by Phil Houseal | Mar 22, 2017 | All Articles, Events, Music, Venue
Mar 22, 2017–Cause that’s what makes her happy. That is the top reason Sloan Ruth gives for creating The Backyard behind Fritztown Cinema. The new outdoor music venue will open April 7 with its first of many regular concerts. “I’m not musical, though I took piano for...
by Phil Houseal | Mar 16, 2017 | All Articles, Events, Music, Venue
Mar 15, 2017–Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson calls them the “Carnegie Halls of western swing.” But if you are old enough to have waltzed across Texas, you know them as dance halls. When I wrote about these two-stepping temples in 2013, Stephen Dean of Texas Dancehall...
by Phil Houseal | Mar 1, 2017 | Music, People of the Hill Country
Mar 1, 2017–Back when we were picking under the trees at Luckenbach 40 years ago, Maggie Montgomery laughingly promised to write a book entitled How To Survive In the Hill Country With No Visible Means of Support. Making a living solely by playing guitars was harder...
by Phil Houseal | Feb 15, 2017 | Music, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
Feb 15, 2017–Every once in a red, white, or blue moon you stumble across a band that seems to be playing just for you. Over the years, I’ve seen, heard, and written about every style and genre and level of bar band. But then you find something unexpected but...
by Phil Houseal | Aug 3, 2016 | All Articles, History, Music, Venue
Aug 3, 2016–Seems like many of the artists I interview these days are people that my dad wouldn’t believe I talked to and my kids wouldn’t care. Roy Clark falls into that category. Taking a risk, I told him that line when I had the opportunity to interview him...
by Phil Houseal | Jun 22, 2016 | All Articles, Events, History, Music
June 22, 2016–In 1963 a young gal went round to tiny Midwest radio stations trying to get them to play a record made by her little brother’s band. That girl happened to be Louise Harrison, and her brother George’s band was called The Beatles. “Oh yes,” she said in a...
