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War Record
I grew up in Bandera, a place that has gotten more interesting to me as I grow older because it’s a small town that’s also pretty open-minded. It’s a place where people go to have a good time, so there...
View ArticleCrime Scene
On the morning of June 20, 2001, Andrea Yates, 36, sat down for breakfast with her five children, Noah, John, Paul, Luke, and Mary. Andrea’s husband had just left their modest suburban home outside...
View ArticleThe Profiler
texasmonthly.com: Putting Beyoncé on the cover of the music issue seems like a no-brainer. How did that come about?Michael Hall: We had been talking about a story on Beyoncé and her father, Mathew, for...
View ArticleTexas History 101
Iron Maiden, Billy Joel, and Queen have all scored hit songs crooning the lyric, “only the good die young.” In the case of Texas’s music icons who have met untimely ends, the words couldn’t ring any...
View ArticleThe Song Writer
The first stuff I probably listened to was Mexican music—the harmonies of the old mariachi music. Simple, simple stuff. In fact, I spoke Spanish before I spoke English—that’s what they tell me anyway....
View ArticleThe Bush File
ONE HAS ONLY to read Paul Burka’s hatchet-job article “The Man Who Isn’t There” to relate to Evan Smith’s assertions in “The Other War. ” Yes, it is best to “Ignore the Media.”PAUL BURKA’S ARTICLE “The...
View ArticleHappy Trails
I was on a road trip with my boyfriend when I first heard “That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas).” And as we were driving down the highway. I stared absentmindedly out at the fields off U.S. 290. I had...
View ArticleTo My Ears
“HILLBILLY MUSIC.” THAT WAS MY mother’s judgment of one of the genres featured in this issue. I must have been an impressionable seven or eight, and she had caught me lingering on a country and western...
View ArticleThe Voice of America
HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY FRIDAY!” blares the voice from the radio. “It’s Big D and Bubba in the morning!”It’s rush hour, so to speak, in Abilene, on a dreary day in late January. Big D and Bubba are country...
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Spoon at a Fork
So just what is a rock star, anyway? The term is universally recognized—can there be a better night out than one that begins with rock star parking and ends with partying like a rock star?—but its...
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King of the Accordion
His name is Ramón, Ramón Ayala, el señor Ramón Ayala. They call him the King of the Accordion. If you don’t like the accordion sound or you’re not from South Texas, or from Mexican Texas, you might...
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Pure Country
The great country singer George Jones was best-known for his longtime association with Nashville, where he earned his reputation as perhaps the greatest country singer who has ever lived. But Jones,...
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HISTORY
MONUMENTAL EVENTS You heard the buzz. You saw the trailers. The release date came . . . and went. Remember The Alamo? Before you fork over $15 for a ticket and the requisite popcorn, take the...
View ArticleRoad Warrior
IN 1982, AFTER I’D LEFT a band called Rank and File, I called my brother Javier and told him to come to Austin and start the True Believers with me. In those days, the first thing you did when you...
View ArticleTeeny Popper
WHEN I PERFORMED AT THE American Music Awards last November, it was the first time I felt like I had hit the big time, because I had to sing in front of all my peers. I was, like, “I can’t believe I’m...
View ArticleNice and Easy
I HAVE A VERY COMFORTABLE LIFESTYLE as a jazz musician. I spend Monday through Sunday doing pretty much what I want. Most people have to wait to go to the movies on Saturday at noon. But every day is a...
View ArticleA Lyrical Life
I GREW UP IN WACO, where papa was a cotton buyer. He traveled a lot, and one day, after I had graduated from high school, he said, “I’m going to Los Angeles to sell some cotton. Would you all like to...
View ArticleRednecks, Armadillos, And Me
I WAS 29 WHEN THE IMPROBABLE RISE OF REDNECK ROCK was published. I had been anxious to write a book but had little idea of how to go about it. Apart from a few months of toil at small-town newspapers,...
View ArticleBlame That Tune
BACK WHEN I WAS A KID, there were five big state symbols. Everyone knew them; they didn’t change. They were: the state flower (bluebonnet), tree (pecan), bird (mockingbird), motto (“Friendship”), and...
View ArticleSusan Graham
Last year you debuted with Houston Grand Opera and this year with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Why did it take so long to get back to Texas?I wish I had the answer to that. Sometimes to be...
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