Music of Texas
Encyclopedia
Texas
has long been a center for musical innovation. Texans have pioneered musical developments in tejano & conjunto music, Western Swing
, Jazz
, punk rock
, mariachi
, country music
, electronic music
, gothic
and industrial music
and the blues
. Famous Texan musicians and groups include Bob Wills/Texas Playboys/Light Crust Doughboys, Milton Brown/Musical Brownies/Light Crust Doughboys, T-Bone Walker
, Freddie King
, Charlie Christian
, Red Garland
, Eddie Durham
, Albert Collins
, Blind Willie Johnson
, Johnny Copeland
, Z.Z. Hill
, Pee Wee Crayton
, Harry Choates
, Lightnin' Hopkins
, Gatemouth Brown, Leadbelly
, Big Mama Thorton, Blind Lemon Jefferson
, Sippie Wallace
, Victoria Spivey
, Mance Lipscomb
, Scott Joplin
, Hot Lips Page, Gene Ramey
, Jack Teagarden
, Teddy Wilson
, Kenny Dorham
, Ella Mae Morse
, Charles Brown
, Ernest Tubb
, Lefty Frizzell
, George Jones
, Leon Payne
, Tex Ritter
, Roger Miller
, Kenny Rogers
, Willie Nelson
, Johnny Horton
, George Strait
, Jim Reeves
, Waylon Jennings
, Buck Owens
, Buddy Holly
, Roy Orbison
, Ray Price, Doug Sahm/Sir Douglas Quintet/Texas Tornados, Clifton Chenier
, T-Bone Burnett
, Edgar Winter
, Johnny Winter
, Stevie Ray Vaughan
, Johnny Taylor, Lydia Mendoza
, Flaco Jimenez
, Santiago Jimenez Sr., Beto Villa, Narcisco Martinez, Archie Bell & the Drells
, Johnny Guitar Watson, Ornette Coleman
, King Curtis
, Mickey Newbury
, Phil Ochs
, Townes Van Zandt
, Selena Quintanilla, Pantera
, Steve Miller Band
, Boz Scaggs
, Charlie Sexton
, Janis Joplin
, ZZ Top
, Eric Johnson
and many others.
ians like Milton Brown
and Bob Wills
helped invent Western swing
while Grammy Award winning artists like Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel tour the country and release recordings that keep Western Swing alive. Other genres of country evoleve, like Marcia Ball
, combineing country with Cajun
influences. The Texan Ernest Tubb
, and his country song "I'm Walking the Floor Over You" was a song which set the stage for the rise of stars like Lefty Frizzell
and Johnny Horton
.
Ponty Bone
, Joe Ely
, Lloyd Maines
, Butch Hancock
, Terry Allen, Jimmie Dale Gilmore
and Tommy Hancock
, among others, helped invent the 1960s Lubbock sound
, based out of Lubbock, Texas
. Outlaw country
was another offshoot that had roots in Texas, with Texans like Waylon Jennings
, Jerry Jeff Walker
and Willie Nelson
leading the movement, ably supported by writers like Billy Joe Shaver
. It was this scene, based out of Austin, that inspired performers like Guy Clark
and Townes Van Zandt
, whose poetic narratives owed much to the folk tradition and who proved enormously influential on younger Texan artists as Nanci Griffith
and Steve Earle
who inspired the later alternative country
scene.
Tex Ritter
and Jim Reeves
both grew up in Panola County
in East Texas
.
Mac Davis
is a singer and songwriter from Lubbock. He became one of the most successful country singers of the 1970s and 1980s.
Kenny Rogers
, from Houston, has a career spanning for over 50 years. His album, The Gambler, remains one of the most famous country albums ever released, having sold a reported 35 million copies world-wide. Despite his huge success he has yet to be inducted into either The Texas Country Music Hall of Fame
or Country Music Hall of Fame. However, the BBC
did name him the second best performer of all-time in a 1999 Country Music television special.
Also from the Houston area are Clint Black
(grew up in Memorial), Robert Earl Keen
(Sharpstown), and Lyle Lovett
(grew up near Klein
).
Modern musicians like George Strait
continue to carry on the tradition of country music in Texas. George is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional Country music. George Strait holds the world record for more number-one hit singles than any other artist in the history of music on any chart or in any genre, having recorded 58 number-one hit singles as of 2011.
Within country music, the works of singers such as Robert Earl Keen
, Kevin Fowler
, Cory Morrow
, Jack Ingram
, Mark David Manders, Jerry Jeff Walker
, Pat Green
, Wade Bowen
, Eli Young Band
and others are often dubbed "Texas music". Brian Burns
, a product of Central Texas, sometimes called The Last True Texas Troubadour, has achieved note especially through his historical ballads about Texas.
originated in the Mississippi Delta
and had spread to Texas by the beginning of the 20th century. African American workers at lumber camps, oilfields and other locations loved the music, and avidly attended local performances. When the Great Depression
hit, many of these musicians moved to cities like Houston and Galveston, where they created a style known as Texas blues. Blind Lemon Jefferson
(in and around Dallas) was the first major artist of the field, and he was followed by legends like Blind Willie Johnson (who was principally a gospel singer) and Big Mama Thornton
and Lightnin' Hopkins
and Mance Lipscomb. By the 1970s, Texas blues had lost its popularity, but was revived by the blues rock stylings of artists like Johnny Nitzinger, Johnny Winter
, Edgar Winter
, ZZ Top
, Bugs Henderson and The Fabulous Thunderbirds
, who set the stage for Stevie Ray Vaughan
's blues revival in the 80's.
, a very famous rock and roll
musician from the 1950s. Another up and coming singer, from Wink, Texas
, was also making waves in the music scene. His name was Roy Orbison
. He was followed by Buddy Knox
, Bobby Fuller
and Dallas rockabilly
stars Gene Summers
, Johnny Carroll
and Ronnie Dawson.
The next decade witnessed such greats as Janis Joplin
, from Port Arthur. She is ranked #46 on Rolling Stone 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Doug Sahm
's Sir Douglas Quintet
released several innovative performances, as did psychedelic rock
underground legends 13th Floor Elevators
, led by Roky Erickson
. The hard rock of ZZ Top
was born out of the bands American Blues
and Moving Sidewalks
in Houston in 1969. In 1971, Bloodrock
from Ft. Worth released "D.O.A.",an international hit. Don Henley
of the Eagles grew up in Linden, Texas
.
More recently, Texas, especially the cities of Austin and Denton, has produced garage rock
, punk rock
and indie rock
bands like Lift to Experience
(Denton). San Antonio produced Butthole Surfers
in the 1980s as well as the Doom Metal band; Las Cruces in the 90's, and El Paso was the home of At the Drive-In
and its two offshoots, Sparta
and The Mars Volta
. The Arlington-area
band Pantera
went on to become heavily influential in the metal
genre.
Other notable bands include Drowning Pool
, Coilback
, Paleface
, Element Eighty
, Jacknife
and The Destro. Houston metal bands from the '80s include Helstar
, King's X
, Galactic Cowboys
, The Hunger
and Ripper. And Dead Horse
sound spread across copious cities, especially Austin
and Houston. Austin in particular was considered a significant punk city; major venues there in the late 1970s-early 1980s included Raul's, where the Austin punk/new wave scene began, spearheaded by the Skunks
and the Violators in the first weeks of 1978. Other significant venues included the Continental Club on South Congress Avenue and the (now defunct) Club Foot Fourth Street downtown. The Skunks
, which featured Jesse Sublett
on bass and vocals, attracted significant attention to the scene because of their loyal following and also because touring bands, including Patti Smith
, Elvis Costello
, the Clash
, Blondie
and others dropped in at their gigs at Raul's and the Continental Club to jam with them. Radio played a major role in spreading both the sound and creating the culture of punk.
In Houston, two pioneering radio programs in particular, Marilyn Mock's S&M Show on KTRU-FM and Perry Coma's The Funhouse Show on KPFT-FM, were instrumental in helping create the punk scene in that city, through band interviews and playing import-only records, as well as the flamboyant personalities of the DJs. Local punk zines like XLR8 and music weeklies such as Public News, and independent record outlets like Real Records, Record Rack, Record Exchange, and Vinal Edge not only scoured the world for punk and "new wave" sounds, but they hosted in-store concerts where fans could meet the artists. The punk scene flourished in the early 1980s, led by the Skunks
, the Big Boys, The Dicks
, MDC
, Really Red
, The Degenerates, The Hates, The Judy's
, the Volumatix, DRI (band)
, Sik Mentality, the Killerwatts and Culturcide
; so did the scene in Dallas, with groups such as The Hugh Beaumont Experience
and Stick Men with Ray Guns
. Some notable Houston clubs were the Island, Cabaret Voltaire (a punk rock club in the warehouse district of downtown),the Apocalypse Monster Club (in the Clear Lake area near NASA), the Axiom (in one of the old Cabaret Voltaire locations), Fitzgerald's
, The Abyss, and Numbers (a predominantly new wave club). In the mid '90s post-punk act At the Drive-In
formed in El Paso. Among some notable Horror punk and psychobilly bands that hail out of Texas are The Reverend Horton Heat
, The Flametrick Subs.
bands from Texas also reached mainstream popularity during the late 1980s and early 1990s. These included bands like Toadies
(whose biggest hit, "Possum Kingdom
", was named for a lake west of Fort Worth), Flickerstick
, Fastball (band)
, The Duckhills, Tripping Daisy
, and by the end of the '90s The Polyphonic Spree
. In the 2000s, Bowling for Soup
reached popularity, as well as Burden Brothers
(which was co-founded by Toadies lead singer Vaden Todd Lewis
). The Christian
themed alternative band Flyleaf
is from Belton
. Also Forever The Sickest Kids
from Dallas, TX.
Ragtime composer, Scott Joplin
, was born in 1868 near Texarkana
.
was organized in 1855, and is the oldest Sacred Harp
convention in Texas, and the second oldest the United States. The Southwest Texas Sacred Harp Convention was organized in 1900.
Sacred Harp and other books in four shape notation were the forerunners of seven shape note
gospel music
. According to the Handbook of Texas
, "The first Texas community singing using the seven shape note tradition reportedly occurred in the latter part of December 1879. Itinerant teachers representing the A. J. Showalter Company of Dalton, Georgia – including company founder A. J. Showalter – ventured west to Giddings in East Texas and conducted a rural music school that lasted for several weeks." Texas has been home to several gospel music convention publishers, including the National Music Company, Stamps-Baxter Music and Printing Company (founded in 1924 by V. O. Stamps, who later partnered with J. R. Baxter), and the Stamps Quartet Music Company (founded by Frank Stamps). Convention gospel music and community singings still occur in a number of Texas towns, including Mineral Wells, Brownfield, Jacksonville, Seymour, and Stephenville.
is the fusion of several different musical influences, such as German polka
, Mexican rancheras, jazz, and zydeco, among others. Lydia Mendoza
, Santiago Almeida
, Flaco Jiménez
, Joe Hernandez
, Freddie Fender and Narciso Martínez
remain some of its most influential figures. Selena Quintanilla helped bring the genre more attention in the 90's with one of the first Spanish to English crossover hits ever, adding influences from Mexican cumbia
to the R&B trend of the day.San Angelo
band Los Lonely Boys
fuse Tejano with contemporary blues and jazz.
has long been the focus of an independent hip-hop music scene, influencing and influenced by the larger Southern hip hop and gangsta rap
communities. Notable solo artists include Chamillionaire
, Paul Wall
, Scarface
and groups such as Geto Boys
and UGK
. The Houston hip hop scene is known for the chopped and screwed
sound, and remains the location most associated with the style. Vanilla Ice
is from Carrollton, Texas. The D.O.C.
is from West Dallas. He worked with Dr. Dre as an artist and writer. Newcomers such as Dorrough
and Dondria
also hail form Dallas.
, Sin D.N.A., Virus Filter, Souless Affection are aggrotech bands based in Texas, as is the multifaceted electronic duo Mentallo and the Fixer
.
's artistic community helped popularize artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughan
, Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac, The Police
and Elvis Costello
in the Southwest. Tex-Mex/New Wave
bands as Vallejo and Joe King Carrasco & the Crowns
gained some national fame. Local punk and New Wave bands in the late 1970s included The Huns and the Skunks
, along with The Delinquents, and Standing Waves. These bands soon clashed with an influx of hardcore punk
bands like The Dicks
, The Offenders
, and Big Boys
.
Austin, especially through its central music scene in the corridors of Red River Avenue, South Congress Avenue and 6th Street, has been dubbed The Live Music Capital of the World." The Texas Music Hall of Fame' and Texas Music Museum are also located here. The Austin area is home to South by Southwest
, one of the largest annual music festivals in the United States. Austin has long been a hub of innovative psychedelic sound from the pioneering Roky Erikson and the 13th Floor Elevators
to the Butthole Surfers
, and hosts an annual festival celebrating the genre and Austin's contributions to it - Austin Psych Fest.
Austin is currently home to a number of bands that are enjoying popularity as part of the indie rock
scene that is gaining prominence in the United States. These include Spoon
, Ghostland Observatory
, ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness
, Explosions in the Sky
, Okkervil River, The Black Angels
, The Gary, and White Denim among others.
The transition of the Austin music scene from the mid-seventies progressive country scene to the punk/new wave and alternative influence that followed is captured in Jesse Sublett
's memoir, "Never the Same Again: A Rock n' Roll Gothic," which details Sublett's experiences with the Skunks and other bands during that time period. Sublett has also documented the Austin music scene in his music-themed crime novels, "Rock Critic Murders," "Tough Baby," and "Boiled in Concrete."
, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Janis Joplin
, Barbara Lynn
, Edgar
and Johnny Winter
, J.P. Richardson
aka "The Big Bopper", country stars Mark Chesnutt
, Tracy Byrd, and Clay Walker
, and Jimmy and David Lee Kaiser, and rappers Pimp C
and Bun B
of UGK
.Also the Sword
, Lead Belly, Blind Lemon Jefferson
, Blind Willie Johnson
, and even Robert Johnson himself first recorded in this area, just as Bob Wills
and the Light Crust Doughboys
were leaving the studio. Throughout the 1940s, 50s and 60's, country, western, and blues continued to flourish, producing a plethora of notable entertainers including Stevie Ray Vaughan
. As rock'n'roll swept the land, Dallas has also become a hotbed for producing progressive, edgy music... a trend that has continued to this day. Dallas has a vibrant live music scene, that continues to center around the Deep Ellum area. Unfortunately the City of Dallas at one time restricted the growth of this neighborhood, an attempt to control traffic and crime, to the point where the history and heritage were longer thriving, however many groups and efforts are being made to reverse these trends. In the past several years, several notable musicians have come from Dallas, including Erykah Badu
, Gibby Haynes
of the Butthole Surfers
, Mike Nesmith of The Monkees
, Neon Indian
, The Polyphonic Spree
, Old 97s, St. Vincent, Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians, LehtMoJoe
, Toadies
, MeatLoaf
, Baboon
, The Secret Machines
, Dorrough
, Mount Righteous
, The Paper Chase
, Devourment
, Absu, Course of Empire
, Coilback
, MC 900 Ft. Jesus
, Reverend Horton Heat, Lone Star Trio, Sofa Kingdom, Princess Tex, End Over End, The Trees, Three On A Hill, Buck Pets, Chomsky, The Deathray Davies, Shallow Reign, Loco Gringos, Hash Palace, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!, Decadent Dub Team, Rigor Mortis, Karma Gettin, Lithium X-mas, Matthew and the Arrogant Sea and Alex Moore.
Jazz studies program, the first of its kind in the country, but in the last 20 years Denton's vibrant and diverse music culture has grown beyond the collegiate world of UNT's College of Music. In 2004 and 2005, the roster of the town's performing and touring music acts remained between 90 and 100, a high number considering the town's 2000 U.S. census population figure of only 80,537 people. Denton bands include: longtime mainstay and twice Grammy award-winning Brave Combo
, EXIT 380, The Wee-Beasties
, Norah Jones
, Lift to Experience
, Centro-Matic
, Brutal Juice
, Drunk Skunks, SayWhat, Chyeah Boi, the Don't Be Scurd, OkieDoke, South San Gabriel
, Slobberbone
, The Drams, Midlake
, Record Hop, History At Our Disposal, the Marked Men
, Fergus & Geronimo
, Eli Young Band
and Bosque Brown
. Denton's music culture makes the smaller town Texas' only other city, outside of Austin, that could claim such a title as "music town", a reflection of city's own creative and progressive dominant cultural base. Several music festivals are hosted in Denton, including North by 35
(NX35) and Denton Arts and Jazz Festival
.
, The Girls of the Golden West
, Buddy Starcher
,Yodelin' Kenny Roberts, and many other country music and gospel pioneers, many of whom had been popular on radio in the '20s - 40s.
Before this, however, Bob Wills got his start just north of Fort Worth in Saginaw at the Light Crust Flour Mill. This is where Bob Wills, Leon McAuliffe, and Tommy Duncan first started playing music together. Wills recruited the Light Crust Doughboys and they later changed their name to Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys.
In 1971, Bloodrock
had 3 albums at once on Billboard Magazine's top 100 charts. After 8 albums on E.M.I./Capitol, they maintain a worldwide cult following. A co-writer of Bloodrock songs and hits, Johnny Nitzinger still plays local venues and creates recordings. The Toadies' debut album Rubberneck went platinum in 1996. Ornette Coleman
hails from Fort Worth, as does T-Bone Burnett
. Aside from lead singer Jerry Roush, all members of nintendocore
band Sky Eats Airplane are also from Ft. Worth.
Also, many songwriters of note have come from Fort Worth. Townes Van Zandt
, Delbert McClinton
, Steve Earle
(who was influenced by, but not from, Fort Worth), Freddie King, David Persons, Johnny Redd and many others have been formed, and have also influenced in their own turn, the music of the unique mixture of styles and influences that characterizes Fort Worth's eclectic music history and scene. While each worked in a variety of styles and venues, all shared the unique story type style of songwriting that has marked Fort Worth's music since the early days of Western Swing
.
and the primordial sludge rock of Rusted Shut, the 713 has long waved the freak flag over the Lone Star state. The Pain Teens
and Richard Ramirez (musician)
are among the better known Houston Noise Bands
. Notable rising bands include Spain Colored Orange
, Southern Backtones, Jennifer Grassman
, and The Ton Tons. Among the city's most influential punk bands were the hardcore Really Red
and DRI
. Culturcide
, Verbal Abuse, Stark Raving Mad, Sik Mentality, Dresden 45
, Legionaire's Disease, The Hates, AK-47, The Killerwatz, Free Money, The Recipients and The Degenerates also played. It is known for its chopped and screwed
rap music, popularized by DJ Screw
and the Screwed Up Click
. Houston also is the home of lo-fi music straddeling blues, folk, and modent antiphonal traditions, as epitomised by elusive cult hero Jandek
and the slightly more visible Jana Hunter
. Houston is also the birthplace and final resting place of Chris Whitley
(1960–2005) who won a Grammy for his Livin with the Law album and revolutionized the National steel Dobro
guitar and enjoyed a massive cult following, but died prematurely of lung cancer in 2005. Houston is home to Beyoncé Knowles
and the other three original members of Destiny's Child
. Houston is also the birth place of the alternative rock band Blue October
. Houston has had sizable folk-country and blues scenes dating back to the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, which included many now famous performers such as Guy Clark
, Townes Van Zandt
, Lyle Lovett
, Robert Earl Keen
and Lightnin' Hopkins
, Albert Collins
, Big Mama Thornton
, and Johnny Copeland
who were signed with the hometown Peacock Records
.
and Heavy Metal
, San Antonio
throws the Tejano Conjunto Festival, an annual three-day event celebrating Conjunto
music, the largest of it's kind in the world. Many of the Conjunto legends lived and recorded here. Names like Valerio Longoria, Santiago Jimenez Sr. and Jr., Flaco Jimenez (who has recorded with everyone from Bob Dylan to the Rolling Stones), Steve Jordan and many others. San Antonio was also one of the major centers for Chicano Soul along with Los Angeles, California. Sunny & The Sunliners cracked the Top Ten and were the first Mexican American act to appear nationally on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. Other significant Chicano Soul bands included Rudy & The Reno Bops, Royal Jesters, Dimas Garza, The Dell Tones, Joe Bravo, The Lyrics, and Sonny Ace. At first thought, San Antonio, Texas, is not immediately associated with the development of jazz.; yet the city does have a long and very creditable history. In the 1920s and '30s, many of the legendary territory bands played there as they swung through south-east Texas, among them Alphonso Trent and Tenrrence T. Holder. Resident in San Antonio itself for long periods was Troy Floyd's band, sometime home to trumpeter Don Albert and tenor saxophonists Herschel Evans and Buddy Tate. Floyd's band regularly played at both the Shadowland Ballroom and the Plaza Hotel; from the latter, they were broadcast over station HTSA. When Don Albert later formed his own band, which included clarinetists and saxophonists Herb Hall and Louis Cottrell plus trumpeter Alvin Alcorn, they, too, played the Shadowland. Albert, incidentally, was the first bandleader to use the word "swing" in his billing: "America's Greatest Swing Band." And drummer Clifford "Boots" Douglas formed his band, Boots and his Buddies, in San Antonio in 1932 and remained based there. Among individual musicians with long associations with the city were brothers Ernie and Emilio Caceres. Clarinetist and saxophonist Ernie played with many swing-era bands, including those led by Jack Teagarden, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, and Woody Herman. After long periods in New York, where he was often in the company of Eddie Condon and Bobby Hackett, he settled in San Antonio, remaining there for the rest of his life. His violin-playing brother, Emilio, was less adventurous, preferring to stay close to San Antonio; and another brother, trumpeter Pinero, also played in the area. The Caceres family name lives on in the 1990s through David, a fine young bop altoist who can be heard in some of the city's many nightspots which cater to the tourists, mostly American, who descend in the thousands on San Antonio all year round. (1) San Antonio also spawned the Butthole Surfers
, a hardcore alternative rock
band which broke into the mainstream in the mid-1990s, signing to Capitol Records
and successfully charting several singles and albums. Other successful acts born and bred in San Antonio are: Boxcar Satan
, Two Tons of Steel
, The Union Underground
, Las Cruces
, Sane, and Fearless Iranians From Hell. San Antonio has deep roots in America's classical music, Jazz
, with KRTU-FM
representing one of the most significant jazz radio stations in the country, and the Jim Cullum Jazz Band
serving as a staple act on the San Antonio Riverwalk. Fellow college radio station, KSYM-FM
, features 'The Best of the Beatles' with Richard Turner, relying on one of the most comprehensive collections of Beatles recordings ever amassed to spin on his weekly show. San Antonio is also home to the Texas Music Coalition (http://www.texasmusiccoalition.org/index.php) and Local782, both musician-led, non-profit initiatives seeking to educate and empower Texas-based musicians by organizing events throughout the year, including seminars, performances, mixers, showcases, and fundraisers. A slew of new rock bands started in the 00s have joined a couple longer-running favorites, Girl In A Coma
- whose song "Clumsy Sky" won Best Punk Song in The 7th Annual Independent Music Awards - and Buttercup, to develop a burgeoning 'indie' scene. These bands include: Blowing Trees, Morris Orchids, We Leave At Midnight, Cartographers, and Education, the last whom's 2011 album, Age Cage, was produced by Gordon Raphael
, renowned producer of the Strokes
' Is this It
and Regina Spektor
's Soviet Kitsch. Exponential Records has helped put San Antonio Electronica
on the map, catapulting artists like Diego Chavez, a.k.a. Aether - whose album Artifacts received a 7 out of 10 from the notoriously stingy Pitchfork Media
, and Ernest Gonzales, a.k.a. Mexicans With Guns, to much wider audiences. San Antonio has a thriving Hip Hop
community as well, including the R&B-tinged duo Mojoe, of Classic.Ghetto.Soul fame, the rapper Question, collaborator with Talib Kweli
and Bun B
on the track "I'm So Tall", and the Vultures crew, whose album Desert Eagles, Vol. 1 was praised by the San Antonio Current
's Best Music Advocate of 2010 as "the most complete record to ever come out of San Antonio".
was also home to Reverend Horton Heat singer Jim Heath and American
Garage Rock
band Zakary Thaks
. Corpus was also home to several waves of DIY punk
and hardcore
bands like, The Krayons, Black Milk, Loser, Right Turn Clyde, Slug Bug, Happy Meal, Festus, Sweet Daddy, Four Man March, Eddie and the Holocaust, Jedi Mind Trick, Peter Torpedo, The Booked, The Dip Shits, Fifth Column, Drastic Action, The Wrong Crowd, Devastation and Brutal Poverty.
has a number of local bands, including This Will Destroy You
.
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
has long been a center for musical innovation. Texans have pioneered musical developments in tejano & conjunto music, Western Swing
Western swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands...
, Jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, mariachi
Mariachi
Mariachi is a genre of music that originated in the State of Jalisco, in Mexico. It is an integration of stringed instruments highly influenced by the cultural impacts of the historical development of Western Mexico. Throughout the history of mariachi, musicians have experimented with brass, wind,...
, country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
, gothic
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
and industrial music
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
and the blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
. Famous Texan musicians and groups include Bob Wills/Texas Playboys/Light Crust Doughboys, Milton Brown/Musical Brownies/Light Crust Doughboys, T-Bone Walker
T-Bone Walker
Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker was a critically acclaimed American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who was one of the most influential pioneers and innovators of the jump blues and electric blues sound. He is the first musician recorded playing blues with the...
, Freddie King
Freddie King
Freddie King , thought to have been born as Frederick Christian, originally recording as Freddy King, and nicknamed "the Texas Cannonball", was an influential African-American blues guitarist and singer. He is often mentioned as one of "the Three Kings" of electric blues guitar, along with Albert...
, Charlie Christian
Charlie Christian
Charles Henry "Charlie" Christian was an American swing and jazz guitarist.Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar, and is cited as a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra...
, Red Garland
Red Garland
William "Red" Garland was an American hard bop jazz pianist whose block chord style, in part originated by Milt Buckner, influenced many forthcoming pianists in the jazz idiom.-Beginnings:...
, Eddie Durham
Eddie Durham
Eddie Durham was an American jazz guitarist, trombonist, composer and musical arranger of the swing music medium born in San Marcos, Texas, probably best known for his work with musicians like Cab Calloway, Willie Bryant, Andy Kirk, Glenn Miller, Jimmie Lunceford and Count Basie, among others...
, Albert Collins
Albert Collins
Albert Collins was an American electric blues guitarist and singer whose recording career began in the 1960s in Houston and whose fame eventually took him to stages across the US, Europe, Japan and Australia...
, Blind Willie Johnson
Blind Willie Johnson
"Blind" Willie Johnson was an American singer and guitarist, whose music straddled the border between blues and spirituals....
, Johnny Copeland
Johnny Copeland
Johnny Copeland was an American Texas blues guitarist and singer.-Career:Born in Haynesville, Louisiana, United States, while Copeland was becoming interested in music, he also pursued boxing, mostly as an avocation, and it is from his days as a boxer that he got his nickname "Clyde." Also as a...
, Z.Z. Hill
Z.Z. Hill
Arzell "Z. Z." Hill was an American blues singer, in the soul blues tradition, known for his 1970s and 1980s recordings for Malaco. His 1982 album, Down Home, stayed on the Billboard soul album chart for nearly two years. The track "Down Home Blues" has been called the best-known blues song of the...
, Pee Wee Crayton
Pee Wee Crayton
Connie Curtis Crayton , known as Pee Wee Crayton, was an American R&B and blues guitarist and singer.-Career:...
, Harry Choates
Harry Choates
Harry Choates was an American Cajun music fiddler....
, Lightnin' Hopkins
Lightnin' Hopkins
Sam John Hopkins better known as Lightnin’ Hopkins, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist, from Houston, Texas...
, Gatemouth Brown, Leadbelly
Leadbelly
Huddie William Ledbetter was an iconic American folk and blues musician, notable for his strong vocals, his virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the songbook of folk standards he introduced....
, Big Mama Thorton, Blind Lemon Jefferson
Blind Lemon Jefferson
"Blind" Lemon Jefferson was an American blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled "Father of the Texas Blues"....
, Sippie Wallace
Sippie Wallace
Sippie Wallace was an American singer-songwriter. Her early career in local tent shows gained her the billing "The Texas Nightingale". Between 1923 and 1927, she recorded over 40 songs for Okeh Records, many written by herself or her brothers, George and Hersal Thomas...
, Victoria Spivey
Victoria Spivey
Victoria Spivey was an American blues singer and songwriter. She is best known for her recordings of "Dope Head Blues" and "Organ Grinder Blues", and Spivey variously worked with her sister, Addie "Sweet Pease" Spivey, and with Bob Dylan, Lonnie Johnson, Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Clarence...
, Mance Lipscomb
Mance Lipscomb
Mance Lipscomb was an American blues singer, guitarist and songster. Born Beau De Glen Lipscomb near Navasota, Texas, United States, he as a youth took the name of 'Mance' from a friend of his oldest brother Charlie .-Biography:Lipscomb was born April 9, 1895 to an ex-slave father from Alabama and...
, Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions, and was later dubbed "The King of Ragtime". During his brief career, Joplin wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas...
, Hot Lips Page, Gene Ramey
Gene Ramey
Gene Ramey was an American jazz double bassist.Ramey was born in Austin, Texas, and played trumpet in college, but switched to sousaphone when playing with George Corley's Royal Aces, The Moonlight Serenaders, and Terrence Holder. In 1932 he moved to Kansas City and took up the bass, studying with...
, Jack Teagarden
Jack Teagarden
Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden , known as "Big T" and "The Swingin' Gate", was an influential jazz trombonist, bandleader, composer, and vocalist, regarded as the "Father of Jazz Trombone".-Early life:...
, Teddy Wilson
Teddy Wilson
Theodore Shaw "Teddy" Wilson was an American jazz pianist whose sophisticated and elegant style was featured on the records of many of the biggest names in jazz, including Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.-Biography:Wilson was born in Austin, Texas in...
, Kenny Dorham
Kenny Dorham
McKinley Howard Dorham was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer born in Fairfield, Texas. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention from the jazz establishment that many of his peers did...
, Ella Mae Morse
Ella Mae Morse
Ella Mae Morse , was an American popular singer. Morse blended jazz, country, pop, and R&B.-Career:Morse was born in Mansfield, Texas, United States. She was hired by Jimmy Dorsey when she was 14 years old. Dorsey believed she was 19, and when he was informed by the school board that he was now...
, Charles Brown
Charles Brown
Charlie Brown is the principal character in the comic strip Peanuts.Charlie or Charles Brown may also refer to:-Athletes:* Charlie Brown from Dumfries who played for home town club Queen of the South...
, Ernest Tubb
Ernest Tubb
Ernest Dale Tubb , nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" , marked the rise of the honky tonk style of music...
, Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell , born William Orville Frizzell, was an American country music singer and songwriter of the 1950s, and a proponent of honky tonk music. His relaxed style of singing was an influence on later stars Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, George Jones and John Fogerty...
, George Jones
George Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....
, Leon Payne
Leon Payne
Leon Payne , "the Blind Balladeer", was a country music singer and songwriter.-Life:Leon Roger Payne was born in Alba, Texas on June 15, 1917. He was blind in one eye at birth, and lost the sight of the other eye in early childhood. He attended the Texas School for the Blind from 1924 to 1935,...
, Tex Ritter
Tex Ritter
Woodward Maurice Ritter , better known as Tex Ritter, was an American country music singer and movie actor popular from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter family in acting...
, Roger Miller
Roger Miller
Roger Dean Miller was an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor, best known for his honky tonk-influenced novelty songs...
, Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
, Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
, Johnny Horton
Johnny Horton
John Gale "Johnny" Horton was an American country music and rockabilly singer most famous for his semi-folk, so-called "saga songs" which began the "historical ballad" craze of the late 1950s and early 1960s...
, George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...
, Jim Reeves
Jim Reeves
James Travis Reeves , better known as Jim Reeves, was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well-known for being a practitioner of the Nashville sound...
, Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing at eight. He began performing at twelve, on KVOW radio. Jennings formed a band The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV and KLLL...
, Buck Owens
Buck Owens
Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. , better known as Buck Owens, was an American singer and guitarist who had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band, the Buckaroos...
, Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
, Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
, Ray Price, Doug Sahm/Sir Douglas Quintet/Texas Tornados, Clifton Chenier
Clifton Chenier
Clifton Chenier , a Creole French-speaking native of Opelousas, Louisiana, was an eminent performer and recording artist of Zydeco, which arose from Cajun and Creole music, with R&B, jazz, and blues influences. He played the accordion and won a Grammy Award in 1983...
, T-Bone Burnett
T-Bone Burnett
Joseph Henry Burnett , widely known as T-Bone Burnett, is an American musician, songwriter, and soundtrack and record producer.He was a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band on the Rolling Thunder Revue...
, Edgar Winter
Edgar Winter
Edgar Holland Winter is an American musician. He is famous for being a multi-instrumentalist. He is a highly skilled keyboardist, saxophonist and percussionist. He often plays an instrument while singing. He was most successful in the 1970s with his band, The Edgar Winter Group, notably with their...
, Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter
John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...
, Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stephen Ray "Stevie Ray" Vaughan was an American electric blues guitarist and singer. He was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan and frontman for Double Trouble, a band that included bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton. Born in Dallas, Vaughan moved to Austin at the age of 17 and...
, Johnny Taylor, Lydia Mendoza
Lydia Mendoza
Lydia Mendoza was an American guitarist and singer of Tejano music. She is known as La Alondra de la Frontera ....
, Flaco Jimenez
Flaco Jiménez
Leonardo "Flaco" Jiménez is a Tejano music accordionist from San Antonio, Texas. Jiménez's father, Santiago Jiménez Sr. was a pioneer of conjunto music. He began performing with his father at age seven and recording at age fifteen, as a member of Los Caporales...
, Santiago Jimenez Sr., Beto Villa, Narcisco Martinez, Archie Bell & the Drells
Archie Bell & the Drells
Archie Bell & the Drells was a R&B vocal group from Houston, Texas, and one of the main acts on Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff's Philadelphia International Records...
, Johnny Guitar Watson, Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
, King Curtis
King Curtis
Curtis Ousley , who performed under the stage name King Curtis, was an American saxophone virtuoso known for rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, funk and soul jazz. Variously a bandleader, band member, and session musician, he was also a musical director and record producer...
, Mickey Newbury
Mickey Newbury
Mickey Newbury was an American songwriter, a critically acclaimed recording artist, and a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.-Biography:...
, Phil Ochs
Phil Ochs
Philip David Ochs was an American protest singer and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and haunting voice...
, Townes Van Zandt
Townes Van Zandt
John Townes Van Zandt , best known as Townes Van Zandt, was an American Texas Country-folk music singer-songwriter, performer, and poet...
, Selena Quintanilla, Pantera
Pantera
Pantera was an American heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas. Formed by the Abbott brothers, Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell in 1981, bassist Rex Brown would join in late 1981 with vocalist Terry Glaze. Looking for a new and heavier sound, Pantera had Terry replaced in 1987 with Phil Anselmo as...
, Steve Miller Band
Steve Miller Band
The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1967 in San Francisco, California. The band is managed by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals, and is known for a string of mid-1970s hit singles that are staples of the classic rock radio format.-History:In 1965, Steve Miller and...
, Boz Scaggs
Boz Scaggs
William Royce "Boz" Scaggs is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He gained fame in the 1970s with several Top 20 hit singles in the United States, along with the #2 album, Silk Degrees. Scaggs continues to write, record music and tour.-Early life and career:Scaggs was born in Canton,...
, Charlie Sexton
Charlie Sexton
Charles Wayne Sexton is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known for the 1985 hit Beat's So Lonely and as the guitarist for Bob Dylan's backing band from 1999 to 2002 and since 2009...
, Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
, ZZ Top
ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based boogie rock, has come to incorporate elements of arena, southern, and boogie rock. The band, from Houston Texas, formed in 1969...
, Eric Johnson
Eric Johnson
Eric Johnson is an American guitarist. Though he is best known for his success in the instrumental rock format, Johnson regularly incorporates jazz, fusion, gospel and country and western music into his recordings...
and many others.
Country music
Texan honky-tonk country musicCountry music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
ians like Milton Brown
Milton Brown
Milton Brown was an American band leader and vocalist who co-founded the genre of Western swing. His band was the first to fuse hillbilly hokum, jazz, and pop together into a unique, distinctly American hybrid, thus giving him the nickname, "Father of Western Swing"...
and Bob Wills
Bob Wills
James Robert Wills , better known as Bob Wills, was an American Western Swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader, considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western Swing and universally known as the pioneering King of Western Swing.Bob Wills' name will forever be associated with...
helped invent Western swing
Western swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands...
while Grammy Award winning artists like Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel tour the country and release recordings that keep Western Swing alive. Other genres of country evoleve, like Marcia Ball
Marcia Ball
Marcia Ball is an American blues singer and pianist, born in Orange, Texas but who grew up in Vinton, Louisiana. She was described in USA Today as "a sensation, saucy singer and superb pianist.....
, combineing country with Cajun
Cajun
Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...
influences. The Texan Ernest Tubb
Ernest Tubb
Ernest Dale Tubb , nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" , marked the rise of the honky tonk style of music...
, and his country song "I'm Walking the Floor Over You" was a song which set the stage for the rise of stars like Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell
Lefty Frizzell , born William Orville Frizzell, was an American country music singer and songwriter of the 1950s, and a proponent of honky tonk music. His relaxed style of singing was an influence on later stars Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, George Jones and John Fogerty...
and Johnny Horton
Johnny Horton
John Gale "Johnny" Horton was an American country music and rockabilly singer most famous for his semi-folk, so-called "saga songs" which began the "historical ballad" craze of the late 1950s and early 1960s...
.
Ponty Bone
Ponty Bone
Ponty Bone is a Texan accordionist who has led his 1980s band, the Squeezetones to international popularity over a twenty year period.Originally from San Antonio, Texas, Bone began studying accordion when he was only 5 years old. Later, he learned to play trumpet also...
, Joe Ely
Joe Ely
Joe Ely is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist whose music touches on honky-tonk, Texas Country, Tex-Mex and rock and roll....
, Lloyd Maines
Lloyd Maines
Lloyd Maines is an American Grammy Award-winning country music record producer, musician and songwriter. He was born and raised in Lubbock, Texas and is now based in Bulverde, Texas....
, Butch Hancock
Butch Hancock
Butch Hancock is a country/folk music recording artist and song writer. He was born July 12, 1945 in Lubbock, Texas. Hancock is a member of The Flatlanders along with Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, but he has principally performed a solo career....
, Terry Allen, Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Jimmie Dale Gilmore is a country singer, songwriter, actor, recording artist and producer, currently living in Austin, Texas.-Biography:...
and Tommy Hancock
Tommy Hancock
Tommy Hancock is widely regarded as the godfather of West Texas music.Born and raised in Lubbock, Texas, Hancock's grandmother had him classically trained in violin. But at age 16, Tommy joined the military and traveled overseas as a paratrooper and military policeman...
, among others, helped invent the 1960s Lubbock sound
Lubbock sound
Lubbock sound is a genre of American music that began with the popularity of Lubbock, Texas native Buddy Holly. The sound, a form of rock and roll with country roots, was heard all over the United States and gave rise to many imitators. Holly pioneered the now-standard rock-band lineup of two...
, based out of Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...
. Outlaw country
Outlaw country
Outlaw country is a subgenre of country music, most popular during the late 1960s and the 1970s , sometimes referred to as the outlaw movement or simply outlaw music...
was another offshoot that had roots in Texas, with Texans like Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing at eight. He began performing at twelve, on KVOW radio. Jennings formed a band The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV and KLLL...
, Jerry Jeff Walker
Jerry Jeff Walker
Jerry Jeff Walker is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is probably most famous for writing the song "Mr. Bojangles.-Biography:...
and Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
leading the movement, ably supported by writers like Billy Joe Shaver
Billy Joe Shaver
Billy Joe Shaver is a Texas country music singer and songwriter. Shaver's 1973 album Old Five and Dimers Like Me is a classic in the outlaw country genre.-Biography:...
. It was this scene, based out of Austin, that inspired performers like Guy Clark
Guy Clark
Guy Clark is an American Texas Country artist. In his career, he has released more than twenty albums, primarily on major labels. He has also written singles for other artists, including Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner and Rodney Crowell....
and Townes Van Zandt
Townes Van Zandt
John Townes Van Zandt , best known as Townes Van Zandt, was an American Texas Country-folk music singer-songwriter, performer, and poet...
, whose poetic narratives owed much to the folk tradition and who proved enormously influential on younger Texan artists as Nanci Griffith
Nanci Griffith
Nanci Griffith, is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter from Austin, Texas.-Biography:...
and Steve Earle
Steve Earle
Stephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....
who inspired the later alternative country
Alternative country
Alternative country is a loosely defined sub-genre of country music, which includes acts that differ significantly in style from mainstream or pop country music...
scene.
Tex Ritter
Tex Ritter
Woodward Maurice Ritter , better known as Tex Ritter, was an American country music singer and movie actor popular from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter family in acting...
and Jim Reeves
Jim Reeves
James Travis Reeves , better known as Jim Reeves, was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well-known for being a practitioner of the Nashville sound...
both grew up in Panola County
Panola County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 22,756 people, 8,821 households, and 6,395 families residing in the county. The population density was 28 people per square mile . There were 10,524 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile...
in East Texas
East Texas
East Texas is a distinct geographic and ecological area in the U.S. state of Texas.According to the Handbook of Texas, the East Texas area "may be separated from the rest of Texas roughly by a line extending from the Red River in north central Lamar County southwestward to east central Limestone...
.
Mac Davis
Mac Davis
Mac Davis is a country music singer, songwriter, and actor originally from Lubbock, Texas who has enjoyed much crossover success...
is a singer and songwriter from Lubbock. He became one of the most successful country singers of the 1970s and 1980s.
Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
, from Houston, has a career spanning for over 50 years. His album, The Gambler, remains one of the most famous country albums ever released, having sold a reported 35 million copies world-wide. Despite his huge success he has yet to be inducted into either The Texas Country Music Hall of Fame
Texas Country Music Hall of Fame
The Texas Country Music Hall of Fame/Tex Ritter Museum, located in Carthage in Panola County in East Texas honors those who have made outstanding contributions to country music and were born in the state of Texas. This includes singers, songwriters, disc jockeys and others.A museum, a large...
or Country Music Hall of Fame. However, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
did name him the second best performer of all-time in a 1999 Country Music television special.
Also from the Houston area are Clint Black
Clint Black
Clint Patrick Black is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and occasional actor. Signed to RCA Records in 1989, Black made his debut with his Killin' Time album, which produced four straight Number One singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country...
(grew up in Memorial), Robert Earl Keen
Robert Earl Keen
Robert Earl Keen, Junior is an American Texas Country singer-songwriter. He is popular with fans of traditional country music, folk music, college radio, and alt-country. Keen currently resides in Kerrville, Texas and maintains a ranch in Medina, Texas.-Early life:Growing up in Houston, Texas,...
(Sharpstown), and Lyle Lovett
Lyle Lovett
Lyle Pearce Lovett is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded thirteen albums and released 21 singles to date, including his highest entry, the number 10 chart hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, "Cowboy Man"...
(grew up near Klein
Klein, Texas
Klein is an unincorporated community in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Houston within north Harris County, Texas, United States, bordering on Houston to the South and Tomball to the North. It is named after Adam Klein, a German immigrant whose best-known great-great-grandson is singer Lyle...
).
Modern musicians like George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...
continue to carry on the tradition of country music in Texas. George is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional Country music. George Strait holds the world record for more number-one hit singles than any other artist in the history of music on any chart or in any genre, having recorded 58 number-one hit singles as of 2011.
Within country music, the works of singers such as Robert Earl Keen
Robert Earl Keen
Robert Earl Keen, Junior is an American Texas Country singer-songwriter. He is popular with fans of traditional country music, folk music, college radio, and alt-country. Keen currently resides in Kerrville, Texas and maintains a ranch in Medina, Texas.-Early life:Growing up in Houston, Texas,...
, Kevin Fowler
Kevin Fowler
Kevin Fowler is an American Texas Country artist. He has released five studio albums, and has charted three singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including the top 40 hit "Pound Sign "...
, Cory Morrow
Cory Morrow
Cory Morrow is a Texas Country singer/songwriter who has gained popularity throughout the Southwest. Morrow started playing guitar at Memorial High School in Houston. He continued to develop as a musician while attending Texas Tech University, where he was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity...
, Jack Ingram
Jack Ingram
Jack Owen Ingram is an American Texas Country artist signed to Big Machine Records, an independent record label. He has released eight studio albums, one extended play, six live albums and eighteen singles. Although active since 1992, Ingram did not reach the U.S. country Top 40 until the late...
, Mark David Manders, Jerry Jeff Walker
Jerry Jeff Walker
Jerry Jeff Walker is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is probably most famous for writing the song "Mr. Bojangles.-Biography:...
, Pat Green
Pat Green
Patrick Craven "Pat" Green is an American Texas Country artist. Active since 1995, he has recorded a total of ten studio albums, including several independent works, three for Republic Records and two for BNA...
, Wade Bowen
Wade Bowen
Wade Bowen is an American Texas Country/Red Dirt singer from Waco, Texas.Bowen was a member of the band, West 84, with friend Matt Miller, before the band was re-aligned 2001. He released his first album in 2002, Try Not To Listen, which became a regional hit in Texas. He released his first live...
, Eli Young Band
Eli Young Band
Eli Young Band is an American country music band based in Denton, Texas. The band is composed of Mike Eli , James Young , Jon Jones , and Chris Thompson . They released their self-titled debut album in 2002, followed by the Carnival records release Level in 2005...
and others are often dubbed "Texas music". Brian Burns
Brian Burns
Brian Burns is an American film and television writer, producer and director. Brian was born and raised in Long Island, New York...
, a product of Central Texas, sometimes called The Last True Texas Troubadour, has achieved note especially through his historical ballads about Texas.
Texas blues
The bluesBlues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
originated in the Mississippi Delta
Mississippi Delta
The Mississippi Delta is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. The region has been called "The Most Southern Place on Earth" because of its unique racial, cultural, and economic history...
and had spread to Texas by the beginning of the 20th century. African American workers at lumber camps, oilfields and other locations loved the music, and avidly attended local performances. When the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
hit, many of these musicians moved to cities like Houston and Galveston, where they created a style known as Texas blues. Blind Lemon Jefferson
Blind Lemon Jefferson
"Blind" Lemon Jefferson was an American blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled "Father of the Texas Blues"....
(in and around Dallas) was the first major artist of the field, and he was followed by legends like Blind Willie Johnson (who was principally a gospel singer) and Big Mama Thornton
Big Mama Thornton
Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog" in 1952. The song was #1 on the Billboard R&B charts for seven weeks in 1953. The B-side was "They Call Me Big Mama," and the single sold almost two million...
and Lightnin' Hopkins
Lightnin' Hopkins
Sam John Hopkins better known as Lightnin’ Hopkins, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist, from Houston, Texas...
and Mance Lipscomb. By the 1970s, Texas blues had lost its popularity, but was revived by the blues rock stylings of artists like Johnny Nitzinger, Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter
John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...
, Edgar Winter
Edgar Winter
Edgar Holland Winter is an American musician. He is famous for being a multi-instrumentalist. He is a highly skilled keyboardist, saxophonist and percussionist. He often plays an instrument while singing. He was most successful in the 1970s with his band, The Edgar Winter Group, notably with their...
, ZZ Top
ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based boogie rock, has come to incorporate elements of arena, southern, and boogie rock. The band, from Houston Texas, formed in 1969...
, Bugs Henderson and The Fabulous Thunderbirds
The Fabulous Thunderbirds
The Fabulous Thunderbirds are an American, Grammy-nominated Blues rock band, formed in 1974.-Career:After performing for several years in the Austin, Texas blues scene, the band won a recording contract with Takoma/Chrysalis Records, and later on signed with Epic Records.Their first two albums,...
, who set the stage for Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stephen Ray "Stevie Ray" Vaughan was an American electric blues guitarist and singer. He was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan and frontman for Double Trouble, a band that included bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton. Born in Dallas, Vaughan moved to Austin at the age of 17 and...
's blues revival in the 80's.
Rock
One of the first major Texan musical stars was Buddy HollyBuddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
, a very famous rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
musician from the 1950s. Another up and coming singer, from Wink, Texas
Wink, Texas
Wink is a city in Winkler County, Texas, United States. The population was 919 at the 2000 census. By 2009, the population had reportedly crept up to 926.Wink was the hometown of singer and songwriter Roy Orbison, although he was born in Vernon, Texas....
, was also making waves in the music scene. His name was Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
. He was followed by Buddy Knox
Buddy Knox
Buddy Knox was an American singer and songwriter, best known for his 1957 rockabilly hit song, "Party Doll".-Biography:...
, Bobby Fuller
Bobby Fuller
Robert Gaston "Bobby" Fuller was an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitar player best known for his singles "I Fought the Law" and "Love's Made a Fool of You," recorded with his mid-1960s group, the Bobby Fuller Four....
and Dallas rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
stars Gene Summers
Gene Summers
Gene Summers is an American rock/rockabilly singer and entertainer. Some of his classic recordings include "School of Rock 'n Roll", "Straight Skirt", "Nervous", "Gotta Lotta That", "Twixteen", "Alabama Shake" and his biggest-selling single "Big Blue Diamonds"...
, Johnny Carroll
Johnny Carroll
Johnny Carroll was an American rockabilly musician.-Biography:Born John Lewis Carrell , Carroll began recording for Decca Records in the middle of the 1950s. He released several singles, but none of them saw significant success, though they are now critically acclaimed...
and Ronnie Dawson.
The next decade witnessed such greats as Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
, from Port Arthur. She is ranked #46 on Rolling Stone 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Doug Sahm
Doug Sahm
Douglas Wayne Sahm , was an American musician from Texas. Born in San Antonio, Texas, he was a child prodigy in country music, but became a significant figure in blues rock and other genres. Today Sahm is considered one of the most important figures in what is identified as Tejano music...
's Sir Douglas Quintet
Sir Douglas Quintet
Sir Douglas Quintet was a rock band active in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Despite their British sounding name, they came out of San Antonio, Texas. Their career was established when they began working with Texas record-producer Huey P. Meaux, after which the band relocated to the West Coast...
released several innovative performances, as did psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
underground legends 13th Floor Elevators
13th Floor Elevators
The 13th Floor Elevators were an American rock band from Austin, Texas formed by guitarist and vocalist Roky Erickson, electric jug player Tommy Hall, and guitarist Stacy Sutherland, which existed from 1965 to 1969...
, led by Roky Erickson
Roky Erickson
Roky Erickson is an American singer, songwriter, harmonica player and guitarist from Texas. He was a founding member of the 13th Floor Elevators and a pioneer of the psychedelic rock genre.-Biography:...
. The hard rock of ZZ Top
ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based boogie rock, has come to incorporate elements of arena, southern, and boogie rock. The band, from Houston Texas, formed in 1969...
was born out of the bands American Blues
American Blues
American Blues were a 1960s Texas-based garage band who played a psychedelic style of blues rock music influenced by the 13th Floor Elevators. They are most famous for including two future members of the band ZZ Top in their ranks, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard...
and Moving Sidewalks
Moving Sidewalks
The Moving Sidewalks was a 1960s American psychedelic blues-rock band, most notable for giving future ZZ Top guitarist, Billy Gibbons, his start in the music business...
in Houston in 1969. In 1971, Bloodrock
Bloodrock
Bloodrock was an American hard rock band, based in Fort Worth, Texas, that had considerable success in the 1970s, and was one of the earliest of a number of significant bands to emerge from the Fort Worth club and music scene during the early to mid 1970s and on into the new century.-Early...
from Ft. Worth released "D.O.A.",an international hit. Don Henley
Don Henley
Donald Hugh "Don" Henley is an American singer, songwriter and drummer, best known as a founding member of the Eagles before launching a successful solo career. Henley was the drummer and lead vocalist for the Eagles from 1971–1980, when the band broke up...
of the Eagles grew up in Linden, Texas
Linden, Texas
Linden is a city in Cass County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,256 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Cass County.-Geography:Linden is located at ....
.
More recently, Texas, especially the cities of Austin and Denton, has produced garage rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
, punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
bands like Lift to Experience
Lift to Experience
Lift to Experience was a band from Denton, Texas that formed in 1996 with vocalist and guitarist Josh T. Pearson, drummer Andy "The Boy" Young and bassist Josh "The Bear" Browning...
(Denton). San Antonio produced Butthole Surfers
Butthole Surfers
Butthole Surfers is an American alternative rock band formed by Gibby Haynes and Paul Leary in San Antonio, Texas in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been consistent since 1983. Teresa Nervosa served as second...
in the 1980s as well as the Doom Metal band; Las Cruces in the 90's, and El Paso was the home of At the Drive-In
At the Drive-In
At the Drive-In was an American rock band from El Paso, Texas, considered part of the post-hardcore genre and active from 1993 to 2001. They were known for their extremely energetic stage shows which hearkened back to the 1980s hardcore scene...
and its two offshoots, Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...
and The Mars Volta
The Mars Volta
The Mars Volta is a Grammy award winning American progressive rock band from El Paso, Texas. Founded in 2001 by guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López and vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala, the band incorporates various influences including progressive rock, krautrock, jazz fusion, Latin American music, and...
. The Arlington-area
Arlington, Texas
Arlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas within the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. According to the 2010 census results, the city had a population of 365,438, making it the third largest municipality in the Metroplex...
band Pantera
Pantera
Pantera was an American heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas. Formed by the Abbott brothers, Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell in 1981, bassist Rex Brown would join in late 1981 with vocalist Terry Glaze. Looking for a new and heavier sound, Pantera had Terry replaced in 1987 with Phil Anselmo as...
went on to become heavily influential in the metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
genre.
Other notable bands include Drowning Pool
Drowning Pool
Drowning Pool is a four-piece alternative metal band from Dallas, Texas.-Early days :Drowning Pool rose to fame while playing along with Ozzy Osbourne during an Ozzfest tour. Their 2001 debut album, Sinner was certified platinum within six weeks...
, Coilback
Coilback
Coilback is a heavy metal / hard rock band from Dallas, TX. Their sound has been likened to a combination of old style Metallica and Rob Zombie.-Biography:Coilback formed in 2000 after the split up of the band Liquor Goat...
, Paleface
Paleface
Paleface is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and artist who has been active in the music business in the United States since 1989.-Early career:...
, Element Eighty
Element Eighty
Element Eighty was a four-piece nu metal band from Tyler, Texas. The band formed in 2000. The band split in 2006, only to be reunited a few months later in 2007...
, Jacknife
Jacknife
Jacknife is a 1989 American film directed by David Jones and starring Robert De Niro and Ed Harris. The film focuses on a small, serious story, with emphasis on characterization and the complex tension between people in a close relationship...
and The Destro. Houston metal bands from the '80s include Helstar
Helstar
Helstar is a heavy metal band from Houston, Texas, formed in 1982.-History:Helstar began with a basic metal style in 1983 with 2 demos, followed by their first studio album in 1984 titled Burning Star for Combat Records, making them label mates with Megadeth and Exodus. Struggles within the band...
, King's X
King's X
King's X is an American hard rock band that combines progressive metal, funk and soul with vocal arrangements influenced by gospel, blues, and British Invasion rock groups. The band's lyrics are largely based on the members' struggles with religion and self-acceptance...
, Galactic Cowboys
Galactic Cowboys
Galactic Cowboys was a Heavy Metal band based in Houston, Texas. They combined progressive metal with a style of vocals influenced by The Beatles and the heavy playing style of thrash bands such as Anthrax...
, The Hunger
The Hunger (band)
The Hunger is a rock band from Houston, Texas. Formed by brothers Jeff and Thomas Wilson along with friend Brian Albritton. The Hunger had a hit song in the mid 1990s, "Vanishing Cream", which received heavy airplay on modern rock stations and as a result hit #4 on the Mainstream Rock chart. It was...
and Ripper. And Dead Horse
Punk rock
Texas has long had a distinctive punk rockPunk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
sound spread across copious cities, especially Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
and Houston. Austin in particular was considered a significant punk city; major venues there in the late 1970s-early 1980s included Raul's, where the Austin punk/new wave scene began, spearheaded by the Skunks
The Skunks
The Skunks are a three-piece rock band formed in 1977 in Austin, Texas.-History:The band debuted in early 1978 and quickly became a mainstay of the Austin, Texas scene, playing not only venues known for having an open-minded clientele, but clubs whose audiences crossed the spectrum, including the...
and the Violators in the first weeks of 1978. Other significant venues included the Continental Club on South Congress Avenue and the (now defunct) Club Foot Fourth Street downtown. The Skunks
The Skunks
The Skunks are a three-piece rock band formed in 1977 in Austin, Texas.-History:The band debuted in early 1978 and quickly became a mainstay of the Austin, Texas scene, playing not only venues known for having an open-minded clientele, but clubs whose audiences crossed the spectrum, including the...
, which featured Jesse Sublett
Jesse Sublett
Jesse Sublett is a musician and writer from Austin, Texas. As a musician he is best-known for his long-running rock trio, The Skunks...
on bass and vocals, attracted significant attention to the scene because of their loyal following and also because touring bands, including Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
, Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
, the Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
, Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
and others dropped in at their gigs at Raul's and the Continental Club to jam with them. Radio played a major role in spreading both the sound and creating the culture of punk.
In Houston, two pioneering radio programs in particular, Marilyn Mock's S&M Show on KTRU-FM and Perry Coma's The Funhouse Show on KPFT-FM, were instrumental in helping create the punk scene in that city, through band interviews and playing import-only records, as well as the flamboyant personalities of the DJs. Local punk zines like XLR8 and music weeklies such as Public News, and independent record outlets like Real Records, Record Rack, Record Exchange, and Vinal Edge not only scoured the world for punk and "new wave" sounds, but they hosted in-store concerts where fans could meet the artists. The punk scene flourished in the early 1980s, led by the Skunks
The Skunks
The Skunks are a three-piece rock band formed in 1977 in Austin, Texas.-History:The band debuted in early 1978 and quickly became a mainstay of the Austin, Texas scene, playing not only venues known for having an open-minded clientele, but clubs whose audiences crossed the spectrum, including the...
, the Big Boys, The Dicks
The Dicks
The Dicks are an American punk rock band from Austin, Texas, originally formed in 1980. They initially disbanded in 1986 before reforming in 2004...
, MDC
MDC (band)
MDC is an American hardcore punk band formed in Austin, Texas in 1979. The band were subsequently based in San Francisco, California, and are currently based in Portland, Oregon. MDC originally formed as The Stains before changing their name...
, Really Red
Really Red
Really Red was one of Houston Texas' first Punk bands in the late 70's, along with The Legionaire's Disease Band, Plastic Idols and the Hates. Their roots can be traced as far back as the late 60's when Ronnie Bond and Kelly Younger had a high school band called The Lords...
, The Degenerates, The Hates, The Judy's
The Judy's
The Judy's were a Pearland, Texas-based punk and new wave band from the late 1970s and early 1980s. The song for which they are most likely best-remembered, "Guyana Punch", recounted the infamous Jonestown massacre. On December 1, 2007, The Judy's announced the opening of their own label and...
, the Volumatix, DRI (band)
Dirty Rotten Imbeciles
Dirty Rotten Imbeciles is a thrash metal/crossover thrash band from the United States that formed in Houston, in 1982. The band currently comprises founding members, vocalist Kurt Brecht and guitarist Spike Cassidy, as well as drummer Rob Rampy and bassist Harald Oimoen.D.R.I...
, Sik Mentality, the Killerwatts and Culturcide
Culturcide
Culturcide was a Houston-based experimental punk band, active from 1980 to 1990 and from 1993 to the present day. They were notorious for their 1986 album Tacky Souvenirs of Pre-Revolutionary America, which earned the band a cult following, but also several legal threats.-Members:Perry Webb ; Jim...
; so did the scene in Dallas, with groups such as The Hugh Beaumont Experience
The Hugh Beaumont Experience
The Hugh Beaumont Experience was a punk rock band from Fort Worth, Texas. The band's original lineup was Brad Stiles on vocals, Tommie Duncan on guitar, Clay Carlisle on bass, and Carter Kolba on drums. Formed in 1980 by members of the private school, Fort Worth Country Day School, in Fort Worth,...
and Stick Men with Ray Guns
Stick Men with Ray Guns
Stick Men with Ray Guns was an American punk rock group from Dallas, Texas. The group's name comes from a comic called Stick Man with Ray Gun. They formed in 1981 after lead singer Bobby Soxx attended a show by guitarist Clarke Backer's previous group, Bag of Wire. Their first show was a date...
. Some notable Houston clubs were the Island, Cabaret Voltaire (a punk rock club in the warehouse district of downtown),the Apocalypse Monster Club (in the Clear Lake area near NASA), the Axiom (in one of the old Cabaret Voltaire locations), Fitzgerald's
Fitzgerald's
Fitzgerald's is one of the oldest and widely recognized live music venues in the Greater Houston area. The club has been at the top of the live music scene in Houston since it opened in 1977...
, The Abyss, and Numbers (a predominantly new wave club). In the mid '90s post-punk act At the Drive-In
At the Drive-In
At the Drive-In was an American rock band from El Paso, Texas, considered part of the post-hardcore genre and active from 1993 to 2001. They were known for their extremely energetic stage shows which hearkened back to the 1980s hardcore scene...
formed in El Paso. Among some notable Horror punk and psychobilly bands that hail out of Texas are The Reverend Horton Heat
The Reverend Horton Heat
The Reverend Horton Heat is the stage name of American musician Jim Heath as well as the name of his Dallas, Texas-based psychobilly trio. Heath is a singer, songwriter and guitarist....
, The Flametrick Subs.
Alternative rock
Several alternative rockAlternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
bands from Texas also reached mainstream popularity during the late 1980s and early 1990s. These included bands like Toadies
Toadies
Toadies are an alternative rock band from Fort Worth, Texas, best known for the song "Possum Kingdom." The band's classic lineup consisted of Todd Lewis on vocals/guitar, Mark Reznicek on drums, Lisa Umbarger on bass, and Darrel Herbert on guitar. It formed in 1989 and disbanded in 2001 after...
(whose biggest hit, "Possum Kingdom
Possum Kingdom
"Possum Kingdom" is a song by rock band Toadies released as the second single from their 1994 album, Rubberneck.The song's origins lie in folklore from the band's native state of Texas...
", was named for a lake west of Fort Worth), Flickerstick
Flickerstick
Flickerstick was a Ft. Worth, TX rock band who gained national attention after winning VH1's acclaimed and Emmy-nominated talent/reality show Bands on the Run.-Birth and local fame:...
, Fastball (band)
Fastball (band)
Fastball is an American rock band that formed in Austin, Texas in the 1990s. The band originally called themselves "Magneto U.S.A." but changed their name after signing with Hollywood Records....
, The Duckhills, Tripping Daisy
Tripping Daisy
Tripping Daisy was a neo psychedelic pop rock band that was formed in Dallas, Texas, USA by lead singer/guitarist Tim DeLaughter in 1990 along with Jeff Bouck , Wes Berggren and Mark Pirro .-History:...
, and by the end of the '90s The Polyphonic Spree
The Polyphonic Spree
The Polyphonic Spree is a choral symphonic pop rock band from Dallas, Texas that was formed in 2000 by Tim DeLaughter. The band's sound relies on a variety of vocal and instrumental color by featuring a choir, flute, trumpet, trombone, violin, viola, cello, percussion, piano, guitars, bass, drums,...
. In the 2000s, Bowling for Soup
Bowling for Soup
Bowling for Soup is an American pop-punk band which originally formed in Wichita Falls, Texas in 1994...
reached popularity, as well as Burden Brothers
Burden Brothers
Burden Brothers are a hard rock band formed in Dallas, Texas by Toadies lead singer/songwriter Vaden Todd Lewis and Reverend Horton Heat/Izzy Stradlin drummer Taz Bentley. The band currently consists of Lewis , Bentley , and Casey Hess...
(which was co-founded by Toadies lead singer Vaden Todd Lewis
Vaden Todd Lewis
Vaden Danger Todd Lewis is the singer/guitarist for Toadies, a post-grunge band from Fort Worth, Texas. Lewis was also the lead vocalist and guitarist for the Dallas-based Burden Brothers.-With Burden Brothers:...
). The Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
themed alternative band Flyleaf
Flyleaf
Flyleaf is an American alternative metal band, formed in the Belton and Temple, Texas regions in 2000. The band has charted on mainstream rock, Christian pop and Christian metal genres. They performed around the United States in 2003 until releasing their eponymous debut album, Flyleaf, in 2005....
is from Belton
Belton, Texas
Belton is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. The population was 14,623 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Bell County.Belton is part of the Killeen – Temple – Fort Hood metropolitan area.-Geography:...
. Also Forever The Sickest Kids
Forever the Sickest Kids
Forever the Sickest Kids is an American pop punk band from Dallas, Texas, who have yet to be signed to a new label after the closure of Universal Motown Records. In issue 228 of Alternative Press, the group was named the number one underground band in the "22 Best Underground Bands". Their first...
from Dallas, TX.
Ragtime
Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions, and was later dubbed "The King of Ragtime". During his brief career, Joplin wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas...
, was born in 1868 near Texarkana
Texarkana, Texas
Texarkana is a city in Bowie County, Texas, United States. It effectively functions as one half of a city which crosses a state line — the other half, the city of Texarkana, Arkansas, lies on the other side of State Line Avenue...
.
Religious music
Sacred music has a long tradition in the state of Texas. The East Texas Musical ConventionEast Texas Musical Convention
The East Texas Musical Convention, now usually called the East Texas Sacred Harp Convention, is an annual gathering of shape note singers. Songs are sung a cappella from the Sacred Harp tunebook. The Convention was organized in 1855, and is the oldest Sacred Harp convention in Texas, and the second...
was organized in 1855, and is the oldest Sacred Harp
Sacred Harp
Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that took root in the Southern region of the United States. It is part of the larger tradition of shape note music.- The music and its notation :...
convention in Texas, and the second oldest the United States. The Southwest Texas Sacred Harp Convention was organized in 1900.
Sacred Harp and other books in four shape notation were the forerunners of seven shape note
Shape note
Shape notes are a music notation designed to facilitate congregational and community singing. The notation, introduced in 1801, became a popular teaching device in American singing schools...
gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
. According to the Handbook of Texas
Handbook of Texas
The Handbook of Texas is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association .-History:...
, "The first Texas community singing using the seven shape note tradition reportedly occurred in the latter part of December 1879. Itinerant teachers representing the A. J. Showalter Company of Dalton, Georgia – including company founder A. J. Showalter – ventured west to Giddings in East Texas and conducted a rural music school that lasted for several weeks." Texas has been home to several gospel music convention publishers, including the National Music Company, Stamps-Baxter Music and Printing Company (founded in 1924 by V. O. Stamps, who later partnered with J. R. Baxter), and the Stamps Quartet Music Company (founded by Frank Stamps). Convention gospel music and community singings still occur in a number of Texas towns, including Mineral Wells, Brownfield, Jacksonville, Seymour, and Stephenville.
Tejano music
Tejano musicTejano music
Tejano music or Tex-Mex music is the name given to various forms of folk and popular music originating among the Mexican-American populations of Central and Southern Texas...
is the fusion of several different musical influences, such as German polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
, Mexican rancheras, jazz, and zydeco, among others. Lydia Mendoza
Lydia Mendoza
Lydia Mendoza was an American guitarist and singer of Tejano music. She is known as La Alondra de la Frontera ....
, Santiago Almeida
Santiago Almeida
Santiago Almeida was a Texas musician influential in the development of the musical genres of tejano and conjunto....
, Flaco Jiménez
Flaco Jiménez
Leonardo "Flaco" Jiménez is a Tejano music accordionist from San Antonio, Texas. Jiménez's father, Santiago Jiménez Sr. was a pioneer of conjunto music. He began performing with his father at age seven and recording at age fifteen, as a member of Los Caporales...
, Joe Hernandez
Novembers Doom
Novembers Doom is a death/doom metal band from Chicago, Illinois. They are currently signed to The End Records. Novembers Doom is one of the earliest U.S. death/doom metal bands that are still active today along with Evoken and Rigor Sardonicous....
, Freddie Fender and Narciso Martínez
Narciso Martínez
Narciso Martínez , dubbed early on, El Huracan del Valle , began recording in 1936, on October 21 precisely, and is the father of conjunto music...
remain some of its most influential figures. Selena Quintanilla helped bring the genre more attention in the 90's with one of the first Spanish to English crossover hits ever, adding influences from Mexican cumbia
Cumbia
Cumbia is a music genre popular across Latin America. The cumbia originated in the Caribbean coast of Colombia, where it is associated with an eponymous dance and has since spread as far as Mexico and Argentina...
to the R&B trend of the day.San Angelo
San Angelo, Texas
San Angelo is a city in the state of Texas. Located in West Central Texas it is the county seat of Tom Green County. As of 2010 according to the United States Census Bureau, the city had a total population of 93,200...
band Los Lonely Boys
Los Lonely Boys
Los Lonely Boys is a Chicano rock power trio from San Angelo, Texas. They play a style of music they call "Texican Rock n' Roll," combining elements of rock and roll, Texas blues, brown eyed soul, country, and Tejano....
fuse Tejano with contemporary blues and jazz.
Hip-hop
Houston, TexasHouston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
has long been the focus of an independent hip-hop music scene, influencing and influenced by the larger Southern hip hop and gangsta rap
Gangsta rap
Gangsta Rap is a subgenre of hip hop music that evolved from hardcore hip hop and purports to reflect urban crime and the violent lifestyles of inner-city youths. Lyrics in gangsta rap have varied from accurate reflections to fictionalized accounts. Gangsta is a non-rhotic pronunciation of the word...
communities. Notable solo artists include Chamillionaire
Chamillionaire
Hakeem Seriki , better known by his stage name Chamillionaire, is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. He is the CEO of Chamillitary Entertainment. Chamillionaire is also the founder and an original member of The Color Changin' Click...
, Paul Wall
Paul Wall
Paul Michael Slayton , better known by his stage name Paul Wall, is an American rapper. He is currently affiliated with Swishahouse Records, having released several albums under the label as well as...
, Scarface
Scarface (rapper)
Brad Terrence Jordan , better known by his stage name Scarface, is an American rapper, and recording artist from Houston, Texas and a member of the Geto Boys. He is originally from South Park, Houston.-Life and career:...
and groups such as Geto Boys
Geto Boys
Geto Boys is a rap group from Houston, Texas, consisting of Scarface, Willie D and Bushwick Bill. The Geto Boys earned notoriety for its lyrics which included misogyny, gore, psychotic experiences, and necrophilia...
and UGK
UGK
UGK was an American hip hop duo from Port Arthur, Texas formed in 1987 by the late Chad "Pimp C" Butler . He then joined with Bernard "Bun B" Freeman, who became his longtime partner...
. The Houston hip hop scene is known for the chopped and screwed
Chopped and screwed
Chopped and screwed refers to a technique of remixing hip hop music which developed in the Houston hip hop scene in the 1990s...
sound, and remains the location most associated with the style. Vanilla Ice
Vanilla Ice
Robert Matthew Van Winkle , best known by his stage name Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, extreme athlete and home improvement television personality...
is from Carrollton, Texas. The D.O.C.
The D.O.C.
Tracy Lynn Curry , primarily known by his stage name The D.O.C., is an American rapper from Dallas, Texas. In addition to a solo career, he was a member of the hip hop group Fila Fresh Crew, and a creative force behind the gangsta rap group N.W.A, where he co-wrote many of their releases. He has...
is from West Dallas. He worked with Dr. Dre as an artist and writer. Newcomers such as Dorrough
Dorrough
Dorwin Demarcus Dorrough , better known by his stage name Dorrough, is an American rapper.- Early life :Dorrough was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. He attended Lancaster High School in Lancaster, where he was captain of the basketball team. He also attended Prairie View A&M University...
and Dondria
Dondria
Dondria Nicole Fields , better known by her stage names Phatfffat or Dondria, is an American R&B singer, currently signed to So So Def Recordings. Before getting signed, Dondria was known to post YouTube videos singing cover songs.-Discovery and early life:Dondria was discovered on YouTube by So So...
also hail form Dallas.
Industrial
Tactical SektTactical Sekt
Tactical Sekt is an electro-industrial band formed in 2002. They use distorted vocals, EBM beats, and sampling. -History:Tactical Sekt was conceived by Anthony Mather in 2002 to 2003. Mather had experience with electro-industrial music in his former band, Aslan Faction...
, Sin D.N.A., Virus Filter, Souless Affection are aggrotech bands based in Texas, as is the multifaceted electronic duo Mentallo and the Fixer
Mentallo and the Fixer
Mentallo and the Fixer is the project name used by Texan electro-industrial musicians Gary Dassing and Dwayne Dassing from 1988 to 1999, and by Gary Dassing alone from 1999 to the present day. The band has several releases on the American record label, Metropolis Records...
.
Austin
Austin, TexasAustin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
's artistic community helped popularize artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stephen Ray "Stevie Ray" Vaughan was an American electric blues guitarist and singer. He was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan and frontman for Double Trouble, a band that included bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton. Born in Dallas, Vaughan moved to Austin at the age of 17 and...
, Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac, The Police
The Police
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland...
and Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
in the Southwest. Tex-Mex/New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
bands as Vallejo and Joe King Carrasco & the Crowns
Joe Carrasco
Joe "King" Carrasco is a Tex-Mex "new wave" musical artist, based in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He is most widely known as part of "Joe 'King' Carrasco and the Crowns".-History:...
gained some national fame. Local punk and New Wave bands in the late 1970s included The Huns and the Skunks
The Skunks
The Skunks are a three-piece rock band formed in 1977 in Austin, Texas.-History:The band debuted in early 1978 and quickly became a mainstay of the Austin, Texas scene, playing not only venues known for having an open-minded clientele, but clubs whose audiences crossed the spectrum, including the...
, along with The Delinquents, and Standing Waves. These bands soon clashed with an influx of hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
bands like The Dicks
The Dicks
The Dicks are an American punk rock band from Austin, Texas, originally formed in 1980. They initially disbanded in 1986 before reforming in 2004...
, The Offenders
The Offenders
The Offenders is a melodrama filmed in the town of Randolph, Vermont, in 1921 directed by Fenwick L. Holmes. The plot is that a woman has been accused of murder, and the witness is the Village Idiot. Various locals were used as extras...
, and Big Boys
Big Boys (band)
The Big Boys were a pioneering band who are credited with helping introduce the new style of hardcore punk that became popular in the 1980s.-History:...
.
Austin, especially through its central music scene in the corridors of Red River Avenue, South Congress Avenue and 6th Street, has been dubbed The Live Music Capital of the World." The Texas Music Hall of Fame' and Texas Music Museum are also located here. The Austin area is home to South by Southwest
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
, one of the largest annual music festivals in the United States. Austin has long been a hub of innovative psychedelic sound from the pioneering Roky Erikson and the 13th Floor Elevators
13th Floor Elevators
The 13th Floor Elevators were an American rock band from Austin, Texas formed by guitarist and vocalist Roky Erickson, electric jug player Tommy Hall, and guitarist Stacy Sutherland, which existed from 1965 to 1969...
to the Butthole Surfers
Butthole Surfers
Butthole Surfers is an American alternative rock band formed by Gibby Haynes and Paul Leary in San Antonio, Texas in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been consistent since 1983. Teresa Nervosa served as second...
, and hosts an annual festival celebrating the genre and Austin's contributions to it - Austin Psych Fest.
Austin is currently home to a number of bands that are enjoying popularity as part of the indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
scene that is gaining prominence in the United States. These include Spoon
Spoon (band)
Spoon is an American rock band formed in Austin, Texas. The band is composed of Britt Daniel ; Jim Eno ; Rob Pope and Eric Harvey .-History:...
, Ghostland Observatory
Ghostland Observatory
Ghostland Observatory is an American music duo based in Austin, Texas. Their music has been described as a combination of electro, rock and funk by Allmusic, and "electro-dance soul rock" by Gothamist....
, ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead is an American alternative rock band from Austin, Texas. The chief creative members of the band are Jason Reece and Conrad Keely . The two switch between drumming, guitar and lead vocals, both on recordings and live shows...
, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness
I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness is an indie rock quintet originating from Austin, Texas...
, Explosions in the Sky
Explosions in the Sky
Explosions in the Sky is an American post-rock band from Texas. The band has garnered popularity beyond the post-rock scene for their elaborately developed guitar work, narratively styled instrumentals, what they refer to as "cathartic mini-symphonies," and their enthusiastic and emotional live shows...
, Okkervil River, The Black Angels
The Black Angels (band)
- History :Formed in May 2004, the band's name derives from the Velvet Underground song "The Black Angel's Death Song".In 2005, the Black Angels were featured on a dual-disc compilation album of psychedelic music called Psychedelica Vol.1 from Northern Star Records...
, The Gary, and White Denim among others.
The transition of the Austin music scene from the mid-seventies progressive country scene to the punk/new wave and alternative influence that followed is captured in Jesse Sublett
Jesse Sublett
Jesse Sublett is a musician and writer from Austin, Texas. As a musician he is best-known for his long-running rock trio, The Skunks...
's memoir, "Never the Same Again: A Rock n' Roll Gothic," which details Sublett's experiences with the Skunks and other bands during that time period. Sublett has also documented the Austin music scene in his music-themed crime novels, "Rock Critic Murders," "Tough Baby," and "Boiled in Concrete."
Beaumont-Port Arthur
This area was also home to many legendary musicians: George JonesGeorge Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....
, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
, Barbara Lynn
Barbara Lynn
Barbara Lynn is an American rhythm and blues and electric blues guitarist and singer. She is best known for her R&B chart-topping hit, "You'll Lose A Good Thing" .-Life and career:She played piano as a child, but switched to guitar...
, Edgar
Edgar Winter
Edgar Holland Winter is an American musician. He is famous for being a multi-instrumentalist. He is a highly skilled keyboardist, saxophonist and percussionist. He often plays an instrument while singing. He was most successful in the 1970s with his band, The Edgar Winter Group, notably with their...
and Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter
John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...
, J.P. Richardson
The Big Bopper
Jiles Perry "J. P." Richardson, Jr. also commonly known as The Big Bopper, was an American disc jockey, singer, and songwriter whose big voice and exuberant personality made him an early rock and roll star...
aka "The Big Bopper", country stars Mark Chesnutt
Mark Chesnutt
Mark Nelson Chesnutt is an American country music singer. Chesnutt recorded and released his first album, Doing My Country Thing, in the late-1980s on private independent record label, Axbar Records, with the vinyl album version now a collector's item...
, Tracy Byrd, and Clay Walker
Clay Walker
Ernest Clayton "Clay" Walker Jr. is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1993 with the single "What's It to You," which reached Number One on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts, as did its follow-up, 1994's "Live Until I Die." Both singles were included on...
, and Jimmy and David Lee Kaiser, and rappers Pimp C
Pimp C
Chad Lamont Butler , better known by his stage name Pimp C, was an American rapper, singer, and producer...
and Bun B
Bun B
Bernard Freeman better known by his stage name Bun B, is an American rapper and was one half of the southern hip hop duo UGK . He is also a guest lecturer at Rice University located in Houston, Texas...
of UGK
UGK
UGK was an American hip hop duo from Port Arthur, Texas formed in 1987 by the late Chad "Pimp C" Butler . He then joined with Bernard "Bun B" Freeman, who became his longtime partner...
.Also the Sword
Dallas
Dallas has a rich musical heritage. The number of prolific musicians who played in the Deep Ellum Central Track area was rivaled in the South only by Beale Street. T-Bone WalkerT-Bone Walker
Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker was a critically acclaimed American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who was one of the most influential pioneers and innovators of the jump blues and electric blues sound. He is the first musician recorded playing blues with the...
, Lead Belly, Blind Lemon Jefferson
Blind Lemon Jefferson
"Blind" Lemon Jefferson was an American blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled "Father of the Texas Blues"....
, Blind Willie Johnson
Blind Willie Johnson
"Blind" Willie Johnson was an American singer and guitarist, whose music straddled the border between blues and spirituals....
, and even Robert Johnson himself first recorded in this area, just as Bob Wills
Bob Wills
James Robert Wills , better known as Bob Wills, was an American Western Swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader, considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western Swing and universally known as the pioneering King of Western Swing.Bob Wills' name will forever be associated with...
and the Light Crust Doughboys
Light Crust Doughboys
The Light Crust Doughboys is a quintessential American Western swing band from Texas organized in 1931 by the Burrus Mill and Elevator Company in Saginaw, Texas. The band achieved its peak popularity in the few years leading up to World War II...
were leaving the studio. Throughout the 1940s, 50s and 60's, country, western, and blues continued to flourish, producing a plethora of notable entertainers including Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stephen Ray "Stevie Ray" Vaughan was an American electric blues guitarist and singer. He was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan and frontman for Double Trouble, a band that included bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton. Born in Dallas, Vaughan moved to Austin at the age of 17 and...
. As rock'n'roll swept the land, Dallas has also become a hotbed for producing progressive, edgy music... a trend that has continued to this day. Dallas has a vibrant live music scene, that continues to center around the Deep Ellum area. Unfortunately the City of Dallas at one time restricted the growth of this neighborhood, an attempt to control traffic and crime, to the point where the history and heritage were longer thriving, however many groups and efforts are being made to reverse these trends. In the past several years, several notable musicians have come from Dallas, including Erykah Badu
Erykah Badu
Erica Abi Wright , better known by her stage name Erykah Badu , is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Her work includes elements from R&B, hip hop and jazz. She is best known for her role in the rise of the neo soul sub-genre, and for her eccentric, cerebral musical...
, Gibby Haynes
Gibby Haynes
Gibson Jerome "Gibby" Haynes is an American musician, radio personality, and painter, and the lead singer of the group Butthole Surfers.-Early life and career:...
of the Butthole Surfers
Butthole Surfers
Butthole Surfers is an American alternative rock band formed by Gibby Haynes and Paul Leary in San Antonio, Texas in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been consistent since 1983. Teresa Nervosa served as second...
, Mike Nesmith of The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
, Neon Indian
Neon Indian
Neon Indian is an indie electronic band from Denton, Texas. The music is composed by Mexican-born Alan Palomo , also known for his work with the band Ghosthustler and as the artist VEGA. The band's debut, Psychic Chasms, has received many favorable reviews, including the designation of Best New...
, The Polyphonic Spree
The Polyphonic Spree
The Polyphonic Spree is a choral symphonic pop rock band from Dallas, Texas that was formed in 2000 by Tim DeLaughter. The band's sound relies on a variety of vocal and instrumental color by featuring a choir, flute, trumpet, trombone, violin, viola, cello, percussion, piano, guitars, bass, drums,...
, Old 97s, St. Vincent, Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians, LehtMoJoe
LehtMoJoe
-Career:LehtMoJoe's stage name combines the names of his favorite Dallas Stars hockey players during the late nineties, Jere Lehtinen, Mike Modano, and Joe Nieuwendyk....
, Toadies
Toadies
Toadies are an alternative rock band from Fort Worth, Texas, best known for the song "Possum Kingdom." The band's classic lineup consisted of Todd Lewis on vocals/guitar, Mark Reznicek on drums, Lisa Umbarger on bass, and Darrel Herbert on guitar. It formed in 1989 and disbanded in 2001 after...
, MeatLoaf
Meatloaf
Meatloaf is a dish of ground meat formed into a loaf shape and baked or smoked. The loaf shape is formed by either cooking it in a loaf pan, or forming it by hand on a flat baking pan...
, Baboon
Baboon
Baboons are African and Arabian Old World monkeys belonging to the genus Papio, part of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. There are five species, which are some of the largest non-hominoid members of the primate order; only the mandrill and the drill are larger...
, The Secret Machines
The Secret Machines
The Secret Machines are a three-piece American alternative rock band. Originally from Dallas, Texas before moving to New York City, they describe their band as space rock. The original lineup consisted of two brothers, Brandon and Benjamin Curtis, and Josh Garza...
, Dorrough
Dorrough
Dorwin Demarcus Dorrough , better known by his stage name Dorrough, is an American rapper.- Early life :Dorrough was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. He attended Lancaster High School in Lancaster, where he was captain of the basketball team. He also attended Prairie View A&M University...
, Mount Righteous
Mount Righteous
Mount Righteous is a band from Grapevine, Texas. They play a vibrant and eclectic indie-pop with a heavy emphasis on varied instrumentation. Their sound has been described as an acoustic-punk marching band and compared to other large collectives including I'm From Barcelona, Architecture In...
, The Paper Chase
The Paper Chase (band)
The Paper Chase was an alternative rock band formed in 1998 by well known producer/engineer John Congleton in Dallas, Texas, signed to Kill Rock Stars and Southern Records. Their Albums "God Bless Your Black Heart" and "Now You Are One Of Us" have been released on vinyl by the Austrian label Trost...
, Devourment
Devourment
Devourment is a death metal band from Dallas, Texas. Formed in 1995, the band has split up and reformed three times and none of the original members remain. The current lineup is Mike Majewski , Ruben Rosas , Chris "Captain Piss" Andrews and Eric Park...
, Absu, Course of Empire
Course of Empire
Course of Empire was an Alternative / post-punk band based in Dallas, Texas.- Biography :Course of Empire was a hard-edged, post-industrial, alternative music group based in Dallas, Texas from 1988 to 1998. In the early days, large drums would be placed throughout the audience as a means to...
, Coilback
Coilback
Coilback is a heavy metal / hard rock band from Dallas, TX. Their sound has been likened to a combination of old style Metallica and Rob Zombie.-Biography:Coilback formed in 2000 after the split up of the band Liquor Goat...
, MC 900 Ft. Jesus
MC 900 Ft. Jesus
MC 900 Ft. Jesus is the stage name of Mark Griffin, a classically trained musician turned rapper and experimental musician born in Dallas, Texas....
, Reverend Horton Heat, Lone Star Trio, Sofa Kingdom, Princess Tex, End Over End, The Trees, Three On A Hill, Buck Pets, Chomsky, The Deathray Davies, Shallow Reign, Loco Gringos, Hash Palace, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!, Decadent Dub Team, Rigor Mortis, Karma Gettin, Lithium X-mas, Matthew and the Arrogant Sea and Alex Moore.
Denton
The music culture that exists in Denton was seeded initially by the 1947 birth of the University of North Texas College of MusicUniversity of North Texas College of Music
The University of North Texas College of Music, based in Denton, is a comprehensive music school with the largest enrollment of any music institution accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music, and the oldest in the world offering a degree in jazz studies...
Jazz studies program, the first of its kind in the country, but in the last 20 years Denton's vibrant and diverse music culture has grown beyond the collegiate world of UNT's College of Music. In 2004 and 2005, the roster of the town's performing and touring music acts remained between 90 and 100, a high number considering the town's 2000 U.S. census population figure of only 80,537 people. Denton bands include: longtime mainstay and twice Grammy award-winning Brave Combo
Brave Combo
Brave Combo is a polka/rock band based in Denton, Texas. Founded in 1979 by guitarist/keyboardist/accordionist Carl Finch, they have been a prominent fixture in the Texas music scene for more than twenty-five years...
, EXIT 380, The Wee-Beasties
The Wee-Beasties
The Wee-Beasties are a punk rock band from Denton, Texas formed in 2000. The band is notable for its use of a brass section, which is largely regarded as unusual within their genre. Formed in 2000 as a three-piece by vocalist/guitarist Richard Haskins, bassist David Dutton, and drummer Brian...
, Norah Jones
Norah Jones
Norah Jones is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress.In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away With Me, which was certified a diamond album in 2002, selling over 20 million copies...
, Lift to Experience
Lift to Experience
Lift to Experience was a band from Denton, Texas that formed in 1996 with vocalist and guitarist Josh T. Pearson, drummer Andy "The Boy" Young and bassist Josh "The Bear" Browning...
, Centro-Matic
Centro-Matic
Centro-Matic is an alternative country band based in Denton, Texas. It started in 1995 as a side-project for Will Johnson. It released a few singles that year and grew into a full-fledged group in 1997. The initial 60 songs recorded in a Millstadt, Illinois studio supplied the material for the...
, Brutal Juice
Brutal Juice
Brutal Juice was a self-proclaimed "acid punk" band from Denton, Texas.The band formed in 1991. The band initially met in the music school at the University of North Texas...
, Drunk Skunks, SayWhat, Chyeah Boi, the Don't Be Scurd, OkieDoke, South San Gabriel
South San Gabriel (band)
South San Gabriel is an alternative country band based in Denton, Texas.The band is named after the San Gabriel river fork north of Austin, Texas. The group consists of the same players from Centro-matic with the inclusion of guests, but focuses on more introspective and subdued offerings from...
, Slobberbone
Slobberbone
Slobberbone is an American alt-country band from Denton, Texas that formed in 1994. Slobberbone toured across the United States many times. The best-known line-up consisted of Brent Best , Jess Barr , Brian Lane , and drummer Tony Harper, although their lineup changed over the years...
, The Drams, Midlake
Midlake
Midlake is an American rock band from Denton, Texas. The band first gained popularity in Europe, signing to Bella Union Records and playing at festivals such as Les Inrockuptibles, Wintercase, End Of The Road Festival and South by Southwest.-History:...
, Record Hop, History At Our Disposal, the Marked Men
The Marked Men
The Marked Men are a punk rock band from Denton, Texas composed of guitarists/vocalists Mark Ryan and Jeff Burke, bassist Joe Ayoub, and drummer Mike Throneberry. They have released four albums through Rip Off Records, Dirtnap Records, and Swami Records...
, Fergus & Geronimo
Fergus & Geronimo
Fergus & Geronimo are an experimental rock band from Denton, Texas. The duo has a multi-genre approach to songwriting, with influences including soul, pop, proto-punk, garage rock and psychedelic pop....
, Eli Young Band
Eli Young Band
Eli Young Band is an American country music band based in Denton, Texas. The band is composed of Mike Eli , James Young , Jon Jones , and Chris Thompson . They released their self-titled debut album in 2002, followed by the Carnival records release Level in 2005...
and Bosque Brown
Bosque Brown
Bosque Brown is an American indie band from the music town of Denton, Texas.While attending college there, singer-songwriter Mara Lee Miller chose "Bosque Brown" for her music, named after a river that runs through Stephenville, Texas, her childhood home. She recorded a handful of demos and had her...
. Denton's music culture makes the smaller town Texas' only other city, outside of Austin, that could claim such a title as "music town", a reflection of city's own creative and progressive dominant cultural base. Several music festivals are hosted in Denton, including North by 35
North by 35
35 Denton is a music festival and conference that takes place every March in Denton, Texas. 35 Conferette first began in 2009 and is centered on the historic Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square. Its first year featured 124 bands and over 4,000 fans. 2010 featured 250 acts and attracted an...
(NX35) and Denton Arts and Jazz Festival
Denton Arts and Jazz Festival
The Denton Arts & Jazz Festival is a free 2½ day event held the last weekend of every April in the city of Denton, Texas. Produced by the Denton Festival Foundation, and sponsored by the City of Denton and corporate sponsors, it brings over 200,000 people each year for live music, fine art, food,...
.
Fort Worth
During the 1960s-1980s an independent label out of Fort Worth known as Bluebonnet recorded numerous albums of high quality material by many pioneer artists in the country music and religious field such as Bradley KincaidBradley Kincaid
William Bradley Kincaid was an American folk singer and radio entertainer.He was born in Point Level, Garrard County, Kentucky but built a music career in the northern states. His first radio appearance came in 1926 when he performed on the National Barn Dance show on WLS-AM in Chicago, Illinois...
, The Girls of the Golden West
Girls of the Golden West
The Girls of the Golden West comprising and was an American female country music female duo that was popular during the "Western Era" of the 1930s and 1940s. Mildred and Dolly Good were born in Mt...
, Buddy Starcher
Buddy Starcher
Buddy Starcher was an American country singer. He starred on his own show on WCHS-TV from 1960 to 1966. However, he is best known for his 1966 spoken word recording entitled "History Repeats Itself", written with Minnie Pearl and released on Boone Records...
,Yodelin' Kenny Roberts, and many other country music and gospel pioneers, many of whom had been popular on radio in the '20s - 40s.
Before this, however, Bob Wills got his start just north of Fort Worth in Saginaw at the Light Crust Flour Mill. This is where Bob Wills, Leon McAuliffe, and Tommy Duncan first started playing music together. Wills recruited the Light Crust Doughboys and they later changed their name to Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys.
In 1971, Bloodrock
Bloodrock
Bloodrock was an American hard rock band, based in Fort Worth, Texas, that had considerable success in the 1970s, and was one of the earliest of a number of significant bands to emerge from the Fort Worth club and music scene during the early to mid 1970s and on into the new century.-Early...
had 3 albums at once on Billboard Magazine's top 100 charts. After 8 albums on E.M.I./Capitol, they maintain a worldwide cult following. A co-writer of Bloodrock songs and hits, Johnny Nitzinger still plays local venues and creates recordings. The Toadies' debut album Rubberneck went platinum in 1996. Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
hails from Fort Worth, as does T-Bone Burnett
T-Bone Burnett
Joseph Henry Burnett , widely known as T-Bone Burnett, is an American musician, songwriter, and soundtrack and record producer.He was a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band on the Rolling Thunder Revue...
. Aside from lead singer Jerry Roush, all members of nintendocore
Nintendocore
Nintendocore is a music genre that fuses aggressive styles of modern rock with chiptune and video game music...
band Sky Eats Airplane are also from Ft. Worth.
Also, many songwriters of note have come from Fort Worth. Townes Van Zandt
Townes Van Zandt
John Townes Van Zandt , best known as Townes Van Zandt, was an American Texas Country-folk music singer-songwriter, performer, and poet...
, Delbert McClinton
Delbert McClinton
Delbert McClinton is an American blues rock and electric blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player, and pianist....
, Steve Earle
Steve Earle
Stephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....
(who was influenced by, but not from, Fort Worth), Freddie King, David Persons, Johnny Redd and many others have been formed, and have also influenced in their own turn, the music of the unique mixture of styles and influences that characterizes Fort Worth's eclectic music history and scene. While each worked in a variety of styles and venues, all shared the unique story type style of songwriting that has marked Fort Worth's music since the early days of Western Swing
Western swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands...
.
Houston
Houston has been home to the more experimental and extreme groups of Texas. From Mayo Thompson's psychedelic free music group the Red Crayola to the hardcore rap of the Geto BoysGeto Boys
Geto Boys is a rap group from Houston, Texas, consisting of Scarface, Willie D and Bushwick Bill. The Geto Boys earned notoriety for its lyrics which included misogyny, gore, psychotic experiences, and necrophilia...
and the primordial sludge rock of Rusted Shut, the 713 has long waved the freak flag over the Lone Star state. The Pain Teens
The Pain Teens
Pain Teens was an experimental noise rock band formed in Houston, Texas in 1985 by Scott Ayers and Bliss Blood. The band used tape manipulation, digital delays, sampling, tape cut-ups and other effects in their music...
and Richard Ramirez (musician)
Richard Ramirez (musician)
Richard Ramirez is an American noise music artist from Houston, Texas, recording and performing both as a solo artist and as part of several groups and Houston Noise Bands, including Black Leather Jesus, Priest in Shit, An Innocent Young Throat-Cutter, Oasis of Fear and the "static noise" solo...
are among the better known Houston Noise Bands
Houston Noise Bands
Since the 1970s, Houston, TX has become one of the world's leading centers for a particular brand of dark experimental music, ranging from psych-rock to industrial to distorted, stripped-down folk songs, to dance party mayhem, but all sharing a similar aesthetic sensibility rooted in dissonance...
. Notable rising bands include Spain Colored Orange
Spain Colored Orange
Spain Colored Orange is an indie rock band from Houston, Texas. The band signed with the label Lucid Records in 2005, and Shout It Out Loud Music in 2008...
, Southern Backtones, Jennifer Grassman
Jennifer Grassman
Jennifer Grassman is an American independent music and recording artist.-Early years & education:...
, and The Ton Tons. Among the city's most influential punk bands were the hardcore Really Red
Really Red
Really Red was one of Houston Texas' first Punk bands in the late 70's, along with The Legionaire's Disease Band, Plastic Idols and the Hates. Their roots can be traced as far back as the late 60's when Ronnie Bond and Kelly Younger had a high school band called The Lords...
and DRI
Dirty Rotten Imbeciles
Dirty Rotten Imbeciles is a thrash metal/crossover thrash band from the United States that formed in Houston, in 1982. The band currently comprises founding members, vocalist Kurt Brecht and guitarist Spike Cassidy, as well as drummer Rob Rampy and bassist Harald Oimoen.D.R.I...
. Culturcide
Culturcide
Culturcide was a Houston-based experimental punk band, active from 1980 to 1990 and from 1993 to the present day. They were notorious for their 1986 album Tacky Souvenirs of Pre-Revolutionary America, which earned the band a cult following, but also several legal threats.-Members:Perry Webb ; Jim...
, Verbal Abuse, Stark Raving Mad, Sik Mentality, Dresden 45
Dresden 45
Dresden 45 was a hardcore punk and crossover thrash band from Houston, Texas, also known as D'45 and variantly, D45. They were one of the first hardcore bands to implement a guitar-driven heavy metal sound into their music...
, Legionaire's Disease, The Hates, AK-47, The Killerwatz, Free Money, The Recipients and The Degenerates also played. It is known for its chopped and screwed
Chopped and screwed
Chopped and screwed refers to a technique of remixing hip hop music which developed in the Houston hip hop scene in the 1990s...
rap music, popularized by DJ Screw
DJ Screw
Robert Earl "DJ Screw" Davis, Jr. was a Houston, Texas-based DJ. He was known as a central figure in the Houston hip-hop community and was the creator of the now-famous Chopped and Screwed DJ technique...
and the Screwed Up Click
Screwed Up Click
The Screwed Up Click is an assortment of rappers mainly from the southside of Houston started by DJ Screw.After appearing on numerous screw tapes and spreading their name throughout southern hip hop, they have become well known. Despite the deaths of several members and the incarceration of...
. Houston also is the home of lo-fi music straddeling blues, folk, and modent antiphonal traditions, as epitomised by elusive cult hero Jandek
Jandek
Jandek is the musical project of an anonymous outsider musician who operates out of Houston, Texas. Since 1978, Jandek has self-released over 60 albums of unusual, often emotionally dissolute folk and blues songs without ever granting more than the occasional interview or providing any biographical...
and the slightly more visible Jana Hunter
Jana Hunter
Jana Hunter is a Baltimore-based songwriter and musician. She was born in Texas and is currently a member of Lower Dens.She is signed to Gnomonsong, a new record label run by Devendra Banhart and Vetiver's Andy Cabic...
. Houston is also the birthplace and final resting place of Chris Whitley
Chris Whitley
Christopher Becker Whitley was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Whitley changed his sound frequently, and achieved modest mainstream success while maintaining a small but devoted following...
(1960–2005) who won a Grammy for his Livin with the Law album and revolutionized the National steel Dobro
Dobro
Dobro is a registered trademark, now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar.The name has a long and involved history, interwoven with that of the resonator guitar...
guitar and enjoyed a massive cult following, but died prematurely of lung cancer in 2005. Houston is home to Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
and the other three original members of Destiny's Child
Destiny's Child
Destiny's Child was an American R&B girl group whose final line-up comprised lead singer Beyoncé Knowles alongside Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. Formed in 1997 in Houston, Texas, Destiny's Child members began their musical endeavors in their pre-teens under the name Girl's Tyme...
. Houston is also the birth place of the alternative rock band Blue October
Blue October
Blue October is a rock band from Houston, Texas. The band was formed in 1995 and currently consists of Justin Furstenfeld , Jeremy Furstenfeld , Ryan Delahoussaye , Matt Noveskey , and Julian Mandrake .-History:Blue October was formed by lead...
. Houston has had sizable folk-country and blues scenes dating back to the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, which included many now famous performers such as Guy Clark
Guy Clark
Guy Clark is an American Texas Country artist. In his career, he has released more than twenty albums, primarily on major labels. He has also written singles for other artists, including Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner and Rodney Crowell....
, Townes Van Zandt
Townes Van Zandt
John Townes Van Zandt , best known as Townes Van Zandt, was an American Texas Country-folk music singer-songwriter, performer, and poet...
, Lyle Lovett
Lyle Lovett
Lyle Pearce Lovett is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded thirteen albums and released 21 singles to date, including his highest entry, the number 10 chart hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, "Cowboy Man"...
, Robert Earl Keen
Robert Earl Keen
Robert Earl Keen, Junior is an American Texas Country singer-songwriter. He is popular with fans of traditional country music, folk music, college radio, and alt-country. Keen currently resides in Kerrville, Texas and maintains a ranch in Medina, Texas.-Early life:Growing up in Houston, Texas,...
and Lightnin' Hopkins
Lightnin' Hopkins
Sam John Hopkins better known as Lightnin’ Hopkins, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist, from Houston, Texas...
, Albert Collins
Albert Collins
Albert Collins was an American electric blues guitarist and singer whose recording career began in the 1960s in Houston and whose fame eventually took him to stages across the US, Europe, Japan and Australia...
, Big Mama Thornton
Big Mama Thornton
Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog" in 1952. The song was #1 on the Billboard R&B charts for seven weeks in 1953. The B-side was "They Call Me Big Mama," and the single sold almost two million...
, and Johnny Copeland
Johnny Copeland
Johnny Copeland was an American Texas blues guitarist and singer.-Career:Born in Haynesville, Louisiana, United States, while Copeland was becoming interested in music, he also pursued boxing, mostly as an avocation, and it is from his days as a boxer that he got his nickname "Clyde." Also as a...
who were signed with the hometown Peacock Records
Peacock Records
Peacock Records was a record label started in 1949 by Don D. Robey in Houston, Texas."Hound Dog" by Big Mama Thornton was a bit hit for Peacock in 1953. Other significant rhythm & blues artists on Peacock were Marie Adams, James Booker, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Little Richard, Memphis Slim, and...
.
San Antonio
Still known primarily for Tejano musicTejano music
Tejano music or Tex-Mex music is the name given to various forms of folk and popular music originating among the Mexican-American populations of Central and Southern Texas...
and Heavy Metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
, San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
throws the Tejano Conjunto Festival, an annual three-day event celebrating Conjunto
Conjunto
Conjunto literally translates as "group," and is regionally accepted in Texas as defining a genre of music that was born out of south Texas at the end of the 19th Century, after German settlers introduced the button accordion. The bajo sexto has come to accompany the button accordion and is...
music, the largest of it's kind in the world. Many of the Conjunto legends lived and recorded here. Names like Valerio Longoria, Santiago Jimenez Sr. and Jr., Flaco Jimenez (who has recorded with everyone from Bob Dylan to the Rolling Stones), Steve Jordan and many others. San Antonio was also one of the major centers for Chicano Soul along with Los Angeles, California. Sunny & The Sunliners cracked the Top Ten and were the first Mexican American act to appear nationally on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. Other significant Chicano Soul bands included Rudy & The Reno Bops, Royal Jesters, Dimas Garza, The Dell Tones, Joe Bravo, The Lyrics, and Sonny Ace. At first thought, San Antonio, Texas, is not immediately associated with the development of jazz.; yet the city does have a long and very creditable history. In the 1920s and '30s, many of the legendary territory bands played there as they swung through south-east Texas, among them Alphonso Trent and Tenrrence T. Holder. Resident in San Antonio itself for long periods was Troy Floyd's band, sometime home to trumpeter Don Albert and tenor saxophonists Herschel Evans and Buddy Tate. Floyd's band regularly played at both the Shadowland Ballroom and the Plaza Hotel; from the latter, they were broadcast over station HTSA. When Don Albert later formed his own band, which included clarinetists and saxophonists Herb Hall and Louis Cottrell plus trumpeter Alvin Alcorn, they, too, played the Shadowland. Albert, incidentally, was the first bandleader to use the word "swing" in his billing: "America's Greatest Swing Band." And drummer Clifford "Boots" Douglas formed his band, Boots and his Buddies, in San Antonio in 1932 and remained based there. Among individual musicians with long associations with the city were brothers Ernie and Emilio Caceres. Clarinetist and saxophonist Ernie played with many swing-era bands, including those led by Jack Teagarden, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, and Woody Herman. After long periods in New York, where he was often in the company of Eddie Condon and Bobby Hackett, he settled in San Antonio, remaining there for the rest of his life. His violin-playing brother, Emilio, was less adventurous, preferring to stay close to San Antonio; and another brother, trumpeter Pinero, also played in the area. The Caceres family name lives on in the 1990s through David, a fine young bop altoist who can be heard in some of the city's many nightspots which cater to the tourists, mostly American, who descend in the thousands on San Antonio all year round. (1) San Antonio also spawned the Butthole Surfers
Butthole Surfers
Butthole Surfers is an American alternative rock band formed by Gibby Haynes and Paul Leary in San Antonio, Texas in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been consistent since 1983. Teresa Nervosa served as second...
, a hardcore alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band which broke into the mainstream in the mid-1990s, signing to Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
and successfully charting several singles and albums. Other successful acts born and bred in San Antonio are: Boxcar Satan
Boxcar Satan
Boxcar Satan is a three-piece band from San Antonio, Texas, that deconstructs American roots music, depression-era Delta blues, post-industrial field hollers, free improvization and a healthy dose of post-punk noise into a modern blend unique to Texas...
, Two Tons of Steel
Two Tons of Steel
Two Tons of Steel is a "rockabilly"/Texas Country band from San Antonio, Texas.The band has performed live at Gruene Hall, and has appeared in the IMAX film Texas: The Big Picture...
, The Union Underground
The Union Underground
The Union Underground was a nu metal/industrial rock band based out of San Antonio, Texas, USA. Original band members included Bryan Scott, Patrick Kennison, Josh Memolo, and John Moyer. They released one major label album, An Education in Rebellion, in July 2000 which featured the hit single "Turn...
, Las Cruces
Las Cruces
Las Cruces could refer to:* Battle of Monte de las Cruces* Las Cruces, California* Las Cruces, Chile* Las Cruces, New Mexico ** The main campus of New Mexico State University...
, Sane, and Fearless Iranians From Hell. San Antonio has deep roots in America's classical music, Jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, with KRTU-FM
KRTU-FM
KRTU-FM is a radio station broadcasting a mainstream Jazz format. Licensed in San Antonio, Texas, USA, the station serves the San Antonio area. The station is owned by Trinity University. Between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., the station format changes from mainstream jazz to alternative and indie rock...
representing one of the most significant jazz radio stations in the country, and the Jim Cullum Jazz Band
Jim Cullum Jazz Band
The Jim Cullum Jazz Band is an acoustic seven-piece traditional jazz ensemble led by cornetist Jim Cullum, Jr.. Since 1989, the band has been featured nationally on their own weekly public radio series Riverwalk Jazz...
serving as a staple act on the San Antonio Riverwalk. Fellow college radio station, KSYM-FM
KSYM-FM
KSYM-FM is a radio station broadcasting a Variety format. Licensed to San Antonio, Texas, USA, the station serves the San Antonio area. The station is currently owned by San Antonio College....
, features 'The Best of the Beatles' with Richard Turner, relying on one of the most comprehensive collections of Beatles recordings ever amassed to spin on his weekly show. San Antonio is also home to the Texas Music Coalition (http://www.texasmusiccoalition.org/index.php) and Local782, both musician-led, non-profit initiatives seeking to educate and empower Texas-based musicians by organizing events throughout the year, including seminars, performances, mixers, showcases, and fundraisers. A slew of new rock bands started in the 00s have joined a couple longer-running favorites, Girl In A Coma
Girl in a Coma
Girl In a Coma is a rock band from San Antonio, Texas on Joan Jett's Blackheart Records' label. The band is made up of Mexican-American sisters Nina and Phanie Diaz and long-time friend, Jenn Alva . The name is a reference to The Smiths' song Girlfriend in a Coma...
- whose song "Clumsy Sky" won Best Punk Song in The 7th Annual Independent Music Awards - and Buttercup, to develop a burgeoning 'indie' scene. These bands include: Blowing Trees, Morris Orchids, We Leave At Midnight, Cartographers, and Education, the last whom's 2011 album, Age Cage, was produced by Gordon Raphael
Gordon Raphael
Gordon Raphael is a record producer and musician from Seattle, Washington and New York, currently working in San Antonio, Texas.Gordon Raphael is most widely known for his work with The Strokes, whom he met while attending one of their very first shows at Luna Lounge on the Lower East Side, New...
, renowned producer of the Strokes
The Strokes
The Strokes are an American indie rock band formed in 1999 in New York City. Consisting of Julian Casablancas , Nick Valensi , Albert Hammond, Jr. , Nikolai Fraiture and Fabrizio Moretti ....
' Is this It
Is This It
Is This It is the debut studio album by American indie rock band The Strokes. Recorded at Transporterraum in New York City with producer Gordon Raphael, after meeting at an early show at Luna Lounge, a former venue on the Lower East Side in NYC, the album was first released on July 30, 2001 in...
and Regina Spektor
Regina Spektor
Regina Ilyinichna Spektor is a Russian American singer-songwriter and pianist. Her music is associated with the anti-folk scene centered in New York City's East Village.-Early life:...
's Soviet Kitsch. Exponential Records has helped put San Antonio Electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
on the map, catapulting artists like Diego Chavez, a.k.a. Aether - whose album Artifacts received a 7 out of 10 from the notoriously stingy Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
, and Ernest Gonzales, a.k.a. Mexicans With Guns, to much wider audiences. San Antonio has a thriving Hip Hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
community as well, including the R&B-tinged duo Mojoe, of Classic.Ghetto.Soul fame, the rapper Question, collaborator with Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli Greene , better known as Talib Kweli, is an American hip-hop artist and poet from Brooklyn, New York. His first name in Arabic means "student" or "seeker" ; his in Swahili means "true"...
and Bun B
Bun B
Bernard Freeman better known by his stage name Bun B, is an American rapper and was one half of the southern hip hop duo UGK . He is also a guest lecturer at Rice University located in Houston, Texas...
on the track "I'm So Tall", and the Vultures crew, whose album Desert Eagles, Vol. 1 was praised by the San Antonio Current
San Antonio Current
The San Antonio Current is a free weekly alternative newspaper in San Antonio, Texas. The Current focuses on investigative journalism, political analysis, and critical coverage of local music and culture. It also contains extensive and up-to-date event listings for San Antonio. A member of the...
's Best Music Advocate of 2010 as "the most complete record to ever come out of San Antonio".
Corpus Christi
Known primarily for Tejano star Selena Quintanilla, Corpus ChristiCorpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The MSA population in 2008 was 416,376. The population was 305,215 at the 2010 census making it the...
was also home to Reverend Horton Heat singer Jim Heath and American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Garage Rock
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
band Zakary Thaks
Zakary Thaks
The Zakary Thaks were an American garage band from Corpus Christi, Texas, formed in the mid 1960s.The band developed out of the Marauders, a teen group which included Chris Gerniottis , Pete Stinson , and Rex Gregory , and who then became the Riptides, adding lead guitarist John Lopez...
. Corpus was also home to several waves of DIY punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and hardcore
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
bands like, The Krayons, Black Milk, Loser, Right Turn Clyde, Slug Bug, Happy Meal, Festus, Sweet Daddy, Four Man March, Eddie and the Holocaust, Jedi Mind Trick, Peter Torpedo, The Booked, The Dip Shits, Fifth Column, Drastic Action, The Wrong Crowd, Devastation and Brutal Poverty.
San Marcos
San MarcosSan Marcos, Texas
San Marcos is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, and is the seat of Hays County. Located within the metropolitan area, the city is located on the Interstate 35 corridor—between Austin and San Antonio....
has a number of local bands, including This Will Destroy You
This Will Destroy You
This Will Destroy You, often abbreviated to TWDY, is an American post-rock band from San Marcos, Texas, formed in 2005. The band consists of guitarists Jeremy Galindo and Chris King, bass player and keyboardist Donovan Jones and drummer Alex Bhore...
.
Professional organizations
- All Texan Music - Online Radio & Music Store featuring ALL genres of music made in Texas
- Texas Music World Productions - Radio, Marketing & Consultation
- Association of Texas Small School Bands
- Heart of Texas Country Music Association
- Texas Association of Music Schools
- Texas Music Educators Association
- Texas Music Associations and Unions
- Texas Music Coalition
Radio shows
- ALL TEXAN MUSIC Online Radio Show - showing off ALL Genres of music being made in Texas!
- Texas Music Radio Show with Gary
- Texas Music World Radio Show with Easton & Rory
- The Lonestar State Radio Show on WMUC College Park, MD
- Notably Texan on KETR-FM Commerce, TX