If it’s not entirely impossible to keep from using the word “soul” when describing Zac Wilkerson’s music, it is certainly ill-advised. For starters, the Dallas resident’s excellent 2016 album is titled Dustbowl Soul, and plenty of the songs on his new record, Evergreen, feature R&B-powered full-band arrangements, which lend themselves…
Many fans of Texas country and red dirt music will recognize some key figures who give life to the music they love so dearly. The unmistakable voices of Jack Ingram, Robert Earl Keen and Randy Rogers are universally revered, and they’ve soundtracked our lives for over two decades now. But…
Last month Community Beer Company in Dallas celebrated its seventh anniversary with a major shindig inside its Design District taproom. Although it’s hard to believe now, given that craft breweries and brewpubs have enveloped North Texas, a seventh birthday means Community is among the new-era pioneers of the local beer…
Although there’s certainly more to the story of how Chadwick Murray became the lead singer for local soul band Bastards of Soul, the Dallas music veteran sums up the essence of his journey and current status rather succinctly. “So, yeah, after 30 years of being involved in music as a…
For the last four years, Levi Weaver has been a name that fans of the Texas Rangers have become keenly familiar with. As the Rangers beat writer for The Athletic, the 40-year-old Weaver has been praised for his ability to offer insightful columns on even the most mundane games over…
It would seem as though a devoted college student with a full load of intense classes would be as certain in what his future held for him as just about anyone in the undergrad phase of their life can be. Just a few years ago, Novel Coffee Roasters co-owner Kevin…
For a couple of decades now, Eleven Hundred Springs has been one of greatest country bands in North Texas, if not the absolute best, that is. Winners of a fair share of Dallas Observer Music Awards through the years, the Matt Hillyer-led honky-tonk crew has yet another album, its ninth…
Open since September 2019, Westlake Brewing Company joins Deep Ellum Brewing Company and BrainDead Brewing in making the ever-evolving entertainment district of Deep Ellum as much of a top-tier craft beer destination as it has ever been. Unlike the larger Deep Ellum Brewing and the more food-focused Braindead, Westlake is…
Counting from 2012, you’d be very hard-pressed to locate a more artistically ambitious project in the North Texas music sphere than These Machines Are Winning. Led by veteran Dallas rockers Dylan Silvers, Ryan Hartsell and Blake McWhorter, the group is really hard to define, at least in typically simplistic music…
For the last five years, Josey Records in Farmers Branch has steadily expanded from a spot for intensive crate-digging into a one-stop shop for music, books, DVDs, T-shirts, novelties and even beer-related glassware. There are now Josey Records locations in Tulsa, Kansas City and a Josey Books and Records in…
Before Brutal Beerworks in North Richland Hills held its grand opening in June, co-owner Eric Johnson was direct and plainspoken when it came to how his operation would find its own niche in the Mid-Cities. “I think we’ll stand out because we have no need, nor want, to grow beyond…
If you take a look around, pretty much anywhere music lovers find themselves, you’ll likely see that classic rock is in the air. No, we’re not talking about the gentle tones of REO Speedwagon wafting overhead while you shop at Nordstrom Rack. We’re talking about the old-school rockers still out…
Many of the stories behind folks opening North Texas’ newest craft breweries and brewpubs have a few common strains. It’s not uncommon to see a brewery owner with a kegerator full of medals from homebrewing competitions, for example. There’s usually some sort of business or executive professional background, of course,…
Between a new school year starting for the kiddos and the addition of pumpkin spice into everything, autumn is an active, bustling season. And for each of the past several years, few — if any— sports broadcasters anywhere have been as busy as Dallas’ Mark Followill. Best known as the…
It wasn’t that long ago when trying a local craft beer most likely meant having to personally visit a local brewery. As recently as 2012, beer coolers in North Texas grocery stores might’ve had some Rahr & Sons choices available, but that was about it, really. And even more to…
Receiving a tremendous amount of energetic encouragement from those closest to you is always a positive (unless they’re cheering on your plans to commit suicide, maybe, or invade Poland, or your friend’s name is Giuliani, but broadly speaking, yeah). For a budding brewery owner hoping to turn a longtime hobby…
Regardless of the hellish temperatures, fall officially arrives Sept. 23. For many, such a calendar designation means the arrival of football season, getting settled in a new school year or even a new slate of television shows that will almost certainly be canceled within a few weeks. But for many…
In a recent Rolling Stone interview, Irish singer-songwriter Glen Hansard admitted that a friend of his has nicknamed him “Earnest Strum,” due to his penchant for “the type of exceedingly sincere, traditionally-rooted folk that Hansard has mostly been making for the past dozen years,” the article reads. The soft, somber,…
For all of the frenzied development near the intersection of O’Connor and Las Colinas boulevards in Irving over the last two years, one vital element has been highly conspicuous in its absence: coffee. Thankfully for the cubicle warriors and apartment dwellers who hustle and bustle inside the always buzzing Las…
On Sunday around North Texas, a celebratory, almost holiday-like vibe of fuzzy feel-goods accompanied many brewery staffs as they switched their lights on for the day. It was a clear, sunny day on what was indeed a holiday weekend, but Sept. 1 marked the first day Texas craft production breweries…
Beer and music. To steal an oft-used Twitter cliché, we’ll wait while you attempt to name a more iconic duo. The bands and breweries of Fort Worth have embraced that most holy of unions rather excitedly. Panther Island Brewing’s newest beer, Queso Blanco Mexican lager, a collaboration with local Southern…
On Friday, two of the most exciting bands in Dallas will release their first albums on the same record label. Adding to the chummy nature of the event, the pair of bands will headline a dual album release concert celebration at the Granada Theater on the same night. And let’s…
