Seven years ago this week, the Dixie Chicks had the No. 1 country single in the U.S. with Bruce Robison's lump-raising "Travelin' Soldier." Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., the Bush Administration... Continue reading ""We're Ashamed The President Is From Texas" And Other Acts Of Career Suicide" >
Skip to about 1:30 for the song, but Lyle's intro is pretty funny too. Happy Texas Independence Day, y'all. Have you voted? Good. Now relax. It's time to have some fun. The other day, the Sir Dou... Continue reading "Songs All Self-Respecting Texans Should Have On Their iPods" >
One of the benefits of writing for a music blog is you don't have to follow politics unless you just want to, or unless some politician is so desperate they think commissioning a campaign song Au... Continue reading "Farouk Shami Is On Fire. His Campaign Song? Eh..." >
Coinciding with the late Kurt Cobain's 43rd birthday last week came news on the ongoing development of a supposed Hollywood biopic. Ideas for Cobain flick started being bandied about almost befor... Continue reading "Is Hollywood Ready For James Bond As Townes Van Zandt?" >
Society has a duality when it comes to accepting or rejecting the "crazy," depending on their social strata. The rich or hip are deemed to be delightfully eccentric, while the paupers are laugha... Continue reading "Aftermath: Roky Erickson Is Nobody's Curiosity" >
There's a line in Merle Haggard's "Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)" that has become a daily affirmation of sorts for us. It's not the pre-parenthetical part... Continue reading "Aftermath: Merle Haggard And Kris Kristofferson Help Us Make It Through The Night" >
This is the happiest music in the world. This is the best electronic album to come out of Texas since Asmodeus X's Morningstar. This is a like a synthpop version of The Wall. This is a really fuc... Continue reading "Post-Valentine's Day Blues? San Antonio's Hyperbubble Will Cheer You Up" >
Remember in the The Santa Clause, when the real Santa dies and Tim Allen's character has to assume his role out through the miracle of Hollywood plotting? Rocks Off imagines that once Willie Nel... Continue reading "Willie Nelson's Heir Apparent? It's Tha D-O-Double-G, Ya See" >
Rocks Off would like to thank Force Field PR and, we suppose, Neon Indian for sending the above picture to our email this morning. It nearly made us spray coffee all over our monitor. We don't ... Continue reading "Thanks, But No Thanks: See What Dallas Has to Deal With All the Time?" >
Selena Quintanilla Perez, as most Texans know, was gunned down by her former fan-club president Yolanda Saldivar in a Corpus Christi motel in March 1995, just as the Tejano superstar was crossing... Continue reading "Selena Co-Authors New Book... From Beyond the Grave" >
Ever been thrown from a mechanical bull? Rocks Off has, and it ain't fun. Nevertheless, if you think you have the stones (literally) to follow in the bootsteps of Urban Cowboy's Buford Uan "Bud" D... Continue reading "Art Rock: House of Blues' Rockin' Rodeo" >
Towards the end of last week, Rocks Off got the latest issue of Texas Music magazine in the mail, which just happens to mark the quarterly periodical's tenth anniversary. Naturally, as just about... Continue reading "Happy Anniversary Texas Music Magazine, or "Austin and (Maybe) Everything After"" >
Yes, Houston, they'll be back...Whenever Rocks Off thinks about Spoon - which, over the past decade, has been quite a bit - the one word that always comes to mind is "punctuation." No other band... Continue reading "Spoon to Engage In Transference at Stubb's SXSW Wednesday" >
Congratulations, Houston music fans! We are barely a week into the new year, and you already proven to Aftermath that our dreams and hopes for a new decade of change and decorum during live show... Continue reading "Aftermath: Willie Nelson and an Arena Theater Audience Apparently Raised In a Barn" >
It's easy for older Willie Nelson fans to overlook his modern works, where he saw his influence dig out tributaries away from the safer riverbeds. In the past two decades, he has ventured out fro... Continue reading "Another Side - Several, Actually - of Willie Nelson" >
For once, Rocks Off is grateful for this sinus-splitting headache (thanks, Mike Stinson!), because it gives us something to focus on besides the fact that we are crawling out of our skin waiting... Continue reading "How Texas and Alabama Match Up... Musically" >
Lonesome Onry and Mean's second early pick for our 2010 best-of list is Ray Wylie Hubbard's A. Enlightenment, B. Endarkenment, (Hint) There Is No C, set to drop this coming Tuesday. Ever since h... Continue reading "Lonesome Onry and Mean: No Wrong Answers on Ray Wylie Hubbard's New Album" >
Right after Christmas, Rocks Off hopped into our car and headed straight for the bowels of West Texas. It's a long drive to Big Bend, mostly through the middle of nowhere, huge swaths of land wh... Continue reading "Road Trippin': A West Texas/Big Bend Playlist " >
Musician, author, animal-rights activist (and probably a couple of other titles we're leaving out) Kinky Friedman announced Monday he was withdrawing as a candidate for governor in next March's... Continue reading "Songs To Help Kinky Friedman Learn What the Texas Agriculture Commissioner Does" >
Rocks Off was pretty sure we missed a few Texas (or Texas-connected) artists in Thursday's writeup of the 2010 Grammy nominees, and it turns out we were right. We don't even remember scrolling pa... Continue reading "Complete List of Texas' 2010 Grammy Nominees" >
Houstoned Rocks
James Blake – Live Album
Childish Gambino - "Heartbeat" (Official Music Video)
Gang Colours – Fancy Restaurant
