Most Popular
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Barack Obama and Me
It was the year 2000 and I was a young hungry reporter in Chicago covering a young hungry state legislator
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Mescaline on the Mexican Border
Texas is the only state in the country where peyote is sold legally. Really.
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A Prison Cover-up During Hurricane Rita
For days after the storm, inmates in Beaumont lived without A/C, electricity or hot meals. Press releases kept saying everything inside was fine. Guards and prisoners agree — that was nothing but B.S.
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Little Bitty Burger Barn
"It's okay to be little bitty in the big city" is an apt slogan for this new burger joint, where sliders rule
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Ghost Town CFS: Carriage House Cafe
Step back in time — to a spooky old carriage barn with a monster chicken-fried steak
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Barack Obama and Me (251)
It was the year 2000 and I was a young hungry reporter in Chicago covering a young hungry state legislator
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A Prison Cover-up During Hurricane Rita (19)
For days after the storm, inmates in Beaumont lived without A/C, electricity or hot meals. Press releases kept saying everything inside was fine. Guards and prisoners agree — that was nothing but B.S.
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Save Lobo: A Siberian Husky Mix is Sentenced to Die (28)
Why? Because he's big and intimidating and because one family complained about him over and over again
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Are You Hot Enough for Citizen Lounge? (7)
All This Useless Beauty
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HoustonHipHop.com Relaunch Party (5)
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Are You Hot Enough for Citizen Lounge?
All This Useless Beauty
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Tired of the Hype, But That's All There Is
Next month, Houston gets to be a cool kid. But only for a week.
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The improbable redemption of Ashlee Simpson
"La La" Love You
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Rap's Rapidly Vanishing Female MC
The Why Chromosome
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A New Official State Song for Texas?
A case for a new — or different, anyway — state song
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Over the Weekend: Fotos, Dogs and Sausage. And Hannah Montana Too.
08:50AM 03/10/08 -
Friday Night: Wilco at Verizon Wireless Theater
05:04PM 03/10/08 -
Rockets-Nets: Just Another Step Along the Road to Redemption
10:13AM 03/11/08 -
Jameson’s Rarest Vintage Reserve at $250 a Bottle
12:20PM 03/11/08
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Recent Articles By Chris Smith
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Hit the Road, Jack. Permanently.
According to former Houstonians the Business Machines, that's the only way to get a career
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Caged Angels
Chart-toppers in the UK, Ash is happy on the American club circuit. But how long will it stay there?
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Fallout Shelter
Nuclear Assault's Danny Lilker detonates a few mushroom clouds
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Strapping Young Lad
Friday, January 17
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dune*TX
goldenARM (Tasty Melon Records)
National Features
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SF Weekly
The Candidate
Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.
By Matt Smith -
The Pitch
How Not To Be a Rap Star
First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.
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Village Voice
Project Runaway
What becomes a gossip columnist most?
By Michael Musto
A Real T-E-X-A-N
Houston Marchman attacks "VietNashville" with songs of ranch hands and truckers
By Chris Smith
Published: August 10, 2000Well-Traveled Marchman
Though a well-traveled musician, both internationally and in the United States, Houston Marchman doesn't perform as frequently on the Texas Gulf Coast as he does in the northern reaches of the Lone Star State. Raised on his father's ranch in Meridian, Marchman, despite his given name, still apparently favors the upper half of Texas.
No matter. After spending the first part of his professional life performing at rodeos and Wild West shows, as both rider and musician, then kicking around Nashville for six years (the telling title of his debut CD: VietNashville), Marchman's only getting more seasoned the longer he lasts. "VietNashville is about finding yourself, defining what's important to you and standing up for those things," says Marchman. "While I was living in Nashville, I met so many very talented people who were true to their profession but were not allowed the opportunity to express their art."
The main factor that worked against Marchman in Nashville will make him fit right in with a Houston audience: He is T-E-X-A-N. Unwilling to bend, Marchman turns out songs derived from his roots -- stories of ranch hands, rodeo riders, truckers and broken hearts -- but then propels them into the here and now via a sonic blend of rock, country, Texas folk, blues, conjunto and polka.
Marchman's current disc, Leavin' Dallas, was released last May and features songs with titles such as "Wheels," "Caleb and Ray Dawn" and "Two Sisters." CD number three is set for release later this year. It will include the song "One Foot Deeper," which is already part of the soundtrack for an upcoming HBO special.
