Patty Griffin Talks Grammys, Gospel Music and Robert Plant

Patty Griffin’s albums are popular with both fans and critics and her songs are covered by the likes of Emmylou Harris and the Dixie Chicks (just to name two). What draws so many people to Griffin’s music is her unflinching honesty and her beautiful simplicity. Over the course of 8…

Music Picks: MellowHigh, Jamey Johnson and More

This week, we get the Dallas debut of Odd Future-affiliated MellowHigh. Country music outlaw Jamey Johnson will play the most famous honky tonk in the world, and The Pharcyde bring vibrant hip-hop storytelling to the Prophet Bar. MellowHigh Thursday, October 24, at Dada MellowHigh is a three-piece offshoot of controversial…

The 2013 Dallas Observer Music Awards Showcase Schedule

We’re a week and a half from the 25th Dallas Observer Music Awards Showcase. On Saturday, November 2, more than 50 bands and artists nominated for this year’s awards will play on eight stages in Deep Ellum. It starts at 6 p.m. and ends around 2 a.m., and now you…

A.Dd+ Performed at the Dallas Museum of Art, and It Was Glorious: Video

Anything, absolutely anything, can now happen in Dallas. I know that’s true because I witnessed this miracle on Friday night. Performing underneath Dale Chihuly’s “Hart Window,” a wreath of blown glass platters that rises majestically north in the DMA’s grand Atrium, A.Dd+ refused to give up and call this set…

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Girl Talk

When I first heard Girl Talk live I was disappointed, and I never went back. And it wasn’t that I didn’t think he was doing any work on that stage. Gregg Gillis has an immensely impressive talent and skill set. It was just because I didn’t dance. Not really, really…

Avenged Sevenfold is One of The Best Bands in America: Show Review

Often erroneously lumped into softer, newer corners of the heavy music world, California’s Avenged Sevenfold are much more influenced by the old school metal of Judas Priest and Thin Lizzy than some realize. And that was on display Saturday night at the American Airlines Center as the band (plus a…

Ronald Shannon Jackson, Fort Worth Jazz Pioneer, Died Yesterday

Ronald Shannon Jackson was a jazz drummer and composer from Fort Worth whose career spans 50 albums, collaborations with free jazz legends Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman and his own band, the Decoding Society. Yesterday, Jackson’s cousin Tobi Hero made the announcement on Facebook, saying, “Dear America, we are so…

The 2013 Dallas Observer Music Award Showcase Lineup is Here

On Saturday, November 2, 58 local artists will play on 8 stages in Deep Ellum for the 25th Dallas Observer Music Awards Showcase. Tickets are $10 or $15 day-of. Representatives of nearly every conceivable genre of music are on the lineup, and we encourage you to sample liberally. There will…

Renfields Corner is Launching a New Fall Music Series

Once upon a time on Routh Street, Renfields Corner used to offer local bands a fun place to play filled with people who were filled with happy juice and aching to hear music that didn’t come from an overpriced jukebox. “Everybody in the bar, including the owners, is really into…

Nick Urata of DeVotchKa on the Visual Element of Music

In 1997, Nick Urata and his band DeVotchKa began playing background music for local burlesque dancers in Denver. Soon the band’s unique combination of Eastern European folk music and indie rock began gathering the attention of critics and fans alike. With the release of How it Ends in 2004, DeVotchKa…

Music Picks: Index Festival, St. Vincent and More

Index Festival comes to Deep Ellum this weekend, bringing with it a slew of impressive national acts (most notably EL-P and Killer Mike’s Run the Jewels collaboration) and locals (including our current cover story subject, Son of Stan). Elsewhere, former Polyphonic Spree member St. Vincent plays the First Unitarian Church…