String Theories Prevail at the Festival of Texas Fiddling
The 5th annual Festival of Texas Fiddling in Blanco will demonstrate the instrument’s versatility and how it unifies cultures and ethnicities. Read More »
Artist “Cimi” Alvarado Teaches History Through the Murals of El Segundo Barrio
It’s sprinkling rain and the surrounding desert smells of wet dirt as Jesus “Cimi” Alvarado, an artist and an arts and ... Read More »
Experience “Amarillo Ramp”, a Seminal Work of Art, Before It Disappears
In 1973, when it was completed, Amarillo Ramp was a spiral pathway jutting into Tecovas Lake, an artificial body of water outside of Amarillo. It was comprised of sandstone found in the area, compacted to an ascending height of 15 feet, and measured 140 feet in diameter. Now, with the lake long since dried up, Amarillo Ramp amounts to a quirky, failing rock formation. Read More »
Ruby City, a Contemporary Art Museum 12 Years in the Making, is Now Open in San Antonio
Late artist and philanthropist Linda Pace’s vision puts the Alamo City on the modern art map Read More »
Keeping the Groove With Texas Bass Players, From Conjunto to Country and Polka to Punk
Bass is the heartbeat of Texas music, from the hard-rocking roadhouse blues of Stevie Ray Vaughan to the conjunto-revival sounds of Los Texmaniacs. Whenever you go out dancing to live music, the underlying tones of the upright bass fiddle or electric bass guitar drive your every move across the floor—and that’s true whether you notice the person playing the instrument or not. Read More »
Red Steagall, Country Hit-Maker and Cowboy Poet, Talks Texas Spirit and Overcoming Polio
Driving the backroads northwest of Fort Worth, you’d never know that one of the luminaries of Texas country and western music lives just around the bend. Down a gravel road, a pickup marked with Red Steagall’s “RS” brand signals that Steagall is around today. Inside his office, framed records and photos signed by the likes of Ronald Reagan line the wall, hinting at Steagall’s influential career. Read More »
Eh-Ha-Ha! Downtown Galveston Concert to Remember Influential Gulf Coast Cajun Fiddler
The Galveston Historical Foundation on Saturday will celebrate Harry Choates music with a free concert at Hendley Green with a performance by Gulf Coast musicians Kevin Anthony & G-Town, who’ve recently recorded an album of Choates’ songs. Read More »
A Masterpiece in the Heartland: New Book Tells the Story of Fort Worth’s Kimbell Art Museum
In 'Of the First Class: A History of the Kimbell Art Museum,' author Tim Madigan chronicles the beginnings of one of the nation's great art museums in what was then an unexpected place, Fort Worth Read More »
All About that Bass Playlist
Listen to a playlist of songs mentioned in the October 2019 feature "All About that Bass" Read More »
El Paso Has a Fascinating Connection With a Small Himalayan Country
In 1914, National Geographic published an article about the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, a remote Buddhist country tucked between India and China. El Paso resident Kathleen Worrell, who was married to the dean of the college that became the University of Texas at El Paso, was intrigued by the photographs of Bhutanese fortresses and monasteries. She also noted a resemblance between the rugged Himalayas and the Franklin Mountains that soar over El Paso. Three years later, as the college’s new campus was being built in the Franklin foothills, Worrell saw an opportunity. She asked her husband: Why not construct those buildings in the Bhutanese style? Read More »
Six Years After Moving to Mexico, Lauded Chicana Writer Sandra Cisneros Looks Back on Her 29 Years in San Antonio
Last spring, the writer Sandra Cisneros returned to San Antonio to meet with her accountant, address some computer issues, and have her mother’s fur hat professionally cleaned. Cisneros has lived in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, since 2013, but she resided in San Antonio for most of the 29 years prior, living in the King William District, where she stirred controversy for painting her Victorian cottage periwinkle. Her visit coincided with Fiesta San Antonio, and Cisneros appeared on the float “March To Your Own Drummer”—a fitting theme. “I think I can quote Fidel Castro here,” she says. ‘“History will absolve me.’” Read More »
Milton Brown, Bob Wills, and the Fort Worth Origins of One of Texas’ Most Beloved Musical Styles
Western swing was born about 4 miles southwest of downtown Fort Worth at the Crystal Springs Dance Pavilion, although you wouldn’t know it when driving past the now-empty lot near the West Fork of the Trinity River. In the early 1930s, the cavernous pavilion drew hundreds for the “hillbilly jazz” of Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies. While the venue burned down in 1966, Western swing is still going strong—a style that’s among the most recognizable roots of Texas music. Read More »
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