It’s a shame, but it seems most piano-men end up behind the scenes and known only to those who obsessively read liner notes. Though not known by the common fan, Ian McLagan has played keyboards on some legendary records by the Stones, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and others…

If these local punks had a bit more chutzpah they would have covered the Psychedelic Furs’ song they poke fun at with the title track of this terrific EP. As is, this potent trio has all the things that make for a good punk experience: loud, bracing guitars, a significantly…

Sitting across from Jacob Rodriguez, it’s easy to be taken aback by his well-spoken demeanor and baby-faced good charm. Although he plays hip-hop under the name Accomplice and has, in the past, written lyrics as violent and sexist as just about any rapper, Rodriguez comes across as a likable softie…

After years of writing songs for the likes of John Anderson, Randy Travis and Confederate Railroad, Chris Knight is finally getting the accolades he so richly deserves. Growing up in Kentucky, Knight lived in a trailer house and worked for a decade in the coal mines before venturing to Nashville…

Although tremendously talented, Stan Ridgeway can be both pretentious and annoying. Such disparagement does not prevent his music from being incessantly interesting however. With a vocal delivery like a James Cagney impersonator, the former leader of Wall of Voodoo has balanced chutzpah and cheese for the better part of three…

After leaving the pioneering roots ensemble the Jayhawks, Mark Olson married singer-songwriter Victoria Williams and retreated to the California desert where he fronted a loose collaborative called The Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers. Sadly but predictably, Olson’s post-Jayhawks work has been spotty and unfocused; the voice that once sounded so remarkably…

When asked what disc is currently in his car’s CD player, Ben Templeton’s expression is one of bemused sincerity. “I listen to me a lot,” says Templeton, singer-songwriter and guitarist for Roy Bennett, a relatively new entry into the Dallas music scene. His full name is Roy Bennett Templeton, but…

“Any line-up is like a marriage,” says Nick 13, leader of Tiger Army and one of the best practitioners of psychobilly. “You hope it will work, and it either does or it doesn’t.” Speaking from a stop on the Warped Tour, Nick 13 (born Kearney Nick Jones) is happy with…

This Oklahoma City five-piece plays a brand of bluesy rock with just the right amount of grit and soul. Wish I Had You, the band’s recently released third effort, is filled with authentic roots music that never descends into parody. Hints of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Tom Waits get equal…

Hailing from Australia and describing themselves as a “symphonic/ gothic/classical act,” Virgin Black are a dour quartet who revel in all that is dark and doomy. Requiem—Mezzo Forte, the band’s just-released effort, is the third component of a brain-spinning five-part trilogy that’s equally confusing and impressive. Rowan London leads this…

The Loch Ness Monster does exist. It has to, because there is no other explanation for the resurrection of the dinosaur known as Asia. It’s been 25 years since John Wetton (King Crimson), Steve Howe (Yes), Carl Palmer (Emerson, Lake and Palmer) and Geoff Downes (The Buggles) threw their collective…

Initially, the only thing that separated folk music from rock was electricity, and Bob Dylan quickly (but certainly not quietly) did away with this quaint notion in 1966 when folk-rock was fitfully conceived. Folk music didn’t end when Dylan plugged in, but the lines between folk and rock became forever…

Dante DeCaro (Hot Hot Heat and Wolf Parade) fronts Johnny and the Moon, a pleasantly engaging and sloppy folk/rock ensemble from Canada that doesn’t recall much of DeCaro’s previous associations. Featuring such unconventional instrumentation as toy piano and wind chimes, the band’s self-titled debut is a beautifully cluttered mess, with…

Longtime friends Bucky Goldstein and Poppa John Tucker formed Sodajerk in Pittsburgh in the late ’90s, intent on proving that country music didn’t have to suck. Very reminiscent of local legends Slobberbone and Old 97’s (when Rhett Miller and crew worshipped Johnny Cash more than the Beatles), Sodajerk has remained…

For almost 20 years, the Supersuckers have been playing their brand of full-throttle punkabilly, praising everything associated with sex, Satan, booze and drugs with a rancorous glee that borders on psychopathic. Over the course of a dozen releases, Eddie Spaghetti, Rontrose Heathman and Dan “Thunder” Bolton have made up for…

With a history that includes redundant hard-core punkers Heart Attack and pretentious glam rockers D Generation, it would be fairly easy to write off Jesse Malin. Yet one listen to Glitter in the Gutter, Malin’s recent third effort, proves what a mistake that would be. After the demise of D…

With a career spanning nearly 15 years, Washington state’s MxPx has always belied the Christian-themed punk-pop tag that is often used to describe them. Starting out as innocent skaters who released 7-inch singles while still in high school, the band hit it relatively big with their 1996 effort Life in…

This fall will mark the 32nd anniversary of the wreck of the freighter S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald, sunk in the cold waters of Lake Superior in 1975, an event enshrined in song by Gordon Lightfoot just a year after the fact and one which continues to reverberate in surprising locations across…

I wanted to create a ‘chill out’ record,” says Glen Reynolds about In Between Days, his solo debut. “I wanted to sing about things that I enjoy.” The former Chomsky guitarist is currently living in Stephenville where he and his wife are attending college. Promising to return to Dallas once…

Hailing from Missouri but with strong ties to the Lawrence, Kansas, rock scene, Minus Story is highly influenced by Flaming Lips, living in a neo-psychedelic dream world that can be captivating and testing at the same time. My Ion Truss, the quartet’s beautifully erratic new disc, features the band’s unique…

Most notably known as the lead singer, lyricist and guitarist for the post-hard-core quartet Thrice, Dustin Kensrue tackles an entirely different beast on his solo debut Please Come Home. While mining a stripped-down folk approach that salutes Springsteen’s Nebraska, Kensrue is still an angst-ridden young man, an emo kid trying…

“Guitar has always been associated as a male right of passage,” says Larkin, “but women like Rory Block, Memphis Minnie and Elizabeth Cotton broke the glass guitar ceiling years ago.” All three of those guitarists, plus a dozen more, are featured on La Guitara, making it the most representative sampling…