“Super group” is a term that’s prone to overuse. Hyperbole is often too tempting to resist. But in the case of Bethan, a band whose music thrives on an appropriate degree of restraint, it’s hard to think of another band in North Texas with a better claim to such accolades…
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers American Airlines Center, Dallas Friday, September 26, 2014 When the iconic opening riff to “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” soared through the American Airlines Center on Friday night to begin the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ second number, it was clear the night would be a…
Since 2004 Chicago-based post-metal trio Russian Circles have pounded out one brutally brilliant album after another. Last year, the group, consisting of guitarist Mike Sullivan, drummer Dave Turncratz and bassist Brian Cook, released the epic Memorial. Between headlining their own global tour and hitting the road with the Chelsea Wolfe,…
It’s now been a couple of years since Dallas-based folk-rocker Ronnie Fauss delivered his debut full-length record for New West imprint Normaltown Records, 2012’s I Am the Man You Know I’m Not. That album won him national acclaim from notable outlets such as Vanity Fair and the New York Times,…
Folk singers are storytellers. The best ones are able to take the most simplistic subject matter and make it ache with beauty. The great ones can also take life’s greatest complexities and unanswerable questions and present us with a new, relatable vision with which we can view such big-picture wonderings…
Dia De Los Toadies Festival With the Toadies, Old 97’s, Ume, Quaker City Night Hawks, Pleasant Grove, Somebody’s Darling, Residual Kid, The Longshots and Blank-Men Panther Island Pavilion, Fort Worth Saturday, September 13, 2014 With apologies to the out-of-town artists that performed during Saturday’s Dia de Los Toadies concert at…
This Saturday in Fort Worth at Dia de Los Toadies, on a line-up filled with promising talent and proven veterens, there may not be a band that represents the past while pointing to the future as vividly and dramatically as Pleasant Grove does. The five-piece, formed in late 1998 by…
Hey, country fans, ready to see some shows? As always, there are many great rootsy acts that will swing through North Texas throughout September, so get ready to gas up the truck, fill the flask and put some miles on those tires. Here are most can’t-miss shows of the lot,…
Inside of the half-empty Clearfork Music Festival in Fort Worth this past Saturday, it was impossible to not wonder what exactly constitutes a true festival. Any view of the festival grounds at Panther Island Pavilion from one of the slightly elevated spots of the land provided a view of a…
We don’t even know if the term “festival” has much meaning around these parts any longer. It gets thrown around like so many of Tony Romo’s practice balls during training camp and seems to now apply to any concert that has more than two artists and has at least a…
Micky and Gary Braun of Micky and the Motorcars have long lived under a formidable shadow. These two brothers are the younger siblings of Willy and Cody Braun, who make up the core of the stellar Austin-based roots-rock outfit Reckless Kelly. Born into a musical family in Idaho, performing has…
Texas country kingpin Pat Green is also a Fort Worth resident, Dallas restaurant owner and a heck of a live performer. He can now add “Lyle Lovett duet partner” to that list of titles with the release of a new song, “Girls from Texas.” Save from his admirable 2012 collection…
Bilal 8 p.m. Friday, August 29, at Dada, 2720 Elm St., dadadallas.com, $25-$30 Fun fact about critically acclaimed neo-soul singer Bilal (born Bilal Sayeed Oliver): He was discovered in his teens by none other than the drummer of the Spin Doctors. Did you also know that the band that would…
Last year Denton’s Eli Young Band packed country into Globe Life Park in Arlington for the first installment of its cheekily named House Party concert. Last night Young and company revealed their plans for the follow-up at the home of the Texas Ranger, which will be held Novemeber 8. This…
In the early of hours of last Wednesday morning, after playing a Tuesday night set at Adair’s in Dallas, someone broke into the car of local country singer-songwriter Melissa Ratley and stole her beloved acoustic guitar. While a few other personal items from her vehicle went missing as well, it…
Currently based in Saint Louis, the Bottle Rockets have long been a band singing songs for all working-class folks in America. Since their first record was released in 1992, the Brian Henneman-led group has been closely associated with the alt-country boom of the mid-1990s thanks, on the one hand, to…
The word “community” gets thrown around a lot, but it seems as though the North Texas music community is indeed acting as one in order to help a talented and beloved member. When the Phuss’ Drummer Trey Alfaro was seriously injured after a hit-and-run driver crashed into him as he…
Wiz Khalifa With Jeezy, Tyga, DJ Drama, Iamsu!, Rich Homie Quan, Ty Dolla $ign and Mack Wilds, 6 p.m. Thursday, August 14, at Gexa Energy Pavilion, 1818 1st Ave., 214-421-1111 or livenation.com. $28-$103 Last year I found myself in the nightmarish hellscape that is the DART Green Line after a…
In the world of film and DVD, the Criterion Collection is the king of digging up deserving films and offering them to the public. Each of their releases gets the deluxe treatment, filled with extras that highlight why the movie is worthy of such royal massaging. For music buffs, there…
On “End of the Line,” the bluesy, smoky fifth track from Adult Roommates, the newest album from Dallas’ Somebody’s Darling, lead singer and songwriter Amber Farris sums up the heart and soul of the new record with a few simple words. “This is the oldest we have been, this is…
Dallas-based Idol Records has long been a lighthouse for fans of local music. For the uninitiated, Idol’s roster of past and present artists is a great resource for anyone looking to get acquainted with some of the great rock bands to emerge from North Texas in recent times. In the…
With the announcement of Oscar winner and former rodeo cowboy Ryan Bingham being added to this fall’s Index Festival having been made today, we now know that this is the year the three year old Deep Ellum-located fest grew up into a major regional force. The three night affair taking…
