Southern Smoke and Plateau Brewing are part of a revitalization effort of the downtown area and add more interest to this West Texas town.
Most pitmasters cook brisket on offset smokers, but Big Boy’s Bar-B-Que in Sweetwater practices the dwindling art of cooking over coals.
At one location, you'll find Desert Oak Barbecue's classic menu. At the other, it's breakfast, coffee, burritos, and burgers using trimmings.
Bob Freeman is a craftsman who carves, plays, and sings the praises of the traditional Native American instrument.
Performance Plus in Odessa is an auto shop that doubles as an archive of the toys of yesteryear.
For decades, Terlingua was a refuge for cowboys, wanderers, and weirdos. Now it’s an increasingly popular getaway for well-heeled urbanites.
In downtown Sanderson, shoppers can get lost in aisles overflowing with eclectic items, old and new.
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 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.
Years ago, I learned an important lesson from a family in West Texas—happiness can be found in the simplest places.
An ambitious traveling exhibition asks how we became a state of endless fences, dams, and gas flares.
The prickly invasive weeds are cropping up all over Etsy and eBay.
The Austin-based artist is adapting his West Texas–set tale for the screen.
Famed portrait photographer Dan Winters shifted his focus to a new character, the Permian Basin, as the storied region weathered a historic oil bust.
For a food obsessive like me, Big Bend’s culinary scene rivals the nature.
As one of the genre’s most prolific players, the West Texas-based musician brings an experimental approach to his work.
The San Antonio native's debut book, about a woman known for riding her burro along remote roads, recently won two major poetry awards.
Bicycling the Big Bend region was an unforgettable experience, with beautiful desert and mountain vistas making up for the painful hills.
A Houston man would like to maintain an annual summer tradition.
The border city treated my family with care and invited us to find community there.
From the Estelline spring in the Panhandle and the foot of the Guadalupe Mountains to the hypersaline lakes in the Rio Grande Valley, the common mineral is all around us.
'Briarpatch,' a new show on USA Network, portrays a West Texas rarely seen on TV.
The expert beef preparation was a nice surprise at this Breckenridge breakfast-and-lunch spot.
As part of the ambitious Alexandria Project, West Texas archaeologists are documenting several hundred pictographs in just four years.
The fried treat scarcely found outside San Antonio isn’t officially on the menu, but it’s worth inquiring about.
Solange Pessoa’s new exhibition at Ballroom Marfa, ‘Longilonge,’ is rooted in archaeology and human psychology.
Twenty years on, the band is Texas’s most subliminally recognizable export.
This spring, I revisited this sparkling West Texas gem after its long closure—and I’m glad I did.
The Lubbock native talks about his trippy, blood-flecked radio plays, the border wall, and working with Jo Harvey Allen.
The untouched vastness of the largest state park in Texas makes you feel like you’re exploring a whole other world.
Spoiler: The answer is yes.
Without a good shoeing, a horse can indeed be lost. Enter the farrier.
Cyclists take on the grueling Davis Mountains route to experience awesome views and thrilling descents.
The film debuts at the Dallas International Film Festival this weekend.
My cat was a fearless hunter who stalked the countryside—until she squared off with a rattlesnake.
A new study from two SMU scientists finds that oil and gas activity has made the ground unstable over a 4,000-square-mile swath of West Texas.
These mountain hikes will take you to new heights—and new extremes.
What to do, where to eat, and more if you’re heading to Fort Davis, Marfa, Marathon, and/or Big Bend this season.
Despite its rich Texas history, sotol is a little-known spirit. The men behind new Driftwood distillery Desert Door want to change that.
Over three installments, we follow a film team as they—by bike, horse, and canoe—document how a physical wall would affect the area, water, and its people.
Can a 1960s novel with a cult following finally become the blockbuster film its fans believe it should be?
Marfa Public Radio reports on the down side of the boom.
We found fast cars, big skies, and a whole bunch of daredevils at this annual high-speed race weekend out west.
Looking back on last year's best stories to plan this year's wanderings.
The skies of West Texas are so grand that it’s easy to forget how much is going on under our feet.
Selections from my personal wanderlist.
An Insta-dispatch from the flourishing West Texas frontier town.
The risks a West Texan will take for a quick dip.
West Texas’s claim on this fizzy, lemony cocktail is unprovable? We’ll drink to that.
For a few months every year, life in West Texas is defined by the wind.
