Texas Music Magazine

Mark your calendar for Viva Big Bend #15 (July 22-26)! Approximately 65 shows will take place in more than 20 venues throughout the Big Bend region, including Marfa, Presidio, Terlingua, Alpine, Fort Davis and Marathon. It's an amazing weekend of music and exploring far West Texas. GA and VIP wristbands, as well as lodging packages, are available now at www.vivabigbend.com. (Photo by Sarah Vasquez)

BMI is hosting a free evening of music with six great artists at The Saxon Pub in Austin, Wednesday, May 6 (starting at 6 p.m.)! The BMI Acoustic Lounge is sponsored in part by Texas Music Magazine.

BMI is hosting a free evening of music with five great artists at The Saxon Pub in Austin, Wednesday, April 1 (starting at 7:30 p.m.)! The BMI Acoustic Lounge is sponsored in part by Texas Music Magazine.

Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) is hosting a free concert at The Saxon Pub on South Lamar in Austin, Wednesday, February 4! The BMI Acoustic Lounge is sponsored in part by Texas Music Magazine.

Texas has lost one of its musical trailblazers with the passing of Joe Ely (1947-2025), a pioneer of progressive country and a true original. A career that started in Lubbock and flourished in Austin took him to stages across the globe, including a notable tour with the Clash. Texas Music Magazine was fortunate to have Joe as the headliner during our music festival, Viva Big Bend, in 2013. Also, the Flatlanders, a Texas music supergroup which featured Ely, Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, were the cover story of our second issue all-time (in 2000). His fearless songwriting and unmistakable voice helped shape the sound of Texas music and will continue to resonate for years to come.

BMI is hosting a free concert at The Saxon Pub on South Lamar in Austin, Monday, Dec. 1! The BMI Acoustic Lounge is sponsored in part by Texas Music magazine.

After a successful Weekend 1 wrapped up last Sunday, Austin gears up to do it all over again! Weekend 2 of Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL) kicks off at noon today (Friday, Oct. 10) and runs through Sunday. Music fans around the world will gather at Zilker Park to enjoy the cool vibes and diverse music lineup. Photo by Pooneh Ghana (courtesy ACL Fest).

We’re celebrating ACL Fest’s 100th performance day (Oct. 5) by looking back at some of the event’s iconic moments. Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL) is Oct. 3-5 and Oct. 10-12.

When they headlined ACL Fest — in 2009 — Pearl Jam blasted a greatest hits set guaranteed to enthrall its audience. Rather than repeat that performance during both weekends of 2014, the Seattle alt-rock staple dug deep into its catalog for sets that proved the band was more than just a classic rock throwback.

From vintage (“Why Go,” “Even Flow,” “Corduroy”) to contemporary (“Lightning Bolt,” “My Father’s Son”), the band ripped into its catalog with gusto, animating frontman Eddie Vetter and letting up only for the acoustic “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” and — during its first-weekend performance — a solo encore cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine” by Vedder.

Dabbling in folk rock, roots rock, garage rock and punk, the band appeared intent on stretching its boundaries. But Pearl Jam is Pearl. The element of surprise may have been long gone, but the band clearly still felt the fire.

Photo by Chad Wadsworth for ACL Fest

We’re celebrating ACL Fest’s 100th performance day (Oct. 5) by looking back at some of the event’s iconic moments. Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL) 2026 is Oct. 3-5 and Oct. 10-12.

The most abbreviated headliner performance in ACL Fest history took place during the first weekend of 2023, when, because of plane issues, Kendrick Lamar’s set, which was scheduled to begin at 8:40 p.m., was delayed until 9:45 p.m. That posed a problem, not merely because of the delay but because of Austin’s strict noise curfew at Zilker Park (10 p.m. nightly).

“I heard y’all have a curfew,” Lamar announced when he took the stage. “I told them they’d have to shut off my mic.” And that they did, but not before Lamar was able to deliver 11 songs in 31 minutes (his mic was cut at around 10:15 p.m.). Though some of his best material had to be excised for time, Lamar nevertheless managed to deliver a focused, energetic set. During the second weekend of the festival, Lamar, who’d previously played the festival on a smaller stage in 2013, contributed a full set.

Photo by Alex Luevano for Texas Student Media/The Daily Texan. Used with permission.