LET’S GO TO LUCKENBACH, TEXAS

The moment in April of 1977 that country music star Waylon Jennings sang “…let’s go to Luckenbach, Texas with Waylon and Willlie and the boys…”, the small Hill Country community of Luckenbach knew that things would never be quite the same again. Luckenbach, at least its state of mind at any rate, had finally arrived on the national stage. However, Luckenbach wasn’t quite a stranger to country music. Country singer Jerry Jeff Walker had already recorded his best-seller “Viva Terlingua”, not in the Big Bend community of Terlingua but in…well, Luckenbach, in the early 70s. In addition, the phrase “Everybody’s somebody in Luckenbach” had previously entered the lexicon of regional culture also by the early 70s courtesy of the community’s eccentric owner, the late John Russell “Hondo” Crouch. Today, the community continues to host a party of music and dancing almost every night of the week. In fact, its first dance hall was built by the late 1800s. The later Luckenbach Dance Hall was refurbished in the early 1930s and its maple dance floor still accommodates a lot of scootin’ boots today. Be sure to take a break from your kick-shuffle-shuffle and shop for “stuff” at the General Store. Or pass your time at the Luckenbach Bar, across the street from the dance hall. However, “if you’re drinking to forget,” says the bar motto, “please pay in advance.”