct 9, 2020

Memphis Mayhem: A Story of the Music That Shook the World By David A. Less 232 pp. $16.95 ECW Press While the first part of its title is more reminiscent of a true crime book, it’s actually a lightning-quick, fast-paced, tour through a city that at one time in the...

Elvin Bishop and Charlie Musselwhite on a Century (or More) of Chicago Blues

By Bob Ruggiero

Sep 24, 2020

One of the tenets of blues music – especially that of the ‘50s/‘60s Chicago-based strain – is raw honesty. But it seems more than a bit dishonest that the title of Elvin Bishop and Charlie Musselwhite’s new record is 100 Years of Blues (Alligator). It’s supposed to represent how long...

Squirrel Nut Zippers Find What's Been Lost for a Long Time

By Bob Ruggiero

Sep 15, 2020

One could be forgiven for thinking that the man namechecked in the title of the Squirrel Nut Zippers’ new record Lost Songs of Doc Souchon is some mythical character out of legend from the misty streets of old (very old) New Orleans. Or a fantastical creation from the vivid imagination...

Peter Green's Swan Song in Fleetwood Mac Plays On

By Bob Ruggiero

Aug 21, 2020

When English singer/guitarist Peter Green passed away last month at the age of 73, the obits, of course, led with his role as the founder of Fleetwood Mac. This no doubt came as a surprise to general fans who either assumed that title belong to Mick Fleetwood, or the group...

Mark May Confronts His Demonic Side

By Bob Ruggiero

Jul 9, 2020

If there was any single event in recent history that has given the people of Houston the most of collective case of the blues, it would have to be Hurricane Harvey. And while it’s been almost three years since that most unwelcome guest arrived at the city’s proverbial doorstep, it’s...

Evelyn Rubio is Crossing Borders - Musical and Otherwise

By Bob Ruggiero

Jun 2, 2020

In the Age of Coronavirus, musicians all over Houston (and the world) are understandably itchy to get back onstage—even under new rules and restrictions for live venues. And for artists who also happen to have new records to promote, there’s an extra twist of the metaphorical knife. That’s how Houston-based...

Sass Jordan and the Coronavirus Blues

By Bob Ruggiero

Apr 17, 2020

Screens and screens of digital ink have already been spilt opining about the fate, recovery, and dissolution of the music industry in the Age of Coronavirus. From clubs and concerts to record stores and touring, things look…not good. Like a lot of artists right now, Canadian blues rock singer Sass...

The Road of Southern Avenue Leads to Blues, Soul, and Funk

By Bob Ruggiero

Feb 25, 2020

When he landed in Memphis, Tennessee in 2013 to compete in the annual International Blues Challenge and represent his native Israel, it was a dream come true for guitarist Ori Naftaly. And while victory in his category eluded him, he quickly made some contacts, formed a band, and went on...

Coco Montoya's Hot New Record Sparks Houston Memories

By Bob Ruggiero

Nov 21, 2019

It’s a common tale in the annals of contemporary music that a newly-minted blues fan first discovers the genre not from any of the African-American originators and descendants, but through the mutations played by white, younger, and often English blues rock acolytes. That’s was certainly the case for the Coco...

Tedeschi Trucks Band Play Powerful Fall Tour Opener in Houston

By Bob Ruggiero

Nov 7, 2019

Tedeschi Trucks Band November 6, 2019 The Hobby Center In music journalism, terms like “spiritual” and “soulful” get thrown around quite a bit. A good chunk of bands have neither evident in their music. Some of have one. Fewer have both. And still less have both in abundance. Count the...

Michael Bloomfield: The Forgotten Guitarist of Blues Rock

By Bob Ruggiero

Oct 23, 2019

Guitar King: Michael Bloomfield’s Life in the Blues By David Dann 736 pp. $39.95 University of Texas Press At one point in the mid/late ‘60s, Michael Bloomfield was considered by many as the country’s premiere blues-rock guitarist, seamlessly meshing the traditions of the genre’s past with the louder inclinations of...

Roundtrip Ticket To The Blues: The Mighty Orq Releases Live Album

By Gladys Fuentes

Sep 24, 2019

It’s no secret that Houston has an abundance of great blues, past and present. It has been the stomping ground for many great blues men and women. The Mighty Orq is no exception, he has been a fixture in the Houston blues scene since 2002, and even got his name...

Bluesman Sparky Parker Lights Up the Dark

By Bob Ruggiero

Sep 12, 2019

When Eric “Sparky” Parker was 13, he began a love affair. Not with a beguiling classmate at a school dance, but with the guitar. And while there’s a noisy graveyard somewhere out there of instruments that were abandoned by teenagers, you won’t find one of his axes there. “I was...

SRV's Life Told by Those Who Knew Him at His Best...and Worst

By Bob Ruggiero

Jul 31, 2019

Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan By Alan Paul and Andy Aledort 368 pp. $29.99 St. Martin’s Press He was one of Texas’ greatest guitar heroes, a fiery player with one foot in the blues and one in rock who had a growing base of fans and...

Wise Beyond Their Years: The Peterson Brothers Bring the Blues to Houston

By Gladys Fuentes

Jun 20, 2019

Some musicians age in dog years, one normal year of gigging can give them up to seven years of experience. The Peterson Brothers may have only recently reached the legal drinking age but both have built up some serious experience since they started performing as preteens. The Brothers will perform...

Legendary "Lost" Treatise on Texas Blues Finally Unearthed

By Bob Ruggiero

Jun 14, 2019

The Blues Come to Texas: Paul Oliver and Mack McCormick’s Unfinished Book Compiled by Alan B. Govenar with contributions by Kim Lornell 472 pp. $95 Texas A&M University Press To understand this story, you must first know the story behind the story. In 1959, two fans and writers about blues...

The Man - and the Myth - of Robert Johnson, Finally Unraveled

By Bob Ruggiero

Jun 6, 2019

Up Jumped the Devil: The Real Life of Robert Johnson By Bruce Conforth and Gayle Dean Wardlow 320 pp. $30 Chicago Review Press Myth is a powerful thing. Even more so when it’s a fantastical myth that has survived and thrived over generations. And it is Music Journalism Law that...

MFAH Puts "Jazz on Film" and In Your Ear

By Bob Ruggiero

May 30, 2019

For the seventh anniversary of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s “Jazz on Film” series, Founder and Curator Peter Lucas has once again put together a screening schedule as varied as the music itself. Running over three weekends, it includes a mixture of material from the Jimmy Stewart drama Anatomy...

Stanley Booth's Half-Century of Writing About Memphis and the Blues

By Bob Ruggiero

Apr 23, 2019

Red Hot and Blue: Fifty Years of Writing About Music, Memphis, and Motherf**kers By Stanley Booth 400 pp. $19.99 Chicago Review Press Of all the American music journalists who invented the genre and cut their teeth in the ‘60s and ‘70s – names like Paul Nelson, Richard Meltzer, Lillian Roxon,...

Local Legend Bubbha Thomas Celebrated on Record Store Day

By Bob Ruggiero

Apr 11, 2019

Asked to name an important or influential musician to come out of Houston, many will trippingly trot out the Usual Suspects of Beyoncé, Lightnin’ Hopkins, ZZ Top, or even Kenny Rogers (also, of course, an influential name in the chicken business). A name lesser known – but no less important...

Blue Notes

Looking to Get Lost by Peter Guralnick

Bird Flies Again...But Hopes to Land in Some New Nests

I support

Keep the Houston Press Free.