Music
January 20, 2013
Kinky Friedman’s First Roundup
Wring your hands, cut your wrists, do anything, but just listen to how Kinky can sing.
Country Music
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Music
January 20, 2013
The Coming of Redneck Hip
Rock and Country music met in Austin. That friendship may make the state.
Texas History
January 20, 2013
O Sister, Where Art Thou?
History makes no mention of what was one of the most popular all-female country acts ever. Yet the story of the Goree Girls—inmates who banded together in the forties at Texas’ sole penitentiary for women—is worth a listen.
Music
January 20, 2013
The Cult of Keen
It took two decades of shows at honky-tonks filled with frat-boy fans and Aggie admirers, but singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen has his first major-label record deal.
Music
August 31, 2012
Ryan Bingham Strikes Out on His Own
Starting a new label is a dicey proposition, but the country star who co-wrote the Oscar-winning song "The Weary Kind" thinks the time is right.
Music
July 31, 2012
Years Later, Old 97’s Still Embrace One Special Record
It might have been recorded fifteen years ago, but the Dallas-based band will mark an important anniversary with the album that began their alternative-country journey.
The Culture
January 23, 2012
Lyle Lovett Wishes the Aggies Hadn’t Joined the SEC
The singer-songwriter talks college football, Willie, and Mexican food with Garden and Gun, which also has a lot of love for Texas in its latest issue.
The Culture
December 15, 2011
RIP Billie Jo Spears
The Beaumont-raised country crooner, known for the number-one hit "Blanket on the Ground," died of lung cancer at her home in Vidor.
Music
July 31, 2011
Crossing State Lines
With a new album, a wildly popular single, and sold-out shows all over America, the Eli Young Band is one of the state's few homegrown acts to transcend the Texas Country Scene.
Music
June 30, 2011
A Little Bit Country
Robert Ellis's new album, Photographs, is influenced by both his folk and country roots.
Music
December 1, 2009
Step Right Up
Press your jeans, pull on your boots, shine up your buckle, and come along on this two-stepping tour of classic country dance halls, from Tom Sefcik Hall, in Seaton, to Club Westerner, in Victoria.
Music
May 31, 2008
Jeff McCord with Frankie Miller
The Victoria-born country star, now 77, had a stellar career in the fifties and sixties that is all but forgotten—but his emergence from retirement, along with a deluxe box set, Blackland Farmer: The Complete Starday Recordings, and More (Bear Family) may just change that.Jeff McCord: You were born in
Music
January 1, 2008
Jesse Dayton
An extended interview with Jesse Dayton.
Music
January 1, 2008
Jesse Dayton
The talented Beaumont-born singer has just released Holdin’ Our Own and Other Country Gold Duets (Stag), a joint album with Austin’s Brennen Leigh. Though it recalls a Nashville of yesteryear, it comprises mostly new material. He also recently scored big as the creative force behind a fictional country band,
Music
September 30, 2007
Number One With a Bullet
Miranda Lambert likes guns, but there’s more to her than that, just as the sultry pouts on her album covers don’t tell the whole story of an East Texas girl who always wanted to be Merle Haggard.
True Crime
January 1, 2001
Outlaw Country
Rick Sikes and the Rhythm Rebels could have been bigger than Willie Nelson—if only bank robbery hadn't been on the playlist.
Music
November 1, 2000
Almost Famous
For brothers Charlie and Bruce Robison, making country music safe for men again is an intriguing proposition—and a risky one because of their wives.
Music
March 1, 1999
What She Deserves
Ten years ago she was the Next Big Thing. She still is. Meet Kelly Willis all over again.
Music
December 1, 1998
Johnny on the Spot
Country singer Johnny Rodriguez has had a career full of highs and lows, but with a murder trial looming, his lowest day may be yet to come.
Music
September 30, 1998
Lee Ann Climbs
Is country-chart-topping Jacksonville native Lee Ann Womack the real thing? Buck Owens and Loretta Lynn are among those who think so.
Music
September 30, 1998
The Improbable Rise of Lyle Lovett
Twenty years ago, he was inspired by the redneck rock of Steve Fromholz and Guy Clark. On his new album, he says thanks.
Music
March 1, 1998
The Entertainer
How has Jacksonville native Neal McCoy, a self-described “easy-listenin’ kinda guy,” managed to sell five million country CDs and cassettes? It has little to do with his singing.
Music
September 30, 1997
Rare Byrd
Beaumont’s Tracy Byrd may be a hunky, hitmaking hat act, but if it’s all the same, he’d rather be singing an old Bob Wills tune.
Texas History
August 31, 1997
Jimmie Rodgers
What respiratory ailment afflicted Jimmie Rodgers, prompting fans to shout “Spit ’er up and sing some more”?
Books
August 31, 1997
My Willie
Willie Nelson and I have been friends for years, so why did I decide only now to make him a character in one of my mystery novels? The plot thickens.
Music
August 31, 1997
Music • LeAnn Rimes
Little miss hits.
Music
May 31, 1997
Punkytonk
The state prison name game; Dallas alternative-country band the Old 97’s is feeling no depression.
Music
April 1, 1997
Roy Orbison
What did Roy Orbison drink compulsively, and who called him the world’s greatest singer?
Music
January 1, 1997
Saintly Bernard
Spring’s Crystal Bernard is already a top dog in the sitcom world. Will her new country CD separate her from the pack?
Music
November 1, 1996
Golden Oldie
After playing for years in relative obscurity, 57-year-old Ronnie Dawson is the latest cult hero in the cultish world of rockabilly.
Music
May 31, 1996
Junior Achievement
Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jerry Jeff Walker—and now Junior Brown? The former community college teacher is the latest outlaw to hijack Texas country music, and he may be the greatest.
Music
March 1, 1996
Mr. Clean
Steve Earle feels alright.
Music
March 1, 1996
Walser Across Texas
Beloved by bubbas and the Butthole Surfers alike, 350-pound yodeler Don Walser is country’s current cross-generational king of cool.
Music
January 1, 1996
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson may not be a radio staple anymore, but a new tribute album recorded by some of rock’s coolest stars shows that his music is still moving to them.
Music
March 1, 1995
Come Dancing
When country hunk Billy Ray Cyrus his megahit “Achy Breaky Heart” in 1992, country dancing—or at least a modern version of it—returned to vogue. Cyrus’ novelty song was released with a video that showed a line dance specifically created for the song, and—in a flashback to the Urban Cowboy craze of
Music
February 1, 1995
No Limits
For twenty seasons Austin City Limits has been the elite soundstage of American popular music. And it keeps getting better.
Reporter
January 1, 1995
The Truck Stops Here
Dorsett 221 near Buda is the place where a driver is always king of the castle.
Music
July 1, 1994
The Big Twang
Some of the brightest country music stars—like Mark Chesnutt and Tracy Byrd—are born in the honky-tonks of Beaumont.
Music
June 30, 1994
The Devil in George Jones
The survivor of a long and torturous journey, George Jones stands alone as the greatest country singer alive.
Music
January 1, 1994
Nashville City Limits
Once, country acts made art in Austin and money in Nashville. Today each place is a lot like the other, which is why more Texas singers are heading east.
Music
December 1, 1990
“I’m Just Me”
When country singer Charley Pride isn’t on the road, chances are he’s puttering around a Dallas golf course—or riding herd on his business holdings.
Music
October 1, 1988
One Brick Shy of a Load
Not your run-of-the-mill pickers and singers, these performers are determined to carve out new territory.
Music
October 1, 1988
The Fall of Country, the Rise of Country
As Nashville pandered to the lowest common denominator, Texans found a new audience hungry for old traditions.
Music
August 31, 1988
Off the Road Again
Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July Picnic at Carl’s Corner was the picnic to end all picnics. It did just that.
Music
June 1, 1982
A Singin’ Fool
George Jones really lives the way he says he lives in the songs he sings.
Popular Music
July 31, 1980
The Armadillo’s Last Waltz
The imminent demise of Austin’s famed music hall already has Texans singing the Armadillo homesick blues.
Music
December 1, 1976
Who Killed Redneck Rock?
Love beads are out at rock concerts these days.
Music
July 31, 1976
The Passions of the Common Man
That’s what country music is, and that’s why it plays in Peoria.