Opinion & Commentary

On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld “disparate impact” as a key principle in racial desegregation law, ruling that what matters is the effect, not the intent of government practices. That day the headline over Emily Badger’s item on “Wonk Blog” in The Washington Post exulted: “The Supreme Court’s…

After an absence of over six years, a proper new record from Texas country kingpin Pat Green hit the streets this past Friday. Called simply Home, it marks a return to form from the last we of heard Green, but it’s not the rootsy, “Screw Nashville,” prodigal son-style record many have…

Just about any night of the week, you can hear fine Texas country music in Dallas. This month alone, Randy Rogers, Sunny Sweeney, Bri Bagwell and Western swing kings Asleep at the Wheel will make their way through Dallas, each playing their own unique interpretation of what country music actually…

2015, it would seem, is the year of the country comeback. For more than a decade of relative silence from both Shania Twain and Garth Brooks, they both came roaring back starting at the end of last year for what looked like dual blockbuster comebacks. Brooks has already sold out…

The Internet can be so much fun. Typically it’s a space for fair and rational conversation that rarely gets negative and almost never, ever gets personal. Every once in a while, though, there’s someone who comes along and spoils the whole party, and according to Phish fans — or should…

To the surprise of many, alt-country darling Jason Isbell’s sophomore effort, Something More Than Free, quickly shot up to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot Country chart. Soon after, he would top the Rock and Folk charts as well, selling more than 46,000 units in the first week…

So excited earlier this month. We read that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro and his boss, the president, are not the pushovers on fair housing we thought they were. Not anymore. Apparently, now they’re tough. Nine months ago it was looking pretty sad here. That’s when Castro, former mayor…

For a variety of reasons, Garth Brooks is a pretty polarizing figure in country music. Plenty of devoted fans blame Brooks for the dominance of pop-country in the 1990s, some of whom would continue to blame him for the current state of the genre. Others aren’t too happy that he…

Being from the South and being proud of where you’re from isn’t always easy, especially lately. Just do the body count from recent months: Walter Scott is shot down by a North Carolina police officer, who’s charged with Scott’s murder. Sandra Bland is arrested in a routine traffic stop and…

Unless you’ve been living under a rock that’s been living under a rock that’s 300 feet underground and cut off from all electricity, you’re aware that America is in the midst of some form of social upheaval and much of it is centered on race. Ferguson. Baltimore. Charleston. Those cities…

Maybe because I have spent a lot of time as a reporter writing about our own racial history in Dallas, the great angst over Watchman seems goofy to me. First of all, we must remind ourselves that these are not real people. This is about some made-up stories that a lady…

The scene downtown was a concert promoter’s dream: At 4:30 in the afternoon, the line outside Main Street Garden Park stretched around the block and down the street, but none of these people waiting outside the gate for Taco Libre was going to get in. Gates had opened for this…

Six Shooter is a recurring feature where we highlight six new releases by North Texas based musicians with some extra ammo to spare. Last week, we took a look back at the year to date in Dallas music. We picked out the best North Texas concerts and raised a glass…

Major focus this week in the wake of the Supreme Court gay marriage decision on Texas county clerks who will or will not obey the law and on private institutions as well. Baylor University, for example, changed its mind and said married students could have gay sex (sort of). Now someone…

Yesterday firefighters found a body believed to be Edgar Castro, missing since his kayak flipped on the Trinity River in Fort Worth four days ago. A day earlier while searching for him, Castro’s family found another body in the river, still unidentified. A month ago a high school student died after…

Veteran Dallas fair housing advocates Mike Daniel, Betsy Julian and Laura Beshara won a huge victory at the U.S Supreme Court yesterday; civil rights lawyers all over America heaved a sigh of relief; and Dallas housing policies suffered yet another big black eye. The impact locally will be one more…

Wait a minute. For 10 minutes after the Charleston church slaughter we were engaged in a national conversation about racism. Now everybody up North is singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic again. I hate the rebel flag. I can’t stand it when racist confederophiles tell me the Civil War…

Tougher than it ought to be: the question of who’s nuts, who’s a terrorist and who cares. Of course Jeannine Hammond cares. Her kid got shot. Hammond, mother of James Boulware, sent an email to Dallas media Sunday saying cops shouldn’t have shot her son, because he was crazy. They…

In the past year, no one has been a better ambassador for country music than Kacey Musgraves. The Mineola, Texas native’s first release Same Trailer, Different Park was arguably the most critically acclaimed country album of the year, and perhaps the genre’s biggest crossover success since Taylor Swift. Even avowed country…