STAR

Silver Hour: “Star”

In 2018, when Texas native Kacey Musgraves released her landmark album Golden Hour she breathed new life into the term – one that typically describes those brief windows of sunrise and sunset that’s made for so many magic cinematic moments. But we’re willing to wager that “silver hour” is outside the bounds of most folks’ lexicon. The first meaning trails its golden counterpart – a fleeting period of post-sunset luminescence for waterfront communities. The second definition is a bit more morbid – used by healthcare workers in reference to the 30 minutes immediately before and after a patient passes away. And although there’s a common thread between those two – the sense of light at the end of a cycle – there’s also a Texas trio eager to make like Musgraves and give their namesake a glow up. Just like that reassuring glimmer on the onset of darkness, Austin three-piece Silver Hour started out early on in the pandemic between longtime friends as means of staving off the insanity of isolation and keeping the creative juices flowing. Since then, Silver Hour’s steered clear of genre constraints, instead incorporating everything from retro film soundtracks to funk, jazz, and hard rock into their vintage-meets-modern M.O. of songwriting. But now that Silver Hour’s bulked up their scene legs with their fair share of live shows, they’re finally extending their sound past the stage and onto the shores of streaming services. Ahead of their sophomore effort “Desert Doomer” that drops next Friday, “Star”is the shimmering first node for Silver Hour’s developing constellation of singles. Soon after a slide guitar intro that could segue into pretty much any genre, “Star” orbits Dark Side era Pink Floyd thanks to Jake Helpinstill’s drum fills, James LeBlanc’s bass licks, and Michael Moretta’s sweet-but-sinister vocals that hover above blues-inspired guitar chords, evoking the styles of Nick Mason, Roger Waters, and David Gilmour, respectively…albeit with a little bit of Black Angels on top due to a distorted six-string solo that soars through the bridge.

Texas Standard: July 24, 2019

Have you been living in the U.S. for at least 2 years? Can you prove it on demand? We’ll look at what new rules on expedited deportation could mean for Texas. Also, as Washington focuses on the Mueller report, many in Texas talking about the 18 year old Dallas born U.S. citizen, detained by border agents for three weeks without explanation. What’s making news in your part of the Lone Star State? Tweet us @TexasStandard. Plus, a change in federal rules that could take away food stamps for more than 300 thousand Texans, we’ll have details. Those stories and so much more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: April 23, 2018

The state’s political maps: will they need to be re-drawn? The stakes are high in a case to be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, we’ll have the latest. Also in Texas there’s a lot of love for Southwest. But today, lots of frustrated travelers as the Dallas based airline grounds nearly a hundred planes for engine inspections. We’ll hear what inspectors are looking for. And the nation’s biggest psychiatric ward also happens to be a county jail. How did the criminal justice system become the biggest provider of services to the mentally ill? We’ll explore. And a new wave of National Guard troops arrive at the border. How’s this playing out down in the Valley? We’ll take you there. Those stories and so much more on today’s Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: October 31, 2017

You know about the looting as Harvey struck Texas? You sure about that? We’ll explore why the numbers and the narrative don’t match. Also, With Joe Straus not returning as house speaker, social conservatives in the Texas GOP are cheering, but some politics watchers out west wonder if that’s not premature. Why some think a race in the panhandle could reverberate across Texas. And veterans from the fighting in Afghanistan blame military open burn pits for health care issues, but their options for seeking relief are closing. Also, a fix for hackable voting systems developed in Texas and why it may never be deployed. Those stories and so much more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: October 25, 2017

An Arizona republican senator opens up on Donald Trump: I will not be complicit. Does it change the political calculus in the reddest of red states? Arizona does have something of a history of republican mavericks, but with Senator Jeff Flake drawing a line in the sand over decency, could it resonate with Republican politicians close to home? Or more accurately, republican Texans at large? We’ll ask the man who wrote on Texas politics. Plus a federal court green lights an abortion for an undocumented teenager detained in Texas, we’ll have the latest. And the tragic story from Texas making front page news in India. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard: