As 2025 rolls on, we continue our backward glance at Texas-tied albums celebrating significant birthdays in the next 12 months.
For this batch, we’ve arranged, chronologically by release date, a handful of mostly North Texas-rooted records which will hit 20 years over the course of 2025. (In case you missed it, here are the albums celebrating their 50th anniversaries, 45th anniversaries, 40th anniversaries, 35th anniversaries, 30th anniversaries and 25th anniversaries this year.)
LeAnn Rimes, This Woman (Jan. 25, 2005)
The Garland-raised Grammy winner used her ninth studio album to pivot away from the pop genre she’d embraced over the last few years and return to the embrace of country music. Centered around songs about love and marriage — and featuring a few co-writes from her then-husband, Dean Sheremet — Woman features some A-list contributions from the likes of Keith Urban, Paul Franklin and Dan Tyminski.
Eisley, Room Noises (Feb. 8, 2005)
Tyler family band Eisley made both its major label and full-length debuts with this lush slice of indie rock. Although the siblings DuPree (Sherri, Stacy, Chauntelle and Weston) worked with top-flight producers like Rob Cavallo and Rob Schnapf, the ethereal, muscular sound which endeared them to fans made the leap to the big time intact.
Lee Ann Womack, There’s More Where That Came From (Feb. 8, 2005)
The Jacksonville native’s sixth studio album was, as she said in multiple contemporary interviews, a decision to simply lean into what she thought the audience wanted to hear from her, regardless of how it landed. Her gamble was rewarded: From debuted at number 3 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart.
Miranda Lambert, Kerosene (March 15, 2005)
Call it the spark that ignited a career. East Texas-bred singer-songwriter Miranda Lambert lit up the scene with this explosively good debut, a potent showcase of her ability to blend the tough (the title track, co-written with Steve Earle) and tender (“Me and Charlie Talking”). Four of the songs here would land in the top 40 of Billboard’s Country Chart.
Okkervil River, Black Sheep Boy (April 5, 2005)
The circumstances leading up to Austin band Okkervil River’s third album were intense: The indie rock quintet was staring down the prospect of throwing in the towel, and lead singer Will Sheff was temporarily homeless during Boy’s creation: “I was completely broke,” he told Consequence.net in 2016. “In order to continue doing the band, I made the decision that the only way to afford it was to give up the idea of having a home.”
Robert Earl Keen, What I Really Mean (May 10, 2005)
By his ninth album, folk-inclined singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen had really hit his stride, dropping a new record almost like clockwork every two years, and performing hundreds of shows in between. Mean is part of a brief, indie-ish interregnum for Keen: He’d recorded for Arista and Lost Highway/Universal years prior, and would again, for his 10th studio album, 2009’s The Rose Hotel.
Cowboy Troy, Loco Motive (May 17, 2005)
The Dallas-raised purveyor of “hick-hop” — aka Troy Coleman — made his major label debut with this effort, produced in part by John Rich (one-half of Big & Rich, the duo which helped pluck Coleman from obscurity). Big & Rich turn up here, separately and together, as Cowboy Troy also lands cameos from Tim McGraw and Larry the Cable Guy.
The Rocket Summer, Hello, Good Friend (May 17, 2005)
As is the case with so much of the Rocket Summer’s catalog, this second full-length project, recorded in Brooklyn in the span of a month’s time, features Fort Worth-born singer-songwriter Bryce Avary playing every single instrument – from drums and piano to guitars and bass.
George Strait, Somewhere Down in Texas (June 28, 2005)
Twenty-three albums into his career, the acclaimed troubadour had the formula down to a science — a smartly chosen mix of breezy, up-tempo tracks (“If The Whole World Was a Honky Tonk,” the title tune), moving ballads (“She Let Herself Go”), a deep cut cover (Merle Haggard’s “The Seashores of Old Mexico”) and a stunning guest spot from fellow Texan Lee Ann Womack (“Good News, Bad News”).
Willie Nelson, Countryman (Aug. 2, 2005)
Ah, the infamous Willie Nelson reggae album. In theory, there is no genre which the Red Headed Stranger cannot bend to his own, inimitable style, but just about every critic that pressed play on this 53rd studio album of Nelson’s seemed highly skeptical. Attempting to bend his own songs, like “Darkness on the Face of the Earth” or “One in a Row,” to the skanking rhythms of Jamaica only deepened the confusion.
Stephen Stills, Man Alive! (Aug. 9, 2005)
Although Dallas-born singer-songwriter Stephen Stills’ eighth studio album was released in 2005, some of the material featured on it dated all the way back to 1970. A hodge-podge of old and new, Stills pulled in famous pals like Graham Nash, Neil Young and Herbie Hancock, among others, to play throughout.
Paul Wall, The Peoples Champ (Sept. 13, 2005)
The first of two releases which catapulted Houston hip-hop into the mainstream in a profound way, this release from grill-bedecked rhymer Paul Wall, served as his major label arrival, and debuted at number one on Billboard’s Top 200 chart. (In a nod to Houston’s formidable hip-hop influence, a “chopped and screwed” version of Champ dropped a week later.)
The Reverend Horton Heat, We Three Kings (Oct. 4, 2005)
Dallas rockabilly trio The Reverend Horton Heat got into the holiday spirit with this, its ninth studio album. The track list leans heavily on familiar favorites — “Frosty the Snowman,” “Silver Bells,” “Winter Wonderland” — and trots out a Heat original as well (“Santa on the Roof”).
Bun B, Trill (Oct. 18, 2005)
UGK’s Bun B forged his own path with his solo debut, the other massive Houston hip-hop album of 2005. Recorded in both Houston and Atlanta, Bun B turned out a staggering number of A-list guests: Jay Z, Young Jeezy, Ludacris and Slim Thug are just a few of the big names popping up throughout these 17 tracks.
Jamie Foxx, Unpredictable (Dec. 20, 2005)
Hot off his Oscar win for portraying Ray Charles, the Terrell native smoothly pivoted back to the world of R&B for his second studio album (and his first in more than a decade), working with producers like Timbaland, Polow da Don and No I.D. Reviews were mixed, but Unpredictable ultimately went double platinum in the United States.
Preston Jones is a North Texas freelance writer and regular contributor to KXT. Email him at preston@kxt.org or find him on Bluesky (@prestonjones.bsky.social).Our work is made possible by our generous, music-loving members. If you like how we lift up local music, consider becoming a KXT sustaining member right here.
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