On the morning of December 17, 2012, as I was in my truck listening to KHYI-FM 95.3 The Range, a rocking, sparkling song I hadn’t heard before came on. I continued to listen, drop-jawed, to the lyric: “Party till the break of dawn, Daddy’s got it goin’ on” commingled with…
This past October, Punch Brothers mandolin player and vocalist Chris Thile received a $500,000 “Genius Grant” from the MacArthur Foundation, bolstering the notion fans of roots music already understood to be true. While Thile has been a closely watched prodigy since childhood, his current gig has him stretching the boundaries…
Almost a year ago, Erika Wennerstrom and her band, the Heartless Bastards, released an excellent LP, Arrow, which followed up the possibly more excellent The Mountain. Now that the hoopla surrounding the release of Arrow has passed, the Austin-based act is in a sweet spot. The band’s set last March…
On August 31, Todd Gautreau, the brains behind excellent area dream-pop act Crushed Stars, took to the band’s Facebook page to sound off on a topic that’s turned into a national debate among artists, record labels, music consumers and various streaming services, specifically and most notably Spotify. Gautreau, who’s received…
On August 31, Todd Gautreau, the brains behind excellent area dream-pop act Crushed Stars, took to the band’s Facebook page to sound off on a topic that’s turned into a national debate among artists, record labels, music consumers and various streaming services, specifically and most notably Spotify. Gautreau, who’s received…
Houston native Roger Creager has been a mainstay of the Texas-centric festivals and college-town honky-tonks that make up the Texas country circuit. Over the course of six full-length albums and 14 years, Creager’s become known more for his rambunctious live shows than he has his relatively small catalog of recorded…
The country music that came from DFW in 2012 was perhaps even more of a mixed bag than 2011. Last year, many newcomers were featured on our list of the Ten Best Local Country Songs, but this year, the vets held their ground with authority. From stone-cold, sawdust-kicking AM gold…
Certainly, there will be lists coming forth that will discuss the wonderful local tour stops for many national and international bands in 2012, whether Radiohead at the AAC, Sharon Von Etten at Trees or Frank Ocean at South Side Music Hall. See also: – The top five musical resurrections of…
If there were a String Band Hero video game, it’s highly likely the music of Nashville’s Old Crow Medicine Show would be prominent in the list of song options. Best known for “Wagon Wheel,” the song that’s as responsible for today’s youthful lust for all things banjo as any other…
Carry Me Back, Old Crow Medicine Show’s comeback record after a yearlong hiatus, is also a return to the raw, freewheeling style of their early days. The former New York City subway buskers are at their best when they’re telling a story that may bear the sound of the old…
Metroplex country singerNate Kipp, who had a song on our top 10 local country songs of 2011 list, is in a giving mood this season. While he readies his follow up to last year’s great The Holding Pattern, he decided to write his first original Christmas song. “I’ve wanted to…
Mike Eli, lead singer for the ascending Eli Young Band, has seen the quartet he helped start in Denton in 2000 go from playing some of the smallest stages in North Texas to being awarded country music’s top trophies, including the recent ACM award for Song of the Year, for…
The folky, harmonic pop of NYC trio the Spring Standards has been in production since 2008, and is now available their inventively inventively packaged double EP, Yellow/Gold, released this past May. James Cleare, James Smith and Heather Robb are swinging through Denton tonight, and we had a moment to speak…
Deftones, Scars on Broadway Palladium Ballroom Wednesday, November 14 California’s Deftones have become one of America’s great rock exports. Band leader Chino Moreno and the rest of the seasoned crew returned from a triumphant set of dates in South America just in time to land in Texas, celebrate the release…
Best Album Best Solo Act Best Female Vocalist The Body Wins, Sarah Jaffe Sarah Jaffe continues to be on the lips of North Texas music lovers in 2012, with her second LP, The Body Wins, revealing a tougher, darker side to longtime fans, and certainly gaining some new ones in…
The list of bands that broke big in 2000 and are still on a major label producing high-quality tunes is as short as the life spans of most of the bands that had hits that same year (Stroke 9, anyone?). Sacramento’s Deftones are near the top of that select list…
It occurred to me recently that, within the DFW music scene, people really love to draw county lines. So what we were trying to illustrate with our 2012 Dallas Observer Music Awards nominees is that Dallas, Fort Worth and Denton aren’t three separate entities, but rather one big music community…
Austin’s never been short on stellar roots bands or hardcore honky-tonkers, thanks in part to some young acts that perform way beyond their years. Mike and the Moonpies, Whiskey Shivers and Shakey Graves are but a few of the promising names to reveal themselves recently. Add Crooks to that list…
Leading up to our November 10 showcase, we’ll be getting you familiar with some of our Dallas Observer Music Awards nominees, either via past features we’ve done on them, or new ones. You can vote for your favorite acts, venues and more right here. Best Americana/Roots Act J. Charles &…
Leading up to our November 10 showcase, we’ll be getting you familiar with some of our Dallas Observer Music Awards nominees, either via past features we’ve done on them, or new ones. You can vote for your favorite acts, venues and more right here. Best Blues Act Hunter Hendrickson Band…
Headlined by reunited legends like X, Run-D.M.C. and Public Image Ltd, this weekend’s Fun Fun Fun Fest has a little something for the older folks, as well as the young. With that much talent over three days, there are bound to be some tough decisions between stages. Here are a…
One of the many reasons Austin stoner metal kings The Sword gain fans by the boatload with each new release lies in the way in which each album, including their latest LP, Apocryphon, has been better than the album before it. This is a band that understands it’s not only…
