I've been so enmeshed in Texas music the last 3 years that I struggle to keep up with many out-of-state artists. But occasionally I'll catch a song on satellite or Internet radio that's so good I just have to stop whatever I'm doing and learn more about that artist. Like earlier this fall, when I first heard Dry Land Fish.

Well, it happened again last week. My family and I were sitting down to dinner, with the Muzak-programmed Screen Door satellite TV channel providing background sounds, when along came the gravely-voiced William Elliot Whitmore. My wife and I were both transfixed. And while we usually enforce a no-getting-up-from-the-table-during-dinner policy, this time I broke the rule (which is intended more for our 6- and 5-year-olds than for us adults, but still — as any good parent would say, a rule is a rule). I just had to find out who this guy was.

Whitmore is no newcomer to the scene. The retro blues/folk singer released his third full-length album, Songs of the Blackbird, on Southern Records last year. But he's new to me. If he's new to you, too, I'd highly recommend checking him out. The man's got an incredible voice.

A great place to start is the live acoustic tracks Whitmore recorded last year for Daytrotter.

This month marked the debut of "Deep in the Heart of Texas" on Sirius's Outlaw Country channel. Airing Saturdays at 8 pm Eastern and encoring Sundays at midnight, the show promises "four hours of the best Texas music from yesterday and today ... from Bob Wills and Ray Price to Ray Wylie Hubbard and Reckless Kelly." Host Dallas Wayne is already familiar to Outlaw Country listeners as the weekday afternoon host. He's also the afternoon drive-time DJ on KHYI FM in the Dallas area.

I only have Sirius through our satellite TV package, and I haven't had a chance to catch the new show. But I'll try to tune in soon and report back on my impressions.

I've been a big XM fan since first subscribing to the service about a year ago. XM's X Country channel features similar Texas-themed programming. "The X in Texas" is a weekly feature that rotates between Jack Ingram's excellent "Real American Music Hour" and the "Armadillo Radio Hour," which features tape delayed broadcasts from Threadgill's in Austin. Robert Earl Keen also hosts the monthly "Texas Uprising."

I'd say Texas Americana/roots music is pretty well represented on satellite radio these days.

With Cooder Graw ending its nearly decade-long run last month, we've lost one of Texas Music's best bands — and best band names.

Matt Martindale (vocals), Kelly Turner (guitar), and Paul Baker (bass) helped form the band — originally Coup de Grace, but Texanized when a Minnesota band claimed prior use — in Amarillo in 1998. Ray Benson produced their self-titled debut album in 2000, and the band gained a national profile when Dodge licensed "Llano Estacado" for its truck commercials. Extensive touring followed, with Cooder Graw taking its "loud country" sound on the road 200 days a year to support Segundo (2001), Shifting Gears (2001), Live at Billy Bob's Texas (2002), and Wake Up (2004).

But last fall the band decided to end its run, and a New Year's Eve show at The Horseman Club in Fort Worth marked the end of the line. Photographer Jonni Jewell has posted several photo galleries from Cooder Graw's final shows.

While Cooder Graw may be no more, frontman (and attorney) Matt Martindale is hitting the road with his own band and plans a studio album later this year.

It's January, and that means it's time to start planning for SXSW.

More than a dozen artists are confirmed for the March 14-18 music festival, including The Stooges, Interpol, Lily Allen, Bloc Party, Ghostland Observatory, Ozomatli, and Cold War Kids, plus a special Stax 50th Anniversary Soul Review. Pete Townshend will be this year's keynote speaker, with Emmylou Harris, David Byrne, Ricki Lee Jones, and Booker T among artists scheduled for live interview sessions.

Badges are $395 through January 12.