Lee May, singer/guitarist of local psychedelic rockers Holy Diver, is adamant that his band is not, nor ever will be, a tribute band to Ronnie James Dio. “We all had this ongoing joke about the song and how we didn’t know what it meant and how hilarious it was,” Lee…

Formed in 2001 by Berliner steel string guitarists Jan Thoben and Jochen Brisen, Taunus started as a fairly conventional jazz combo with eccentric folk leanings. The debut, Malinche, consisted of minimal, interlocking guitar patterns that were akin to Robert Fripp surveying the Burl Ives songbook—intriguing but a bit too laidback…

Despite his best efforts to sway opinion to the contrary, Bob Mould will always be defined by his work within Hüsker Dü. The Minneapolis trio’s bracing punk, overloaded with volume and pop hooks, still carries amazing weight some 25 years after the fact. District Line is certainly one of Mould’s…

Being the director of your own music school can have its positive results outside of work, especially if you front a band in your spare time. “I make music all day long with children and adults, and the enthusiasm from that energizes me to jam all night,” says David Hall,…

Ross Cashiola, leader of the fascinating unit known as Hotel Brotherhood, splits his time between Chicago and, of all places, Marfa. But one could hardly think of a better environment for Cashiola to create his innovative mix of Nick Drake and Giant Sand. The sculptor/songwriter accepted an internship with an…

In the ’70s, when Austin City Limits was just getting off the ground, Craig Calvert and Connie Mims brought Wheatfield to the Hill Country stage and found immediate success. Wheatfield’s slick, acoustic folk was the perfect panacea for those burned-out hippies looking to mellow out along the Colorado River. Eventually,…

North Carolina native Michael Holland has been an Americana sensation for more than 15 years, both as a solo performer and as a member of the acclaimed Jennyanykind. His most recent effort, Simple Truths and Pleasures, may be the best overall collection of folk, bluegrass and country he’s ever put…

For Every Day is a quartet of really young guys from Flower Mound whose music contradicts both the members’ ages and their faith-based associations. Normally, religiously infused rock (especially that of the emo-punk variety) succumbs to vague references to finding the light and a limpid infirmity that makes one question…

Along with his backwoods drawl and folksy demeanor, singer and guitarist Malcolm Holcombe displays an alarming and plainspoken intensity that mirrors his passionate songs and performances. “It’s a fucked-up America,” Holcombe says. “I just try and put songs together that I think are befitting our time of crisis.” Driving through…

Fort Worth’s Catfish Whiskey has been around since 2003 but did not start recording the band’s studio debut, Blood & Bones, until last year. Honing their swampy mix of blues and psychedelic-tinged country during the interim, Keegan McInroe and the rest of this quartet are now ready for, and deserving…

Although the name induces thoughts of hardcore porn of the anal variety, Back Door Slam are actually the newest in a long line of British boys infatuated with the blues. Consisting of teenagers Davy Knowles, Ross Doyle and Adam Jones, the band’s 2007 debut, Roll Away, has drawn quite a…

Even though he recorded most of the songs in 2006, Dallas’ own John Sprengler, the one-man band behind the name It is Well, keeps remixing and adding new songs to this debut EP, basically reissuing it at his discretion, usually whenever a performance is on the horizon. Since Sprengler hit…

From Texas to Canada, even from beyond the grave, traditional country music endures across decades, borders and genre reclassifications. These four releases went sadly unnoticed in 2007. Here’s hoping that the new year will bring them some overdue recognition. Gram Parsons called what he did “Cosmic American Music,” and when…

Hailing from (where else?) Austin, Tiffani and Brit Ginn have been thrilling audiences with their pristine harmonies and melodies since 2003. The Sisters’ recent effort, Blood Oranges, came out in 2006 and featured mellow, acoustic Southern folk (“Down the Drain”) alongside some old school, hard-core honky-tonk (“Broken Spirit”). Tiffani writes…

It would be hard to fathom a better collection of roots performers than this trio of acts from across the state. Fort Worth’s Tejas Brothers have been around a year or so, but their greasy mix of country, soul and Tejano is just now attracting the kudos it so richly…

A producer, beat maker, video artist, songwriter and performance artist from Olympia, Washington, Nicky Click is also a petulant bitch. But that’s probably exactly how she wants it. I’m on My Cell Phone, her sophomore effort, is an imaginative hodgepodge of minimalist hip-hop and urban folk that doesn’t sound like…

An Addiction to Fiction, the 2007 debut from Irving’s Inaro, was as good of a local emo/punk release as one could have hoped for. Bristling with hooks but never too slick or poppy, the songs of Josh Fuston, Justin Bonnet and the rest of this youthful quintet offer both spunk…

The sophisticated pop smarts of Denton’s Darcy can either make a listener start singing along or dismiss them with a sneer and a hardy, “Oh, come on!” Such pleasant numbers as “Alien,” “As She Waits” and “Police” feature the fey, whispered vocals of Dustin Aguilar, and it’s safe to say…

It’s been a couple of years since the release of Llano Avenue, local roots rocker Darryl Lee Rush’s extraordinary debut, and various snafus have kept this sophomore effort off the shelves until now. Usually live releases just fill time between studio products, but Rush’s country charm, as well as his…

In the pages that follow, our corporate overlords provide an alternative to gratuitous music writer geekdom and end-of-year lists, but being who we are, we threatened to burn down the building if we didn’t get to make some kind of contribution to the list-making canon. Apparently, they like this building…

Minus the terrible cover art and the aberrant jock rock boogie of the opening track, “Monkey,” the remainder of Richard Lloyd’s most recent solo outing falls comfortably within his angular and ordered realm. Since his heyday playing second fiddle to Tom Verlaine in Television, Lloyd has released several efforts that…

With the weather so frightfully cold—at least when it’s not oddly warm—now might be time to inject a bit of summer cheer into the dreary season. Summer is also a peak time for CD new releases, and here are a few that somehow got lost beneath the pile. Out of…