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 »
Go Behind the Scenes at the Equine Mecca of Texas
You don’t have to be the moneyed owner of an expensive Western-performance or hunter-jumper horse to see such magnificent animals in this exclusive setting. Some of the premier horse farms and ranches of North Texas grant inside access to their facilities and their resident four-legged celebrities. Six behind-the-scenes public bus tours are offered each year—three in the spring and three in the fall—as well as private group tours by appointment. Winding through countryside once devoted to peanut farms, each six-hour bus tour stops for visits at two of the more than 350 horse farms that collectively stable roughly 40,000 animals. Read More »
On the Magic of a Hotel Bar
Outside, the night is humid and flat. But inside, it feels like the setting of a Raymond Carver story. Standing by ... Read More »
Eat Your Way Through the Taco Capital of Texas at These 7 Taquerias
The tacos you’ll find on Southmost come in three varieties: breakfast tacos, fried tacos, and beef tacos. Trying them all is essential. Breakfast tacos go by the name tortillas de harina because of the 10-inch flour tortillas they’re served in. They’re typically filled with ingredients as familiar as chorizo and eggs, or as regionally specific as weenies (sliced Vienna sausages or hot dogs) and eggs. Fried tacos, like tacos dorados (deep-fried folded corn tortillas) and flautas (rolled and fried), are also popular—some are drowned in salsa, earning the moniker ahogados. Most prevalent are the beef preparations like barbacoa, bistek (thinly sliced), fajita, and mollejas (sweetbreads). They’re generally smaller in size and served in orders of three to six—closer to what most Americans would recognize as “street tacos.” Read More »
Editor’s Note: Exploring Texas’ Cultural Crossroads
Texas has always served as a cultural crossroads. Before it was the longest stretch of the United States’ southern border with Mexico, it was a boundary between Spain and French Louisiana. Long before that, it was home to a number of diverse indigenous tribes. Our name, even, derives from a Spanish interpretation of a Caddo greeting meaning “friend.” And the value of the state’s most prolific commodities—cattle, cotton, and oil—has been dependent on links to the world at large. Read More »
My Hometown: A True-Blue Rangerette Explains Why There’s More to Kilgore Than Oil and the Drill Team
"People automatically associate Kilgore with oil and Rangerettes,” says Shelley Wayne, who should know. Wayne’s husband works in the petrochemical business, her daughter was a Rangerette, and Wayne herself was a member of Kilgore College’s world-famous drill team before becoming its choreographer. But she adds, “There is much more to this town.” Founded in 1872 by the Great Northern Railroad, Kilgore changed dramatically with the discovery of oil in 1930. Derricks soon crowded downtown, comprising the “World’s Richest Acre”—today a collection of restored derricks along a manicured downtown strip. Read More »
Remembering a Classic Game of the Old Longhorn-Aggie Thanksgiving Football Rivalry
The Texas Longhorns had lost 10 straight games when they welcomed the Texas A&M Aggies to Memorial Stadium in Austin for the 1938 edition of the annual Thanksgiving rivalry. Read More »
Exhibit at George W. Bush Center in Dallas Explores Texas Presidential Escapes
As visitors this summer to the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas will discover, presidents seize opportunities to depart Washington, D.C. The Center’s exhibit on presidential retreats, which runs through Oct. 6, highlights Camp David and three Texas-related venues: LBJ Ranch in the Hill Country, George and Laura Bush’s Prairie Chapel Ranch near Crawford and the Bush family compound, Walker’s Point, in Kennebunkport, Maine, as well as identifying other getaways, including Harry Truman’s Florida White House in Key West, Herbert Hoover’s rugged Rapidan Camp in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains or a succession of presidential yachts. Read More »
5 Texas Podcasts to Listen to Now
These five podcasts highlight unique stories from all corners of Texas Read More »
Where the People of El Paso Find Peace and Strength
From the Franklin Mountains to the Plaza Theatre, here are the places in El Paso where its residents seek peace and comfort. Read More »
An Iconic Dance Hall in Big Spring Hosts an Eclectic Crowd
The fog is so thick that when I drive directly over the roadkill—the wheels of my Honda Civic eliciting a terrible ... Read More »
The New London Museum Recalls the Most Deadly School Tragedy in U.S. History
Newsman Walter Cronkite would, in his later years, recall it as one of the worst stories he ever covered. Morning dawned over New London on March 18, 1937, with clear skies and mild temperatures. Along Main Street, students made their way to school. Despite the pall of the Great Depression hanging over the nation, the future looked bright for the schoolchildren of Rusk County, thanks to a sea of oil and gas quivering below their feet. Read More »