You don’t often hear about an artist reinventing their sound twenty albums into a celebrated career. But for Todd Snider, his latest release, First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder (2021), isn’t so much a sudden change in direction as an arrival after years of searching. This weekend Snider is at The Heights Theatre.
Since debuting in 1994, Snider has gone through his own incarnations. His first single “Talking Seattle Blues” was a head fake that might’ve pointed to goofy novelty songs. But he quickly showed that his artistic quiver was much deeper 
and more interesting. A storyteller who works a similar creative soil to John Prine and Shel Silverstein, Snider’s best songs are both sad and funny, political and entertaining, and always written with a poet’s eye and a stand-up comedian’s sensibility about the follies of human condition.
While he’s made twenty fine albums, it’s on stage where Snider is even more potent, with between-song banter that weaves subtle emotional threads through his sets. A road dog who loves the road, Snider has toured with Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Jimmy Buffett, and appeared at festivals like Farm Aid, Newport Folk Fest, Lockn’ and Telluride Bluegrass Festival.
Snider was born in Portland, Oregon, and lived there until his family moved to Houston, Texas. When he was 15, he ran away from home with a friend and went back to Portland. After high school, he moved to Santa Rosa, California, to be a harmonica player. Then his brother, who lived in Austin, Texas, bought him a ticket to come live there. After seeing Jerry Jeff Walker in a local bar, Snider decided that he didn't need a band to be a musician.
Michael Cavanaugh is the new voice of the American Rock & Roll Songbook and a charismatic performer and musician made famous for his piano/lead vocals in the Broadway musical Movin’ Out. Handpicked by Billy Joel to star in Movin’ Out, Cavanaugh evokes a style rivaling the Piano Man. He appeared in the show for three years with over 1,200 performances and received multiple accolades. The show culminated in 2003 with both Grammy and Tony award nominations.
This weekend Cavanaugh is in Galveston at The Grand Opera House with his take on celebrating the music of Billy Joel and Elton John.
Michael began playing at age seven, when his parents bought their first piano. Encouraged by family and friends, and inspired by his hero Billy Joel, Michael formed his first band at age 10 and began playing local functions, fine-tuning the craft that would become his chosen career. His first full-time gig as a musician was an extended engagement in Orlando, Florida, at a piano bar called Blazing Pianos. In January of 1999, Michael received an offer that would unknowingly change his life: an opportunity to play Las Vegas at the famed New York, New York Hotel and Casino. It was there that Billy Joel spotted Michael and joined him on stage one fateful night of February 2001. It only took two songs before Billy was convinced that he had found his new Piano Man: Michael Cavanaugh. Michael closed up shop at New York, New York and moved to New York City to work alongside Billy Joel and Twyla Tharp to shape the Broadway Musical that would be called Movin’ Out. In the lead role, he received both Tony and Grammy nominations.
Originally known as Grupo Pesado, the norteño group Pesado was founded by frontman/accordionist Beto Zapata and Pepe 
Elizondo (bajo sexto, vocals) in 1993 in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. This weekend they're in southwest Houston at Arena Theatre.
(From All Music.com) They debuted with the album Ayudame a Olvidar, released by MCM. Llego el Amor followed in 1994, soon achieving gold status. The following year, they scored a major hit with "Eso Me Gusta." In 1997, original bass player Rodolfo Gajardo was replaced by Juan Antonio Pequeño. A new lineup change occurred in 1999 when ex-Grupo Límite drummer Luis Mario Garza took Mario Padilla's place. By the time of their seventh LP, 1999's A Tu Encuentro, Pesado had signed to the new WeaMEX imprint, which would issue a series of greatest-hits albums for the group at the turn of the millennium. Todo Tuyo was issued in early 2001 and marked the first time Pesado entered the charts. Several more albums followed (as their discography continued selling to gold and platinum status) before Pesado issued 2006's Piensame un Momento, which continued their streak and earned the group a Grammy nomination for Best Norteño Album.
This weekend its River To The Sea Produced By The San Jacinto Community College Steel Band at Miller Outdoor Theatre.
River to the Sea is a multi-movement work of the steel band. The creators of the program say, "Water connects all of us. Most cities of the world have formed and grown around a key water source and thrive because of their proximity to water. Houston is a prime example of this."
Musically speaking, the interaction of different cultures and societies from across the globe have been facilitated by this same connection to water. River to the Sea will reflect on this cultural interconnectivity as well as musically depict aspects of what draws us all to water, whether it be for work, survival, recreation, travel, or matters of the spirit.
Established in 2020, Art Museum TX is a not-for-profit institution in Fort Bend County, 
Texas, dedicated to presenting the region's contemporary art to the public. Art Museum TX provides an interchange for visual arts of the present and recent past, presents new directions in art, strives to engage the public, and encourages a greater understanding of contemporary art through education programs.
