Wye Oak is not a band that stays in place for long. Though a lot of the same elements carry over from album to album--singer Jenn Wasner's throaty croon, her slash-and-burn guitar playing, drummer Andy Stack's inventive rhythms--each one feels markedly different. So each release should conceivably come as no surprise in its originality, yet every time Wye Oak finds a way to transcend their own sonic past. Such is the case with "Spiral," a song commissioned for Singles Program, a summer song series from Cartoon Network's late-night TV bloc Adult Swim. The Baltimore-based band was given virtually a blank...
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This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll meet a singer who had a minty fresh moniker. Harrison Nelson, Jr., better known as Peppermint Harris, was born in Texarkana, Texas, on July 17, 1925. In the late 1940s, he moved to Houston where legendary bluesman, Lightnin’ Hopkins, helped him land his first recording session. The nickname, Peppermint Harris, was invented by a record producer who could not remember Nelson’s real name when it came time to label his records. In 1951, Harris scored a hit with the party anthem “I Got Loaded.” Peppermint Harris tried to replicate the success of “I Got Loaded” with other alcohol-themed songs,...
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