Presley Haile’s crystal voice floats into the nighttime sky at Red River Station, a music venue in the shadow of the Saint Jo water tower. As she introduces herself between songs, the Hamilton native is met with a smattering of applause at the mention of her hometown.
“Well, that’s pretty cool you know where Hamilton is,” says the young singer-songwriter, genuinely surprised by the recognition, “because if I told the folks in Hamilton that I was playing in Saint Jo, I’m not sure they’d know where that is.”
A laugh ripples through the crowd, and some raise their drinks in good-natured agreement, a symbolic toast to Curtis and Kathryn Goff, the visionaries who transformed a long-abandoned lumberyard into this mainstay stop on the Texas music scene.
A Saint Jo native, Curtis has been playing in bands since the 1970s and is no stranger to the state’s iconic music venues.
“I have lived and breathed Texas music my whole life,” he says.“So when we started designing this place, I wanted to make it like all those places that I loved growing up in Texas: Gruene Hall, Floore’s Country Store, and Luckenbach.”
Once a raucous Western town, Saint Jo was previously best known as a stop on the Chisholm Trail, one of the historic routes used to drive cattle from Texas to Kansas in the 1800s. Today it’s a quiet respite about 90 miles northwest of Dallas that, as of the last 15 years or so, boasts wineries, a fine art gallery, and a handful of boutiques in addition to Red River Station.
The old lumberyard sat a block off the town square, tired and overgrown with weeds when Curtis, and Kathryn bought it in 2014. After extensive cleanup and construction, Red River Station opened in May 2018, quickly becoming an important venue, drawing some of the biggest names in Texas music.
The stage is the site of the former lumber stacks, and a small dance floor hosts the occasional two-steppers. The storefront where customers once bought hardware is now an indoor listening room with its original wood floors, and a storage room turned beauty shop in the years after the lumberyard closed is now the green room. Before taking the stage, artists pay homage to a framed photo of a young Guy Clark hanging by the door.
“We never have karaoke or open mic night or anything,” Kathryn says. “It’s going to be people who you want to see. No tribute bands.”
Past performers have included the singer-songwriter and actor Lyle Lovett, Texas country stalwarts Jack Ingram and Pat Green, Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel, and bluegrass great Ricky Skaggs. Upcoming shows include performances by Texas country lifer Dale Watson and nine-piece funk/soul/country band Shinyribs, among others. The venue has even become a favorite of Robert Earl Keen, who’s played there five times and will return in October.
“And I make him buttermilk pie every time he comes,” Kathryn says, grinning.
The Goffs’ hospitality makes Red River Station not only a favorite for performers but also for fans. Although a handful of shows are hosted indoors during the winter, the outdoor season is most popular, running from April through October. Concertgoers can reserve a picnic table up front or bring in a lawn chair and set up wherever they like in the yard with general admission.
Curtis introduces every act with the excitement of a fan and the warmth of a longtime friend before retiring to the sponsors’ upper deck to take in the show.
“Some of the greatest pleasure we get is sitting upstairs, looking down during a concert and seeing a sea of people all having a fantastic time,” Kathryn says. “They’re singing along, they’re dancing, they’re all smiling and having a great time. This is why we do this.”
