Reality television has been the catalyst for the so-called resurgence of many over-the-hill, past-their-prime acts in recent years. Over the last year or so, legendary Massachusetts band Aerosmith decided to channel the spirit of the Sunday night VH1 lineup and make a little noise for themselves—Vanilla Ice and Flava Flav…
Perhaps you read Darryl Smyers’ Q&A with Peter Case and are still wondering just what about the songwriter that could inspire so many other notables, including Hayes Carll, Victoria Williams and Chuck Prophet, to put together a tribute album, A Case for Case, just a few years ago. Well, you…
We’ve got quite a backlog of CDs we’ve never gotten around to, so we’re going to try to chip away at the pile with this regular feature. The plan: to take a few at a time and play each CD for as long as I can stand it. Paper Tongues…
Phosphorescent, Shiny Around the Edges and Dallas Family Band The Kessler, Dallas July 23, 2010 Better Than: Navigating the freak show that was the second night of Lady Gaga’s stint in D-Town. Friday night at The Kessler Theater in Oak Cliff might has well have been diversity night. With an…
Austin’s David Wingo, who performs under the moniker Ola Podrida, grooves on where he comes from. Literally. The name under which he records his beautiful and spaced-out folk is a direct nod to the first time he ever performed in public—as a mouse at the Olla Podrida Mexican Market in…
North Texas-based pop-rocker and former Quickserv Johnny frontman Matthew Glenn Thompson isn’t looking to reinvent the radio with his album, The Garden and The Arcade. In fact, there is very little that one would deem hip, let alone cutting-edge, about this enjoyable collection of soul and folk-inflected pop. But, really,…
California’s The Henry Clay People have come a considerable way in just a few years. Currently out on tour with Silversun Pickups and Against Me! while supporting their ballsy new album, Somewhere on the Golden Coast, the quintet chose to go the route of compromise with not only the band’s…
We’ve got quite a backlog of CDs we’ve never gotten around to, so we’re going to try to chip away at the pile with this regular feature. The plan: to take a few at a time and play each CD for as long as I can stand it.We Are Scientists…
Boys Named SueLa Grange10 p.m.What can be said now about the Boys Named Sue that hasn’t been said already over their rabble-rousing course of recent history? Not much, really, but we’ll give it a shot, since they managed to basically set theoretical fire to the stage of La Grange with…
Rabid fans and nit-picky journalists can be a prickly lot—especially when it comes to what is perceived as selling out or simply echoing a rehashed sound from a previous period. With that, it’s rather fitting that Silversun Pickups and Against Me! are touring together. Against Me! leader Tom Gabel could…
We’ve got quite a backlog of CDs we’ve never gotten around to, so we’re going to try to chip away at the pile with this regular feature. The plan: to take a few at a time and play each CD for as long as I can stand it.Giving Tree Band…
Joe Pug, Doug BurrSons of Hermann HallJuly 8, 2010 Better Than: Waiting to see on TV where LeBron chose to play basketball. KXT-91.7 FM’s Barefoot at the Belmont show turned into a Hardwoods at the Hermann one on Thursday night. Since the open air of the Belmont Hotel isn’t, you…
We’ve got quite a backlog of CDs we’ve never gotten around to, so we’re going to try to chip away at the pile with this regular feature. The plan: to take a few at a time and play each CD for as long as I can stand it.Indigo GirlsStaring Down…
In recent years, more than a few adroit artists would likely point directly to the blogosphere as the source for much of their fan base and growing success. Joe Pug, a folk troubadour from Chicago, is one such blog proponent. A couple of years ago, Pug was barely known outside…
Pasaporte, the third release from Dallas’ Lost Immigrants, is a pleasant, completely listenable album that fans of well-written country rock will quickly hoist their beers to. But that isn’t to say that this disc is much of a statement, or that it will propel the band into the vanguard of…
Blazing summer heat? Check. A barren, dusty field for drunken revelry? Check. Hotter-than-the-astronomical-July-heat-index act Ryan Bingham? Sure. The Randy Rogers Band as the established, crowd-pleasing headliner? Absolutely. Alt-rock heroes Everclear? Uh, yeah, OK. MC Hammer? Wait, what? This should be more than a little interesting. In recent years, the festival…
Those already carrying a ticket for any of this summer’s three Texas Lilith Fair stops–including the Dallas show scheduled on Monday, August 16, at the Superpages.com Center–needn’t proceed to get terribly attached to the flowers you were planning on adorning your hair with. Seems the Dallas date of the Lilith…
If the goal of a two-part series is to have the initial installment create enough intrigue and interest for the consumer to eagerly await the subsequent part, then Rodney Parker & Fifty Peso Reward can go ahead and hang their Mission Accomplished sign up right behind their drum kit. Instead…
We’ve got quite a backlog of CDs we’ve never gotten around to, so we’re going to try to chip away at the pile with this regular feature. The plan: to take a few at a time and play each CD for as long as I can stand it.Sugar and Gold…
Concrete Blonde, Jim BiancoGranada TheaterJune 18, 2010Better than: listening to Bloodletting on CD, sad to say. The recent trend of bands performing shows and planning them around an entire album has become quite the rage these days. It’s gotten almost absurd: The fan-friendly phenomenon has grown to the point where…
Josh Ritter, The MynabirdsThe Granada TheaterJune 15, 2010Better than: watching both hours of Hell’s Kitchen on TV. Six years and three additional, well-received studio albums can do wonders for a performer’s attendance figures, it seems. Josh Ritter, who rolled through town last night with a stop at the Granada Theater…
We’ve got quite a backlog of CDs we’ve never gotten around to, so we’re going to try to chip away at the pile with this regular feature. The plan: to take a few at a time and play each CD for as long as I can stand it.Widespread Panic (Athens,…
