Merle Haggard Set an Impossibly High Standard for Country Music

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…

A Friend Remembers Nevada Hill’s Life and Last Days

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…

Dallas Doesn’t Have Too Many Festivals, It Just Needs the Right Ones

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…

Too Many Dallas Dinners Come with a Side Dish of Lecturing

Waiters have always been multitaskers, but now a new chore is being added to their job descriptions: Food Explainer. It’s not just “here are today’s specials” and “our plates are meant for sharing” anymore — chefs and managers are asking waitstaff to deliver little speeches about almost every dish. Before…

Don’t Even Start Saying Pantera Are Terrible

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

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…

Armed with Amazing Grace, Randy Travis Sings Again in Texas

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…