Henry Darragh: Our New Favorite Houston Musician

Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to sheaserrano@gmail.com.

We were a little disappointed trading messages with multi-instrumentalist jazz superhero Henry Darragh for this week's Artist of the Week - actually, that's not completely correct. We weren't disappointed inasmuch as we were caught off-guard. Of course, this is because he is not a dick.

See, as talented as Darragh is, he absolutely should be smashing photographers' cameras at the airport and interrupting acceptance speeches and requesting outlandish things like ice chests full of white-colored pencils before shows. Alas, he's as kind and polite as his music (and pictures) would lead you to believe that he is.

At least he is now. He wasn't always.

Hit the jump to see what's what, including where the intriguing Tell Her For Me title came from, the time he was a bit of a villain and how he's excited to be able to vote now.

Lots going on here, folks.

Rocks Off: Artist of the Week opener: Tell everyone everything they need to know about Henry Darragh's music in exactly words.

Henry Darragh: Composer, pianist, trombonist, vocalist. Quadruple threat.

RO: By the way, we understand that you are Henry Darragh, and we're talking directly to you, however we feel like we should always refer to you as "Henry Darragh" like we were talking to someone else about you. We don't know why that is, it just feels appropriate.

HD: Cool.

RO: Talk a little about where Henry Darragh has been hiding. We listened to a bunch of your music and it's pretty impressive; you should be way famous right now. Do you think it has something to do with your bookish glasses?

HD: [laughs] I never thought about that. And thank you for the famous bit. I am not opposed to being able to repay my student loans via CD sales. I've had this style of glasses for 10-plus years and cannot see without glasses. I recently picked a different kind but my wife suggested otherwise. (I still want those, by the way.)

Henry Darragh, "Hey There"

RO: We heard that before Henry Darragh became one of the city's most potentially lethal jazz musicians, he fronted a heavy metal band called Henry Darragh and the Darraghtites. Can Henry Darragh tell us about why he made the switch?

HD: Well, I just thought that the world wasn't ready. Maybe next album we can hint at my roots.