Music
March 19, 2020
Don’t Worry, Willie Nelson Is All Right
The national treasure is even headlining an online benefit concert this evening.
Country Music
Latest
51-100 of 148 Articles
Music
March 17, 2020
Two Trailblazing Country Musicians From San Benito Led Parallel Lives Decades Apart
Charley Crockett grew up watching Freddy Fender perform. He tells us how his life in music took a similar path.
Music
March 5, 2020
Breaking Down the Dixie Chicks’ First New Single in 14 Years, ‘Gaslighter’
The beloved band released a song and an accompanying video this week.
Music
December 12, 2019
Nashville Now Owns a Major Piece of Texas Music History
The owners of the Grand Ole Opry snapped up ACL Live At The Moody Theater earlier this week.
Music
November 14, 2019
Texas Country’s Female Artists Take Center Stage at the 2019 CMA Awards
Kacey Musgraves and Maren Morris took home some of the biggest awards of the night.
Film & TV
October 29, 2019
How the City of Austin Became a Character in Film Festival Standout ‘Yellow Rose’
In one of the first scenes of Diane Paragas’s film Yellow Rose, protagonist Rose Garcia (played by Tony Award nominee Eva Noblezada) goes on a date with a boy named Elliot (Liam Booth). The pair gallivant through the streets of downtown Austin, and they
Music
September 30, 2019
My Friend Spotted a 44-Year-Old Photo of Himself in Ken Burns’s “Country Music” Documentary
The story behind the story behind Austinite Mike Shea’s three seconds of international fame.
Music
September 23, 2019
The Valley Comes Alive in Charley Crockett’s Songs
Recorded just before he had two heart surgeries, the singer-songwriter’s new album took him back to his South Texas roots.
Music
September 17, 2019
Midland Rolls With the Punches
On their second album, the Dripping Springs-based trio doubles down on the classic country sound that made them famous.
Music
September 16, 2019
Ken Burns Talks Waylon, Willie, and How Texas Defined Country Music
The ’Country Music’ documentarian on the Outlaws, forgotten forces, and how Texas country music could bring us all together.
Music
September 12, 2019
Paul Cauthen’s ‘Room 41’ Resides In Between Vulnerability and Swagger
A near-two year stint at Dallas's Belmont Hotel almost broke the country musician and gave way to his new album.
Music
September 12, 2019
The Highwomen Are the Best Thing in Country Right Now
The genre has long shut women out, but this supergroup challenges traditional male-dominated narratives.
The National Podcast of Texas
August 26, 2019
Tanya Tucker: “You’re Gonna Love Me, or I’m Gonna Kick Your Ass”
On this week’s National Podcast of Texas, a conversation with the country legend Brandi Carlile calls “the original female outlaw.”
The National Podcast of Texas
July 1, 2019
Lee Ann Womack: “Huge Country Music Success Didn’t Feed My Soul”
On this week’s National Podcast of Texas, the East Texas native discusses the joys of leaving Nashville’s machinery behind and coming home.
Music
June 24, 2019
Aaron Watson: “I Relate More to Johnny Cash Than to Billy Graham, But They Both Loved Them Some Jesus”
On this week’s National Podcast of Texas, the fiercely independent musician discusses his new album, spirituality, and his country music heroes.
Music
February 11, 2019
Kacey Musgraves Won Album of the Year at the Grammys and Nothing Will Ever Be the Same
With her Golden Hour taking top honors, the singer’s big gamble has paid off.
Music
January 3, 2019
Bobby Bones Is Just Getting Started
The unlikely rise (and rise, and rise) of the most powerful man in country music.
Music
August 29, 2018
The CMA Nominations Prove That Texas Women are the Queens of Country
Maren Morris, Kacey Musgraves, and Miranda Lambert are the new faces of country music.
Music
February 21, 2018
Kacey Musgraves Has a Surprise for Nashville
The country music provocateur and East Texas native talks growing up, ”getting weird” onstage, and taking risks with her new album.
Music
January 16, 2018
Texas Outlaw Country Gets a Major Exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame
The legacies of Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver, Jerry Jeff Walker, and more will be on full display.
Music
June 26, 2017
Bad Girls Get Old
How Jo Carol Pierce went from adventurous Lubbock teen to restless single mother and social worker to Austin’s most underrated songwriter is a story unlike any other in Texas music. Now, at 72, she’s ready for her next act.
Music
May 26, 2016
Nashville, Via Arlington
Is Maren Morris the next Kacey Musgraves?
The Daily Post
January 28, 2016
Kent Finlay, Dreamer
An exclusive excerpt from the forthcoming book by Jenni Finlay and Brian T. Atkinson.
Music
July 20, 2015
Miranda Lambert Unlikely to Be Referred to as “Blake Shelton’s Wife” Anymore
The country megastars announced their divorce today.
Film & TV
May 14, 2015
‘Urban Cowboy’ Turns 35
It was part musical, part dance movie, and part love story, and in June 1980 it unleashed an unprecedented fervor for country music, Western wear, and, yes, mechanical bulls. More than three decades later, the film’s stars (including John Travolta, Debra Winger, Mickey Gilley, and Johnny Lee) and many Gilley’s regulars recall the movie that made America fall in love with Texas.
Music
April 17, 2015
Exclusive Song Premiere: Randy Rogers & Wade Bowen Contemplate What They’ll Do “In The Next Life”
A big ol’ slice of red-dirt country cheese.
Music
March 18, 2015
Don’t Call Them “Baby”
Roll over, Jake Owen, and tell Brett Eldredge the news: Maddie & Tae are fed up with Nashville’s “bro country” formula.
Music
March 2, 2015
Abilene Artist Aaron Watson’s Self-Released Album Is #1 on the Country Chart
The rigid worlds of Nashville and country music are getting a Texas-size wake-up call right now.
Music
February 20, 2015
Exclusive Song Premiere: George Strait Joins Asleep at the Wheel for a Spin Through “South of the Border (Down Mexico Way)” by Bob Wills
The King of Country joins Asleep at the Wheel for a classic by the King of Western Swing from the band’s new tribute album.
Music
February 12, 2015
Watch a Short Documentary About Willie Nelson and His Iconic Guitar, Trigger
A short documentary by Rolling Stone, narrated by Woody Harrelson, affirms how essential the Martin classical guitar is to Willie Nelson’s sound and persona.
Music
February 12, 2015
Song Premiere: Mayeux & Broussard Take On Refinery Life in “Back at Home”
The Port Arthur natives take their outlaw country stomp back to their roots.
Music
October 29, 2014
Exclusive Q&A: Robert Earl Keen Explains Why He’s Going Bluegrass on His New Album
The outlaw country all-star is finally embracing the genre of his dreams—and bluegrass seems to be embracing him back.
Music
September 26, 2014
Song Premiere: “Sweet Loreen,” From Hal Ketchum’s First Album in Six Years
Now living in Fisher, the Grand Ole Opry member goes back to his Texas music roots.
Music
September 12, 2014
I Am Womack, Hear Me Roar
Lee Ann Womack became a star the old-fashioned Nashville way. Now she’s ready to be an artist on her own terms.
Music
June 5, 2014
Six Never-Before-Seen Photos of George Strait
During a 1984 tour through Texas.
Listen
May 21, 2014
All George Strait’s No. 1’s
Listen to all of King George's greatest hits.
Music
May 21, 2014
This Man Has Written More Than Fifty of George Strait’s Songs
“Unwound,” “The Chair,” and “Easy Come, Easy Go” have all sprung from the powerful pen of Dean Dillon.
Music
May 16, 2014
Strait, No Chaser?
Why there will probably never be another George Strait.
Music
May 16, 2014
The Last Ride of King George
After a career that’s spanned more than thirty years, George Strait is wrapping up his 48-stop farewell tour this month. For those of us whose lives he has captured so inimitably in song, country music will never be the same.
Music
December 10, 2013
Sweethearts of the Radio
How the Eli Young Band cracked the code of the country music business and became one of Texas’s most successful exports.
Music
March 11, 2013
Chicks in the Wilderness
Ten years after their remarkable fall from grace, no one is quite sure why the onetime Nashville darlings tumbled so far—and never got back up.
Music
January 21, 2013
Santa Claus Busted at Sierra Blanca
Or so says the new Christmas song by singer-songwriter Kevin Fowler, who talks about his new holiday track, "Santa Got Busted by the Border Patrol."
The Culture
January 21, 2013
VIDEO: David Letterman Asks Willie, “Do You Have Any Weed?”
Texas Monthly's Christmas cover boy was also David Letterman's before-Thanksgiving guest, talking “Crazy,” Patsy Cline, and, of course, pot.
Music
January 21, 2013
The Red Hooded Stranger
Is Willie Nelson Santa Claus? We asked him that, and a few other things—like what it's like to get busted and get along with Pat Robertson and Snoop Dogg.
Music
January 21, 2013
Trigger: The Life of Willie Nelson’s Guitar
Most guitars don’t have names. This one has a voice and a personality, and bears a striking resemblance to his owner.
Music
January 21, 2013
That ’70s Show
Forty years ago, Willie, Waylon, Jerry Jeff, and a whole host of Texas misfits grew their hair long, snubbed Nashville, and brought the hippies and rednecks together. The birth of outlaw country changed country music forever.
Music
January 21, 2013
The Girl Who Played With Firearms
Miranda Lambert has a lot to be happy about—she’s recently married, with a brand-new album and a string of hits that has made her the toast of Nashville. So why is she so twangry?
Music
January 21, 2013
A Q&A With Skip Hollandsworth
The executive editor on Miranda Lambert hitting it big, her marriage to Blake Shelton, and one of the country star’s most unappreciated assets.
Music
January 21, 2013
“Willie’s God! Willie’s God! We Love Willie!”
In this extraordinary oral history, Willie Nelson’s friends, kin, and collaborators (Jimmy Carter, Emmylou Harris, Robert Redford, Merle Haggard, and many more big names) tell their favorite stories about the Red Headed Stranger.
Music
January 20, 2013
Pitch Perfect
What’s the secret to writing a great country song? Which comes first, music or lyrics? Looking to answer these and other questions, we gathered a group of singer-songwriters—Guy Clark, Robert Earl Keen, Sonny Throckmorton, Patty Griffin, and Jack Ingram—set out a couple guitars, and let the tape roll.