The Huntsville Item, Huntsville, TX

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January 13, 2012

Luckenbach is for the lucky

By Tori Brock Staff Reporter

HUNTSVILLE — Luckenbach is not a town, no matter what you’ve heard. It’s not a city, or a ville or a gathering place. In Texas, Luckenbach is a legend.

When they say “Everybody’s somebody in Luckenbach,” they mean it. At any given time, you may be the only person in town or one of thousands.

My first trip to Luckenbach was in college for a journalism event. Cramped tightly into an eight-passenger van, my cohorts and I sang the same two verses to Waylon Jennings’ “Luckenbach, Texas,” for eight straight hours. I’m not sure we would have sang more of the song if we had known it, but I do know that Waylon and Willie Nelson and the “boys” were going to the town in question.

Upon arrival, I couldn’t help but laugh. The town was nothing more than a general store/bar/post office, two-seater outhouse, a blacksmith shop and dance hall. That general store has been standing in the same spot since 1851, though an earlier store was built in 1849.

I learned with much horror recently that the charming outhouse lost its battle with time during a flood in 2002. A cotton gin and the blacksmith shop suffered the same fate.

The general store, however, remains a beacon of hope for the weary traveler — a spot to get a drink, secure a souvenir or see what remains of the post office, which no longer accepts mail.

What really draws people to the middle of nowhere these days is the music, guaranteed to bring a flock of folks to Luckenbach.

On any given night, there is some down-home pickin’ and grinnin’ going on downtown, and you never know when Willie Nelson will show up to sing along.

On Jan. 28 starting at 3 p.m., the fifth annual Luckenbach Blues Festival will be held, featuring Ruthie Foster, W. C. Clark, Band of Heathens, Guy Forsyth, Seth Walker and more.

Tickets range from $5 to $27 and are available online at www.luckenbachtexas.com.

If you can’t make it to the Blues Festival, check out the online calendar and pick a date you are able to go. Luckenbach is one Texas legend you’ll want to mark off your bucket list.



Other events:

Pearland Winterfest will be held Jan. 28 where children and adults alike can play in the snow, ride down a snow-tubing hill and see live entertainment. For more information, visit www.pearlandparks.com or call (281) 412-8900.

The Edna Tough Mudder – Texas Coast event will be held Jan. 28 and 29 where more than 10,000 people will compete in an obstacle course designed by the British Special Forces. The event, which has been called “where Ironman meets Burning Man,” will be held in the Brackenridge Recreation Complex. For more information, visit www.toughmudder.com or call (361) 782-7272.

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