Texas Country Reporter is a long-running TV show that chronicles the people and cultures of The Lone Star State. Every week, Texas Monthly shares dispatches from the show’s current season and classic moments from its 50-year history.
Getting a haircut in a small town used to be a story-finding strategy for Texas Country Reporter, but the tale of Blanche Harris is one of my favorites.
The Hutto-based hatmaker uses decades-old equipment to meticulously customize every hat.
Performance Plus in Odessa is an auto shop that doubles as an archive of the toys of yesteryear.
Dawna Gillespie’s handcrafted earrings and necklaces are truly one of a kind.
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.
Bill Richardson’s creations from discarded metal were featured numerous times on Texas Country Reporter, but our friendship remains near and dear to my heart.
The bookmaker apprenticed under the famous Charlie Dunn and is now training a new generation of talented craftspeople.
Chris DuCharme is self-taught, armed with a telephoto lens and words of encouragement from his late wife.
Pastor Buddy Blake led volunteers who help step in for the Department of Defense to honor fallen soldiers with a proper military burial.
Third Planet Sci-Fi Superstore in Houston is home to hundreds of thousands of comic books and collectibles.
Texas Country Reporter paid a visit to the world-class wildlife preservation center, where a rehabilitated Kemp’s ridley turtle made a return to the sea.
Pianist James Dick has turned a rolling pasture outside of Round Top into a haven for classical musicians from around the world.
Founded by Holocaust survivors, the bakery is known for Jewish specialties rooted in 200-year-old family recipes.
A museum in San Felipe, 40 miles west of Houston, commemorates the unique history behind Stephen F. Austin’s founding colony.
The piano teacher turned touring musician from Lockney has been inducted into several halls of fame across the U.S.
The Comanche Tortilla & Tamale Factory has been making tamales since 1947 and wants to help inspire and educate a new generation of home cooks.
The community 50 miles east of Austin celebrates its Slavic heritage each year with music, crafts, and lots of buttery, handmade noodles.
Decades of conservation have helped save the native fish, now iconic to Central Texas anglers.
The small motel has a sliding-roof observatory where people can enjoy some of the darkest skies on the planet.
From the obscure to the historically significant, the Texas Broadcast Museum tells a uniquely twentieth-century story.
Luci Zahray is an expert on poison and is a consultant to mystery writers around the world.
On a remote ranch south of Alpine, Bonnie and Dick Cain have carved out their ideal lifestyle, without electricity, refrigeration, or running water.
Chris Morris broke his back during motocross practice, but that didn’t stop him from finding a new source of adrenaline and drive.
The Austin-based artist recycles discarded plastic into beautiful animal sculptures and hopes to inspire others to eliminate waste.
In Matagorda, the Huebner Brothers Cattle Company has been leading a semiannual cattle drive for more than a hundred years.
After Becky Smith took over the B-C Ranch in Alpine, her all-women team took a different approach to wrangling cattle.
After fifty years on the road, the host of Texas Country Reporter recalls his favorite dish at Mary’s Cafe in Strawn.
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.
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
The Gutierrez family still runs the South Texas cafe, specializing in Mexican recipes passed down for generations.
In downtown Sanderson, shoppers can get lost in aisles overflowing with eclectic items, old and new.
Texas Country Reporter remembers the late artist, whose San Antonio house was covered from corner to corner in art, memories, and poetry.
Seeing a need in the community, Willa Johnson started Feeding Kids Right, a mobile meal delivery service in Athens.
In the courthouse basement, dozens of lawyers, judges, and jurors lined up for Esther Rollins’s famous fried chicken.
Roel Flores’s folk art paintings are poignant and colorful, and his work is part of the Smithsonian Institution’s permanent collection.
The Carpenter family, featured in this classic episode from ‘Texas Country Reporter,’ has operated the industrial machine shop since 1937.
The Texas Heritage Museum at Hill College has grown into a nationally recognized collection specializing Civil War history.
Across U.S. highways and country roads, Wilson was determined to move cattle in a way that honored the men that came before him.
Every year, Floyd Boyett takes a break from his routine to gather with friends and participate in the old-world process of making syrup from raw sugarcane.
Born out of the Great Depression, the pieces are still handcrafted in San Angelo and are in as much demand as ever.
On a farm in Grimes County, one man unexpectedly stumbled upon his life’s passion—double-aught, two-fisted, skull-and-crossbones, hot pickled carrots.
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.
Mary Ann Fordyce is a straight-talking chicken farmer calling for a return to country roots.
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.
Claire Mestepey has built a steady publishing business around her unique approach to word search puzzles.
In Fredericksburg, Perkins’s creative approach to life can be seen in every inch of his one-of-a-kind retreat.
For years, “Chito” Martiarena has devoted himself to mowing grass along public roadways.
Gene Fernandez has an outfit for every story, but his infectious love for local history is the star of the show.
Years ago, I learned an important lesson from a family in West Texas—happiness can be found in the simplest places.
Joshua Rodrigues opened a food truck to serve up good times and classic dishes to a community hungry for Cajun flavors.
