Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2023 i Texas Highways Magazine

The outlaw ethos remains a central element of Texas’ nonconformist identity. Though the term is often flattened into pop culture claptrap, scratch beneath the surface of the cliché and you’ll find layers of richness. The stories in this issue explore the breadth of the concept, from the literal definition, of those who break the law, to the notion of outlaws as outsiders, rebels, and pioneers. The 1970s outlaw country movement is a common touchpoint for Texans’ outlaw reputation. The era saw singers like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings claiming their freedom from Nashville’s more polished country music scene. Writer-at-large Joe Nick Patoski, who penned a biography on Nelson and has written about Texas culture for over 50 years, says the current crop of female outlaw country musicians has eclipsed the…

The West Texas ghost town of Terlingua beckons visitors with its expansive desert landscape, easy access to Big Bend National Park, and the renegade spirit of its tightknit community. For photographer Jessica Lutz, who has called the area home for 10 years and took the photos for “Viva Terlingua” (Page 32), it was just what she needed after a decade on the East Coast. “One of the reasons I left New York was because I couldn’t see the horizon and stars. Terlingua was the perfect antidote,” she says. “Looking up at the night sky makes me feel at home.” Lutz took this shot at La Posada Milagro Guesthouse, established by her friend Mimi Webb Miller in 2005. She says looking out over this vista is one of the quickest ways…

252 Number of jails in Texas, according to the National Institute of Corrections 1849 Year the state penitentiary at Huntsville opened, lightening the workload at county jails 48.75 Size, in square feet, of the high-security cells in the Gonzales County Jail Old county jails stand as imposing reminders of nascent frontier justice across the state. Although the first facilities were primitive—tiny one- or two-cell “calabooses” made of metal, concrete, or wood—they improved on the existing practice of chaining people accused of crimes to a pole or tree. In the latter half of the 19th century, the primitive structures were replaced by brick or stone buildings whose fortress-like appearances conveyed authority in an era of lawlessness. The first floor of most jails housed an apartment for the sheriff and his family. Above…

At renowned Arlyn Studios in Austin, two Texas artists got together in the spring of 2021 to record an array of standards, including Lone Star staples like “Waltz Across Texas” and “Always on My Mind.” One was young and tatted, the other older and dressed in black. At the end of each session, they toasted with margaritas the elder had prepared. What made it a rarity from the hundreds if not thousands of other country sessions that have happened there since the studio opened in 1984 is that both artists were women. One was Lubbock singer-songwriter and fiddler Amanda Shires, and the other was Abbott’s favorite daughter, pianist Bobbie Nelson—or Sister Bobbie as her little brother, Willie Nelson, called her. Almost 50 years earlier, Bobbie was in Nashville at the…

Dave Dalton Thomas was a 23-year-old copy editor for the San Angelo Standard-Times when he happened upon a Texas entertainment scoop that would change his life. Thomas trekked to Luckenbach, his spiritual recharge spot, on a day off in 1995. While at the storied dance hall, he ran into promoters for Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July Picnic, a landmark event of longhaired country music fans that had thrived in the ’70s but nearly went defunct in the early ’90s. The promoters disclosed that the Picnic was back after a four-year hiatus, and would be held in Luckenbach, a musical outpost in the Hill Country. Thomas’ 1995 report of the Picnic’s grand return in the Standard-Times got picked up all over the world via wire services. He took ownership of the…

While the men pictured appear respectable, they were actually infamous outlaws—members of what was known as the Wild Bunch, the most notorious group of train robbers in the Old West. The group was composed of, from left, Harry “the Sundance Kid” Longabaugh, Will “News” Carver, Ben “the Tall Texan” Kilpatrick, Harvey “Kid Curry” Logan, and Robert LeRoy Parker, aka “Butch Cassidy.” They posed for this group photo in Fort Worth on Nov. 21, 1900, at the studio of photographer John Swartz, who had no idea these nattily attired men were wanted by the law. Fort Worth detective Charles Scott visited the studio soon after on unrelated business and noticed the portrait. He recognized Carver and Logan from circulars he had seen and spread the word to the Pinkerton National Detective…

San Antonio-based writer Katie Gutierrez takes a deep dive into the historical tradition of corridos and their continuing relevance today in “Redemption Songs” (Page 36). Corridos are more than a lyrical song; they also represent “a form of sharing news, sharing entertainment, and a form of resistance,” Gutierrez says. Conversations with Cruz Ortiz, a San Antonio contemporary artist, and Anthony Medrano, a mariachi violinist and member of Campanas de América, formed “the emotional heart of the story,” Gutierrez says. Both artists expressed the importance of telling personal stories through their work. Gutierrez’s reporting led her to a deeper appreciation for the musicians who she says hope to “inspire, heal, and force change through art." Featured Contributors Amy Gentry Gentry has long been fascinated by the work of Lisa Tuttle, a…

Toss back a cold one at these other fine establishments Western Place Bar A faded billboard with a smiley face sporting a cowboy hat welcomes highway wanderers into the honky-tonk beneath it. 837 N. Burleson Blvd., Burleson. 817-295-9787; facebook.com/western.p.bar One Eyed Jack Saloon Bikers and locals enjoy cheap beer inside this joint with a facade of a cowboy boot on a Southwestern background. 501 US 69, Whitewright. 903-364-2200 Horny Toad Bar and Grill Though this spot sits on an empty road, the interior is filled with mounted moose, cow skulls, and cowboy hats. 319 3rd St., Cranfills Gap. 254-597-1100; hornytoadbar.com…

Terlingua, a gritty little town 80 miles south of Alpine on State Highway 118, is home to an array of modern-day escape artists dodging the conventional life of strip malls, tract homes, and Interstate 35 traffic jams. While this dusty ghost town appears desolate at first glance, it comes to life at certain times of the year when marquee events draw visitors from far and wide. Once a bustling quicksilver mining town. its population diminished at the end of World War II. Then in the 1960s-70s, the town saw a tourism revival and even inspired the album title of late country music outlaw Jerry Jeff Walker’s famous ¡Viva Terlingua! Outdoors enthusiasts, bikers, families, and tourists seek out this desert playscape for the reckless abandon it inspires in even the most…

Kristofferson by Kris Kristofferson (1970) Who needs a smooth singing voice when you’re a wellspring of poignant, powerful songs like “For the Good Times,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” “Me and Bobby McGee,” and “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” all future classics from the Brownsville native’s self-titled debut. This album was stiffed by the public on its release and rankled the Nashville establishment for adult themes, like casual intimacy and depression, previously taboo in country music. But after Janis Joplin’s cover of “Bobby McGee” hit No. 1 in ’71, ferson’s album was retitled Me and Bobby McGee, and it Krist-of-made the top 10 on the Billboard country album chart. Honky Tonk Heroes by Waylon Jennings (1973) This was the year Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson got the creative control…

In the late 1800s, as cowboys and vaqueros drove millions of Longhorn cattle from Texas to points north, a new art form was being born. Cowboy poetry and storytelling started as a way to pass the long hours spent on now-famous trails, such as the Chisholm and Goodnight-Loving. Drovers swapped stories and songs by horseback. Another classic setting for telling cowboy tales, tall or otherwise, was around the campfire after a hard day’s work. The first book dedicated to cowboy songs, Songs of the Cowboys, by Jack Thorp, was published in 1908. Thorp spent 20 years collecting cowboy poems and songs across the American West, eventually compiling them to make the book. The first National Cowboy Poetry Gathering was in 1985 in Elko, Nevada. Organizers aimed to bring modern cowboys…

Cowboy Getaway My ancestors (last name Hay) are in the Bandera Museum as some of the first settlers there [“My Hometown: Bandera,” July]. They lived where Medina Lake is now. I love that part of Texas! Suzanne Haycraft Drink Up I lived near Salado Creek back in the ’70s, and our bicycle trails were all around it [“Gone Fishin’,” July]. I got so thirsty one summer I drank from the creek… bad idea. Chaley Avey The Narrows Crowds kill beautiful lands [“Braving the Narrows,” July]. I would much rather not be allowed to go to a spot like this and know that beauty like this still exists than the opposite. @markrobertsonbaker Have Mercy After the Tender Mercies article last month [“A Quiet Place,” August] I had to go back and…

Honor the dead by attending Terlingua’s annual Día de los Muertos celebration on Nov. 2 at the historic Terlingua Cemetery. For decades, this local tradition has welcomed folks from around the Big Bend and beyond to gather around the cemetery’s ofrendas at sunset and light candles in honor of their loved ones. Attendees paint their faces as traditional calaveras, or skulls, and commune over drinks and food. It’s a special day that captures the ethos of Terlingua. Roadrunner Traveler’s RV Park is locally owned and features deluxe, full hookup, and boondock spaces starting at $40/night. 23315 FM 170, Terlingua. 432-466-1036; roadrunnertravelers.com…

Mark Cuban is arguably the hardest working billionaire out there. Once people amass that much wealth, they may want to camp out on a gigayacht or, say, endlessly fart around with the social media platform they overpaid for. But not Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team and one of the stars and executive producers of the entrepreneurial reality show Shark Tank. Cuban is addicted to the grind. To wit, he insisted on conducting this interview over email, and after I sent him my first round of questions at 10:49 p.m., he replied the next morning at 7:55 a.m. “I do most of my work like this, on email,” writes Cuban, whose Gmail address is readily available if you Google it. “I get 500 to 1k a day, so…