Robert Johnson

Eric Clapton at American Airlines Center, 3/19/13: Review

Last night, Eric Clapton and Dallas-born guitarist Doyle Bramhall II set fire to their Stratocasters' fretboards. Their fingers slid across the neck, bending strings until they bled the blues. Feeding off a musical energy straight from the Crossroads, the talented guitarists empowered some of Clapto ... More >>

The Virgin Wolves: "Led Zeppelin Is The Greatest Rock Band Of All Time"

The Virgin Wolves recently took time out to discuss their backgrounds with the blues, their first shows, and The Song Remains the Same. Catch them Friday at Andy's Bar and Saturday at City Tavern. Which came first for you: hearing a blues pioneer play the blues, or a band interpreting the blues? C ... More >>

PHOTOS: Last Night's 75th Anniversary Celebration of Robert Johnson's 508 Park Sessions

Drew Gaines snapped some fantastic shots from last night's 75th anniversary celebration of Robert Johnson's 508 Park recording sessions. Here are a few of our favorites.

Tonight: The 75th Anniversary of Robert Johnson's 508 Park Sessions

If you've been following the saga of 508 Park Avenue, the building where famed bluesman Robert Johnson recorded between June 19 and 20 in 1937, you'll remember it was pulled back from the edge of demolition, a few ideas for its renovation were tossed around, and its future finally sits in the hands ... More >>

Dead Flowers Talk About Bad Tattoos, Heartbreak Songs and Getting the Band Together

If you regularly go to LaGrange, Single Wide or Double Wide, you've seen a member of the quintet Dead Flowers. Earlier in the year, frontman Corey Howe was the opening act for The Revival Tour's stop at Trees, playing alongside Hot Water Music's Chuck Ragan, Alkaline Trio's Dan Andriano, and Against ... More >>

Todd Park Mohr of Big Head Todd and the Monsters Talks Going into Space, Loving Robert Johnson

Back in the mid-'80s, Big Head Todd and the Monsters was the band even your college sweetheart could like. Todd Park Mohr and crew blended a touch of jazz into their blues-based pop and became a sizable concert draw. Over the years, Park Mohr has gathered the guys together sporadically for live sh ... More >>

The View From Atop 508 Park Avenue, Where, Very Soon, the Past Will Meet the Present

On top of 508 Park Avenue, from left: Alan Govenar, Carol J. Adams, Pat Bywaters and Buddy Jordan​Thursday afternoon I met historian Alan Govenar at 508 Park Avenue, future site of the Museum of Street Culture. He was not alone: Joining him were developer Buddy Jordan, chair of the 508 Park Commit ... More >>

Alan Govenar to Oversee, Curate "Museum of Street Culture" Planned for 508 Park Avenue

​We were reminded just last week: First Presbyterian Church plans not only to install a recording studio inside 508 Park Avenue, a nod to the building's storied history as one of only two spots where bluesman and myth Robert Johnson recorded the music that serves as rock-and-roll's backbone, but t ... More >>

Why "For Sale" Sign In Front of Downtown Masonic Temple Came Down This Week

Via Baylor Lodge 1235​For some -- local preservationists, say, or music fans -- one of the biggest stories of 2011 was First Presbyterian Church's purchase of 508 Park Avenue; at last, the long-ago Brunswick Records regional office in which Robert Johnson, Bob Wills and possibly Charlie Parker rec ... More >>

An Oral History of the Dallas Music Scene

Some of Dallas' most successful musicians recount the rebirth of its most storied entertainment district: Deep Ellum.

Rolling Stones Ready Plans To Theatrically Release Film of 1978 Fort Worth Concert

​No date has yet been announced -- just a "Coming Soon!" promise -- for the stateside release of the new Rolling Stones concert film, The Rolling Stones: Some Girls -- Live in Texas. But, starting early next month, the United Kingdom and Ireland (followed shortly by Denmark, South Africa, Cro ... More >>

As First Presbyterian Closes on 508 Park Ave., A Closer Look at Its Plans for Landmark Location

Click to embiggen​Late last summer we caught wind of First Presbyterian's plans to purchase 508 Park Avenue, the former Brunswick Records regional office near Dallas City Hall in which Robert Johnson, Bob Wills and others once recorded. Yesterday, after myriad stops in front of the Landmark Commis ... More >>

Since You'll Probably Never Get to Go Inside 508 Park Ave., David Dennard Tours It For You

Photos courtesy David DennardThe makeshift studio in which Robert Johnson, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys and the Light Crust Doughboys, among others, recorded in the mid-1930s​It would seem 508 Park Avenue's been heavy on my mind of late, even more than usual, what with Robert Johnson's just-pa ... More >>

For Your Thursday Listening Pleasure: 1917's "Dallas Blues," From the Library of Congress

​So. Funny thing. A couple of weeks back, while writing about 508 Park Ave. and Robert Johnson's 100th, I pulled down a few blues histories-of to dig a little deeper. Among the stacks: Elijah Wald's essential Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues, published in 2004, whe ... More >>

Robert Johnson's Dallas Recording Studio Gets Pulled From Purgatory.

Landmark OK's Plans for 508 Park Ave., So What Now? A Recording Studio, For Starters.

What First Presby expects 508 Park Avenue to look like within, say, two years​The marble-and-concrete building at 508 Park Avenue, once the Warner Bros. Film Exchange and Brunswick Records's regional office, will get a much needed face lift after all, now that the Landmark Commission unanimously a ... More >>

If Landmark Allows Amphitheater, First Presby Expects to Close on 508 Park Ave. Next Month

Click to embiggen for a better look at First Presby's plans to freshen up 508 Park Avenue, should it get Landmark's OK to tear down 1900 Young next door.​The timing, if nothing else, is remarkable. May 8 marks the 100th birthday of Robert Johnson, the Mississippi bluesman who cut half his influent ... More >>

And Whatever Became of First Presby's Plans to Buy and Restore 508 Park Avenue, Anyway?

The latest look at plans to redo the block that includes 508 Park Avenue, complete with amphitheater​It's been, what, four whole months since last we visited 508 Park Avenue and the surrounding properties, which remain in limbo at this late date. (Though better that than a heap of bricks.) First P ... More >>

NASCAR Legend Brings Moonshine to Modern Drinkers

If only grandma's apple preserves came bathed in moonshine​Unless your grandpa is fermenting batches of white lightning in his backyard, you're going to be hard pressed to find authentic moonshine in this neck of the woods. The moonshining, bootlegging culture of Appalachia and the South has ... More >>

Tour Celebrating Robert Johnson's 100th Birthday To Come To Dallas In Early February

Robert Johnson​It's kind of tough to wrap your head around the fact that, next year, legendary bluesman Robert Johnson would have turned 100 years old. Given the gravitas that surrounds his mystique, you'd think he'd be older, no? Sure enough, though: May 8, 1911 was his birthday. And, to celebrat ... More >>

First Presbyterian's Pastor, Rev. Joe Clifford, on the Possibilities For 508 Park Avenue

Justin Terveen​This morning, First Presbyterian Church of Dallas's senior pastor, the Rev. Dr. Joseph J. Clifford, left a comment in Monday's item concerning the church's pending purchase of 508 Park Avenue, the beleaguered downtown site in which Robert Johnson, Bob Willis and, legend has it, Char ... More >>

Q&A: Cyndi Lauper Still Wants to Have Fun. But, These Days, She's Got The Blues.

Ellen Von UnwerthCyndi Lauper still has fun.​At 57, Cyndi Lauper is as feisty today as she was when her debut album, She's So Unusual, was released back in 1983. Still performing in those outlandish outfits with an ever-changing array of multi-colored wigs, Lauper has always been a new wave pop an ... More >>

Giveaway: Two Pairs of Tickets To The Gourds Saturday At Lola's Sixth In Fort Worth

​"We're Bill Burroughs meets Jerry Lee Lewis at the funeral of Robert Johnson on the Millennium Falcon piloted by Joe Strummer and Neil Young," says The Gourds' Kevin "Shinyribs" Russell in an interview with William Michael Smith in this week's issue of the print product. He goes on to describe t ... More >>

One More Try at Razing 508 Park Avenue, Even As Miss. Officials to Turn Robert Johnson's Birthplace Into Tourist Destination

Justin Terveen​On Thursday, the owners of 508 Park Avenue will ask the City Plan Commission for permission to demolish the building in which Robert Johnson, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, and Charlie Parker once recorded. Two months ago, the Landmark Commission denied the application, upholding ... More >>

Touring 508 Park Ave., But Is It Love in Vain?

Photos by Dan FinnellThe third-floor recording studio at 508 Park Avenue in which Robert Johnson recordedAt this late date you're surely aware of the plight of 508 Park Avenue, the site of the makeshift studio in which Robert Johnson, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys and perhaps even Charlie Parker ... More >>

R.O.C.K. in the DFW: Mellencamp's Looking to Record in Downtown Dallas This Summer

I see on John Mellencamp's Web site that the ex Mr. Cougar is headed out on the road this summer, and during the tour he's looking to get his bud and Fort Worth's own T Bone Burnett to produce a new record "as American folk as I've ever been," as Mellencamp puts it. Which isn't the part that got me ... More >>

On The Range: Tamales

Pig's head tamales?Well, yes. Robb Walsh notes in his Tex-Mex cookbook that traditional emporiums use pig's heads as their base meat when making their husky creations. The head is boiled until the meat and lard cook away, then the broth is used to moisten the masa harina (corn meal infused with lime ... More >>

Not a Moment Too Soon, the Dallas Downtown Historic District Is Now a Little Bigger

City of DallasFirst Presbyterian Church on S. Harwood StreetThe Texas Historical Commission sends word that the Dallas Downtown Historic District is now a little bit bigger than when first established in 2006 by the National Register of Historic Places. Says the THC, the district -- which encompass ... More >>

Robert Johnson's Grandson Has the Blues Over What to Do With 508 Park Avenue

Dogwood Folk ArtSteven Johnson, grandson of Robert Johnson, contacted Unfair Park today after reading this week's cover story concerning the fate of 508 Park Ave. downtown, where the Mississippi bluesman recorded in June 1937. Says Johnson -- vice president of the Robert Johnson Blues Foundation in ... More >>

From 1961, Don Law's Notes Concerning What Took Place at 508 Park Avenue in June 1937

In 1961, while compiling the Robert Johnson collection King of the Delta Blues Singers, producer Frank Driggs sent Don Law a letter with a few questions concerning the bluesman and his sessions in San Antonio and in Dallas in November 1936 and June 1937, respectively. Law -- who worked for Brunswick ... More >>

Downtown Dallas at the Crossroads

The city's effort to clean up downtown could cost us important parts of history.

Preservation Dallas Launches Effort to Save 508 Park Avenue, Asks City to Back Off

Last week, while working on this week's cover story in the paper version of Unfair Park, I discovered that the owners of 508 Park Ave. have filed with the city a permit to tear down the former Warner Brothers Film Exchange, built in the late 1920s. Long story, available soonish in a rack or on a com ... More >>

The Tearing Down The Building Where Robert Johnson Recorded Blues

508 Park Avenue, the building in which legendary blues man Robert Johnson recorded 13 tracks in June of 1937, could be on the verge of getting demolished. Glazer's Distributors, owners of the property, have filed a permit to tear the building down. At this very moment, though, preservationists, who ... More >>

10 Artists We'd Resurrect for Easter

Included: Freddie Mercury, Hank Williams and Patsy Cline

The Closest You'll Come To Seeing Robert Johnson On Video

Clapton Calls it "Stormy Monday" in 1970

Summmertime Blues

It's getting hot up in this piece

Dan Aykroyd Came to Town, Poured Some Concrete, Left. But He'll Be Back With...Jim Belushi.

Double Trouble

Eels still reel from one of history's best double albums, but history isn't so kind to others

Grail for Sale?

Cable Access Needs (Self-)Love Too

Walking the Line

More music biopics? Good. Bad musicians starring in them? Not so much.

Best Place to See a Piece of Dallas' Musical History and/or Contribute to the Local Homeless Economy

508 Park Ave.

The Last Meow

Plus: No More Mega-Mayors, Fading Fast, Mean Shtick

Looking Back

Why does Dallas write its musical history with an eraser?

Go the Distance

Centro-matic's Will Johnson chases the ghosts of Mississippi

Dirty South

For the North Mississippi Allstars, the blues ain't nothing but dance music

Out Here

The good fight

Keb' Mo' makes the fat ladies get up and dance

Out Here