Live Music Previews

The eclectic, roots-rock-flavored music of Derek James takes style notes from singer/songwriters like Jack Johnson and John Mayer, and rings of rock ‘n’ roll bands like Coldplay. Interestingly enough, most of his new album “Stray” was written in the basement of a family’s home in a New York City suburb, where James worked as a […]

There’s a good reason one-third of Cross Canadian Ragweed’s releases are live albums: It is first and foremost a live act. Although lead singer and songwriter Cody Canada acknowledged the group’s live albums are its best sellers because of the band’s road reputation, the last two studio discs have crept up. As the band prepares for […]

The replacement of one’s lead singer after claiming a loyal fan base and a respectable amount of ink is hardly ever a good sign. But don’t tell that to It Dies Today when the band rolls through Oklahoma City and invades The Conservatory on Sunday. Jason Wood, who officially replaced lead vocalist Nick Brooks for […]

Management with Oklahoma City-headquartered CD Warehouse, which sells music to a worldwide market with more than 150 franchise stores, is hoping a new digital music kiosk will keep their brick-and-mortar record stores relevant in this digital age by giving customers access to a massive music database. The kiosk is getting a trial run at the […]

If Norman garage band The Mean Spirits set up shop in your neighborhood, area residents probably would think, “Well, there goes the neighborhood.” “The first description I ever heard anyone say about it, they said it was like schizophrenic heroin addicts dancing around at a Christmas party, on a spaceship,” lead singer and guitarist Zach Massey […]

Although guitarist James Slaw describes the band as “just a couple local players,” the seven members of the metro act A Little Jazz are more musical heavyweights then they might let on. When Grammy Award-winning jazz guitar legend George Benson came to Oklahoma City for a gig at the Civic Center early this summer, members […]

Although many might recognize the California-based indie-rock band Pinback because of a song they did for Fox network’s teen television drama “The O.C,” the themes the band explores in other tunes might take more than a prime-time slot to fully understand. Pinback co-founder Rob Crow said being an endorsement for a large corporate entity isn’t […]

The Rev. Al Green hasn’t lost his reputation for putting on a stellar show. Looking toward Friday’s concert at Riverwind Casino in Norman, he recounted his last visit to Oklahoma. “Well, I did Tulsa, Okla., last year. And the crowd is downright rowdy,” he said. “You know how Oklahoma is: They like to get out […]

Lounging at Starbucks while enjoying a warm coffee and a cheesecake-topped pumpkin muffin, Matt Kendrick looks like the average 24-year-old guy, right down to his eBay-purchased Billy Joel T-shirt and 5 o’clock shadow. Onlookers would never know these four friends comprise a band that has more than 30,000 MySpace users who call themselves Freshsunday fans. […]

Hailing from New Zealand, The Brunettes are a duo led by Jonathan Bree and Heather Mansfield, neither of whom are tinny, disposable pop-rockers or shoe-gazing intellectuals. Their music is upbeat, but it is also complex, with swelling instrumentation and harmonies as thickly layered as Texas’ The Polyphonic Spree. They also could be smirking at their […]