The first Art of the Guitar exhibition launched during an emotional time. It was 2011, just a few months after one of the organizers of the event, Frank Campagna, had lost his son Frankie to suicide. Within weeks, Frankie’s bandmate in Spector 45, Adam Carter, also killed himself. Mourners donated nearly…
Nine months after their messy public break up, popular Dallas hip-hop duo A.Dd+’s final project will receive a posthumous release later this month. The 12-song Nawf America, featuring a star-studded cast of local rappers and producers, is out Friday, Oct. 28 via their former label High Standardz. It’s the locally-acclaimed duo’s…
The festival South By So What!? once drew DFW’s fans of pop-punk, emo and post-hardcore music. But the company behind the event, Third String Festivals, has decided to give it an overhaul. It’s got a new name and new location: The festival will be renamed So What?! and move to Deep Ellum. “Our desire to…
He is Mark Ridlen by day, but Deejay Mr Rid by night. There are few musicians in Dallas that have earned veteran status, but Ridlen earned the distinction as a member of seminal art and psyche bands in the ’80s and ’90s. One of the original DJs at the legendary…
Joshua Balis might have a familiar last name, but with the release of his debut EP, Modern Gospel, he is quickly gaining his own musical identity. The 24-year-old son of Danny Balis — Dallas musician, radio personality on The Ticket and co-owner of Twilite Lounge — has grown up…
Maren Morris has been working the Hero status for much of the past year. Her debut album of that name may have only come out over the summer, but the Arlington native has been marked out as a rising talent in the country world ever since she dropped “My Church”…
Dallas went nearly three years without a Kanye West sighting. Now, having finally gotten one last month, it will only have to wait about eight weeks to catch him again. That’s because West has added another leg to his acclaimed Saint Pablo Tour and will be returning to American Airlines…
After years’ worth of his original music was stolen from his backpack at the end of September, it would’ve been understandable for local rapper So-So Topic (or -Topic for short) to wallow in his own sorrow. After all, three weeks later he still hasn’t gotten the music back — despite…
It’s a random Tuesday in Oak Cliff, and the lobby of the Belmont Hotel is jumping. Celebrated rocker Alejandro Escovedo has come downstairs from his apartment on the hotel’s second floor and is playing an acoustic version of his hit “Always a Friend” with Austin songwriter Jeremy Nail. In the corner,…
Post Malone is doing his best to stay on script. He’s downstairs at the House of Blues in Dallas, where dozens of his fans have gathered one afternoon in late September. They’ve paid $150 to attend a VIP meet-and-greet with the Grapevine singer and rapper, who’s in town one week…
With the 28th annual Dallas Observer Music Awards just around the corner, we will spend the next several weeks highlighting some of the nominees for this year’s awards. And when we say these artists are the “Best,” don’t just take our word for it: We polled 200 local music experts…
With arms outstretched and one hand clutching a microphone, Dezi 5 mounted himself on a wooden crucifix at The Public Trust, an art gallery in Dallas’ Design District, as a projection bathed him and the makeshift stage in colorful light. Dressed in fishnet T-shirt and black vinyl, Dezi 5 performed…
Chance the Rapper With Francis and the Lights The Bomb Factory, Dallas Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016 It’s only fitting that Chance the Rapper performed on a Sunday — the Lord’s day — because Lil Chano from 79th took Dallas to church at The Bomb Factory. Such descriptions of concerts are…
Kris Kristofferson With the Texas Gentlemen Annette Strauss Square, Dallas Friday, Oct. 14, 2016 Kris Kristofferson embodies the term “living legend.” Over the course of a six-decade career, the singer-songwriter, actor, poet, Rhodes Scholar and all-around renaissance man has left an indelible mark on the popular culture. Though the various…
Dallas Observer Music Awards season is in full swing, and piece by piece the details of this year’s awards have been falling into place. First came news of the showcase, which takes place in Deep Ellum the first weekend of December, as it has the past two years. Then came…
Dallas has definitely got a diverse group of music acts stopping through this week. Between the mass appeal of Luke Bryan and Texas roots-based artists at the country festival the Ranch Bash, anyone looking to hear some fiddles and sad songs are pretty much covered. On the opposite end of…
Alejandro Escovedo is Mr. Austin. He may have been born in San Antonio, but after living in Austin since the early 1980s, Escovedo comes second only to Willie Nelson in being the favored son of the Live Music Capitol of the World. But that all changed last year when he…
In the early morning hours of Paul Cauthen’s eighth birthday, he was fast asleep in his bunk bed when he was awakened by his grandfather, Jim Paul, who was singing Johnny Cash’s “Walk The Line” and playing his old acoustic guitar. Jim Paul was the band leader for the local…
Mike Kannon is best known for his role as morning show personality on the top 40-centered radio station KVIL, but the recent Dallas transplant also happens to have a deep relationship with underground techno. For this week’s mixtape, Kannon goes hard in the paint with a mix of techno largely…
Following last month’s house party music festival in Denton, Broketopia, an unusual precedent has been set in the community, as more and more DIY venues are embracing the “house festival” format. There’s already another event in the works, and it’s aimed at getting the underage crowd in on the fun…
For a while there two years ago, it seemed to Alejandro Escovedo as though it were all crumbling. His legendary rock ‘n’ roll career. His physical health. His mind. His beloved Austin, a place he had helped create as much as it had created him. About the only thing Alejandro could see…
With the 28th annual Dallas Observer Music Awards just around the corner, we will spend the next several weeks highlighting some of the nominees for this year’s awards. And when we say these artists are the “Best,” don’t just take our word for it: We polled 200 local music experts…
