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Texas Music Pickers is back at Grand Stafford Theater this Saturday, September 19 at 5:00 pm for their Top Picks Competition!

16 singer-songwriters will compete for number 1 and to earn $1000 in cash and prizes ($500 cash, a recorded single, & songwriting sessions with 2 award winning songwriters.)

Even more exciting, Grand Stafford Theater’s own musician-in-residence artist Landon McGee is one of the 16 finalists.

Contestants will perform original songs and covers in a bid to earn the Top Pick title.

Be sure to come out and support the local musicians from Texas and especially our own Landon McGee. Audience members will be able to vote each round to help determine the winner.

Tickets are on sale now on the Grand Stafford website.

To learn more about the contest, visit Texas Music Pickers online at www.texasmusicpickers.com/tmps-top-pick/.

 

This Second Sunday, Grand Stafford Theater presents Wadjda, Saudi Arabian-German film that won numerous awards and nominations, including nominations for both Best Foreign Language Film at the 8th Academy Awards and Best Foreign Film at the 2014 BAFTA Awards.

The film also has an impressive 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a hard feat for any film to achieve.

Interested in knowing more? Here’s the plot summary from Rotten Tomatoes:

“WADJDA is a movie of firsts. This first feature film shot entirely in Saudi Arabia is the story of a young girl living in a suburb of Riyadh determined to raise enough money to buy a bike in a society that sees bicycles as dangerous to a girl’s virtue. Even more impressive, WADJDA is the first feature film made by a female Saudi filmmaker. In a country where cinemas are banned and women cannot drive or vote, writer- director Haifaa Al Mansour has broken many barriers with her new film.”

Second Sunday Foreign Film is this Sunday, September 13 at 3:30 pm with doors opening at 3:00 pm. As always, we will be serving up drinks and providing free popcorn!

 

Ready to get your 1920’s on?

Grand Stafford Theater is proud to announce our new fall series – 2nd Tuesday Real Jazz. Every 2nd Tuesday during the fall, we will have a night of live jazz music and craft cocktails.

Take a step back in time with us every week starting at 7:00 pm for the perfect way to shake off the previous day’s Monday blues. Even better? It falls on our regular Craft Cocktail Tuesday so you can enjoy both cocktails AND live jazz!

This Tuesday, we will feature the music of Bill Clark. The Vintage Jazz Organ Trio features Bill Clark, Chris Hollar and Greg Tivis. Bill Clark has been playing jazz guitar for over three decades and has performed frequently in the New York and Detroit metro areas, Berlin, Germany, and, most recently, Bryan/College Station. He studied with renowned guitarists Bob Fugel, Bucky Pizzareli, Bob Devos, Harry Leahey, and Josh Breakstone and jazz performance at William Paterson College. His influences on the guitar include Wes Montgomery and Jim Hall, but his approach to improvisation is more closely tied to saxophonists such as Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, and Dexter Gordon, and trumpeters such as Clifford Brown, Chet Baker, and Art Farmer. In his spare time, Clark is the Head of the Political Science department at Texas A&M, where he is the Charles Puryear Professor in Liberal Arts.

Despite only having 22 years under his belt, the young Parker McCollum is already making huge waves in the regional music scene. McCollum, who’s earned comparisons to critically acclaimed artists like Ryan Bingham and John Mayer, has worked relentlessly to get himself to where he is today.

With rock roots and singer-songwriter style, McCollum’s music is wise beyond his years. The artistsmanages to bring a sound that’s both mature and fresh.

McCollum’s hard work is evident in The Limestone Kid, his first full-length album, which was released on Feb. 24, 2015.

Parker McCollum will be playing at the Grand Stafford Theater on August 29 at 8:00 pm. Doors open at 7:00 pm and tickets are available now.

For more information on Parker McCollum, check out his website here.

 

Texas Music Pickers is known for their exceptional ability to scope out the latest up-and-coming Texas artists, and their next showcase is no exception. As part of their singer/songwriter series, Haley Cole & Josh Grider will be performing at the Grand Stafford on Friday, August 28 at 8:00 pm.

Haley Cole, a soulful singer whose lyrics hold more truth and power than nearly anything on the market today, began dabbling in music at a very young age and found solace in it when she went through a hard time in her life as a teen. Her magnetism on stage and her ability to hold an audience spellbound is the natural harvest of years spent singing spirituals with her family at church gatherings and small revivals surrounding her tiny hometown of Birch Creek, Texas. There she witnessed the magic that moves in music and felt its healing power for the first time. Her latest album, Illusions, was released in January 2015 and is available on iTunes now.

Josh Grider, a major player in not only the Texas music scene but the country music scene nationwide, spent nearly a decade in the music business before getting his much-deserved big break. The Gettin’ There” would yield 3 number one songs on the Texas Regional Radio Report, and 2 number one songs on the Texas Music Chart for Josh.  In November 2013 he carried that momentum into the studio with producer Trent Willmon to record 2014’s full length album “Luck & Desire”. Josh’s album is available on iTunes now.

Haley Cole & Josh Grider will be performing at The Grand Stafford on Friday, August 28. Doors open at 7:00 and the show begins at 8:00 pm. Tickets are $8 on the Grand Stafford website. Tables for 4 and 10 are also available.

For more information on Haley Cole, check out her website here.

For more information on Josh Grider, check out his website here.

Taylor & The Wild Now are the kind of people you want to be your best friends. Between the quirky guitar sounds and Taylor’s soulful voice to the fact that her boxer dog is almost always at her side, they’re real and talented with a laid-back-sort-of-cool that’s rare to find in so many artists nowadays.

They have a sound that’s akin to that of indie bands like the Alabama Shakes, Local Natives, Chet Faker, and the Bahamas with distinctly beachy vibes. Taylor’s soulful voice is a stark contrast to the upbeat indie guitar, but blends perfectly to create a sound that’s distinct yet familiar all the same.

 Their first EP was released in August 2014 and their new single “Salt” was released in June 2015. Be sure to catch this band live now because they are destined to become indie’s next big name.

The Austin natives will be playing at the Grand Stafford Theater on August 7 at 8:00 pm for First Friday in Downtown Bryan. Tickets are on sale on the Grand Stafford website. For more information, check out the Grand Stafford Facebook page here or Taylor & The Wild Now’s website here.

Texas Music Pickers, known for bringing in the latest up-and-coming artists from the Texas music scene, is featuring two incredible artists at the Grand Stafford Theater!

The first artist, Erick Willis, a rocker who got his start in singing in church, artfully blends the two genres together to form “soulful melodic lyrics, with the deep groove of roots-rock and as his lyric says, ‘with some of the harder stuff.'” With two EP’s and a full album under his belt, Willis has taken the Texas music scene by storm.

The second artist, Christopher Crow, fits in perfectly with his unique style of blues. His gravely voice croons along as he strums out foot-tapping beats. Influenced by Stevie Ray Vaughn, John Mayer, and the Black Keys, he pulls together different elements from all three and creates art that’s captivating to his audience.

The two artists, Erick Willis and Christopher Crow, will be performing as part of the Texas Music Pickers Songwriter Series on Friday, July 24 at 8:00 pm. Tickets are on sale now!

For more information on Erick Willis, click here.

For more information on Christopher Crow, click here.