Casey Hess of the Dallas Observer Music Awards-nominated Descender (Best Hard Rock Act) is — perhaps too quietly these days — one of Dallas’ great rock heroes. Since his stints in a few influential and popular area bands going back to the 1990s glory days of Elm, Main and Commerce,…

Fort Worth’s Earthquake Country sounds, based on name alone, like a lame cover band looking to regale muffin-topped boot-scooters with the latest America Has Idol Talent disco-and-Western blend. Thankfully, Diaspora, the first record from Jason Worley and his backing band, which includes members of Telegraph Canyon, isn’t anywhere near such…

What can we say about the practically-impossible-to-dislike Dawes that we haven’t said here on DC9 or in the paper version before? No, the band’s not exactly new to us around the metroplex. Hell, they were just here last month, playing the Fort Worth Music Festival.Ah, well, here’s fun and new-ish…

Minnesota’s Dark Dark Dark is a chamber-folk collective that fills any stage they’re on with their varied and engrossing sounds — much as they do with their eight band members. Employing instrumentation ranging from cello to clarinet to the gorgeous, slightly dusky vocals of the intricately inked-up Nona Marie Ivie,…

With their second album, Peter Wolf Crier has established themselves as a legit indie-band and not the mere side-project they seemed to be when they released last year’s well-done Inter-Be. The new album, Garden of Arms, isn’t just another stellar release from Jagjaguwar this year, but it’s a major step…

Master songwriter and storyteller Lucinda Williams has made her near-legendary career on raw, open-chested emotion. But over the course of her last couple of albums, including her most recent release, Blessed, Williams has seemingly found it easier to revel in the safer side of vulnerability. Credit that much to the…

We’ve really been getting a kick out of learning what many artists consider to be their all-time top five things of various topics are since we kicked off this recurrign feature a few months back. It’s a simple enough concept: For the most part, we look to connect a top…

Dallas’ favorite collective of folk heroes, Fox & The Bird, left very little to chance before releasing their debut full-length album. They took their time. Thus, given that the band, in its various incarnations, has been performing around the region for a few years, the charming Floating Feather doesn’t have…

The duo of honeyhoney, consisting of Suzanne Santo and Ben Jaffe, is one of those acts that, in recent years, have found themselves just on the cusp of breakthrough stardom. They made some noise in 2008 when their jaunty, edgy single “Little Toy Gun” found its way into the mainstream,…

It’s a rock show reflex: When the curtain goes up and the lights go down, you stand up and prepare to wig out. Fact is, many of the area’s best venues make the choice of whether to sit or to stand during the show an easy one. By typically not…

As we’ve already discussed a bit this week, A Place To Bury Strangers have about as much a problem turning up the volume knob as Rick Perry does seeking hair product. Which makes this recent, surprise announcement all the more awesome: Oliver Ackermann and his strobe-loving, death-obsessed crew will be…

Each year, the lineup announcement for the annual Austin City Limits Music Festival garners some serious discussion, and it all essentially boils down to this: Is this year’s collection of talent a successful one, or will it all amount to a wasted weekend? Truth is, this year’s bill is a…

For a group that specializes in smile-inducing string-band music that organically forces the heart to dance along with the feet, it’s natural that the Carolina Chocolate Drops would choose to face the issue of race by simply being truthful right from the start. Whether it’s their chosen band name —…

While there’s practically an infinite number of ways a band can generate great word of mouth for themselves in this age of social networking, digital distribution and the star-making blogosphere, it seems as though good, old-fashioned touring is as reliable a generator as any. Springfield, Missouri’s Ha Ha Tonka certainly…

It’s probably fair to still call Tyler Bryant a guitar prodigy. Even though he’s currently 20 years old, the Honey Grove, Texas, native has been slinging since before he was the fresh-faced 15-year-old winner of the Robert Johnson Blues Foundation’s New Generation Award. Actually, Bryant’s been in love with the…

When Brooklyn’s so-called folk-metal outfit O’Death performed at this past March’s 35 Conferette, we were mightily impressed. In fact, we claimed that they might be the most definition-appropriate version of a “roots-rock” band. Such a theory was based upon the band’s effortless ability to make the new sound old and…

Earlier this week, when Meric Long of the San Francisco-based band The Dodos told us about some of his earliest concert-going experiences, our Eric Grubbs noted that the band “plays folk, but with a kick to it.” Give their Live from Akropolis, Prague album a listen, as well as their…

There’s little doubt that the area’s country scene is dominated by honky-tonkers of the male persuasion. Dallas’ Madison King is looking to make a dent in that equation. Judging by the sterling results of her debut full-length, Darlin, Here’s To You, it’s clear that she’s got the chops to do…