The men of country music have always exuded a distinct brand of masculinity. From Bob Wills to George Strait, these are the Marlboro Men of the music world — rugged, tough and stoic. It’s so ingrained that no one ever questioned the rhinestones that were popular for so much of…
In the weeks since Sturgill Simpson gave his first glimpse of his new album, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, much has been made about the country star’s change of direction. Ordained by many as the savior of country music after his 2014 breakout, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, the Kentucky…
There are so many reasons to admire Merle Haggard and so few words to describe them. The country music legend, who passed away Wednesday on his 79th birthday, was the working man’s hero, a scrappy, rough and tumble boy done good. An unmatchable songwriter, Haggard released 71 singles and penned…
You could say that country fans are too damn picky. From George Strait’s arrival in the 1980s to the pop-heavy acts that pushed the genre past its breaking point in the early 2000s, fans have continually worried that, come the next dilution of the genre, it will disappear forever. So…
It’s been a good couple months for Dalton Rapattoni. The Sunnyvale native has rocketed to fame thanks to his breakout performances on the final season American Idol, helped in part by the extra attention that’s been paid to the long-running reality TV show’s swan song. But will the extra attention…
The highly-anticipated reunion of At the Drive-In hit a big snag last week. Via a Facebook post, the band announced co-founder, vocalist and guitarist Jim Ward is not in the band anymore. This news came only a few days before the band heads out on an extensive tour of the…
Erik Highter is a writer based in Dallas. He and musician Nevada Hill met in early 2013 at one of Nevada’s Bludded Head shows. While they worked together to craft press releases and marketing ideas for Nevada’s band, it was the hundreds and hundreds of hours of listening to music…
Another new music festival, another OK lineup with a mediocre concept. Welcome to DFW. Earlier this week, first-time Dallas festival Bulladora Music Experience announced its full lineup of bands, complemented by the rather bizarre theme of the “pugasus” — that is, a pug dressed up with a pair of wings. If…
I’m a genius. I thought of it just now — the whole solution. The Dallas Morning News has been making me feel like an incompetent guttersnipe for years, telling me about all the historic preservation that doesn’t get done in Dallas, and I could never think of one single thing…
Sturgill Simpson never said he was a country artist. In fact, he’s long insisted that he isn’t. Proclaimed the savior of country music ever since the release of 2014’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, Simpson’s always been a moving target, an artist whose mind moves in so many different directions that…
Of all the generic pop-rock bands that dominated the airwaves in the 1990s, Sister Hazel was one of the most successful. In 1997, you couldn’t go more than about five minutes without hearing “All for You,” the year’s most popular song and Sister Hazel’s biggest hit. You’re probably unaware of…
They called him a “cry baby,” a “pussy,” “whiny” and a whole assortment of verbage using the word “fuck” as an adjective and a verb. Pantera fans’ response to LA Weekly’s recent article “It’s Time to Talk About How Terrible Pantera Are,” although not near the backlash the writer Nicholas…
I believe in Kanye West, but can he ever enjoy an album release without suffering some problem? Every album since The College Dropout met the butt of misfortune – familial loss, dissolution of relationships, perceived devil worship, attacks on his seeming arrogance. Remember the footage of Kanye throwing a tearful…
There are a number of stereotypes conjured by the mind when someone mentions “the South.” Whether it’s the comfort food, country music or casual racism, the Deep South in particular has proven to be an irresistible backdrop for artists of all kinds. One need only look to Nic Pizzolatto’s credits…
Perhaps more than anywhere else, the world of music loves a good comeback story, and after a surprise appearance last week, we are hopefully witnessing the beginning of another dramatic resurrection. Randy Travis, arguably the most distinctive voice of country music in the 1980s, was on hand February 3 for…
Kanye West is a creative genius. Nobody is doubting that. He is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime-caliber artist whose contributions to the music and fashion worlds are innovative. So it’s completely appropriate that people are excited about the releases of his seventh studio album titled Waves (as of now) and latest fashion…
In boxing and mixed martial arts, it’s common to hear the term “best pound-for-pound fighter” when someone is discussing the merits of a dominant fighter who is in one of the smaller weight classes. Such a clarifying term is necessary because it’s doubtful that Manny Pacquiao, as lethal as he…
There was a time, long, long ago, when Blake Shelton was not the most obnoxious man in country music. 15 years ago, Shelton was a baby faced, curly mullet-wearing crooner just becoming famous for “Austin,” his vaguely creepy love song about a man who so thoroughly can’t get over his…
When people say they hate KISS, I often wonder if they also detest fart jokes. Because to me, that’s what KISS is: a fart joke in band form. Think about it. Like farts, KISS are crass, and as a band, they totally stink. But now and again, they are surprisingly…
At the Drive-In couldn’t have reunited to record an album at a more perfect time. Years after the El Paso band’s messy breakup and soul-searching with various legacy bands — De Facto, the Mars Volta, poor Sparta — post-hardcore’s favorite sons buried the hatchet (for a second time) and regrouped…
Last week Oak Cliff native Lil Twist released the long-delayed mixtape The Golden Child 2. If anyone, it made Twist really happy. For nearly a decade now the 23-year-old has been signed to Lil Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment record label but he has released very little music in that time…
There are a lot of things you associate with Steven Tyler. Silk scarves, scraggly mustaches and halcyon days gone by aside, Tyler isn’t exactly the kind of guy you expect to record a country album. More than 40 years after the bad boys from Boston first made their mark on…
