It’s Homegrown Music Month, and every day, we’re featuring a different artist or act with North Texas ties. Listen to hear the day’s artist on KXT 91.7 FM and check back tomorrow to see who we shout out next.
Black Tie Dynasty
From: Fort Worth
Sounds like: Sleek ‘80s-tinged anthems pulsing with dark emotion
Goes good with: Depeche Mode, Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen
Origin story: Blooming in Fort Worth in the early aughts, Black Tie Dynasty — Cory Watson, Brian McCorquodale, Blake McWhorter and the late Eddie Thomas — made a splash with its 2006 debut, Movements, a moody, synth-washed collection exemplified by glittering single “I Like U.” After a 2009 follow-up album, the band splintered, and wouldn’t regroup in earnest until late 2019, motivated by Thomas’s cancer diagnosis. (He died in 2020 at the age of 49.) In tribute to Thomas, the band released its first LP in 16 years, Steady, earlier this year.
Quotable: “I think our live shows resonate with people because we love what we’re doing, and the fact that we’re doing it together. If any one of us wasn’t down for doing the show, we wouldn’t do it. I think that magic is plenty.” — Cory Watson to the Dallas Observer in 2021
Fun fact: Black Tie Dynasty very nearly signed with Capitol Records in the mid-2000s, but ultimately decided against it.
Why we picked them: A resilient local favorite whose gleaming synth-pop songs sound like the year 3000
Where to hear: Streaming on most digital music providers
Band social
