Opinion & Commentary

White people don’t like to talk about race. White people especially don’t like to talk about white privilege – that is, if they even acknowledge it  exists in the first place. But white people really love Macklemore, the radio-friendly white rapper most famous for his Grammy-winning “Thrift Shop,” which has sold over 10…

El Paso quintet At the Drive-In have returned. Again. Four years ago, they played a short Texas tour (including a memorable stop at Trees) and then played Coachella. Now they’re touring the US and Europe between March and June (no Texas dates have been announced), and they have teased new…

If there is one thing to love about country music, it is its effortless ability to be low-brow. Trailer parks, cheap beer and (of course) trucks all combine to create a deeply lovable genre that has, in years past, been the champion of the working man. The biggest critics of…

For the past few years, it seemed that popular country music was totally unstoppable. By 2014, it was the most popular genre in the land, scooping up thousands of new fans by the day as it appealed to an entirely new, much younger audience than ever before. However you feel…

In 2015, country fans finally saw a dramatic shift in what Nashville had to offer. We certainly haven’t heard the last of the fake-tan crooners and the bizarre hip-hop influences that artists like Sam Hunt bring to country, but the real news last year was that traditional country was making…

Tonya Couch nears her eagerly awaited homecoming here in North Texas, and we continue to learn way more than we ever wanted to know about her relationship with her son Ethan, including the $2,000 Mexican strip-club tab she had to pay for him, and the bedroom they shared at home…

This is about the price of dogs. Mary (not her real name) inherited Barcelona (not her real name) from her daughter Anna (not her real name). Mary and Anna are friends of mine. Barcelona is the dog. Barcelona had been Anna’s dog at college, but Anna was moving far away…

Yesterday, James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem set dance-punk world aflame when he wrote a letter to fans explaining the band’s return. Five years ago, Murphy announced the band’s amicable break-up to the woe of their loyal fanbase, and they ended it with the biggest bang by performing a sold-out show at…

Pets lost or terrified in a tornado are way down the list of urgent concerns when multiple human deaths and casualties occur, but pets are still somewhere on that list. The fact is that animals run, hide, get injured and often get lost in a severe weather event. Sooner or…

Last week XXL announced on Twitter they are beginning the hunt for their 2016 Freshmen Class and, as they intended, the tweet spawned a laundry list of hundreds of unknown rappers being plugged by their fans. This is typically how it goes for the publication’s annual list of the top…

To some, the battle over the sanctity of country music had been fought and lost before many of the people arguing about it today were even born. Maybe it was back when Glen Campbell hit No. 1 on the pop charts. Perhaps it was when Shania Twain or Garth Brooks…

2015 was, to say the least, not great for country. This exact sentiment was true in 2014, and the year before that, and so on. In reality, it’s been true for the last 15 years. As the genre has continued to move ever closer to the “pop” in “pop-country,” the…

For country fans — and fans of most genres, let’s be real — the annual release of the Grammy nominations is just confirmation of what you already knew. By the time these nods roll out in December, the hype over the year’s best songs, artists and videos is stale. These…

Like the vampire who lies dead in the crypt, then awakens, the concept of a “Crosstown Expressway” in Dallas — a new highway to run east and west across the northern half of city — has never been truly dead, as in dead-dead. Stephen Young observed here presciently that the…

Erykah Badu and Drake go way back. Certainly further than Badu’s remix of “Hotline Bling,” and further too than a certain heart-to-heart over tea that’s become infamous in hip-hop lore. But for all the attention this powerhouse pair’s friendship has garnered in the past couple years, it’s gotten all the…

Six Shooter is a recurring feature where we highlight six new releases by North Texas-based musicians, with some extra ammo to spare. There’s definitely no shortage of new music being released every month by North Texas artists. As was the case the month before, in November we were treated to…

A few months ago, I was strolling through my Facebook feed. Unlike the past couple of weeks where my feed has been overrun with mentions of coffee cups, Trump jokes and Adele think pieces — you know, the usual — I came across a posted link to a profile covering a…

Thursday was a big day for KXT 91.7 FM. It was part of a big month, in fact. About 30 people gathered in a small TV studio inside the KERA building as the small Dallas radio station entered new territory. Indiana band Houndmouth was inside to play an in-studio performance, which for the…

In his God-given role as the Willy Wonka of memes, Drake is performing at Steph Curry levels. And none of y’all are, like, tired of “Hotline Bling” yet, right? Okay, I know, that would be crazy. Who could be tired of this? This is decadence: If you don’t love it,…

For me, the relationship between the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas has always been a little bit outside, a few inches over the edge, more like an obsessive love affair than a marriage, so it’s probably a mistake to try to make too much sense of it. And I won’t. But…