At only 25 years old, Chicago singer-songwriter Joe Pug has the lyrical chops of a man twice his age and just as much grit...if not more. With this winter's Messenger, Pug jumps out of the staid strummer pack with self-damning lines like "I undressed somebody's daughter, then complained about...

One of the most diverse cities in the U.S., if not the world, Houston is sending a delegation to SXSW that resembles its hometown more than ever. This year more than 20 Houston acts were officially accepted, and many more will head to Austin to play one (or several) of the music festival's myriad un...

Think you know all there is to know about Willie Nelson? Even if you own all 200-something of his albums — something even Shotgun himself likely can't claim — no Nelson discography is complete without Phosphorescent's 2009 LP To Willie (Dead Oceans). Mining the venerable outlaw's ...

Leave it to two of Houston's biggest punk-rock troublemakers to seed the weekend before SXSW with a pair of switchblade CD releases, each packing a Texas-size helping of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Friday at Mango's, Hell City Kings unveil their new Wolf EP, their first recording since new ...

In the big picture of rock and roll guitar players, Dick Dale ranks with giants like Les Paul, Link Wray and Nokie Edwards. One of the prize warhorses in Fender's stable for decades and the first artist to play through a 100-watt amplifier (the Showman amp became a Fender flagship), Dale rode his St...