Houston Music Blog

Daniel Kramer

The Jonas Brothers at RodeoHouston 2009

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Monday morning, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo announced the first four entertainers next March's musical entertainment at Reliant Stadium. Jonas Brothers, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, and Brooks & Dunn have all been tapped to perform at next year's rodeo. The Kix and Ronnie date will be the duo's last rodeo appearance, as B&D plan to part ways at the end of 2010.

This will be the Jonas Brothers' second Houston rodeo appearance and their third concert in town in the past year. No doubt their March 7 show will sell out, so either start getting in line like freakin' now, or start growing an extra kidney to hawk so you can line the pockets of a scalper for a pair of tickets for your little girls. Fellow 2009 rodeo alum and Joe Jonas ex-girlfriend Taylor Swift will be bypassing this year's Reliant Stadium event for a two-night stand at Reliant Arena at the end of May.

Photos courtesy Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

Teenage girls turned up in droves for Taylor Swift at RodeoHouston Friday night, letting out piercing screams in between every song, rivaling the intensity of those at the Jonas Brothers concert. Swift already belongs among that small cadre of artists who can send then fans into a frenzy just by showing up at the venue; at Reliant Stadium, her easygoing charm, and flairs of spunk and sass showed why.

Swift seemed genuinely elated to be at the rodeo for the first time, which came through in her energetic performance. Not only did she pack the house, but she also kept the crowd going, a hard task in a venue where the audience is hundreds of feet away.

Swift opened strong with "You Belong to Me," but it was after a blink of eye wardrobe change from a plain black and jeans into a sparkling gold minidress and went into "Our Song" that she really caught fire and got the crowd up and swaying.

Mark. C. Austin/ Click here for a slideshow

Aftermath can not begin to tell you how much of a beacon ZZ Top was for him over the past few days. The lil' ol' band from Texas' RodeoHouston finale may not have had anything to do with SXSW per se, but knowing the first thing he would be doing upon returning to Houston was heading down to Reliant Park to watch the Bearded Ones and the Beardless One Named Beard kept him going. And sure enough, nothing in Austin last week could compare to watching ZZ do its thang in front of more than 64,000 screaming hometown fans.

Conquering Reliant Stadium's cavernous acoustics - actually, the mix made songs like "Jesus Just Left Chicago," "Just Got Paid" and "Cheap Sunglasses" sound extra Mississippi muddy - the trio tossed in twangy covers of Johnny Cash's "Get Rhythm" and Hank Snow's "I'm Movin On" before closing out with the patented power-boogie of "La Grange" and "Tush." After half a week of hipster hell, it sure was nice to be back in the land of turkey legs and funnel cakes.

Photos courtesy Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo

Not only does Clint Black know how to play to the home folks - after being introduced by his daughter Lily, he said hello to Tomball, Spring, Pasadena and his hometown Katy (but where, Aftermath would like to know, was Friendswood?) upon taking the RodeoHouston stage Friday night - but he was responsible for what has to go down as hands down the oddest moment in this year's concert series, if not ever. Unless ZZ Top decides to do something like cover Flo Rida's "Right Round," Aftermath supposes, but that seems unlikely.

Near the end of his hour-long set, Black, still playing to the crowd, said something to the effect of "we listened to a lot of great country music growing up here, but we listened to a lot of great rock and roll, too." Then he yielded center stage to saxophonist Brian Austin and climbed behind the drums for a cover of Steely Dan's 1978 FM radio hit "Josie." Hearing any country star's band suddenly launch into Donald Fagen and Walter Becker's MOR mover about a wanton woman who "prays like a Roman" would be weird - Austin's smoove-as-glass blowing did the original justice, though, and Black proved to be a decent if not spectacular timekeeper - but the the distinct whiff of manure in Reliant Stadium (the grand champion steers were chosen immediately before Black's performance) made it extra surreal. 

Photos by Craig Hlavaty

Aftermath always wondered what it was like to not be known to the public by your birth name, but by the name of your band. In the beginning, some club owners thought that David Lee Roth's name was Van Halen. I'm sure somewhere along the line Ian Anderson was called Jethro Tull to his face. Those, if you aren't in Jethro Tull, could be fighting words.

"His name is Hootie, dammit!" screamed a gaggle of fans sitting two rows behind Aftermath Monday night, as Darius Rucker was introduced and made his way from the Ford truck to the stage. In the weeks leading up to the show, even Aftermath had to stop ourselves and say "Darius Rucker."

We guess that goes with being the lead singer of an immensely successful, yet strangely not-so-popular, '90s pop rock group with a name like Hootie and the Blowfish. But why would anyone think his name could conceivably be Hootie? And why would a grown man enter public life proudly wearing that moniker? I guess Meat Loaf and Clay Aiken are crazy names too.

TK's atomic mullet is no match for Rocks Off and Saving Country Music's poison pens.

This has been a fun week down in the Rocks Off foxhole, as Toby Keith's loyal minions have besieged us with comments taking issue with our review of the Big Dog Daddy's lackluster RodeoHouston performance Wednesday. (Come on, guys, we did say the guitar work on "Stranglehold" was pretty badass.) They even enlisted the flacks at CMT to help assail our defenses.

Now, like the cavalry in some John Ford Western Keith probably wishes he could remake, the Saving Country Music blog has come to our aid. "Luckily, the forces of REAL country music have found an ally down there in the form of the Houston Press," SCM posted today. Be sure to check out their "It Hurts When I Pee" podcast while you're there, too.

Photos by Mark C. Austin

Reba McEntire is the closest modern country will ever get to the artistic heights of its pioneering female vocalists. Sure Tanya Tucker had her run but the booze, powders and Glen Campbell took their toll. Shania Twain was just a Nashville/Pat Benatar Frankenstein project. And all the others were B-teamers shoving out their shingle on Music Row in hopes of at least landing a spot a county fair or a gig shilling corn chips.

When it comes to heavy-hitting mamas like Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette, McEntire is right smack in the middle. Since releasing her self-titled debut in 1977, she has been exposing the hidden and yearning elements of the feminine psyche better than even her counterparts in mainstream rock and R&B could.

Mark C. Austin

Yes, CMT, we did enjoy Alan Jackson's RodeoHouston performance.

If you've been following Rocks Off's rodeo coverage, which hopefully you have, you've probably noticed that we've found a few of the entertainers' performances to be less than stellar. Which is not to say we haven't been having a blast down at Reliant Park with thousands of our friends and neighbors.

CMT has certainly noticed and, um, "called us out" on it a few hours ago. According to CMT blogger Craig Shelburne:

"The bloggers for the Houston Press haven't been all that impressed with the country concerts at this year's RodeoHouston. You know, I certainly haven't liked all the concerts I've written about either. In my opinion, some of them were truly awful. When that happens, I just mostly describe what happened, rather than taking cheap shots at the artist."

Courtesy Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

Turns out Solange Knowles had a pretty legit reason for being off her game at last Friday's rodeo concert: While she and her band were en route from Austin, their tour bus plowed headlong into a colony of deer. Solange is one of the most prolific Twittering musicians out there - 24,000 followers, 1,760 updates - and last night she used the microblog to relay her account of what happened:

"I'm on the phone baking like betty in my bus bunk and CRASH! Thought I was dead, but turns out we ran into a family of dear:( ...  I can't believe it. Were all ok tho! Guitar player flew out of bunk n hurt his hand a little:( ... Really sad for the deer. One didn't make it:( ... Craziest thing is when your in your bunk , you have no access 2 windows so it really scared me.I just felt bam!"

Besides emoticons and "baking like betty" - something tells Rocks Off she ain't talking about making muffins there - Solange is also a big fan of Chairlift, so look for her in the audience at one of the Brooklyn indie/electro-poppers' SXSW appearances. 

Photos by Mark C. Austin

It's easy to see why Toby Keith is so popular... until he opens his mouth to sing. The 47-year-old singer, actor and tireless Ford pitchman has the kind of easygoing, big-galoot charisma that would make him an ideal drinking buddy. No doubt that's why so many of his songs, which are generally sarcastic without being mean and avoid profundity at all costs, concern bars and the types of refreshements served therein.

But OMG, Keith probably couldn't pass the audition for your average high school senior musical. Tuesday night at the rodeo, his voice - which has almost no range to start with - was consistently flat, with wrong notes littered across songs like "I Wanna Talk About Me" and recent country No. 1 "She Never Cried In Front of Me" like beer cans on the floor of his extended-cab F-150 after a weekend at the lake.

Photos courtesy Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo

From one-night stands to missing the one that got away, love and country music go hand in hand. Monday night, fresh pop-country faces Lady Antebellum - reigning ACM Top New Duo or Group and CMA New Artist of the Year - rocked out to all of love's in-betweens.

Kicking off the show was the trio's recent hit, one-night-stand disclaimer "Lookin' For a Good Time," a surprisingly decent splice of Lady A's own sound and AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long." The crowd hadn't quite settled in just yet, but there were enough people to give the obligatory hoots and hollers when singer Hillary Scott said Houston is like her second home - a deliberate segue into "Home Is Where the Heart Is."

Scott's voice ricocheted around Reliant Stadium, so it was hard to distinguish if she was flat on a few pitches or distorted by the microphones. Regardless, Charles Kelley's soothing tenor helped move the songs along, as did Dave Haywood's spectacular musicianship on guitar, piano and backup vocals. A light-hearted rendition of Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'" helped answer the group's semi-successful pleas for audience participation.

Just think, if not for September 11, Toby Keith would probably still be as bland as dry toast and just as exciting. The horrific events of that day, and our nation's rapid retaliation, suddenly sprung the Oklahoma-born Keith into action - he soon began a whole new career as a political firebrand, a sort of Lee Greenwood on steroids.

Keith already had a decade of numerous pop-country hits like ""A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action" and "How Do You Like Me Now?", but it wasn't until 9/11 answer song "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American)" that he became known worldwide.

That song's fiercely patriotic and, in some listeners' opinions, borderline-imperialistic leanings brought Keith to the masses and incurred the wrath of left-leaning artists like the Dixie Chicks. Soon he was foisted up as a right-wing cheerleader while, ironically, his own beliefs were more progressively left.

Photos courtesy Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

A lot of good things went down at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Friday night, but Solange Knowles' performance was not one of them. The songstress paled in comparison to veteran singer Gladys Knight, who went on after Solange's 1960s- and '70s-inspired, mess of a set.

In keeping with the theme, her band was decked out in hot-pink Beatlesque suits. The backup singers donned throwback hairdos, and their girl-group choreography was on point, yet none of that seemed to help Solange's sub-par singing and exaggerated hair flouncing. She managed to belt out her rendition of "Shout" with some finesse, but for much of the show sounded like a school girl singing in front of the mirror with a brush.

She closed with a scattered performance of her most recognized single "I Decided," which was mangled by a shout out, a swift change of shoes and her inability to run around the arena begging an unimpressed, uninvolved audience, for the umpteenth time, to join in.

Photos by Mark C. Austin

I didn't want to go the Jonas Brothers at the Houston Livestock and Rodeo, but I had no choice. My 10-year old granddaughter did want to go, and I owed her. For two years of the Hannah Montana craze, Jade had the wig and the poster and never missed a rerun. So every time Hannah came to town, I stood in line or got on my computer and always failed to get the tickets.

Now Hannah is Miley Cyrus, and the hot ticket is the Jonas Brothers. I got two. For the record, I'm no stranger to the concert scene. Twenty-five years ago, I took Jade's father, who also happened to be ten, to see the Beastie Boys at the Summit. I was the oldest one there, it was my first time to hear rap, and I thought it was the last gasp of a dying civilization. On the way out, I said to him, "This will never last."

Now I am a seventy-something who has to review a teen band I never heard before. That was deal I made to get the tickets. But if your granddaughter is ten, you want her to like young guys with a squeaky clean image - no sex, no drugs - even if they did perform at the Bush White house twice. (I did some homework on the Internet.)

Photos by Mark C. Austin/ Click here for a slideshow

Alan Jackson is like the world's most comfortable pair of boots. Over the past 20 years, the Georgia-born singer and songwriter has amassed an enormous catalog of songs loaded with self-deprecating modesty, gentle tongue-in-cheek humor and unabashed sentimentality, that every so often - whether happy-hour Jimmy Buffett duet "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" or Grammy-winning 9/11 rememberance "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" - resonate on a much deeper level.

Tuesday night, playing his 17th Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo in 18 years (skipping only 2003), Jackson played a 45-minute set that was long on hits and short on frills - unless you count the video-screen footage of family photos during "Drive (For Daddy Gene)," Buffett in concert in "Five O'Clock" and Longhorn and Aggie caps for closer "Where I Come From" - with only a few missteps. One was opener "Good Time," a genial shuffle that nonetheless felt a little forced, like Jackson was trying a little too hard to lift the crowd's spirits - which, considering the rest of the set, was totally unnecessary.

Monday afternoon, Rocks Off headed down to Reliant Park to participate in the annual Reliant Rodeo Round-Up, a competition between local media "personalities" - Rocks Off supposes that's an appropriate term, though some who know him might claim otherwise - and their partners from area nonprofit agencies to raise money for charity.

Rocks Off's partner was HISD's Dee Puls, our charity was the fine arts and music program at Kashmere High School and our objective was to avenge our result in last year's Round-Up, when we finished dead last. We started strong, but Rocks Off choked in the final event, roping a "calf" that was actually a sawhorse with a head stuck on it. (Like many things, it turns out left-handers are at a natural disadvantage when it comes to tossing a lasso.)

Photos by Mark C. Austin

Anyone who thought that '80s-style power ballads had long gone away with Kurt Cobain's green sweater and Crystal Pepsi is dead wrong. They are kept alive, nightly, by Columbus, Ohio's Rascal Flatts.

Bundled-up couples of all ages walked hand-in-hand, and apple-lotion-scented gangs of teen girls made their way into Reliant Stadium Tuesday night to watch America's modern-day Air Supply with a twang bust out hit after hit.

The rodeo folks really dug deep this year for the new stage lighting. It looked like someone had swathed the formerly Spartan stage in plasma television screens from top to bottom, which created an almost ethereal backdrop when the things like stars or raindrops were projected on it. We can only imagine what ZZ Top will do with this new toy when they close this thing out. Two words: corneal scarring.

Freakin' Loverboy?! You mean not only can we eat our weight in brisket and drink whiskey like a bender-bound Hank Williams Jr. circa 1973, but we can also rock our sauce-soaked asses to "Working For The Weekend"? The Canadian '80s rock juggernauts hit town tonight, kicking out the jams at the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest, which is being held this week before the official rodeo kicks off.

Strange bookings like this make life coalesce into a majestic ball of awesome in red leather jeans. So get out your headbands, tease out that perm and shake it, all you "Hot Girls In Love"! It's our official stance that any band approved by Carl Brutananadilewski is fine by us.