Texas Music News — October 19, 2026
Israel Nash has reimagined the Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo, moving a California classic into the Texas Hill Country. The Dripping Springs, Texas, songwriter wants music that feels “familiar, yet different and new.” He does not treat the project as a straight cover or a tribute. Instead, he wrote fresh melodies for the songs.
The record began with “Hickory Wind,” and it grew from there. Nash opens with “Pretty Boy Floyd,” which sits deep in the original track list. Then he shapes the whole thing into “a play in three acts.” Picture a barn rebuilt plank by plank on a new hillside, where the light falls differently.
Hickory Wind Finds a New Hillside
Nash works at Cosmic Chapel, his studio in Dripping Springs, which locals once knew as Plum Creek Sound. The setting matters because the Byrds’ 1968 country-rock landmark came out of Los Angeles. Now those songs breathe Hill Country air, the same air that shaped Wimberley, Texas, songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard.
Fans know Nash from Rain Plans, which made a splash about 13 years ago. Still, the last few years tested him. A vocal condition kept him off the stage for three to four months around 2024. He also regained his catalog from his record labels. Now he looks ahead, because his own new album arrives next year and he plays Austin in November. Some artists revisit old records to hide, but Nash revisits this one to come home. Details at Texas Standard
More Texas Music News
A new Red Dirt awards show, The Galleys, has announced its first nominees. Turnpike Troubadours, Flatland Cavalry, Charley Crockett, and Wade Bowen all earn Artist of the Year nods. Meanwhile, the ceremony lands December 13 at the Country Line Events Center in West, Texas. Details at Saving Country Music
Dorrough & Friends and Angel White will headline the 2026 Deep Ellum Block Party. Oso Oso also tops the bill, and admission is free. The third-year event spreads across Dallas venues such as Club Dada and Adair’s Saloon this November. Details at KXT
Brownsville singer-songwriter Cleiri has released a new cumbia norteña single, “Huir.” She wrote the song herself, and it opens with a norteño-style intro before it shifts to a dance beat. She says she wanted to capture “that moment when you realize you’ve done everything you could.” Details at Tejano Nation