How Austin, Texas, Became the Live Music Capital of the World

Before Austin, Texas, was the "Live Music Capital of the World," a rollicking music hall run by a bunch of hippies threw open the doors for fans to enjoy a new blend of country music and rock. Over its ten-year lifespan, the Armadillo World Headquarters hosted thousands of high-profile musicians—Willie Nelson, Frank Zappa, Bruce Springsteen, Taj Mahal, AC/DC, Charlie Daniels, the Ramones, Roy Buchanan, and Bette Midler, to name a random few. The Armadillo helped define the Austin lifestyle, culture, and identity, setting the stage for successors such as the SXSW music festival, PBS’s Austin City Limits, and the ACL festival, which have made Austin an international destination for music fans.

In the newest UT Press podcast, Armadillo co-founder Eddie Wilson shares stories from behind-the-scenes of the beloved temple of "Redneck Rock." Below we've transcribed some of the best bits from the interview, but be sure to tune in and turn on to the whole thang!




We ask Eddie Wilson how he discovered the building that eventually came to house the Armadillo World Headquarters:

UT Press: You did some urban parkour to find the building, right?

Eddie Wilson: Well, the bathroom was broken at the Cactus Club, and so there wasn't anything to do but go out back. And there was this giant wall looming up with broken windows way up top. It was 25 feet tall at least, and so, I knew that there had to be a giant room on the other side of a construction like that. I went around the building and managed to pick a flimsy lock--I watched James Garner a lot--but, uh, I was awestruck. I pulled my car in it, reached in and flipped on the lights, and almost had a heart attack. I think I turned them off as quick as I could. And it was just this huge room. And then we made it bigger by tearing out all of the rooms that were inside of that room.

UTP: And it had a stage?

EW: It had a concrete riser. If I had known at the time that Elvis had played on it, I probably would have kept it like it was. But he played there in '55.

Co-authors Eddie Wilson and Jessie Sublet discuss one of Frank Zappa's visits to the Armadillo World Headquarters and his introduction to local musician Blind George:

EW: Zappa was such a professional, he wanted a three-hour rehearsal--the contract read three-hour rehearsal, an hour off for supper, and then an hour for, uh...

Jessie Sublet: Sound check?

EW: Yeah, just the sound check, I guess it was. Anyway, his equipment got there about a half-hour before the show was supposed to start. We waited and waited and waited all day long. It was really nerve-wracking. And when it got there, he got to see the crew, who were at their very best; everybody just hustling and setting up, building that mountain of speakers that he was hauling and hauling. And, uh, he got a seventeen-minute sound check, and I figured he was going to keep on going until he was satisfied. Well, he got seventeen minutes and his road manager Marty Perellis ran his finger across his throat, and Zappa stopped immediately. And we opened the doors and they just came flooding in. Zappa, he uttered some excuse for a sound check, so I tried to disarm him a little bit with my Blind George story:

We had an entertainer in town named Blind George McClain, who was not just blind but close to deaf and crippled and twisted. He had a little board under his feet on the piano that he would stomp back and forth on for his rhythm. We had just found a videotape of him doing at least about 20 verses of "Tennessee Stud" at an outdoor benefit.

JS: Cool!

EW: Really good black and white [video]

JS: He had good hair though, didn't he?

EW: (Laughs.) Oh ho, yeah. Yeah, that was a great--I remember he did the nastiest version I've heard of "Cherry Pie."
. . .

So, Zappa was in a bad mood, it seemed to me, and I hadn't spoken to him yet. . . . "Let me try and disarm you," I thought. "Would you like to meet your opening act? He's deaf, dumb, and cripple." He said, "What does he do?" I said, "He plays the piano, stomps on a board, and sings Ray Charles and, uh, George Jones." And he said, "I want to meet him right now."

We went up the stairs and over to the office, and George was kind of crushed down in his terrible, cripple sort of way with black sockets, you know, just dark dark caverns where his eyes would have been. And I whispered to Zappa as we approached him. I said, "Remember he's kind of deaf." And [Zappa] was so stunned when he saw him that he just kind of mumbled. And George said, "Huh?" And he said (louder), "Did you hear our sound check?" George bellowed back, "Yeah, you were too damn loud!"

Jason Mellard, author of Progressive Country: How the 1970's Transformed the Texan in popular Culture (2013), talks to Eddie Wilson about the fateful Thanksgiving Day in 1972, when Jerry Garcia decided to invite Leon Russell to jam at the Armadillo World Headquarters:

EW: Jerry Garcia wanted to go on stage at the free jam that we had on Thanksgiving Day in 1972. . . The only reason that I was pushing was because we had no advertising; we had nothing to let anybody know that we were going to be open on Thanksgiving Day. And I did one of those--one call to the radio station --and I couldn't say who because I didn't know who was going to show. But as Garcia was leaving the auditorium, Palmer, the night before, after we fed him at the Armadillo, Jim Franklin and Leon Russell were coming in the back door, comin' down from Tulsa because Leon wanted to meet Willie Nelson.

And so Jerry Garcia looked up and saw Leon Russell and said, "Why don't you come over and jam tomorrow at the Armadillo?" He hadn't wanted to tell me what time because he had committed to doing it around the meal--that was going to be too much detail, and he was above detail. And when Leon [asked] what time, Garcia kind of looked at me and gritted his teeth, and I said, "How about 3 o'clock?" They agreed, 3 o'clock.

So, of course, at 3 o'clock the next day, I was just a nervous wreck. Who's going to really show? Garcia was there early and then Leon finally showed. So okay, guys, you know, let's do it. Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead) was on bass and a lot of the best local pickers were all--

Jason Mellard: Yeah, I think, was it Furman, formally of the Elevators, was there?

EW: Benny Furman, he had a fiddle there; yes, he did.

JM: Sweet Mary Egan (Greezy Wheels)?

EW: Yeah, yeah. Hank Alrich (Tiger Balm).

JM: Jerry Barnett (Shiva's Headband), I think also?

EW: He did a lot of drumming. And, uh, Jim Finney also played some drums. But, Garcia said, "Let's just wait until Doug [Sahm] gets here, he needs to be the bandleader for this thing. He knows at least 1,000 songs." And Leon said, you know, not long before he died, he came through town and we had a good visit; and he actually said to the audience in our beer garden, he said, "I played Armadillo World Headquarters with the Grateful Dead, and it was the worst performance of my career.
(Laughter)

EW: He's not a jam guy! He's an arranger. And, you know, it just wasn't his particular bag. Oh, but you couldn't have wanted more.

Click here for more information on Armadillo World Headquarters: A Memoir.

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Music from A Perfectly Good Guitar

The South by Southwest music conference and festival (SXSW, as it is now known) kicks off this week here in Austin, TX. The reach of SXSW has gone global and quite a bit corporate, which means well-established music acts like the Avett Brothers, Weezer, and the Wu-Tang Clan can steal thunder from the hundreds of relative unknowns who travel from all over the world to Austin hoping for exposure and whatever one calls a "record deal" these days. It's these hardworking musicians and local artists who prop up the massive event SXSW has become. They slug it out to make a name for themselves, hauling their equipment all over town to get as much stage time as possible. That's the game.

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From Willie Nelson to the bassist in a Sixth Street house band, most guitarists have strong feelings about their primary tool, and some are downright passionate about their axes. When photographer and writer Chuck Holley set out to document guitar players talking about their most prized instruments, he thought he was fairly well-versed in professional guitarists. The playlist he has put together for this blog is all about the lesser-known artists he discovered over the eight years he photographed guitarists with their favorite instruments and listened to their stories. A Perfectly Good Guitar is a beautifully illustrated book presenting these stories in revelatory photographs, featuring Rosanne Cash, Guy Clark, JD Souther, Jorma Kaukonen, Kelly Willis, and more.

Enjoy the selection on Spotify here.

Discovering Good Music

By Chuck Holley

In the Fall of 2007 I began a project interviewing and photographing guitarists. I asked each professional to single out one guitar in their arsenal and explain why it was important to them. The result of that eight-year effort is the book, A Perfectly Good Guitar.

I’m an unabashed music fan and, when I began this project, I considered myself well-versed about music from different genres. I knew about the good stuff—or at least I thought I did.

It didn’t take long to realize how many great working musicians are out there I didn’t know about. Reality set in; it became painfully obvious how much I had to learn. 

As the project picked up steam, artists who came to my attention fell into one of three categories: There were the seasoned professionals whose recordings I already owned. Players like Dave Alvin, Joanna Connor, Alejandro Escovedo and Bill Kirchen come to mind. Sure, I had a Blasters record with Alvin and his brother on it and I had one of his early solo albums. My collection of Joanna Connor music consisted of one early release on Blind Pig Records and I owned three or four Escovedo albums. In the case of Kirchen, I knew all about his days with Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. As for his solo work, I didn’t have a clue. In the ensuing years, my interests turned to other artists.

Sonny Landreth

Then there were the artists with whom I was familiar; I’d heard of them, but didn’t own any of their recordings. I knew the music of Sisters Morales but I didn’t own any solo recordings by Lisa Morales. The same was true of Bill Frisell. From reading album credits I knew at one time Sonny Landreth played in John Hiatt’s band, The Goners, but even though I’d heard of Sonny, I didn’t own any of his music.

Finally, there were the artists who were new to me. They weren’t new to the scene, but I wasn’t familiar with their work. Toronzo Cannon, Johnny Nicholas and Jamie Lin Wilson are three such artists.

I enjoy turning my friends on to good music. I’ve told them about some of the terrific musicians and songwriters I’ve discovered. They listen politely until their eyes glaze over. My friends are creatures of habit, but aren’t we all?

I subscribe to the Duke Ellington school of thought: “There are two kinds of music. Good music and the other kind.” If I like it, I’ll listen to music regardless of labels. At the same time, it’s difficult to write about this without resorting to categorization. The artists profiled in A Perfectly Good Guitar represent a variety of genres.

I’ve never understood the guy who claims to just like only country music or classical or jazz. In my opinion, that’s like saying you only like the color blue.

This blog features ten artists from A Perfectly Good Guitar. These ten artists represent personal discovery. Their genres don’t matter. They’re just labels, but do they mean anything?

“All By Myself” – Dave Alvin
Dave Alvin spent his youth sneaking into blues bars with his older brother, Phil, to see and learn from masters like Big Joe Turner, T-Bone Walker, and Lightning Hopkins. In 1979 he and Phil formed the seminal roots rock band, the Blasters. They released four influential albums before Dave left to join the band, X, and later embark on a solo career that produced several critically acclaimed albums, including the Grammy Award-winning Public Domain. He and Phil reunited in 2014 to record Common Ground, their tribute album to Big Bill Broonzy, and later a blues album, Lost Time.

Dave recalls how he purchased a 1934 National resonator guitar. He used that guitar on the Broonzy song “All By Myself,” the first track on Common Ground.

New Author-Curated Playlist

From 1972 to 1976, Hollywood made an unprecedented number of films targeted at black audiences, defining an era in cinema history known as blaxploitation. Author Keith Corson looks at the films made after this period and before Spike Lee's directorial debut in 1986 in his new book Trying to Get Over: African American Directors after Blaxploitation, 1977–1986. Although these films and their directors are the primary subject of the book, the music and larger pop cultural impact of this period has proven equally groundbreaking. Prince, Michael Jackson, James Brown, Run-DMC, Chaka Khan, and more appear on film soundtracks in this overlooked era, so we asked Professor Corson (who used to work at a record store) to make a Spotify playlist and hip us to this period in pop music history. You can listen to the Spotify playlist here.

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Trying to Get Over: The Soundtrack
By Keith Corson

Books take on a life of their own between concept and realization. I started writing Trying to Get Over thinking that it was about cinema, but early on the boundaries of the project began to expand. The directors at the center of this study – Michael Schultz, Sidney Poitier, Fred Williamson, Jamaa Fanaka, Gilbert Moses, Stan Lathan, Richard Pryor, and Prince – all worked in various media outside of film, so I ended up thinking quite a bit about theater, television, literature, sports, and music as well. Popular music, and its intersections with the film work of these directors had the most resonance for me, and it became clear that in dealing with African American cinema in the years 1977–1986 I would also have to take on the changing musical landscape. Having spent years behind the counter of a record store, this wasn’t particularly bad news; I finally had a reason beyond workday banter to dig into pop music history. So, it only seems fitting that I compile a playlist for my book. The tracks below, as well as a few reflections and details that didn't make it into the final pages, provide a parallel narrative to Trying to Get Over. Enjoy!

The Soundtrack

Curtis Mayfield—“Superfly” This song was the inspiration for the title of my book. Mayfield’s soundtrack for Super Fly transformed the movie from mere Blaxploitation into something thoughtful and informed. It is the gold standard in writing songs for the cinema. 

G. C. Cameron—“It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye” Boyz II Men’s version is what comes to mind for most people, but the song originally appeared sixteen years earlier in Michael Schultz’s Cooley High. This was one of the only songs written for the film; most of the music used in Cooley High came from the Motown catalog through a bargain licensing deal that would be unheard of today. Cameron’s vocal and the gospel arrangement give the song a sense of despair and personal loss wholly absent in the melismatic excess of the Boyz II Men version. However, the kids from Philly paid their respects by naming their debut album Cooleyhighharmony. 

Rose Royce—“I Wanna Get Next to You” The title track to Car Wash is great, as is every track Norman Whitfield composed for the film, but it is so omnipresent that I decided to choose something else for the playlist. “I Wanna Get Next to You” is at the center of one of the best scenes in the film and is the kind of song that makes you actually feel the longing expressed in the lyrics. 

The Beatles—“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” The biggest downside to writing about the 1978 film Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is that, in my head, I hear a broad swath of Beatles songs as they are performed in the movie. In the spirit of good will, I’m commemorating Michael Schultz’s film by choosing the actual Fab Four for this playlist, not Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees. And don’t get me started on the ragtag chorus that sings the song at the end of the film. Ever wonder what Leif Garrett, Carol Channing, Wolfman Jack, Hank Williams Jr., Helen Reddy, and the members of Sha Na Na would sound like singing together? Me neither. 

Dwight David—“The Last Dragon” DeBarge’s “Rhythm of the Night” was the big single from The Last Dragon, but I’ve always been partial to soundtrack songs that explicitly reference a film’s plot (often against my better judgment, e.g. Patti LaBelle’s “Just the Facts” from Dragnet). This song plays during the climactic showdown between Leroy and Sho-Nuff. A whole generation of kids had this song playing in their heads as they rushed outside after the movie and practiced their kung fu kicks in hopes that they could attain “The Glow.”

Watch Rare Texas-made Indies at the Bullock Museum

The Bullock Texas State History Museum will screen six rare Texas-made indie films as part of their Texas Focus Film Series this Thursday, January 14 at 7pm. Created by UT Austin film students, these short films were first compiled and screened in 1981

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when director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia) introduced them at the Collective for Living Cinema in New York City. Under the guidance of SXSW and The Austin Chronicle co-founder Louis Black, these films have been newly restored and are now being presented together as a package for the first time in Jonathan Demme Presents Made in Texas. UT Press is distributing the DVD.
Following this Thursday's screening, Louis Black will moderate a Q&A with Tom Huckabee (The Death of a Rock Star), Sandy Boone (Invasion of the Aluminum People), Paul Collum (Speed of Light) and other talent. We asked Rachel Manning, the Film & Theater Coordinator at the Bullock Museum, to introduce their Texas Focus film series and explain the significance of these films and local filmmaking.

Don't miss this! An opening reception with a cash bar starts at 6pm. Get your tickets here: Texas Focus: Jonathan Demme Presents MADE IN TEXAS

What is the mission of the Texas Focus Film Series?

Texas Focus aims to highlight the creative energy and wide-ranging, unique qualities of Texas through the art of cinema. This selection of films will bring Texas to the world through many lenses and visions of this great state.

Still from Fair Sisters
In this homage to Demme’s Caged Heat, things go awry when a rough girl gang busts in on a back room poker game.

Why are regional films like these important?

Regional film is important because it not only highlights aspects about a location that are often unseen in Hollywood films, but they also explore the creative nature and outlook of filmmakers from that region, which is unique in itself. 

Still from The Death of a Rock Star
Real life events of The Doors ethereal frontman, Jim Morrison, frame this experimental short film.

How do the Whole Shootin’ Match and the short films in Made in Texas characterize or capture our region — what makes them Texas? 

There is nothing in each of the films to signify Texas per se, except for a city street or skyline in a shot or two. What these films do is capture the aesthetic and spirit of early independent filmmaking, which was happening in and around Austin during this time. These films are not connected to a studio and do not have the look and feel of a studio production, but rather reflect the environs and locations that were available to the filmmakers. They are homegrown in that sense, and the DIY nature of how these films were made comes across. 

Still from Leonardo, Jr.
A tribute to the silent comedy master, Buster Keaton.

What is the legacy of these films; how have more mainstream filmmakers been influenced by these films?

Filmmakers such as Richard Linklater and Robert Rodriguez have been influenced by these films and their unique take on Texas filmmaking. Jonathan Demme of course was endeared to these films to point of curating them for the Collective for Living Cinema in 1981.

Still from Speed of Light
Reminiscent of Demme’s Crazy Mama, this story of an outsider searching Central Texas for her lost child is permeated by Cold War anxieties.

What’s the best way for local film enthusiasts to get involved and hear about screenings?

Great question! Film fans that want to follow what's going on in the world of cinema at the Bullock should keep an eye on the Bullock's Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook page, along with our Facebook film fan page. Additionally, film enthusiasts can follow us by signing up for email newsletters specific to the topic they're interested in, whether it be a specific film or everything we have to offer!

Still from Invasion of the Aluminum People
A contemporary and surreal take on science fiction horror of the 1950s.

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Kevin Smith, John Pierson on Linklater's Influence

We're knee-deep in South By Southwest here in Austin. With the film festival in full swing, this week's blog features an excerpt from UT film professor John Pierson's classic book Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes: A Guided Tour Across a Decade of American Independent Cinema — back in print this spring! Here, Pierson sits down with Kevin Smith to talk about one of his biggest influences as a filmmaker, Richard Linklater. Linklater screened his film Boyhood at this year's gamut of film festivals, including SXSW, was nominated for an Oscar for Before Midnight, and continues to nourish the Austin film scene through the Austin Film Society.

Read the truncated conversation below to get a sense of Linklater's cultural influence. Get the book to delve even deeper into a pivotal era in indie film.

John Pierson: So you saw Slacker on your twenty-first birthday at the Angelika. That theater opened in late 1989. Was that the first time you went there?

Kevin Smith: No, the first film I've ever seen outside of New Jersey, unless I'm on vacation with my parents somewhere and then it's still a mainstream film, the film I travel to New York to the Angelika to see is—let me back up a minute....

We're on the cutting edge, The Dark Backward, nobody knows about this and he'll be the one to make Planet of the Apes. At the bottom of the Village Voice ad, it said come to the midnight screening and receive free pig newtons-which of course were fig newtons with a sticker on them.

The Dark Backward, which was not good at all, was our first independent movie. That was the first thing we ever went to see outside New Jersey, at the Angelika. The first time we see the Angelika we're like "there's an escalator in this movie place. Look at this, it's hip man, you can get coffee," not that we're coffee drinkers, but we buy like a ham croissant sandwich at the cafe. The lobby's all different from the usual multiplex lobby we go to because they hang up these huge reviews of films and suddenly we feel, "Oh, my God there's a whole different subculture here." We're seeing people who're there. I mean this theater's packed....

The The Dark Backward is just a footnote because it gets me out of Jersey to New York. And then I have enough courage to see Slacker in New York at a midnight screening.

JP: What attracted you since there were no pig newtons?

KS: The Voice review and the image of the Madonna Pap smear girl; it just sounded great. I know it opened in July [1991]. I went on my birthday, August 2nd. And that's the movie that pushed me. It was like "Oh, my God," The whole ride home I'm like "look how simple it is. It's like there's nothing going on, it's dialogue, I can do this." This is the movie because this is approachable. I can do this.