Style & Design
September 14, 2022
Inside the Shop With the Skillet Man of Paint Rock
At the edge of the Hill Country, Randy Kiser creates handcrafted carbon steel wares for the kitchen.
TCR Dispatches
Travel
September 12, 2022
The Story Behind a 70-Foot Concrete Arrow Near Odessa
A hundred years ago, U.S. airmail pilots depended on a coast-to-coast bread-crumb trail of arrows—though most have been destroyed, buried, lost, or forgotten.
Style & Design
August 19, 2022
Meet the Man Behind the Museum of Measurement and Time
In this video, Texas Country Reporter interviews the curator of the wide-ranging collection in Jefferson, one that merely begins with 550 vintage clocks.
Critters
August 18, 2022
The Texas “Moth Man” Is Retired But Still Clicking
Stuart Marcus has spent years identifying and photographing hundreds of species of moths near the Trinity River, but he still has more to go.
Texas Country Reporter
July 27, 2022
Two Brothers in a Texas Kitchen Want to Take on the World
Teenagers Nigel and Shane Mushambi started a baking business that combines go-getter ambition with do-gooder optimism.
Texas Country Reporter
July 25, 2022
He’s Fourteen Years Old. He Also Runs a 25-Acre Farm.
Beau Burns doesn’t need limits on screen time, because his favorite place to be is out working in the field.
Texas Country Reporter
July 22, 2022
Quinta Mazatlan Is a Mansion With a Mission
The 1930s estate in McAllen is home to a fifteen-acre wildlife sanctuary that invites visitors to foster conservation corridors in their own backyards.
Texas Country Reporter
July 20, 2022
A Visit to Vera’s, the Last Bastion of Barbacoa de Cabeza
An interview with Armando Vera in Brownsville, who owns the only restaurant in Texas to offer traditional, buried-in-the-ground, coal-smoked barbacoa.
Texas Country Reporter
July 18, 2022
Step Inside a Time Capsule for the Golden Age of Video Games
Texas Country Reporter visits Maniac’s Mansion in downtown Wichita Falls, offering unlimited play steeped in eighties and nineties nostalgia.
Music
July 15, 2022
In Marathon, Happiness Is a Two-Chambered Wood Flute
Bob Freeman is a craftsman who carves, plays, and sings the praises of the traditional Native American instrument.
Texas Country Reporter
July 13, 2022
Hankering for a Sweet Story? Look No Farther Than a High School in Beaumont
Two special-education teachers at West Brook Senior High launched a school-wide cookie-baking program that brings together students of all kinds.
Texas History
July 11, 2022
Mister McKinney Is the Ms. Frizzle of Houston History
Okay, so it’s not a magic vehicle, but the fast-talking tour guide covers Houston’s neighborhoods from an open-air school bus.
Style & Design
July 8, 2022
Jimmy Pierce Can Tell a Lot About You From Your Hat
The Hutto-based hatmaker uses decades-old equipment to meticulously customize every hat.
Business
July 7, 2022
Come for a New Muffler, Stay for the Vintage Toy Collection
Performance Plus in Odessa is an auto shop that doubles as an archive of the toys of yesteryear.
Style & Design
July 7, 2022
For This Lubbock Jewelry Artist, No Two Pieces Are the Same
Dawna Gillespie’s handcrafted earrings and necklaces are truly one of a kind.
Business
July 6, 2022
The Lone Locksmith Serving 14,000 Square Miles of West Texas
No matter the time of day or night, Victor Laramore will make keys, rebuild locks, and open doors for a desperate Texan who is having a bad day.
Texas Country Reporter
May 31, 2022
He’s an Urban Birder, Photographing Birds of Prey in Downtown Austin
Chris DuCharme is self-taught, armed with a telephoto lens and words of encouragement from his late wife.
Books
May 26, 2022
Inside the Oldest, Largest Independent Comic Book Store in Texas
Third Planet Sci-Fi Superstore in Houston is home to hundreds of thousands of comic books and collectibles.
Small Towns
May 25, 2022
An Internationally Renowned Concert Hall in Small-town Texas
Pianist James Dick has turned a rolling pasture outside of Round Top into a haven for classical musicians from around the world.
Texas History
May 24, 2022
Remembering the Texas Town That Did, Indeed, Start the Fire
A museum in San Felipe, 40 miles west of Houston, commemorates the unique history behind Stephen F. Austin’s founding colony.
Tacos
May 23, 2022
The Art of Making Tamales
The Comanche Tortilla & Tamale Factory has been making tamales since 1947 and wants to help inspire and educate a new generation of home cooks.
Hunting & Fishing
May 13, 2022
Viva la Guadalupe Bass! The Comeback Story of the Texas State Fish
Decades of conservation have helped save the native fish, now iconic to Central Texas anglers.
Texas Country Reporter
May 12, 2022
The Marathon Motel & RV Park Has Out-of-This-World Views
The small motel has a sliding-roof observatory where people can enjoy some of the darkest skies on the planet.
Media
May 11, 2022
Check Out Kilgore’s Treasure Trove of Vintage Cameras, Radios, and TVs
From the obscure to the historically significant, the Texas Broadcast Museum tells a uniquely twentieth-century story.
Books
May 6, 2022
The Poison Lady in Gatesville Doles Out Deadly Advice
Luci Zahray is an expert on poison and is a consultant to mystery writers around the world.
Sports
April 29, 2022
After a Paralyzing Accident, This Texan Gets Back in the Race
Chris Morris broke his back during motocross practice, but that didn’t stop him from finding a new source of adrenaline and drive.
Art
April 28, 2022
Calder Kamin’s Art Redefines What is Trash
The Austin-based artist recycles discarded plastic into beautiful animal sculptures and hopes to inspire others to eliminate waste.
Texas Country Reporter
April 22, 2022
Future Welders of America: This High School in Boerne Is Forging the Path
With clients including barbecue joints and the USDA, the welding program at Sam Champion High School is a template for vocational programs across the U.S.
Texas Country Reporter
April 21, 2022
In Cedar Park, the Pralines Are Known as “PRAH-leens”
A fifth-generation New Orleans native, Sharon Richardson never imagined leaving Louisiana for Texas, but when Mother Nature strikes with a hurricane, plans change. After evacuating to Austin, with her life turned completely upside down, Sharon said she just did what she knew how to do: cook.Her business started with homemade
Texas Country Reporter
April 19, 2022
Step Inside Z Bar Trading Company, a 30,000-Square-Foot Mercantile Maze
In downtown Sanderson, shoppers can get lost in aisles overflowing with eclectic items, old and new.
Texas Country Reporter
April 18, 2022
This Texas Caterer Is Taking on Childhood Hunger, One Meal at a Time
Seeing a need in the community, Willa Johnson started Feeding Kids Right, a mobile meal delivery service in Athens.
Art
April 8, 2022
A Former Migrant Farmworker From Weslaco Puts His Memories on Canvas
Roel Flores’s folk art paintings are poignant and colorful, and his work is part of the Smithsonian Institution’s permanent collection.
Texas History
April 6, 2022
A Vast Military History Archive Is Hiding in Plain Sight on This Texas Campus
The Texas Heritage Museum at Hill College has grown into a nationally recognized collection specializing Civil War history.
Style & Design
April 1, 2022
The West Texas Jewelry Store Famous for Teeny, Tiny Western Spurs
Born out of the Great Depression, the pieces are still handcrafted in San Angelo and are in as much demand as ever.
Texas Country Reporter
March 31, 2022
The Man Known as the “Big Bend Photographer” Reflects on His Life’s Work
Texas Country Reporter revisits James H. Evans after thirty years. His long career has taken different turns, but his unwavering commitment to the people and places of West Texas defines his legacy.
Art
March 24, 2022
Nature Is Metal for This Welding Couple in Houston
From inside their shop, the wife-and-husband duo explain how they capture the universe in spiraling steel structures as tall as four-story buildings.
Books
March 23, 2022
Claire Mestepey Is a Prolific Puzzle Book Author With a Unique Approach
Claire Mestepey has built a steady publishing business around her unique approach to word search puzzles.
Texas History
March 18, 2022
This Costumed Brownsville Historian Will Warm Your Heart
Gene Fernandez has an outfit for every story, but his infectious love for local history is the star of the show.
Texas Country Reporter
March 17, 2022
Big Doobie’s Is the Life of the Party in Port Arthur
Joshua Rodrigues opened a food truck to serve up good times and classic dishes to a community hungry for Cajun flavors.
Film & TV
March 15, 2022
John Wayne Wasn’t a Texan. But His Legacy Lives On in Fort Worth.
In a video interview, Ethan Wayne, the film star’s son, explains how an exhibit at the Fort Worth Stockyards began with a storage unit full of his dad’s untold stories.
Texas Country Reporter
March 11, 2022
In Fayetteville, Step Into the Shelby Store and Step Back in Time
Founded in 1946, the Shelby Store is a relic of what retail once was for many small Texas communities.
Texas History
March 9, 2022
Two Guys in Houston Are Bringing Back 100-Year-Old Mosaic Tile Street Signs
Joey Sanchez and Eric Maier are behind the Blue Tile Project, a movement to locate and restore the original tile street signs across the Bayou City.
Texas Country Reporter
March 3, 2022
A Small-town Texan Keeps an Ancient Japanese Art Form Alive
Dinah Bowman is a world-renowned artist specializing in a fish printing technique. The results are rich, textured, and colorful. You have to see it for yourself.
Texas Country Reporter
February 25, 2022
She’s a Fourth-Generation Cattle Rancher. She’s Also a Master Painter.
From her studio near the Chihuahuan Desert, Alice Leese paints what it feels like to be out on the ranch.
Texas Country Reporter
February 25, 2022
The Texas Furniture Brand That Starred in Hollywood Westerns for Decades
W.R. Dallas has been crafting western furniture since 1929. The company’s iconic pieces have appeared everywhere from Hollywood films to hotel chains.