Americana is the broad umbrella under which Texas singer-songwriters Shakey Graves and Paul Cauthen fit, but authenticity may be their greater connection: Both create the music they want and in the way that they want.
Waco’s Juneteenth Family Fun Day, already one of the state’s larger Juneteenth celebrations, expands into an Extravaganza this year, with three days of activities and performances by the platinum-selling ’90s soul and hip-hop group Dru Hill and gospel singer Myron Butler.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — If the term “outlaw country” evokes images of Willie Nelson’s hippie braids or Waylon Jennings’ “Honky Tonk Heroes,” then you’ll want to see a new museum exhibit offering a deeper look at the poets, pickers and characters that revolutionized country music in the 1970s.
For Austin band Rotel and the Hot Tomatoes, it’s all about the party. Or the show. Or whatever it takes to get an audience on their feet, happy and leaving with a good feeling.
Sundae Drivers and Los Roachez, two Waco-area bands familar to local clubs and stages, take the weekend’s headliner slots at The Backyard downtown, giving fans live doses of Americana, rock, country and blues.
A milestone birthday merits something special. That’s why Texas country musician and Waco native Wade Bowen is changing some things for his annual Bowen MusicFest, which turns 20 this Sunday.
Texas country singer-songwriter Kyle Park says the title of his new album, "Don't Forget Where You Came From," explains in part the change in sound from his last album, "The Blue Roof Sessions."
Spring, as Ted Nugent might put it, is the time when great shaggy beasts shake off winter’s sluggishness and, with hot blood pumping through their veins, go forth to stalk the land.
The University of Notre Dame Folk Choir, which has traveled the world entertaining and leading praise, will continue its Texas swing with a stop Thursday evening at St. Eugene Catholic Church in McGregor.
Predicting May weather in Waco for the annual Pints in the Park is a gambler’s game, but the remaining elements of Saturday’s edition — Texas barbecue, beer and live honky-tonk music — surely rate as a Texas trifecta.
The start of a national tour always is a big thing, but the concert that kicked off the current “Jesus, I Believe” tour for Christian worship band Big Daddy Weave was more memorable than usual: a Carnegie Hall performance backed by a 250-voice choir.
For a writer and performer whose songs have provided inspiration for millions of Christians, Michael W. Smith found himself at a strange place more than a year ago: creatively blocked and several years past his last album, released in 2014.
Shotgun Rider, the Texas duo of Logan Samford and Anthony Enriquez, knows the task ahead — building a base in Texas and beyond — means introducing fans to two distinctives, the band’s West Texas-lonesome sound and its name.
Tejano icon Little Joe Hernandez admits that though he lives in Temple, he doesn’t play many dates for his Waco neighbors.
The Central Texas Choral Society will do its part to mark the centennial of American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein by performing his “Chichester Psalms” in its spring concert Monday night at Truett Seminary’s Powell Chapel.
It’s not just wine stimulating the senses at the Waco Winery Tasting Room and Rooftop Patio, but sound and sight from its small stage.
Atlanta saxophonist Mace Hibbard performs with the Waco Jazz Orchestra on Monday night, but with a different status: distinguished guest artist rather than talented Waco High School student.
When the band Honest Men opens for Kings Kaleidoscope Sunday night at Common Grounds, they’ll know the territory: The band started three years ago at Baylor University and Common Grounds was a basic venue.
Live music and award recognitions combine Friday night at the Music Association of Central Texas’ annual Groovy Awards, held at Lee Lockwood Library and Museum.
The band names Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and California Honeydrops offer no clues to the style of music they perform — horn-driven swing and infectious rhythm-and-blues/soul, respectively — but both suggest an easygoing, fun vibe for their audiences.
Texas country star Pat Green comes back to Waco’s The Backyard April 27 with a new album of his songs. That’s not unusual, but who’s singing them is: a Who’s Who of Texas country.
Texas country singer-songwriter Josh Grider returns to his former musical stomping grounds of Waco Saturday night to open for Josh Abbott and his band at The Backyard in what Grider jokingly refers to as “a night of two Joshes.”
Atlanta-based comic, rapper and online personality DC Young Fly headlines shows at 7:30 and 10 p.m. Friday at the Waco Hippodrome, 724 Austin Ave.
Texas country singer Cody Johnson looks at Saturday’s concert at the Extraco Events Center where he’s headlining a lineup of Mark Chesnutt, William Michael Morgan and Shotgun Rider, and thinks how far he’s come in Waco.
Nashville country singer Maggie Rose has been playing and performing for more than 10 years, but Thursday night marks something new: her first show in Waco.
Gaetano Donizetti’s 1840 comic opera “The Daughter of the Regiment” returns to a Waco stage Friday and Saturday as McLennan Opera’s spring production.
The audience at the Waco Symphony Orchestra’s season-closing April 12 concert at Waco Hall likely will recognize the music, passages from more than a dozen movie themes and soundtracks.
David Rovics sings to educate, motivate and entertain, all during the same show or rally, but, then, that’s what an activist folksinger does.
Performer Johnny Lovett wants to save the sounds of country music’s greats and the vault is his voice.
Spring weather is bringing more than flowers and Waco music fans might want to stock up on insect repellent with regional and national acts scheduled for outdoor night concerts, many set along the Brazos River’s stretch through Waco.
Austin singer-songwriter and Waco native Jaimee Harris is quick to talk in a phone interview after arriving in Michigan hours earlier for a show that night.
Violinist Simone Porter has another musical instrument in mind when talking about the concerto she’ll perform with the Waco Symphony Orchestra on Saturday: the human voice.
This year’s Brazos Nights concert series continues its long-running musical diversity, with announced acts representing jazz, vintage Tejano, rhythm-and-blues, soul, blues and rock — in only four bands.
Texas singer-songwriters Jack Ingram and Hayes Carll team up Tuesday night for a joint acoustic concert at the Waco Hippodrome and if the past is any predictor, it’ll be a show on their own terms and in their own voices. They come to Waco after a similar show at Hank’s Texas Grill in McKinney on Sunday.
Part of the beauty of jazz improvisation lies the serendipity of the unexpected. In the case of singer Tyrha Lindsey and the Waco Jazz Orchestra, the unexpected led to her appearance as guest vocalist for Saturday’s WJO concert at the Waco Hippodrome.
Americana singer-songwriter Dan Layus can measure the distance between his solo career and when he was frontman for the indie rock band Augustana in years, but in distance as well.
When Texas country singers Holly Tucker, Adrian Johnston and Jackie Darlene step out on stage at the Waco Hippodrome March 15, they’re also sticking their (collective) foot in the door.
Unlike many classical musicians, an organist can’t travel with his or her instrument, but has to perform on someone else’s. At the same time, it takes an organist’s individual talent and interpretation to bring that instrument to life, notes Grammy Award-winning organist Paul Jacobs.
Texas country musician Larry Joe Taylor and his four-piece band play Friday at the Waco Hippodrome and while many in his audience may not know the significance of the date, he does: It’s Texas Independence Day.
Precision. Style. Chanting. The thudding rhythm of a dozen or more boots hitting the stage at the same time. The slap of hands on chests, thighs and upper arms. Singing and storytelling through the body.
Veteran performers seek to find the intersection of two maxims: Give the audience what they want and leave them wanting more.
Waco's Standard Hat Works now home for online country music station Troubadour Country Radio.
This spring, Waco singer-songwriter Thomas Csorba will trade the coffeehouse that has acted as a sort of home base over the last few months, Pinewood Roasters, for other coffeehouses and clubs across the state.
Dallas musician Jeff Grossman and his band Saints Eleven make their Waco debut Saturday night as the second band of the annual Zack and Jim Anniversary Blowout, but he’s no stranger to the territory.
When Randy Rogers plays the open-air stage Friday night at The Backyard, he might find himself thinking of making music in another large, but closed room: Nashville’s famed RCA Studio A.
Texas music icon Gary P. Nunn is quick to turn to the wisdom of another songwriter when talk runs to his long career.
West Coast gospel singer and choir leader Brent Jones performs with the Waco Community Choir Saturday at Victorious Life Church, a concert that will be recorded as Jones' second live album.
Miami University musicologist Tammy Kernodle will highlight the women who used songs and music to advance freedom and civil rights in her musical program “She Sang Freedom,” presented Thursday night at Baylor University’s Bennett Auditorium.
The names Aaron Barker, Allen Shamblin and J.T. Harding may not make heads nod among many country music fans.
Local musicians and regional acts often don’t connect outside of shared songs, but the two are linked in two shows taking place this week.
Those who follow the local jazz scene know pianist Dave Wild from his frequent appearances at Waco-area clubs and restaurants.
The line between opera and musical theater, if any hard line ever existed, gets bridged in the Baylor Opera Theater’s current production of Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music.”
When San Francisco-based men’s ensemble Chanticleer performs Tuesday at Baylor University’s Jones Concert Hall, audience members shouldn’t expect a traditional men’s choral sound of bass, baritone and tenor parts.
