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The
backdrop for this monumental 15th year of Larry Joe Taylor’s
Texas Music Festival and Chili Cook off is Melody Mountain Ranch, a beautiful
and spacious 450 acre spread located 5 miles north of Stephenville, Texas.
The name in itself seems almost prophetic as Taylor remembers when and
how it all began 15 years ago.
The
year was 1989 and the location was Mingus, Texas…a tiny town 20 miles north
of Stephenville. The festival
grounds consisted of a two acre track with a small covered concrete pad that
served as both stage and dance floor. The times were not exactly flourishing
as far as Texas Music was concerned. The
performing artists from the nationally recognized Texas Music Outlaw era of
the early 70’s (or “Texas Music Scare”, as Fromholz calls it) had all
but vanished from the music scene leaving a huge hole in the hearts of many
that came of age listening to Jerry Jeff Walker, Willie, Waylon and the Boys.
The first festival in Mingus, Texas featured 3 acts including Taylor
and about 100 folks showed up. Little
did anyone imagine that the small get-together made up of mostly friends and
family in 1989 would grow into one of the most important original
singer/songwriter music events in the state and perhaps the nation.
The
annual April gathering has been held in Mingus, Thurber, Possum Kingdom Lake,
Glen Rose, Meridian and now Stephenville, Texas. “Every time you move,
it’s just about like starting over” Taylor observes. There were about 500 people (a huge crowd at the time) in
attendance in year #3 at Thurber, much to the credit of former KNON disc
jockey “The Commander, Roy Ashley”. “Roy
was an incredible cheerleader for the thing”, said Obie Obermark, a long
time Texas Music Fan, “You’d
listened to Roy’s show back then, and you would think the festival was
really the Second Coming. He made
it sound so appealing that you were going to be hopelessly un-hip if you
weren’t there.” Everyone
has great memories of Thurber except for Larry Joe.
The flatbed trailer that served as the stage collapsed during one of
the performances and all the volunteer staff couldn’t keep people from
jumping over the yellow caution tape that served as boundaries.
To top that year off, Larry Joe and a few friends woke to a hot and
humid Sunday morning, with mountains of trash to pick up which they proceeded
to do only to have a helicopter land in the field right next to the site and
blow the trash in every direction. Taylor left that festival saying “no
more”.
The
1992 festival would never have happened had it not been for a booking agent
friend who assured Taylor that he would handle the festival details and all
Larry Joe would have to do was perform. Six
weeks before the festival was supposed to happen, the “friend” disappeared
and Taylor & Co. were back in the festival business at a new location
…One Mountain Place on Possum Kingdom Lake.
The site change and the nature of the grounds made it hard to take a
gate and a lot of people snuck in…so ticket sales and numbers were down and
Taylor was facing losing hundreds of dollars.
Mike Crow, long time Texas Music DJ got up on stage and called upon the
audience to support Texas Music or lose it.
A bucket started through the crowd and quickly filled.
Although he still lost $67, the loyalty of Texas Music Fans made a deep
impression and revived Taylor’s drive and mission to turn as many people on
to this kind of music as possible.
In
1995, the Texas Music Uprising was beginning to gain momentum and having
outgrown One Mountain Place on Possum Kingdom Lake; Larry Joe moved his
festival to Tres Rios in Glen Rose, Texas. The first year at Glen Rose
everyone was talking about some kid playing at the campfires all weekend.
That “ “kid” nobody had ever heard of before turned out to be Pat
Green. There was a definite “rumbling” going on…like a dormant volcano beginning to
gain steam. Everyone could feel
it. Late night campfire singing became as important as featured stage music,
as people would roam from campsite to campsite listening and/or playing music.
Many of the main acts on stage would hang around to play at the
campfires from midnight to dawn.
By
the time the festival moved to Meridian, the volcano had erupted.
Texas Music was back, stronger than ever before.
Performers from the outlaw era like Jerry Jeff Walker and Ray Wylie
Hubbard who had managed to hang on through the drought were now back in the
forefront, leading the charge.
The
years in Meridian presented challenges as Taylor & Co. struggled to handle
“the charge”. The influx of
people who were more into the “scene” than the music was disconcerting. In
an effort to reinforce what the festival was all about and educate new folks
about the music, an afternoon acoustic stage, dedicated to performance of solo
songwriters was added. The
addition was an immediate success and provided the direction in which Taylor
hoped the festival would move. It
was another turning point.
Now, in 2003 this event has almost come full circle as it moves near the original location 15 years ago. While the setting may change from time to time, one fact remains the same…this festival is about laughter from a distant campfire at 3 in the morning, the best song you ever heard in your life coming from somebody in the camp right next to you, a hot bowl of chili, something cold to drink, sitting in your lawn chair listening to your favorite song writer on stage singing your favorite song, somebody hollering “breakfast is ready” and about a thousand people showing up to eat, that great feeling you get unloading and setting up camp…that terrible feeling you get when it’s time to pack up and go home. After so many years everything is different and yet nothing has changed. So get some new strings on whatever needs strings, write a new song, buy a new chili pot, get some extra sleep and get ready for 4 days and nights of music, hanging out with old friends and making new ones.
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