The lineup for this year’s Houston rodeo was announced last week, and some folks are pissed. Which isn’t surprising, since people can always find something to criticize about the mix of artists featured at the annual event. For a complete rundown, take a look at Jeff Balke’s Houston Press story.
The complaints are many: too much country, not enough country, too few artists of color, a non-Tejano (Mexican, but still) artist performing on Go Tejano day, and what the hell were the rodeo powers that be thinking when they book Creed? Then again, there are the traditionalists who lament the fact that the rodeo competition itself has taken a back seat to the music and wonder what business rockers and rappers have performing after the bull riding event. What was wrong with George Jones?
The first Houston rodeo was held in 1932, in Sam Houston Hall, which had been constructed downtown for the 1928 Democratic National Convention. By 1942, the rodeo had relocated to the new Sam Houston Coliseum and added a featured musical act (in that year, Gene Autry) to the proceedings. From there, it was pretty much all country all the time until someone decided that a bit of diversity (both in music and ethnicity) was in order and booked the 5th Dimension in 1972, followed by the Jackson Five in 1973 and Rufus (featuring Chaka Khan) in 1976. Other changes in booking policies occurred during the same era, with more pop acts showing up at the rodeo, e.g. Sonny and Cher, Engelbert Humperdinck and Elvis.
The point is, this type of debate has been going on for well over half a century, with the pendulum swinging back and forth from year to year. These days, the Houston rodeo is no place for purists, those diehards who don’t cotton to bareback and bull riders wearing protective gear, who think that the last decent music released was Merle Haggard’s “Okie from Muskogee,” and who are mystified by the allure of fried Oreos and have no idea what a Trill burger might be. Time marches on, and so does the rodeo, one foot in front of the other. (Er, be careful and don’t step in that!)
Ticket Alert
Diana Ross is back on the road in 2026 after closing out last year with a performance on “Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve.” At 81, Ross maintains a busy touring schedule with shows at major venues. In 2025, she performed at the Hollywood Bowl, the Montreux Jazz Festival and London’s O2 Arena. Tickets are on sale now for her concert at the Smart Financial Centre on Wednesday, March 11.
It’s shaping up to be a big year for Bruno Mars. He is set to release a new album, The Romantic, next month, after which he will embark on a stadium tour of North America, Europe and the United Kingdom lasting through October. Presales for Mars’ concert on Wednesday, April 22, at NRG Stadium start today, with the general sale set for Thursday.
What to make of the Rock the Country tour, which touts itself as a “festival for the people”? The vibe is populist and aggressively patriotic, as demonstrated by the tour’s logo, a stern looking bald eagle captured in flight with an American flag clutched in his talons. A just-released announcement promises “eight massive shows” in “eight small towns.” And just in case you were wondering, organizers reassure us that the festival is “where the beer flows, the love pours, and the music sparks like fireworks on the Fourth.” Okey dokey.
In the case of Texas, the dates are Friday, May 1, and Saturday, May 2, and the small town is Bellville, population 4,200, which is an hour or so west of Houston, just down the road from Cat Spring. The tour features different lineups at different locations, with the Bellville stop headlined by Kid Rock, Jason Aldean and Ella Langley. Tickets go on sale Friday, and a notice on the tour’s website says that ducats are priced “starting at $2.50 down.” Huh? Something to do with the upcoming semiquincentennial I suppose. And by the way, let’s all begin to practice the pronunciation of and become familiar with the term “semiquincentennial” so that we won’t sound like doofuses come this summer.
When a band goes by the name of Five Finger Death Punch, you have to figure that it’s a hard rocking outfit, as opposed to some sort of smooth jazz combo. For over 20 years, the Las Vegas act has cranked out hook-laden heavy metal, selling a bunch of records and causing many a head to bang. Tickets are on sale now for FFDP’s (5FDP’s if you prefer) concert at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on Sunday, September 27.
Concerts This Week
Art Alexakis is generally thought of as a West Coast guy, but as the Everclear front man explained to Bob Ruggiero in a Houston Press interview, he actually spent some time in and around Houston during his teenage years, living in Alief, Katy and Montrose and working at Ken’s Crispy Fried Chicken on Westheimer. Now an alt-rock patriarch, Alexakis is still leading Everclear, who will perform on Thursday at the House of Blues.
Singer-songwriter James McMurtry lives near Austin, which is fortunate for us because it means he plays in Houston on a fairly regular basis. Catch him on Friday at the Heights Theater.
Ghostface Killah first gained fame as a member of the Wu-Tang Clan rap collective and then established a successful solo career beginning in the mid-‘90s. Killah will be in Houston, performing at the House of Blues on Saturday in support of his most recent album, Supreme Clientele 2, a sequel to Supreme Clientele, which was released in 2000. ‘Cause Knowledge is Power: Ghostface Killah took his stage name from a character in the 1979 kung fu flickThe Mystery of Chess Boxing aka Ninja Checkmate.
I was going on earlier about Diana Ross still touring at the age of 81, but Herb Alpert leaves her in the dust. The 90 year old trumpeter and bandleader will perform on Saturday at the Smart Financial Centre, accompanied by the Tijuana Brass. Alpert’s recordings with the TJB are cultural touchstones. Who doesn’t remember the naughty-but-not cover of the album Whipped Cream and Other Delights? Or hearing “Spanish Flea” as the theme song of “The Dating Game?” A coworker even told me that, in the days when doctors would pass out “diet pills” to those who were trying to lose weight, she would wait for the rush to kick in, crank up “Tijuana Taxi” on the stereo and vacuum the entire house. Twice!
This article appears in Private: Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2026.
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