Dallas Band Secrecies’ Music Looks as Good as It Sounds

Two years ago, a chance meeting in Deep Ellum between (now former) Home by Hovercraft member Shawn Magill and local musician Joey Noga resulted in an up-and-coming band: Secrecies. The group has been steadily building buzz since signing with the long-standing homegrown indie imprint Idol Records in 2018. Now the…

Dallas Observer Mixtape with Willie Trimmer

Willie Trimmer has been a constant presence in Dallas music culture for decades. As one of the few club DJs who still makes a full-time living behind the decks, Trimmer has a particularly well-informed perspective on the DJ landscape. His versatility and depth of genre knowledge, ranging from popular mainstream tunes…

After Fighting Racism in Missouri, Rapper Ravs Is Here for Women

Amanda Bongiovanni is hesitant to share the story behind her nickname-turned-stage name. “I feel a little weird about it,” she says. “Like, it’s not professional enough.” Bongiovanni is a hip-hop soul singer born, raised and based in Dallas. She has taken shelter from a midsummer storm in Astoria Cafe, where…

Can Morrissey’s Musical Legacy Survive His Bad Press?

Stop us if you’ve heard this before: Morrissey’s political views have made headlines, and the former Smiths frontman is no stranger to controversy. Even his most loyal fans cringe at the dissonance of his earlier and seemingly whimsical and romantic lyrics and his statements on race and allegiance to the far-right…

Kirk Holloway Breathes Texas Outlaw Country Music

Outlaw country was born from a musical exodus that happened in American country music during the ‘70s and ‘80s, when country musicians — disillusioned or outright rejected by the meat-grinding money factory that Nashville’s Music Row area had become — moved away from the city, for the most part, into Texas. This…

A Fort Worth Musician Couple Celebrates Newlywed Bliss With a September Moon

For September Moon, music has produced a rippling, magnetic effect. Musicians Daniel Brown and Katherine Rublein met during a singer-songwriter competition in the Fort Worth Stockyards several years ago, and the 30-year-old newlyweds have been making music together ever since. “That’s how this whole band thing kind of came together,”…