Day Trips
Take the Texas music heritage tour and learn more about Texas' homegrown talent, such as Bob Wills, Buddy Holly, and more
By Gerald E. McLeod, Fri., March 10, 2006
The Texas music heritage tour stretches from the High Plains to the Rio Grande. The list of musicians that Texas claims as its own goes from Bob Wills to Selena. The musical landscape is as diverse as the geography. So hop aboard, and let's take a quick spin around the state.
The Panhandle Plains have given us a wide range of talented musicians. No matter who's in Austin, Bob Wills is still king in his hometown of Turkey. On the last Saturday of April, the town of fewer than 500 holds the Bob Wills Reunion, which attracts more than 10,000 musicians and music fans. Small, but full of interesting memorabilia from the days of the Texas Playboys, the Bob Wills Museum opens on weekdays year round.
About 100 miles southwest and 20 years later, a bespeckled rockabilly singer came out of Lubbock to set off tremors in the music industry. Buddy Holly is remembered with a statue and a walk of fame that includes Waylon Jennings, Tanya Tucker, the Gatlin Brothers, and other native musicians at Eighth Street and Avenue Q.
Down the street, the Buddy Holly Center is more than just a museum of the musician. The center has an excellent exhibit on Holly's life, including his Boy Scout uniform and a pair of his glasses found at the site of the airplane crash that took his life. But other galleries in the center showcase Texas musicians and fine artists. At 1081 Avenue G (806/767-2686), the museum can be a lot of fun and educational for all ages.
Heading south of Dallas, Corsicana dedicated a life-sized statue and museum to early country star Lefty Frizzell in Jester Park. Frizzell had a string of hits in the early 1950s, and his rendition of "Long Black Veil" in 1959 is still a classic.
No music history tour would be complete without a trip to the deep Pineywoods of East Texas to visit the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame and Tex Ritter Museum in Carthage. Visitors are greeted by a statue of Ritter and his horse. Inside the museum is a galaxy of famous Texans, including a wall honoring disc jockeys who made a difference. Open Monday through Saturday (903/693-6634), the museum covers cowboy music and movies.
About three miles east of downtown Carthage is a life-sized tribute to "Gentleman" Jim Reeves. The velvet-voiced crooner made only four albums over seven years before he was killed in a plane crash in 1964.
Driving south to Port Arthur, no Texas museum celebrates the blending of cultures across the Sabine River better than the Museum of the Gulf Coast. This museum covers a lot of ground, including natural history as well as the arts, but the real story is about the people who gave Southeast Texas its personality. Remembrances of Tex Ritter are here, as are Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Clifton Chenier, Percy Sledge, and others. The facility has one of the largest collections of the personal effects of Janis Joplin, including her psychedelic Porsche. The cultural center is in downtown Port Arthur at 700 Proctor (409/982-700).
Down the coast, Selena Quintanilla-Perez is remembered with a bronze bust in the bay-front park in Corpus Christi. After she was murdered by the president of her fan club in 1995, her fame only seemed to grow. Three years later, the family opened a museum as a memorial to her life that is open Monday through Friday at 5410 Leopard St. (361/289-9013).
The Rio Grande Valley is about as far from Memphis as one can get, but this is where you'll have to go to find one of the most interesting Elvis Presley museums in the country. Simon Vega served in the Army with Elvis and has been a devoted fan ever since. Everyone in Los Fresnos knows how to find Little Graceland (956/233-5482), or you can follow the crowds for the annual festivals held in August and January.
For a complete list of historic music sites around Texas, visit the Web site of the Texas Music Office at www.governor.state.tx.us/divisions/music. The site is a warehouse of all things to do with the music business and history in the Lone Star State.
769th in a series. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of Day Trips 101-200, is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.
