Dallas — The goosebumps materialized early Tuesday night. Read more

I love live music on Sundays. It’s the day that clubs give a chance to new or unknown acts, and on some days there is nothing I crave more than finding a new (at least to me) band. Read more

For Solange Knowles, her last name is as much liability as asset. After all, that appellation carries with it some hefty expectations. Read more

In an area often dominated by rock bands bashing out three-chord blasts and country groups considering the genre from different angles, North Texas hip-hop often has trouble finding a wider audience. Read more

Mambo's Tapas Camtina is an easy place to overlook. It’s a hotel bar, right across the street from the big ole space ship of a convention center in downtown Fort Worth, and not the kind of place you think would be a music destination. You would be... Read more

For all of 2012 we had heard about how the Mayans predicted that the end of the world would occur in December, but the date just kind of snuck up on me. Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations are generally a reliable predictor of the future, so I put off paying my cable bill, and on the 21st I ... Read more

The other day I was talking with Nick Choate, the head of the notorious Blue Smoke Mafia (a group of Funkytown musicians that all have ties to Nick’s Blue Smoke Studios). He showed me the artwork promoting his new band, Choate Country, which looked suspiciously like a pack of cigarettes. I a... Read more

11. Fiona Apple, ‘The Idler Wheel …’ Read more

Considered as a whole, the music of 2012 was a year of subtle reinventions. Read more

It was Sunday morning, and the coverage of the shooting in Connecticut saturated every minute of the news on television. The videos and photos blasted our Christmas spirit to hell. I had pretty much forgotten what time of year it was, but I saw a Facebook post advertising a brunch concert at The ... Read more

Grand Prairie — Friday night, outside the Verizon Theatre's walls, the mood was anything but merry. Read more

The faux campfire was blazing, bedrolls were tossed about the realistic rocks, and a snow-covered forest at dusk served as the backdrop as fans took their seats Monday at the Bass Performance Hall. Read more

Don't hate me -- but this new Ke$ha album is good. Kind of really good. Read more

On Saturday night, I was hitting the websites of all the music venues, trying to find something new and different to satisfy my lust for live music. On the Grotto’s site, they promised a rather eclectic lineup, ending with some band I'd never heard o... Read more

There is an incredibly apt phrase -- "the line of inquiry" -- in the press materials for singer-songwriter Scott Walker's latest LP, Bish Bosch. Read more

Local musicians are cranking out the holiday-themed songs, and this year's crop of Yuletide-oriented tunes runs the gamut from melancholic dirges to unabashed Christmas exuberance. Read more

I tend to avoid the Stockyards when looking for my live music fix. Country music is not my drug of choice, and that's what you typically find in the Western-themed, touristy area. When you do find a rock 'n' roll club there, it tends to book cover bands. But lately, I've been hearing about a new ... Read more

In a matter of weeks, 2012 will draw to a close. Read more

There's something about Rihanna. And her producers. Read more

Fort Worth — In the audio world, decibels are the unit of measure for noise levels. A 10-decibel increase is generally perceived to be double the volume of a sound. So a vacuum cleaner at 90 decibels is only half as loud as a Harley running with no muffler (100 decibels), and that in turn is half as loud as a... Read more

Christina Aguilera is one of the most powerful singers of her generation; is a friend to raunch, and an expert at making it broadly palatable; never lets tabloids get the best of her; has made it safe for still-relevant mid-career pop stars to take sabbaticals for judging reality-TV competitions;... Read more

On Wednesday, I got a message from Tom Urquhart of FM 88.7, asking if I would like to go hang out in the studio. Most of the time this means the radio station, and I’m always up for a night listening to myself through headphones. But this time Tom was asking directions to Deep Ellum, and had... Read more

Dallas — Eddie Vedder couldn't quite put his finger on it. Read more

In a cowbell-thwacking song called Out Go the Lights, Steven Tyler, Aerosmith's lead singer, spits out a phrase -- "Deja booty" -- that could easily describe Aerosmith's new album, Music From Another Dimension! It's the first album of Aerosm... Read more

Burleson is a different place these days. The old-town area is taking off, there are lots of cool restaurants and shops opening up, and I’m starting to hear about live music that's worth the drive. So on Saturday, when I got a text message from Nick Choate about a gig he was playing with Jos... Read more

Human trafficking is one of those things that many people think only occurs in history books, or in far-off barbaric countries. But according to Mosaic Family Services, a group right here in the Metroplex that aids the victims, it's a little closer to home and a little closer to now. Read more

Austin — On Friday, the calendar said 2012, but you wouldn't have known it walking around Auditorium Shores. It might as well as have been 1980, or 1985, or 1992, or 1995. Read more

GRAND PRAIRIE -- Wrestling for a way to begin this review of Bob Dylan's concert Thursday night at Verizon Theatre, I came upon a post from New York magazine's Vulture blog titled What does Bob Dylan's vo... Read more

Austin — Every Leonard Cohen show could be his last. Read more

So it’s the end of October, which means there’s an oh-so short break from politics, lots of bad zombie movies on TV, and only a week from the righteous sales on bulk candy at the supermarket. But every year, my favorite part of the season is Read more