Best of Austin: Nightlife
Presenting our 16 favorite clubs in the Live Music Capital of the World (hint: there’s more to Austin than Sixth Street).
Illustration by Lorenzo Petrantoni
Antone’s
Year Opened: 1975
Cover: Varies
Drinks: Full bar
Capacity: 650
Noise Level:
Long ago, Antone’s was all blues, all the time. It was a place for purists, a club where twentysomethings like Stevie Ray Vaughan and the Fabulous Thunderbirds learned to play and where you could hear legends like Muddy Waters, Albert King, Jimmy Reed, Fats Domino, and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. The venue—originally a small spot that opened in 1975 just blocks away from the current location—was the brainchild of Clifford Antone, a burly man from Port Arthur. Antone, who died in May 2006, loved the blues and found himself feeling responsible for promoting it and the people who played it, especially those who had fallen on hard times. Over the years, the club moved to three other locations and gradually began booking different kinds of music, from funk rock (the Scabs) to teenybopper rock (Vallejo). These days you’re as apt to find Bob Schneider or Cowboy Mouth as Marcia Ball or Pinetop Perkins (who moved to Austin from New Orleans at age 93 because of Antone). The club also hosts regular Blue Tuesday shows and Austin Blues Society Blues Jams with local musicians. The current location is huge, with a massive stage and a sound system to match. In many ways it’s a million miles away from the original dive. That probably has something to do with why Antone’s has survived so long. 213 W. Fifth, 512-320-8424 or antones.net. Open daily.
Broken Spoke
Year Opened: 1964
Cover: Yes
Drinks: Full bar
Capacity: 661
Noise Level:
There’s no trick to figuring out what Spoke owner James White intended when he started building Austin’s favorite country dance hall on the site of a lumberyard in then rural South Austin, back in 1964. The place has hardly changed a whit in the intervening years, and White himself is still on hand every night in his pearl-snap shirt, tan leather vest, and tall white Stetson to tell you all about the place he calls “the last of the old-time honky-tonks.” But should he be occupied singing with the band, take a self-guided tour of the small museum he’s dubbed “the Tourist Trap,” where you’ll find country music curios like Bob Wills’s hat and Johnny Bush’s boots, plus photos of legends onstage at the Spoke such as Willie Nelson, Ernest Tubb and the Texas Troubadours, and George Strait and the Ace in the Hole Band. If that’s not education enough, venture onto the 1,220-square-foot cement dance floor, where countless Texans have learned how to two-step—and where White’s daughter, Terri, gives dance lessons every Wednesday through Saturday at eight o’clock. Or if you just want to hear what real country music sounds like—not the slick, modern sound; not bluegrass; and certainly not rock and roll—grab a longneck and slide into a chair under the neon beer signs and listen to local heroes like Alvin Crow. 3201 S. Lamar Blvd., 512-442-6189 or brokenspokeaustintx.com. Closed Sun & Mon.
Cactus Cafe
Year Opened: 1979
Cover: Yes
Drinks: Full bar
Capacity: 155
Noise Level:
Songwriters know they’d better bring their best stuff to the Cactus. It’s easy to fill the small room, and the audience is made up mostly of hard-core fans who are passionate about folk music. They hang on every word, harmony, and acoustic guitar riff. It’s been this way since 1979, when the room—originally a coffeehouse—began booking musicians. The first act to merit a cover charge was a young songwriter named Nanci Griffith. Other youngsters who vetted their material here were Lyle Lovett, Darden Smith, Lucinda Williams, and Townes Van Zandt. These days you’ll hear plenty of young bucks like Slaid Cleaves as well as old-guard Texas songsters like Eliza Gilkyson and the Flatlanders and national acts like Alison Krauss and Doc Watson. It’s not just folkies who play here—the club has hosted alternative legends like Daniel Johnston and rockers like Alejandro Escovedo. It has a famous open mic on Mondays that brings two dozen hopefuls onstage. Bruce Robison first played “Travelin’ Soldier” at a Cactus open mic when he was starting out. Jimmy LaFave performed as well; now he headlines on the weekend. The lesson? Work hard, write great songs, sing them well, and get booked at the Cactus. The Texas Union, on the campus of the University of Texas; 512-475-6515 or utexas.edu/txunion/ae/cactus. Check Web site for schedule.
Carousel Lounge
Year Opened: 1963
Cover: Varies
Drinks: Beer & wine
Capacity: 119
Noise Level:
If you like clowns and kitsch, the Carousel is made for you. The walls are covered with murals of gay circus scenes (think elephants and lions), and there’s a homemade carousel behind the bar, from which you can order setups—buy a bottle at the liquor store next door. The Carousel has been opened since 1963, and for decades the music on the jukebox, songs like “It Was a Very Good Year” and “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” made the bar still feel lost in an age of innocence. The bands were all born post-JFK, from folkies and psychedelic rockers to alt-rock groups like Li’l Cap’n Travis and the Fire Marshals of Bethlehem. The Mad Cowboys play a regular Friday happy hour. And the stage is not really a stage, just a spot on the floor in front of the giant pink elephant toward the back. Which, for the Carousel, seems absolutely perfect. 1110 E. 52nd, 512-452-6790 or carousellounge.net. Open daily.
Continental Club
Year Opened: 1957
Cover: Yes
Drinks: Full bar
Capacity: 191
Noise Level:
The venerable Continental is the place that the big-name rock stars—David Byrne, Neil Young, etc.—like to go once they’ve finished their own shows in bigger halls. The music veers to roots rock and alt-country, the sounds that defined Austin through the nineties and early part of this decade, as evidenced by the acts that have maintained weekly residences here: Junior Brown, the Arc Angels, the Derailers, the Grey Ghost, Toni Price. The club is going even stronger now, having recently added a second bar behind the stage to handle overflow from the main room, plus a second stage upstairs in the Continental Gallery for more relaxed, conversational listening. And the club continues regular bookings for topflight local acts, including songwriter James McMurtry on Wednesdays and Heybale—the honky-tonk quintet headed up by Merle Haggard’s former guitarist Redd Volkaert and Johnny Cash’s longtime piano player, Earl Poole Ball—on Sundays. Look also for semi-regular and annual events such as the Buck Owens Birthday Party (August) and Ted Roddy’s Graceland Revue on the anniversaries of Elvis’s birth and death (January and August, respectively), plus weekend stands by frequent out-of-town guests like Zydeco master Geno Delafose, trailer-park absurdists Southern Culture on the Skids, and the Mexican Elvis, El Vez. 1315 S. Congress Ave., 512-441-2444 or continentalclub.com. Open daily.
Elephant Room
Year Opened: 1991
Cover: Varies
Drinks: Full bar
Capacity: 13
Noise Level:
There are plenty of places to hear jazz in Austin, but only one place to hear it every night. The Elephant Room is underground—literally. Walking along Congress Avenue you’ll miss it if you don’t look closely—the only clue is a small blue neon sign in a half-moon-shaped window at knee level. Head down the stairs into the basement like you’re going to a speakeasy. The vibe is just right for jazz. In fact, Wynton Marsalis recently called it one of the ten best jazz rooms in the country. The club books some national acts, but the calendar is filled with local heroes, young Turks, and longtime players like the Jazz Pharaohs, Michael Mordecai, John Mills, Jon Blondell, and Brannen Temple. Mordecai also hosts a Monday night jazz jam. Go for the music, stay for the atmosphere. 315 Congress, 512-473-2279 or elephantroom.com. Open daily.
Emo’s
Year Opened: 1992
Cover: Yes
Drinks: Full bar
Capacity: 300 (main room)
Noise Level:
Emo’s is Austin’s CBGB, an institution dedicated to loud, fast, aggressive rock and roll. Fugazi played Emo’s. The Butthole Surfers played Emo’s. When the Riverboat Gamblers outgrew Denton, they moved to Austin because of Emo’s. The club became such a fixture, in fact, that an early nineties punk band in Austin adopted the contrarian name the F—emos, and then, of course, regularly played Emo’s. Back then—and until recently—the cover was typically under $3, all ages were welcome, and you had a choice between a band you’d heard of on the semi-outdoor stage and one you had not in the smaller indoor room. And if neither one grabbed you, you could drink in the beer garden that separated the two. Things are somewhat different now. The cover charge stays up around proper nightclub levels, Frank Kozik’s famous “S&M Flintstones” mural has been sold, and road shows dominate a calendar that has moved well beyond punk. But the kids keep coming back for events like the absolutely mad dance party that laptop mash-master Girl Talk deejayed earlier this year. But in truth, counterintuitive bookings were always a flavor here, dating back to Johnny Cash’s famous set, in 1994. The stool he sat on still hangs from the ceiling above the inside bar. There are more concrete ways, though, in which things may never change: Emo’s is a little like a long family car trip; you might want to go to the bathroom before you leave home. 603 Red River, 512-505-8541 or emosaustin.com. Open daily.
Hole in the Wall
Year Opened: 1977
Cover: Varies
Drinks: Full bar
Capacity: 375
Noise Level:
One of the longest-running clubs in Austin, the Hole has been in the same spot on the Drag, just across from the University of Texas, since 1977. As the name indicates, it has always taken pride in its vibe and funkiness. Even in the middle of the day it’s dark inside, and at night the Hole is a cozy place to strike up a conversation with a charismatic alcoholic. Back in the seventies it was as much a daytime bar as a music venue, with folk musicians like Nanci Griffith and Blaze Foley out front and pinball machines and video games in the back. Doug Sahm and Townes Van Zandt were regulars, onstage and off. In the eighties and nineties, the club began booking alternative rock, R&B, and punk bands, and it became a hip spot for college kids and slackers. Now under new ownership, the space features a stage in the middle room and a third one next to the kitchen (which, by the way, serves excellent Cajun food made by Austin bon vivant Steve Chaney). Today the Hole books country, alt country, punk, blues, rock, and pop—mainstays like Paul Minor and Brooks Brannon and up-and-comers like Black Joe Lewis. The best stage is still the front one, near the big window and beneath the paintings of Sahm, Van Zandt, Johnny Cash, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. 2538 Guadalupe, 512-477-4747 or holeinthewallaustin.com. Open daily.
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