Getting away from it all could be quite difficult in these last, tumultuous 12 months, but these 10 nationally released albums were the best bet for doing just that. (I'll have a list of the top area releases next week.) Read more

There were a lot of good full band shows in Funkytown this week, but I was in the mood for something a little less formal. For a while now, the Junk Bros have been hosting the “Mostly Open Mic” show at Buffalo Bros every Tuesday. I gotta say, it doesn’t get ... Read more

Dallas — There's something undeniably poignant about an arena full of 50- and 60-somethings singing Against the Wind together: "It seems like yesterday/But it was long ago ..." Read more

Dallas — The multi-platinum friends and collaborators knocked a near sold-out crowd in Dallas flat Tuesday night. Read more

The closeness of death permeates even the sunniest tracks on Amy Winehouse's posthumous disc, Lioness: Hidden Treasures. Read more

Dallas — Jeff Tweedy and his Wilco band-mates have turned charting their own course into quite the career. Read more

Dallas — Steven Patrick Morrissey -- eternally petulant, eternally snide -- simply drifted away, mid-verse, as the band continued pounding out The First of the Gang to Die behind him. Read more

Grand Prairie — Like a retrospective box set made flesh, Sting's performance Wednesday at the Verizon Theatre was passionate, precise and pleasing, particularly to those who ponied up to hear the hits faithfully rendered. Read more

Our options for live music have thinned down a bit in the last few weeks.  We had Spencer’s Corner unexpectedly going under, the original Moon Bar has been sacrificed to a perceived need for more taco real estate (the new moon has yet to open), and the... Read more

Dallas — Leslie Feist paused before her second song Tuesday night and surveyed the darkened space before her. Read more

When you think of live music in Fort Worth, it’s always the 7th street corridor, Berry street (at least until The Moon got turned into a taco annex), and Sundance Square. But Saturday, the place to be was Wedgewood, because on stage at Read more

AUSTIN — As noted over here, this year's edition of Fun Fun Fun Fest was, on balance, pretty enjoyable, the iffy weather and few hiccups (notably Danzig's rock star tantrum on Friday) notwithstand... Read more

DALLAS — It's a long, long way from Mali to the Metroplex -- and not just in terms of miles. Read more

AUSTIN — Much of Friday's first day of Fun Fun Fun Fest felt like an over-sized backyard barbecue. Over here, a half pipe skateboard ramp was set up. Over there, a few vintage Caminos parked to be used as ... well, whatever, a meeting place. A handful of food trucks -- if it's even possible, it seems as t... Read more

Even the savviest music-industry observer couldn't have predicted the monster year Miranda Lambert has had. Read more

DALLAS — The Austin-based quartet Explosions in the Sky were supposed to play under the stars a few weeks back at Annette Strauss Square in Dallas' downtown arts district but Mother Nature, in a fit of rain and wind, had other plans. Read more

Grand Prairie — Paul Simon wasted no time addressing the elephant in the room. Read more

Grand Prairie — Getting the ol' gang back together and hitting the road on a reunion tour can be a dicey proposition. Read more

Perhaps rock stardom is not all it's cracked up to be. Read more

Another Saturday night in downtown Funkytown, and I was looking for some tunes and to catch the end of the Rangers game. It was a tough call – at 8.0 we had The Villain Vanguard, and over at The Flying Saucer we had Velvet Love Box. I contemplated just sitting down in the middle of&nb... Read more

Dallas — Thick beams of light pierced the warm, womb-like darkness of the Kessler Theater as the opening notes of St. Vincent's unsettling Surgeon swirled, coalesced and cohered. Read more

Throughout director Cameron Crowe's admirably stuffed Pearl Jam Twenty, pain is a recurring motif. Read more

The torrent of local music releases continues unabated, even as the end of the year begins to float into sight. Read more

Grand Prairie — The Who, as it was in its blood-and-thunder glory days, exists now only in memory. Read more

Dallas — When talking about k.d. lang, the superlatives tend to run dry before long. Read more

On Saturday night in Funkytown, revolution was in the air – refusing to be washed out by even the unexpected and torrential downpour. Read more

Friday night was the Fort Worth Music Festival, and it seemed like there was an “after party” at every joint in town that had a PA.  For me, the only game in town was The Wherehouse, where Jeff Dazey’s new project, Gunga Galunga, was perfor... Read more

FORT WORTH -- The split was subtle but noticeable. Read more

It's the last Saturday of the month -- time again to bring on The Good Show Live Music Series concert at Lola's in Fort Worth, sponsored by KTCU's The Good Show and DFW.com. Tony Diaz and Tom Urquha... Read more

It's September in Funkytown, and while the weather is cooling off, the Where House, an unexpectedly popular nonbar venue in an industrial building right on the tracks, is heating up. Read more