As we’ve noted in recent weeks, there are a good bit of things that a live-show patron can do to keep other concert-goers from enjoying a given show. All too often, these things are carried out with an air of obliviousness that’s probably just as offensive as the actual concert…

This past spring, just before her debut album, Lovestrong, was released, freshly minted pop star Christina Perri revealed on her Facebook account how she would choose to deal with the people who don’t quite get what it is that she does. After Rolling Stone declared that Perri wrote “crapsongs” (a…

Australian treasure Kasey Chambers had the proverbial golden road laid in front of her in 1999, as her debut The Captain caught fire in her native land as well as in the United States. Thanks to her effortless, urgent blend of country, rock and folk, Chambers was rapidly saddled with…

Spring and summer mean many things to many people. To the DC9 reader, we assume, the sun-soaked days and humid nights in the middle of the year mean it’s time to catch some outdoor music performances.Maybe it’s the larger, high-dollar festivals, like Austin City Limits Music Festival, for which you…

Dwight David Yoakam, the modern savior of the Bakersfield-style of electric country music, is actually a native of Kentucky and he’s now been a staple of Hollywood productions for years. Such a quizzical mélange makes sense, really. Give a listen to the way in which Yoakam has blended so many…

On a recent Friday night in a Lewisville sports bar, a former coach for the Dallas Cowboys beamed as he welcomed one of his favorite singers to the stage. The crowd before him buzzed with anticipation, sensing a unique event before it even began. The former coach and master of…

Former Texan Steve Earle has managed to ascend the pop-culture ladder to almost legendary heights since he left Houston as a teenager in the 1970s. Judging by the quantity of his output alone, it’s easy to assume the formerly incarcerated, now-rehabilitated drug addict is merely displaying the obsessive zeal that…

“Meltdown! Meltdown!” He wouldn’t stop shouting it. No, not Brent Best or anyone in Slobberbone. Some dude in the crowd during a recent gig.It was constant. Consistent, too. Always “Meltdown! Meltdown!,” never just “Meltdown!”This was a guy that I had already moved away from once, yet somehow found myself all…

Aging American icon Willie Nelson really hasn’t slowed down. Whether it’s the amount of albums he records with any number of musical partners, his still-relentless touring schedule or hell, even his pot-related arrests, the braided shaman from Abbott is a man who loves hitting the road. Obviously, the road still…

Buzz is a confusing word, really. Incessant, aggressive hiss isn’t what one hears when a band abounds with so-called buzz. In actuality, the sound heard when a band is “buzzing” is more akin to the pained moans of pissed-off would-be ticket buyers when they realize that they’re seconds too late…

Perhaps it’s ironic that the man who first placed the spotlight on a then-unknown Emmylou Harris hasn’t been around for decades, whereas Harris now stands resplendently as the goddess of the cosmic-American brand of music served up by her former duet partner, the mythologized Gram Parsons. Looking back to the…

During a Fat Tuesday celebration at Plano’s Last Chance Saloon in March, the heavily beaded and soused patrons that packed the popular suburban spot were focused on a ditzy cougar-wannabe who insisted upon earning Mardi Gras prizes the easy way outside on the club’s patio. Meanwhile, just a few feet…

Traditional American roots music has continued to grow in mainstream popularity since the commercial explosion of the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack in 2000. Now, a new film-inspired collection of unfiltered mountain music has made its way into the public consciousness, thanks to its association with the movie that…

The Bosun’s Locker in London might become a pilgrimage-worthy mecca for fans of some of today’s rising indie-icons. While the acoustic-intensive and tearfully sensitive Mumford & Sons have perhaps made the biggest splash of any of the acts that used to perform at the English pub, it was Noah &…

Times New Viking is another recent example of a band that’s realized that it can be pretty fun to fully utilize the expensive studio amenities that its record label is providing. Following in the recent sonic footprints as bands such as The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Harlem,…

Denton’s Bad Design understand the role artistic influences should play in an individual’s own creation. The post-punk trio consisting of Steve Altuna, John Hossley and Clint Sawyer has obviously enjoyed the works of Fugazi and the Pixies, yet they’ve managed to produce a raw-boned album that merely draws from those…

For anyone wondering if Eleven Hundred Springs will ever record a bad album: Maybe, but you’ll have to wait until at least the next album. Indeed, the beloved, Matt Hillyer-fronted group’s latest record, Eight the Hard Way, is yet another shiny rhinestone gem in their already sparkling catalog. Sure, Eleven…

The new, self-titled album from Darryl Lee Rush is the portrait of a storyteller finding a new way to say things. It’s not that Rush has reinvented himself with his new album; it’s just that he’s tweaked a few things to appropriately highlight the strengths of his music. While the…