Latest Stories

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  Local Legend Bubbha Thomas Celebrated on Record Store Day

  April 11 at 5 a.m.

  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...

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  The Blues According to Boz (and Bobby)

  March 25 at 4 a.m.

  On the surface, actor Matthew McConaughey, writer Stephen Harrigan, photographer Mark Seliger, actress Jennifer Holliday, and musician Boz Scaggs may not have a lot in common. But as of this year, they’ve all got the same thing to display in their homes: A Texas Medal of Arts award. Bestowed biennially...

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  Scorpio Rising: Dennis Coffey Gets Funky and Jazzy on Live Record

  February 4 at 4 a.m.

  It sounded like the greatest theme song to a gritty ‘70s cops-criminals-drugs movie that never came out. But in 1971, guitarist Dennis Coffey’s funky, rocking, slashing instrumental “Scorpio” was a million seller, hitting No. 6 on the Top 40. And it’s one of the few tunes by a white act...

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  The Sound of '50s/'60s New Orleans Returns on New Anthology

  February 1 at 4 a.m.

  In the annals of New Orleans music, you’d be hard pressed to name a tune more representative of and imbued with the spirit of the Crescent City than Professor Longhair’s 1959 version of “Go to the Mardi Gras.” And the power of the piano-and-percussion fueled tune with its laid back...

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  Tweed Smith Keeps Her Birthday Party Rolling

  January 24 at 5 a.m.

  Growing up in 1950s/60s Houston, young Alice Faye Smith – named for the popular performer from a couple of decades earlier – always knew she wanted to be a singer. There was really no other career path for her, simply because it was all around her. Everyone in her family...

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  The Story of Alligator Records and its Blues-Centric Label

  January 1 at 4 a.m.

  Bitten by the Blues: The Alligator Records Story By Bruce Iglauer and Patrick A. Roberts 336 pp. $30 University of Chicago Press Music business entrepreneurs start record labels for all sorts of reasons, but few have the story of Bruce Iglauer and the blues-centric Alligator Records. Iglauer – in the...