Luckenbach Texas


Book Description




The Ranch That Was Us


Book Description

Braiding strands of earthen insight with uproarious storytelling, Texas Hill Country legendary author Becky Patterson recreates the history of the Steiler Hill Ranch in twenty-four anecdotal chapters interspersed with original artwork. The result is a mixture of memoir and montage, treasure chest and tableau vivant of a world that’s beautiful, brash, and wonderfully heartbreaking. Patterson -- the daughter of Texas folk hero and self-proclaimed mayor of Luckenbach, Hondo Crouch -- has big shoes to fill and she does so successfully in this colorful collection of Hill Country and Texas ranch vignettes. Foreman and general cowboy guru Raymond Kuhlmann tells stories of the Goat King and German drinking songs, the buzzard traps and Mexican corridos that filled the nighttime pastures. First-person accounts and vivid historical narratives evoke the ranch’s past, overlaid with Patterson’s breathless personal histories of afternoons spent rescuing a doe in a nightgown, or saving a porcupine from a pack of dogs. This is a book that will connect you to whatever patch of earth you hold dear. It is poignant reminder of the landscapes we’ve forgotten to keep close, of the land that does not belong to us but simply is who we are. The Ranch That Was Us is an affectionate reminder to go outside and touch the earth that is you.




Hondo, My Father


Book Description

A biography of the rancher and Texas folk hero whose comic gifts were an inspiration for the song "Let's Go to Luckenbach, Texas."




Body of Water


Book Description

A poet’s memoir of taking an unplanned trip to the Bahamas and meeting a fishing guide who changed his life: “A splendid book.”—Jim Harrison in The New York Times Book Review Chris Dombrowski, a poet and passionate fly-fisher, had a second child on the way and an income hovering perilously close to zero when he received a miraculous email: can’t go, it’s all paid for, just book a flight to Miami. Thus began a journey that would eventually lead to the Bahamas and to David Pinder, a legendary bonefishing guide. Bonefish are prized for their elusiveness and their tenacity. And no one was better at hunting them than Pinder, a Bahamian whose accuracy and patience were virtuosic. He knows what the fish think, said one fisherman, before they think it. By the time Dombrowski meets him, though, Pinder has been abandoned by the industry he helped build. With cataracts from a lifetime of staring at the water and a tiny severance package after forty years of service, he watches as the world of his beloved bonefish is degraded by tourists he himself did so much to attract. But as Pinder’s stories unfold, Dombrowski discovers a profound integrity and wisdom in the bonefishing guide’s life. “A poet and Montana-based fly-fishing guide recounts his trip to the Bahamas, where he met an aging guide who taught him about fish and life…loosely links reflections on his experiences catching and releasing bonefish, the history and geography of the Bahamas, the construction of fishing rods, stories he has told his children, and the difference between fishing or hunting for sport and for dinner.”—Kirkus Reviews “Thematically complex, finely wrought, and profoundly life-affirming.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)




Pat Green's Dance Halls & Dreamers


Book Description

Photographs and text reveal the histories of ten dance halls across the state of Texas, which includes The Bandera Caberet, The Coupland Inn & Dancehall, Schroeder Hall, Gruene Hall, and others.




The Texas Hill Country


Book Description

Like many Texans, Michael H. Marvins has been making regular pilgrimages to the Hill Country for much of his life. Traveling the back roads of the Texas Hill Country, cameras always poised for action, Marvins has captured the excitement of small-town rodeos, savored the mesquite-smoked atmosphere of local eateries, observed the daily lives of people on the land, and admired the scenic beauty of the landscape and its natural denizens. Most important, he has captured his impressions with the skilled eye of a master photographer. Popular Houston Chronicle columnist Joe Holley opens The Texas Hill Country by highlighting the many qualities that draw Marvins—and so many of the rest of us—to the Hill Country. Next, Roy Flukinger, senior curator of photography at the University of Texas’ Harry Ransom Center, discusses Marvins’s unique photographic vision and the fresh ways in which he helps us see this popular region. But the principal focus in The Texas Hill Country: A Photographic Adventure centers on Marvins’s artful images, inviting readers to share his unique perspectives on this enchanting and popular region. He takes us with him on leisurely backcountry drives and into the laughter and swirl of dance halls. His lens embraces the people, the land, and the culture that keep so many Texans—and would-be Texans—coming back to the Hill Country again and again. The author's proceeds from the sale of this book will benefit the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation.




The Nashville Number System Fake Book


Book Description

(Fake Book). The Nashville Number System is the standard way for a professional country musician to notate a song. The system has been around since the 1950s, and it rapidly became widespread within the country music community because of how efficiently it can represent music. In essence, a Nashville number chart conveys the harmony, key, meter, rhythm, phrase structure, instrumentation, arrangement, and form of a song all on a single piece of paper. An introduction is included that thoroughly explains how to use the book. Lyrics are not included. This valuable resource gathers together 200 country standards from yesterday's favorites to today's chart-topping hits, including: Achy Breaky Heart (Don't Tell My Heart) * Act Naturally * All the Gold in California * Always on My Mind * Amazed * Battle of New Orleans * Before He Cheats * Before the Next Teardrop Falls * Behind Closed Doors * Bless the Broken Road * Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain * Boot Scootin' Boogie * A Boy Named Sue * Breathe * Coal Miner's Daughter * Could I Have This Dance * Crazy * The Dance * Delta Dawn * The Devil Went down to Georgia * Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue * Elvira * Folsom Prison Blues * Friends in Low Places * The Gambler * God Bless the U.S.A. * He Stopped Loving Her Today * Hey, Good Lookin' * I Hope You Dance * I Walk the Line * I Will Always Love You * In Color * Jesus Take the Wheel * King of the Road * Live like You Were Dying * The Long Black Veil * Lucille * Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love) * Mean * Need You Now * On the Road Again * Redneck Woman * Springsteen * Stand by Your Man * This Kiss * You're Still the One * Your Cheatin' Heart * and more!




Farewell to Follies


Book Description

Themes of Farewell to Follies (FTF) Nature, in the form of beautiful landscapes and wholesome surroundings, is a constant presence in FTFs short fiction. It is often the only thing in the text, animate or inanimate, that is described in a positive or laudatory fashion. FTF characters are great believes in the power of nature, both in terms of its beauty and its challenges, to improve ones quality of life. Tok Pisin Also a near-constant presence in FTFs stories is the theme of death, either in the form of death itself, the knowledge of the inevitability of death, or the futility of fleeing death. Clearly evocative of death are the stories in which FTF describes actual deaths. Terminate with Extreme Prejudic. Also known as heroic fatalism, this attitude was a FTF favorite. Fatalistic heroism derives from the belief that death is certain to come and that resisting it is futile; one may as well face death with stoicism and resignation. This belief and its accompanying stoic behavior patterns appear in several short stories. Lord Clives Last Biryani Supper Disillusionment and the depression that results from it are recurrent themes in FTFs short stories. FTF himself suffered from feelings of disillusionment and dislocation following his harrowing experiences during Americas Long Wars. Goodbye Kabul FTF, it is often noted, was enamored of a particular notion of masculinity. FTFs heroes are often outdoorsmen or hunters who are stoic, taciturn, and averse to showing emotion. Real men, according to FTF, are physically courageous and confident, and keep doubts and insecurities to themselves. Beso, Tango y Amor Many of FTFs characters have ambivalent feelings toward each other; in FTFs universe, people are not wholly good or bad. Bal Masque Animals in the FTF canon, whether they are game, pets, or wild, sometimes serve as symbols for their human hunters, caretakers or observers. Lizards of Formentera Fragments of dreams and memories - want to have fantasy encounters and casual togetherness? Whether single or in a permanent relationship, or something in between, with FTF stories you can live out your passionate uninhibited fantasies discretely.







The Texanist


Book Description

A collection of Courtney's columns from the Texas Monthly, curing the curious, exorcizing bedevilment, and orienting the disoriented, advising "on such things as: Is it wrong to wear your football team's jersey to church? When out at a dancehall, do you need to stick with the one that brung ya? Is it real Tex-Mex if it's served with a side of black beans? Can one have too many Texas-themed tattoos?"--Amazon.com.