Music
February 4, 2021
Trumpeter Rob Mazurek May Have Made Marfa’s Great Cosmic Jazz Album
As one of the genre’s most prolific players, the West Texas-based musician brings an experimental approach to his work.
Marfa
The Culture
January 22, 2020
A Battle for the Soul of Marfa
What happens when a wealthy patron wears out his welcome?…
Arts & Entertainment
November 4, 2019
The National Media Hilariously Misunderstands Texas Geography
All the news from the “Dallas suburb” of Marfa and the “adjacent” regions of El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley.
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.
Style & Design
April 8, 2019
Brandon Maxwell: “Success or Failure, Sweatpants or Suit, Being Loved Is What Matters”
On this week’s National Podcast of Texas, fashion designer and 'Project Runway' judge Maxwell and filmmaker Jessy Price discuss the deeper messages that clothes deliver, dressing Lady Gaga and Michelle Obama, and filming in Marfa.
The Culture
April 1, 2019
C3 Cancels Its Plans for a Marfa Music Festival in 2020
After a community outcry, the company behind ACL Fest and Lollapalooza postpones its plans for an event next year, but the future is uncertain.
Country Notes
February 20, 2019
The Romance of the Rail in West Texas
The railway and Marfa are forever intertwined.
BBQ Joint Reviews
January 18, 2019
With Convenience West, Marfa Finally Has a Real BBQ Joint, and It’s a Work of Art
Former Maiya's chef Mark Scott and his partners have created something special with inventive sides and memorable smoked meat.
The Culture
January 8, 2019
Marfa Is Now Such a Stereotype They Can Mock It on ‘The Simpsons’
Bart, Homer, Lisa, Marge, and Grampa Simpson made the trip on Sunday night.
Being Texan
January 3, 2019
Marfa’s Blackwell School Has a Painful Past. That’s Why the Town Wants to Save It.
A segregated school for Mexican American children until 1965, the building now serves as a community center and celebration of Hispanic life.
Arts & Entertainment
October 23, 2018
On ‘Parts Unknown,’ Anthony Bourdain Asks If West Texans Are the Platonic Ideal of Texans
Spoiler: The answer is yes.
The Culture
July 25, 2018
How a New Generation Is Reviving Small-Town Texas
Dismayed by sky-high rents and yearning for a slower-paced lifestyle, a new generation of Texans is ditching the big city and fostering a Rural renaissance across the state.
Style & Design
June 28, 2018
Go Inside Hotelier Liz Lambert’s Private Marfa Retreat
No Wi-Fi, no problem. ‘The Queen of Cool' turned an old ranch bunkhouse into a West Texas getaway, complete with a dreamy desert bathhouse.
Travel & Outdoors
February 12, 2018
Spring Break Itinerary: The Best of West Texas
What to do, where to eat, and more if you’re heading to Fort Davis, Marfa, Marathon, and/or Big Bend this season.
Travel & Outdoors
January 9, 2018
Capturing a West Texas Winter Wonderland
"It was one of those rare moments." Photographers who were there for the snow among the cacti share their favorite images.
Style & Design
November 20, 2017
The Made in Texas Gift Guide: For the Marfa Type
Impress the discerning individualist in your life with beautifully crafted, one-of-a-kind items that evoke the defiant spirit of West Texas.
Style & Design
November 20, 2017
The Made in Texas Gift Guide
Enterprising Texans of all stripes are dreaming up and creating everything from better bicycles and baseball bats to stunning furniture and fashion. We’ve scoured the state to round up 100 Made in Texas gifts (for everyone on your list) that represent the current heyday of Texas creativity.
Music
October 13, 2017
Solange is For Us, Even in Marfa
What it meant to be fully present for “Scales" during Chinati Weekend.
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.
Texas Trip Guides
November 20, 2014
Trip Guide: Marfa
It’s the favorable acreage-to-other-humans ratio that draws most visitors, who come for the space that this Chihuahuan Desert outpost has in spades.
Country Notes
October 13, 2014
Wild in the Streets
The year we gave thanks—at least at first—for the turkeys in our town.
The Culture
June 5, 2014
Cat Power
How one feline (and then a couple more, and then another) conquered both our hearts and our mice.
Country Notes
March 4, 2014
Home Making
The lonely, calloused, plaster-caked ballad of the do-it-yourself renovator.
Art
October 24, 2013
So, Is It Art? Talking to Prada Marfa Artist Michael Elmgreen
Elmgreen thinks TxDOT needs to change their definition of an advertising sign.
Art
October 23, 2013
So, Is It Art? Talking to Playboy’s Creative Director of Special Projects, Neville Wakefield
Whose idea was it to install a Playboy sculpture in Marfa?…
Art
October 23, 2013
So, Is It Art? Talking to Playboy Marfa Artist Richard Phillips
On August 28, 2013, we talked to Richard Phillips, the artist behind the controversial Playboy Marfa installation. Read more about the art-versus-advertising debate here. FRANCESCA MARI: When were you tapped to do this piece for Playboy? RICHARD PHILLIPS: I was contacted before the New Year by Neville Wakefield, who…
Art
October 21, 2013
What Is Art?
When Playboy Enterprises—yes, that Playboy Enterprises—erected a forty-foot-tall sculpture near Marfa, it was convinced the town would appreciate its take on the local art scene. Instead it started a revealing debate.
The Culture
September 13, 2013
Did Playboy Screw Prada?
The dustup around Playboy's controversial art installation outside of Marfa revealed regulations that might require the removal of the famous Prada Marfa sculpture.
Art
January 21, 2013
Marfa, Filtered through Instagram
Dallas-based photographer Allison V. Smith took over Texas Monthly's Instagram account during her trip to Marfa this weekend. Here are some highlights from her trip.
The Culture
January 21, 2013
Ten Photos from Beyoncé’s West Texas Road Trip
Beyoncé swung through Marfa in early July and just posted pictures from her trip on her Tumblr. …
Arts & Entertainment
January 21, 2013
Take That, Larry McMurtry: Smithsonian Mag Digs Marfa
Smithsonian magazine names the West Texas cultural oasis one of the "20 Best Small Towns in America."…
Travel & Outdoors
January 21, 2013
El Cosmico, Marfa
The first time I drove by hotelier Liz Lambert’s high-desert “kibbutz,” which sits on a large, flat plot of dusty land just off U.S. 67, I mistook it for a trailer park. Which it basically is, except instead of dumpy double-wides, it’s strewn with seven sleekly restored vintage trailers, from…
Art
January 21, 2013
Straight From the Art
From Fort Worth’s Kimbell to Houston’s Menil, Texas’s museums are home to some of the world's most important paintings and sculptures. To devise a list of our ten greatest works on view, we asked more than sixty curators, gallery owners, critics, and other insiders for their favorites.
Travel & Outdoors
January 21, 2013
The “Drive” Drive
ROUTE: West of Ozona to Sanderson DISTANCE: 85 miles NUMBER OF COUNTIES: 3 WHAT TO READ: James H. Evans’s Crazy From the Heat A drive whose sole purpose is to experience the simple pleasure of being behind the wheel has a few requirements. The route must lead…
Art
January 21, 2013
The Art Lover’s Companion
More than sixty art insiders gave us their list of favorite works of art to see in Texas. So grab your notepad, sketchbook, or iPad and take the ultimate tour of must-see art in Texas.
The Culture
January 20, 2013
101–125
From John Warne Gates peddling barbed wire in San Antonio to a group of cowboys and ranchers holding the first rodeo in Pecos…
The Culture
January 20, 2013
101–125
From John Warne Gates peddling barbed wire in San Antonio to a group of cowboys and ranchers holding the first rodeo in Pecos…
Travel & Outdoors
January 20, 2013
Marfa Best Western
In Donald Judd’s last interview before his death, in 1994, the artist explained that he’d first come to Marfa two decades earlier because he “just wanted a place in the Southwest for the summertime.” Whether he intended it or not, this far West Texas town has since become the…
Travel & Outdoors
January 20, 2013
One for the Road
Jordan Breal talks about searching for vacation spots, driving across Texas, and eating bone marrow.
Travel & Outdoors
January 20, 2013
On the Road Again—Big Bend
South from Alpine to Study Butte, west to Presidio, north to Marfa, and east to Alpine.
Texas History
January 20, 2013
Squares
A masterpiece of courthouse architecture in Waxahachie, a handsome jail of native stone in Marfa: Significant structures line the streets of five terrific town centers.
Travel & Outdoors
January 20, 2013
Museums
Bronzes by Remington and Russell in Orange, Quanah Parker’s trail bonnet in Canyon: Ten spaces that excel at the art of exhibition.
Style & Design
January 1, 2013
Native Woods
Six heirloom-worthy pieces that really do grow on trees. …
The Culture
December 5, 2012
Larry Clark’s Perverted Marfa
But all the casual sex and violence in director Larry Clark’s new film, Marfa Girl, is less surprising than its means of distribution. …
The Wanderer
October 12, 2012
Where To Stay Now 2012: The Ten Best New (Or Improved!) Texas Hotels
As a recent study of hotel booking trends pointed out, us Texans prefer to vacation in Texas. Since our last roundup of the state's most notable lodgings was in 2004, I thought it was high time to revisit the subject. So I…
The Wanderer
August 27, 2012
Marfa: Trans-Pecos Gathering of Music + Love
In one of my favorite descriptions of Marfa, writer David McDannald points out that sometimes it’s “a shadow of a town” and sometimes it’s “a desert Mardi Gras.” At the end of this month, West Texas’s buzziest destination will be lit up like Bourbon Street…