Music

In a region filled to the PBR-soaked brim with alt-country talent, there’s much to be said for an artist that manages to stand out above the crowd. Take, for a killer example, East Dallas’ Ronnie Fauss. He’s been on a serious roll lately, and has displayed a deft and delicate…

New Braunfels’ Drew Kennedy travels around Texas quite often, sharing stories and songs in the grand folk singer tradition. But there’s more in Kennedy’s bag than just some vagabond ideal.Kennedy comes across as a cleaner and less political version of Steve Earle; he’s released three solid efforts of not-quite-alt country…

It started, just like so many of his ideas, in a moment of drug-induced inspiration. A staple in these parts since the release of his 2006 ode to not-quite-classic cars, “Caprice Muzik,” which put both him and, effectively, the entire Dallas hip-hop movement onto the national map, Tum Tum wanted…

Leon Russell and the Abominable Snowman appear to have a lot in common. Both are legendary. Then too, there’s that physical similarity—Russell’s flowing white hair and massive beard find him a dead ringer for that reclusive creature. More important, sightings of each are relatively rare. Russell’s low profile contrasts with…

Ethan Kath and Alice Glass have been making music together as Crystal Castles for five years now, and their eponymous debut album hit the indie music scene hard. The band had sampled tracks from other semi-off-the-radar musicians at the time, such as fellow Canadian dance-rock act Death From Above 1979…

Some artists are so good they get in their own way. And sometimes the world and events just conspire against them. Los Angeles-based trio Autolux might be the poster child for these cruel realities. Evidence? How about the time in 2002 that drummer Carla Azar crushed her elbow in a…

Once upon a recent time, musicians weren’t able to offer up their art for the sake of commercialization—not, at least, without suffering the burn of the scarlet “sell-out” label. Now, though, with bands seeking new avenues in which to keep their artful hopes alive, the practical decision to craft a…

Chicago’s Disturbed may headline the beast known as the UPROAR Music Festival, but it’s California’s Avenged Sevenfold that may well be the hottest metal band going. Nightmare, the band’s recently released fifth album, debuted atop Billboard’s album chart, bumping even the immortal Eminem from the top spot. And Nightmare is…

It’s very chic for connoisseurs of “cool” music to trash the Dave Matthews Band. Yes, they crank out jammy songs that tend to be indistinguishable from one another. Yes, they’re so prolific they come off as annoyingly ubiquitous. And, absolutely, they attract inebriated throngs of former Greek-system undergrads to their…

Welcome to Staff Trax, the weekly feature here on DC9 where we shed some light on the music we’ve been enjoying of late, regardless of the touring or album release schedules that tend to bear the focus of most of our coverage. Consider it a chance for you readers to…

Westlake’s Own Jonas Brothers just wrapped a big weekend, as their Disney Channel original movie, Camp Rock 2, which also features Colleyville’s Own Demi Lovato, made its television debut. But, go figure, the DFW Diz Kids weren’t the only musicians in the cast: Fucked Up guitarist Ben Cook is in…

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s 2010 album Beat The Devil’s Tattoo isn’t quite as popular as their previous efforts, but they still have some pretty big tour plans in support of the disk, including a few Texas dates with Stone Temple Pilots. Initially, though, the band wasn’t coming to Dallas.Lucky for…

Russian rock outfit Mumiy Troll has quite a history. Formed in 1986 after the fall of the Soviet Union, the group has been extremely popular back home, and it appears they are trying to see how folks in the U.S. take to their no-frills pop. Here’s what DC9’s own Darryl…

Grand Prairie’s Own Selena Gomez has a new album called A Year Without Rain due out later this month, and, late last week, she debuted the new music video for that album’s lead single and title track. And, in case there was any doubt as to whether Disney was gonna…