Dolly Parton

How To Start a Record Collection, Part III (Record Store Day Edition)

I thought it would be a private relationship between me and my record player. Music collections, no matter what they are made of, can be so intimate they border on embarrassing. Not sure what to buy, I clicked on review after review, talking myself into and out of nearly every purchase. But the thin ... More >>

Rocking. Running. Traffic.

An Ode to a Broken Record Player

How To Start a Record Collection, Part One

It sat in storage for years, a broken record player and its un-played records. It had not spun a tune since my freshman year of college, and with each move I planned to get it repaired, to have a proper place for it in my home, to amass a collection of records one-part Dolly Parton and one-part soul ... More >>

Five Ways To Deal With a Budding Music Snob

See also: Ten songs to accompany very specific dorm-room scenarios If I am going to be honest, I think snobs get kind of a bad wrap. Pretension aside, fans who have a critical ear and high standards are good for the medium. And when two music snobs get together, it can make for a great back and fo ... More >>

Mind Your Manners: Getting Your Emily Post On At the Bar

Generally, I take my muses in the form of flappers, gypsies and Dolly Parton. I also heed the advice of Emily Post. Her regard for manners and civility may swing square to some, but I find her devoted involvement to the enjoyment of others helps conquer narcissism and ensure a great time. From that ... More >>

EDC 2012: Calvin Harris Plays CDs of Himself Singing

Dance music is fighting for its soul. The charts are filled with tracks (Rihanna, Flo Rida) that borrow from the ecstatic trance and pulsing grooves of electronic dance music. The last time pop was so infatuated with the dance floor was 1979, the year disco died. This time around fans are more sa ... More >>

So, Cracker Barrel Sells Music Now

I was alerted to this story by our friends at Houston Press, since I'm apparently not on the Cracker Barrel press list, and maybe this is old news, but the South's most ubiquitous chain restaurant is selling music. I know Cracker Barrel is the butt of a lot of jokes, but I genuinely like the place. ... More >>

Amanda Shires - Dan's Silverleaf - 3/24/12

Amanda Shires Dan's Silverleaf Saturday, March 24 It's a little surprising Amanda Shires isn't a country supernova yet, and more surprising she has no representation, not even a tiny indie label from her native Texas or current home of Nashville. She started playing the violin at the age of ten, an ... More >>

Big K.R.I.T. Reps the New Southern Hip-Hop Underground

Are people still using PlayStations? If the brand is looking for a charming accomplishment via their product, they need look no further than Big K.R.I.T. As a resourceful teenager, Justin Scott used PlayStation's MTV Music Generator to form his first beats, and that entrepreneurial spirit guided hi ... More >>

Opening Credits: Today's Cinematic Releases for Jan. 13

Contraband Director: Baltasar Kormákur Writer: Aaron Guzikowski Condensed Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster Mark Wahlberg stars as a former pop star/underwear model turned actor turned smuggler turned former smuggler who gets himself in deep with a drug lord to protect his brother- ... More >>

Joyful Noise: Nothing Is Sacred

Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah are rolling in something, but it's not holy.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Sunday, January 15, at Winspear Opera House

The Complete, More or Less, Collection of Covers Performed By St. Vincent

​I hear Pete's gone; wonder if I can be music editor aga ... excuse me, I've just been told: No, no way. Ah. Anyway. Doesn't mean I can't post this playlist that's been sitting on my desktop for way too long: a complete-ish collection of covers performed by St. Vincent, for whom DC9 at Night was q ... More >>

Stand by Your … Um ...

Last Night: Dolly Parton at Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie

Dolly PartonVerizon Theatre in Grand PrairieTuesday, July 19, 2011Better than: Reality. Rachel ParkerDolly Parton at Verizon Theatre in Grand Prairie​Dolly Parton inhabits her stardom as fully as she fills out her glittering outfits. "I buy 'em two sizes too small and take 'em in," she joked. Sh ... More >>

Listomania: The Best Lesser Known Dolly Parton Songs, Including Her Own Favorites

Dolly Parton​I had sweaty palms of excitement talking to Dolly Parton in advance of her Verizon Theatre show tonight, even though the interview was just 10 minutes long. Picking up the phone and hearing that unmistakable voice say my name was surreal. And when she laughed and said "That's a good ... More >>

Women in (Local) Rock

Dolly Parton's Been Writing Songs for 60 Years.

Productions reliving the '80s miss the decade's dumb fun.

Stumble On Over

Downright Loopy

Lady Antebellum Isn't Country's First Pop Sensation.

Someone Dipped Their St. Vincent in My Neil Young (and Dolly Parton and The National)

​Ya know, before Pete came along, I was doing a fine job of writing about St. Vincent all by my lonesome. So, don't tell, but a Friend of Unfair Park sends along these MP3s featuring Annie Clark and Bon Iver performing at Saturday night's Haiti benefit concert at Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsb ... More >>

St. Vincent Gives The National the Once-Over at Haiti Relief Show in Brooklyn

Pardon my interloping, but I've asked Pete for his permission to post over here as a friend just forwarded along this trio of tracks from a Haiti benefit in Brooklyn over the weekend. DC9 favorite and Lake Highlands grad Annie Clark, or St. Vincent, performed with the likes of Bon Iver, and while th ... More >>

Christmas Bonus: The Best Box Set Gift Ideas For This Holiday Season

​Looking to get that special musicologist in your life something special? If so, you might want to think about a box set. But be wary: There's a lot of chaff to sift through when dealing with the glut of holiday season reissues. Thankfully, amidst it all, the following multiple-disc sets are a pre ... More >>

Gig Alert: Mindy Smith at the House of Blues

​It takes quite a bit of country/folk chutzpah to take on a song as legendary as Dolly Parton's "Jolene," but that's exactly what Mindy Smith, a 37-year-old singer/songwriter from Long Island, did in 2003. Smith's version of the song appeared on the Parton tribute record Because I'm a Woman.Seems ... More >>

Different Strokes

Afterimage features Horenstein

To Look For America

Light & Sie hosts Eberle and Parot

How To Put Together A Valentine's Day Mixtape

Legendary Babe

Namely, Country

Southern Girls

See Steel Magnolias in Garland

Rhinestone Cowboy

Manuel visits Fort Worth

Southern Discomfort

Chicks get fried in Richardson

So You Can Motorboat While Running the Rock

Parton the Interruption

Cups and Saucers

Kitsch in Sync

Serial killer, masked man and ghetto diva--but, dang it, not in the same show

Smoky Mountain Angel

Hooray Beer

Grey DeLisle

Iron Flowers (Sugar Hill)

Season's Bleatings

Thanks to these CDs, it's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas

White Stripes

Under Blackpool Lights (V2)

Dolly Parton

Friday, December 3

This Week's Day-By-Day Picks

This Week's Day-By-Day Picks

Red Dawn

Moulin Rouge brings to light a deliciously garish Paris

Farther along

Emmylou Harris has a new boxed set, but she won't be trapped by that cardboard tombstone

Out Here