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The Culture|
August 5, 2012

The Rattler, 1992-2012

The Six Flags Fiesta Texas thrill ride, which at one time was the tallest, steepest, fastest wooden rollercoaster in the country, shut down operations Sunday. 

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Eat My Words|
March 26, 2012

Foodways Texas Is Getting Fat and Sassy

Foodways Texas, which was founded in July 2010 “to preserve, promote, and celebrate the diverse food cultures of Texas," held its second annual symposium in Austin this past weekend. A couple of hundred participants listened to talks on the theme of “Texas Preserved”—a deliberately wide-ranging topic that covered

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Food & Drink|
December 1, 2011

I Say Burrito, You Say Taco

Our top-notch team of anonymous reviewers have some strong words on what to call those delicious tortillas filled with things like eggs, beans, or chorizo. Regardless of semantics, though, they all like to eat them.

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Abel Gonzales
Food & Drink|
September 1, 2010

I Believe I Can Fry

How a mild-mannered database analyst from Dallas became the undisputed king of extreme competitive deep-frying in Texas—which is to say, the world.

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Music|
December 1, 2009

Step Right Up

Press your jeans, pull on your boots, shine up your buckle, and come along on this two-stepping tour of classic country dance halls, from Tom Sefcik Hall, in Seaton, to Club Westerner, in Victoria.

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Food & Drink|
July 31, 2009

How to Brew Sweet Tea

It seems simple enough—make tea, add sugar—but brewing a high-class glass of Southern champagne is “all about time, temperature, and quality,” according to Clayton Christopher, the founder of Austin-based Sweet Leaf Tea Company. He should know: In just over ten years, he’s gone from making batches of the stuff at

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The Culture|
May 31, 2009

How to Spit Watermelon Seeds

Emily Post may have deplored any sort of public spitting as “disgusting” and “too nauseating to comment on,” but such notions of etiquette have never stuck with the patrons of Luling’s annual Watermelon Thump. Every June, the World Championship Seed Spitting Contest draws hundreds of spectators who hope to witness

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The Culture|
March 31, 2009

Ghosts Of War

Happy Texas Independence Day! Read five stories about our state's history, including this piece about the battlegrounds of Texas, which tell an incredible story of struggle, sorrow, triumph, and terror.

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the-light-wyman-meinzer-knox-county-highway-82
Feature|
December 1, 2008

He Saw the Light

Wyman Meinzer takes the most amazing pictures of Texas skies you’ve ever seen. Here are seven unforgettable shots from his new book.

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The Culture|
August 31, 2008

How to Wrangle a Rattlesnake

THE RATIONALEWith eleven species of rattlesnakes calling our state home, chances are you’ll find yourself face-to-fang sooner or later. Most common to West Texas, rattlers like to den up in dry, rocky crevices, but you’ll also find them slithering through grass or slumbering under woodpiles. “Essentially, if you’re in West

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Being Texan|
June 30, 2008

True Grit

Once upon a time, before the pundits and the politicians hijacked it for their nefarious ends, “cowboy” wasn’t a dirty word. The lifestyle and worldview it suggested was seen as completely in line with the very finest Texas values: hard work, independence, honesty, decency, valor. For the sake of today’s

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Being Texan|
April 1, 2007

The Gang’s All Here

When the rough-and-tumble bikers known as the Bandidos gathered in San Antonio for the funeral of one of their beloved members, they swore a lot, drank a lot, defended themselves against the police and the public’s misperceptions, and—amazingly—let a reporter observe the whole fascinating scene.

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Clete Buckaloo standing tall with a gun over one shoulder.
Texas History|
March 31, 2007

Law of the Land

Nearly two centuries after their forebears protected colonists from Indian raids, the Texas Rangers are alive and well and wrestling with the realities of the twenty-first century. In their own words, the iconic crime fighters explain how their world has changed—and what it takes to battle the latest generation of

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Music|
April 1, 2006

75 Things We Love About Texas

Including: the sopa azteca at El Mirador, in San Antonio; the spring-fed pool at Balmorhea State Park; the humidity; elbow room; free advice at White Rock Lake, in Dallas; county courthouses; boots-and- jeans-clad Academy Award–winner Larry McMurtry; and—seriously— quail hunting.

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Politics & Policy|
August 31, 2005

Anita Perry

“He’s probably stronger now than when we were younger, but I’ve changed that same way. And we’ve probably gotten more conservative as we’ve gotten older.”

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Being Texan|
May 1, 2005

Pug

He asked me if I was going to be white my whole life. I was, of course. But because of our friendship, I’m no longer the clueless upper-middle-class kid I once was.

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Feature|
August 31, 2004

Reversal of Fortune

Eight years ago, 42 people in the West Texas town of Roby—7 percent of the population—pooled their money, bought lottery tickets, and won $46 million. And that's when their luck ran out.

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Food and Drink|
July 31, 2003

Tex-Mex 101

Nachos, tomatillo sauce, chile con queso——will the real Mexican food please stand up? A crash course in Texans’ favorite fusion fare.

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Bob Phillips at Pickard's Store in Ovilla in 2000.
Being Texan|
September 30, 2001

Local Hero

Bob Phillips' passion for small-town oddities makes Texas Country Reporter as irresistible as a bookshop that doubles as a beauty parlor.

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Being Texan|
July 31, 2001

Queen of the Rodeo

For teenage girls in the Hill Country town of Llano, life can be short on glamour and excitement—except at the annual rodeo, when one of them gets a rhinestone tiara and a rare, thrilling moment of glory.

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Art|
November 1, 2000

The Searcher

Photographer Kurt Markus spent years tracking down modern working cowboys for his new book, ‘Cowpuncher.’ He corralled the genuine article at several Texas spreads.

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Sports|
October 1, 2000

Get With the Program

Two-four-six-eight, who do we appreciate? San Antonio businessman Jack DeVere, whose collection of Texas football memorabilia evokes a simpler, more innocent time.

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Texas History|
February 1, 1997

The Forgotten People

For three centuries the Kickapoo Indians moved from place to place across North America to avoid assimilation. Today they live on the outskirts of Eagle Pass: unwelcome, yet unwilling to give up the fight to preserve their culture.

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Being Texan|
April 1, 1996

Death and Texas

Here’s a World Wide Web page to die for. The Texas State Cemetery in Austin goes online (www.cemetery.statetx.us) late this month, thanks to the General Services Commission. You can scan a list of the more than two thousand luminaries buried there, from father of Texas Stephen F.

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Music|
March 1, 1995

Come Dancing

When country hunk Billy Ray Cyrus his megahit “Achy Breaky Heart” in 1992, country dancing—or at least a modern version of it—returned to vogue. Cyrus’ novelty song was released with a video that showed a line dance specifically created for the song, and—in a flashback to the Urban Cowboy craze of

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Being Texan|
December 1, 1994

Texas Sayings

Forget that Roget fella—here in Texas we’re more apt to consult Bubba’s thesaurus. In Texas, folks aren’t just rich—locals say they didn’t come to town two to a mule.Someone doesn’t merely die—she opens herself up a worm farm. A scoundrel is “greasy as fried lard”; a summer day is

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