Monthly Archives: August 2016

Brian Whelan Turns Up the Heat on ‘Sugarland’

BY  ART THOMPSON You always know a record is good when the songs start sticking in your head on the first spin, and Sugarland, by ex-Dwight Yoakam sideman Brian Whelan, catches the ear with tunes that sit comfortably in the alt-country camp, while simultaneously steering in a heavier, more guitar-forward direction than what’s typically heard from […]

World Premiere: Brian Whelan’s “Americana”

BY WILLIAM MICHAEL SMITH It might seem like career suicide to write a scathing tune about the very genre you operate in, but that’s exactly what former Dwight Yoakam sideman Brian Whelan has done at the beginning of his second solo album, Sugarland. “Americana,” which the Houston Press is premiering today, is a jet-blast critique of […]