Country Notes
August 10, 2023
This 78-Year-Old Artist and Rancher Has Spent His Life Chasing a Pure and Wide-open Space
Mike Capron never felt comfortable until he settled west of the Pecos River.
Country Notes
Meditations on rural living
Country Notes
February 27, 2023
Author John Graves Was a Literary Godfather to Texas Monthly
The author of Goodbye to a River and two-time National Book Award finalist helped create the magazine’s Country Notes column.
Country Notes
February 9, 2022
Marfa Meats Brings a Slaughterhouse Back to the Big Bend
Small-town locker plants, lifelines for rural Texans for generations, have vanished from parts of the state. Christy Miller’s company is an exception.
Country Notes
June 17, 2021
A Forgotten Burial Site in Presidio Tells the Story of a Disappearing Border History
A small group fights to save a cemetery and what remains of a Lipan Apache existence in the Big Bend.
Country Notes
February 11, 2021
The Girls of Lumber Club Marfa Work to Master the Craft of the Three-legged Stool
During the past few years, a small group of girls in Marfa has used the simple wooden stool to create a business that has, well, legs.
Country Notes
August 19, 2020
Passing the Time With the Ghosts in the Dirt
Social distancing on a ranch in South Texas, one writer finds a diversion—and a sort of community—in studying the fragments of English dinnerware her predecessors left behind.
Country Notes
May 20, 2020
The Signs of the Big Bend Are a Sign of the Times
Some were written long ago. Some appeared this year. But whether it’s a sign about snakes or a sign about diesel fried chicken, a simple message seems to mean the most.
Country Notes
February 19, 2020
The Desk on Hancock Hill
Some forty years ago, a desk was dragged to the top of a hill in Alpine that overlooks the Big Bend. The notebooks stashed inside continue to capture big thoughts from the people who travel there.
Country Notes
December 18, 2019
The Art of Racing Pigeons
Lelton Morse races homing pigeons in Central Texas. He sends his birds hundreds of miles away, waits and watches, and knows they’re flying home.
Country Notes
October 16, 2019
A Lone Postman Delivers the Mail to the Far Reaches of the Big Bend
Not many people will drive the mail to places the U.S. Postal Service won’t. Seventy-one-year-old Gilbert Lujan is one of them.
Country Notes
September 18, 2019
Long Live the ‘Big Bend Sentinel.’ Viva ‘El Internacional.’
Small-town papers often serve as bearers of civic pride. But the former owners of Marfa’s Big Bend Sentinel and Presidio’s International learned long ago that writing the news meant looking out for their neighbors.
Country Notes
April 24, 2019
How Animal Psychics Helped Untangle a Mixed-up Horse
Healing a spooked horse takes time, patience, and skill. And maybe a little help from beyond.
Country Notes
February 20, 2019
The Romance of the Rail in West Texas
The railway and Marfa are forever intertwined.
Country Notes
October 19, 2018
For Want of a Nail
Without a good shoeing, a horse can indeed be lost. Enter the farrier.
Country Notes
June 22, 2018
A Land’s End: The Story of Casa Piedra
Ninety-three-year-old Armando Vasquez tells of a place that used to be.
Country Notes
April 18, 2018
The Snakebite That Almost Killed My Cat
My cat was a fearless hunter who stalked the countryside—until she squared off with a rattlesnake.
Art
January 23, 2018
Boyd Elder Is the Most Famous Artist You’ve Never Heard Of
The West Texan has sold more art than Picasso.
Country Notes
November 22, 2017
The Marfa Mystique
Outsiders remain fascinated with unraveling the secrets of this place. But locals can explain, one story at a time.
Sports
September 20, 2017
Punching Through at the Alpine Boxing Club
For these young boxers in West Texas, learning to fight means more than throwing a punch.
Country Notes
June 21, 2017
The Purest Type
Pronghorn were almost perfectly fitted to the West Texas landscape. And then people started building fences.
Being Texan
April 19, 2017
This American Life
Twenty years ago, a brown-skinned boy was shot to death near the Rio Grande. What fate awaits my own son?
The Culture
February 21, 2017
Snake!
In West Texas, we've learned to live with our slithery neighbors. Not that we have a choice.
Country Notes
December 21, 2016
The Earth Below
The skies of West Texas are so grand that it’s easy to forget how much is going on under our feet.
Country Notes
October 19, 2016
Let Fly the Loop
When the chute opens and the steer charges, there’s no place Jimmy Steve Martinez would rather be than on his horse, with a rope in his hand.
Country Notes
July 20, 2016
Toast of the Town
In Marfa, there’s one place where everybody knows your name.
The Culture
April 20, 2016
The Doctor Is Out
A day in the life of a mobile large-animal veterinarian.
Energy
January 27, 2016
Something in the Air
For a few months every year, life in West Texas is defined by the wind.
Arts & Entertainment
November 18, 2015
Friday Night Lite
The only thing that’s smaller about six-man football is the field.
Country Notes
August 13, 2015
Greetings From Marfa
A taxonomy of West Texas waves.
Country Notes
June 12, 2015
Gone Loco
This year’s heavy rains have brought countless blessings to West Texas—and one very nasty weed.
Country Notes
April 10, 2015
Let’s Dance
In Marfa, a big night out means one thing above all: the cumbia.
Country Notes
February 3, 2015
Consider the Chicken
The competition at the Big Bend Livestock Show is fierce. But treat your animal right and you might get to be number four with a pullet.
Country Notes
January 20, 2015
For Love of Country
Why we will always worship the ground we walk on.
Country Notes
October 13, 2014
Wild in the Streets
The year we gave thanks—at least at first—for the turkeys in our town.
Country Notes
August 5, 2014
The Promise of Thunder
When you live in the desert, waiting for rain requires almost irrational optimism. And maybe a curse word or two.
Country Notes
March 1, 1982
Texas Primer: The Tumbleweed
It’s only a humble weed, but just try to imagine West Texas without it.
Country Notes
April 30, 1979
All That Litters
Trash collectors are not necessarily garbage men.
Country Notes
July 31, 1978
The Loser
When another farmer goes broke his neighbors thank God it wasn’t them; then they wonder when their turn is coming.
Country Notes
December 1, 1977
Ol’ Blue
A good country dog is loyal, obedient, and knows the difference between a chicken and a possum.
Country Notes
September 30, 1977
The World to Wine
Try the house wine; I made it with my own feet.