rodeohouston 2024

RodeoHouston reveals 2024 lineup starring Jonas Brothers, Blake Shelton, and a Bun B takeover

The Jonas Brothers return after a more than 10-year break.

Photo courtesy of Jonas Brothers

Houston, it’s finally here. We now know the entertainment lineup for this year’s Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo concert series, running February 27 – March 17 at NRG Stadium.

RodeoHouston 2024’s roster is history-making, as multiple rap acts take the stage for the first time ever in one season. Houston rap icon Bun B will return for a final installment of his two groundbreaking H-Town and Southern Takeover shows. But this year, rapper, Newstonian, and Rodeo Uncorked! Boss bidder 50 Cent will headline Black Heritage Day.

Other notable names include country and pop culture star Blake Shelton, who leads off on Opening Day, and the Jonas Brothers, who last played the rodeo more than 10 years ago. Country fans can look forward to the familiar faces Brad Paisley, Zac Brown, and Luke Bryan, who’ll mark his 10th rodeo show this year.

Of the 20 performers, half are rodeo newcomers, including 50 Cent and Nickelback. By the numbers, the 20 acts boast 56 Academy of Country Music awards, 47 Country Music Association awards, 17 American Music Awards, and 15 GRAMMY Awards.

As mentioned, singer and former The Voice host Blake Shelton serves as the headliner for Opening Day on Tuesday, February 27. Carly Pearce follows the next day for Armed Forces Appreciation Day on Wednesday, February 28. Country act For King + Country take the stage the next day on Thursday, February 29.

Then comes Black Heritage Day on Friday, March 1, with 50 Cent up in da club and, let’s hope, poppin’ some bottles. Already a player on the rodeo scene, 50 Cent made headlines last year when his own Champagne, Le Chemin du Roi Brut, was named Grand Champion Best of Show at the Rodeo Uncorked! competition. Bidders threw $325,000 at his Champagne, a rodeo record.

HARDY, who’s making waves as a versatile country and rock songwriter and performer, follows 50 on Saturday, March 2. Ivan Cornejo performs on Sunday, March 3, followed by country music prince Hank Williams, Jr., who’ll headline First Responders Day on Monday, March 4.

Folk-country artist Oliver Anthony and his beautifully bushy beard take the stage on Tuesday, March 5; rapper Jelly Roll drops rhymes on Wednesday, March 6. Luke Bryan, making his 10th rodeo appearance, headlines Volunteer Appreciation Day on Thursday, March 7. EDM fans can catch the Jamaican-vibed trio Major Lazer the next day on Friday, March 8.

Saturday, March 9 sees Lainey Wilson on stage, with favorite Los Tigres del Norte roaring on Go Tejano Day, Sunday, March 10. Southern rockers (and the pride of Palestine, Texas) Whiskey Myers hit the stage on Monday, March 11.

In his hotly anticipated, potentially final headlining rodeo show, hip-hop monarch and burger king Bun B will perform on Tuesday, March 12, in what we can only hope will follow the star-studded “Takeover” theme and round out a historic trilogy for Houston’s Trill OG.

“I wanted people to see that rap and the rodeo could coexist in the room with no one feeling awkward," Bun B tells CultureMap. “I wanted rap to be in the rodeo on a night that didn't say, 'okay cowboys, stay home.' The rodeo has fought very hard to be inclusive. So we fought very hard to be inclusive as well. We did not want to block people out. That was never the case. What we wanted to show actually was that rap music is probably the most inclusive music culture. And I think we've done a pretty good job of that so far and I think this year will prove it even more, to a point where we'll look back one day and we won't even remember precisely when there wasn't rap at the rodeo. That's my dream.”

“We've proven that rap music can be a part of the rodeo no matter what night you put it on,” he continues, “no matter who you present it to rap has room at the rodeo. The rodeo has made room for us and we're doing right by them.”

In quite the pivot, the following day sees rockers Nickelback make their rodeo debut on Wednesday, March 13. Fans of the Zac Brown Band can catch them the next day on Thursday, March 14.

Expect a legion of female fans to pack NRG on Thursday, March 15 as the Jonas Brothers charm the crowd; the always-charming, rodeo fave Brad Paisley follows on Friday, March 16.

Eric Church, country star singer-songwriter, and entrepreneur, will close out the rodeo on Saturday, March 17.

Get tickets for this year’s shows online on Thursday, January 18 in two waves: 10 am and 2 pm. Wave 1 covers February 27 – March 7 performances; Wave 2 tickets are for March 8 – 17 shows. Online waiting rooms will open at 9:30 am for Wave 1 and 1:30 pm for Wave 2. Waiting room customers will be randomly selected to enter the store and purchase tickets for the 10 am and 2 pm waves.

River Restoration

New documentary shows how the Hill Country is recovering after July 4 flood

Hill Country Alliance Guadalupe River landowner workshop

Photo courtesy of the Hill Country Alliance

The Hill Country Alliance is one of the organizations featured in the film. Here, it hosts a workshop for landowners to learn how to plant new vegetation.

As Central Texas approaches the one-year mark after the destructive July 4 floods in 2025, the disaster has moved into a new phase of remembering and restructuring. A new documentary called Hope for the Guadalupe combines the two, collecting perspectives from the people who lived it and looking at the work Texans are doing now to revitalize the land.

The film will debut in a series of screenings that start in Austin at the sold-out 11th Annual Water, Texas Film Festival on May 12 and continue throughout Texas. After the community screenings, it will be picked up by Alamo Drafthouse for more showings from May 31 through June 2. These theater showings will be part of a double feature with another, more general conservation documentary called Deep In The Heart: A Texas Wildlife Story. Tickets are on sale now.

Other screenings with post-film Q&As will take place in the following cities:

Kerrville – Thursday, May 14 | Arcadia Live Theatre
San Antonio – Friday, May 15 | San Antonio Botanical Garden
Dallas – Tuesday, May 19 | Angelika Film Center & Café
Houston – Thursday, May 21 | River Oaks Theatre
Wimberley — Sunday, May 31 | 7A Ranch Opera House

The flooding is still primarily referred to by date only. It mostly affected the Guadalupe River, which runs through New Braunfels and separates Austin and San Antonio, but floods also caused significant damage north of Austin. During the worst of the flash flooding, the Guadalupe crested at more than 37 feet in just hours, a press release about the film recounts. It shares an estimate that 52 percent of riparian vegetation — basically, the plants that create a buffer between land and river — was lost in Kerr County.

Director Ben Masters and producer Josh Winkler gathered their findings by talking to various community members and organizations about the ecology of the region and what they're doing about it now. According to the release, that means hearing from biologists, landowners, and conservationists doing things like planting native species and looking at the area's longterm needs.

The organizations looking after these longterm needs are now part of a coalition supported by the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country. Some of the individual organizations include the Hill Country Alliance, San Antonio Botanical Garden, Kerr County River Foundation, and the Hunt Preservation Society. The film will show some of their projects in progress.

“The goal was to tell this story with honesty and respect for the people and the place,” said Ben Masters, director of Hope for the Guadalupe. “What we saw was not just devastation, but a community coming together to restore something deeply meaningful. That’s what this film is about.”

The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country is one of several supporters of the film. The Community Foundation is also supporting fundraising efforts through its Hope for the Guadalupe Fund, which supports long-term river restoration, planting of native trees, seeds, and grasses, and stewardship efforts across the region. Many of those efforts are spotlighted in the film.

“The Guadalupe River is one of Texas’ great natural and cultural resources,” said Community Foundation of the Hill Country CEO Austin Dickson in the release. “This film documents both the devastating impact of the floods and the extraordinary work underway to restore the river corridor and surrounding communities. Long-term recovery means caring for the land, the watershed and the people who depend on them for generations to come.”

flooding flood relief ecology nature sustainability gardening native plants film documentary