Country superstar Gary Allan has been a hit-making machine for damn-near two decades now. The 46-year-old California native has finely walked the line between stadium filler and perpetual critical favorite with little following. Due to the tragedy surrounding the 2004 suicide of his third wife, Angela, he became an even…
Sometimes a band’s message, sound and philosophy can be strikingly simple. For the Denton-born foursome American Werewolf Academy, simplicity is more or less a standard operating procedure. When one clicks onto the Biography page of the group’s website, they quickly learn so much of what they really need to know…
Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen Hold My Beer and Watch This Tour House of Blues, Dallas Wednesday, July 9, 2014 An unusually functional prop set the stage, both literally and figuratively, for last night’s Randy Rogers’ and Wade Bowen’s show at House of Blues in Dallas. About ten feet behind…
For a decade now, Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen, along with their trusty band mates, have become A-Listers in the nebulously defined, increasingly lucrative world of Texas Country Music. The reason for each artist’s ascendency isn’t a secret. Rogers, a native of Cleburne just outside of Fort Worth, and Waco…
Last night, just before his scheduled performance at the Gas Monkey Bar and Grill in Dallas, so-called “outlaw” David Allan Coe packed his rebel flag-adorned equipment and hit the road, leaving venue staff angry and fans perplexed. According to a message from Gas Monkey’s GM Alex Mendosa posted to the…
While Willie Nelson is a legendary artist from Texas (and we certainly love that fact), he’s long since transcended simple regional borders. It’s almost too limiting to even refer to him as an American icon, though he is obviously that without question. The man is a survivor, an activist and…
We’re halfway through the year and for most of the past week we’ve been turning our gazes back at these six months past, taking stock of all the fine music that’s been released in North Texas since the start of the year. It’s been a fun trip, boys and girls,…
For a country music fan, living in North Texas is akin to a six-year-old getting locked inside a room over night where the walls are made only of assorted Minecraft games. There’s plenty of variety and more than enough offerings to keep one busy without ever having to look too…
In October of 2013, Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires had the plug pulled on them during their set at the Live Oak Music Hall and Lounge in Fort Worth. On that night, the group’s amp-busting brand of southern soul-rock was too much for the venue’s operators to handle…
Authenticity and impeccable simplicity have always been Kris Kristofferson’s stock-in-trade. On Saturday night in Fort Worth it couldn’t have been more apparent, as he performed a couple dozen of his plainly poetic songs in two nearly one hour-long sets at the classically beautiful Bass Performance Hall. It was the evening…
For any music fan who has lived in or around Dallas for at least a few years, stories (and probably grand exaggerations) of times had at one of the Texxas Jam Music Festivals in the late 1970s or early 1980s are commonplace at this point. The Texxas World Music Festival,…
Centro-matic With True Widow and Cliffs of Insanity Kessler Theater, Dallas Saturday, June 14, 2014 Early on in Centro-matic’s Saturday night show at the Kessler Theater in Oak Cliff, a shout from the middle of the comfortably crowded throng provided with a well-timed bit of levity — and a healthy…
Seventeen years into their time as a fully fleshed unit, the Denton-born indie-rock band Centro-matic seem to have the formula for creating one well-crafted album after another down to a science. Though lead singer and songwriter Will Johnson has lived in Austin for some time now, the band’s spiritual home…
Plenty of reality television shows seem to go the extra mile in supporting stereotypes. Two of the most popular reality shows in the format’s history, MTV’s Jersey Shore and A&E’s Duck Dynasty, certainly focus on — and capitalize on — the most outrageous traits of the respective shows’ characters. Thick…
On Saturday at AT&T Stadium, one of the biggest country music crowds ever will witness perhaps the most significant day of country music the Dallas-Fort Worth area has ever hosted: George Strait will ride away and fans of all ages, from many parts of the world, will likely shed a…
On Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, George Strait will ride away into the sunset as he concludes his long-running touring career. Though he will keep recording and will occasionally play the one-off gig, the days of taking another Strait show for granted appear to be over. Before frat boys…
The first half of 2014 has been a strong one for beloved acts with strong ties to the North Texas region. The new albums from St. Vincent and the Old 97’s have sent fans and critics looking for new superlatives, and rightfully so. Now we can add Centro-matic to the…
Any discussion of hard-rock, or even glam-metal, from the 1980’s is woefully incomplete without Pennsylvania’s Cinderella receiving a good chunk of chatter. In 1988 Tom Keifer and crew began an impressive run of hitting high on the sales charts and video countdowns. Monster ballads such as “Nobody’s Fool” and “Don’t…
On the strength of the group’s first full-length effort, Guilty of Everything, Nothing, out of Philadelphia and led by ex-con Dominic “Nicky” Palermo (who spent two years in jail several years ago for aggravated assault and attempted murder), have quickly become perhaps the best of the current crop of blossoming…
To many a country music fan from North Texas, Matt Hillyer is a tried-and-true honky-tonk bandleader. The inked-up lead singer of Eleven Hundred Springs, now nearing his 40s and missing the long ponytail that snaked out from under his cowboy hat a decade ago, is ready to assume a new…
The lead single from Nashville country-rock trio, the Cadillac Three’s, self-titled debut album, “The South,” could easily be a brainless ode to Southern cliches. But it isn’t. Instead, lead singer Jaren Johnston, multi-instrumentalist Kelby Ray and drummer Neil Mason deliver a swampy, thrashing and fun tribute to their native region,…
For many years, Lucinda Williams seemed to have some anger inside of her. Much of that anger was directed towards the men she had fallen in and out of love with over the years. The pain and resentment that went into so many of her songs proved quite fruitful for…
