https://christianhwallace.com/longform daily 1.0 2023-02-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1574630855621-3XXLQ7A91OCVPILBVBC5/September%2BCover.jpg Longform https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1676342601832-6EO1HJWQ2RWTL4JSUK8B/image-asset.jpeg Longform - Robert Earl Keen's Long Road Home Bus Fires, Voodoo Candles, and Rodeo Legends: Inside Robert Earl Keen’s Epic Final Tour. Texas Monthly: Dec. 2022 Cover photo by Dan Winters https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1652281378054-6X1XX6SS49WYAPU1MLOM/image-asset.jpeg Longform - The Bronc-busting, Cow-punching, Death-defying Legend of Boots O’Neal Nearly ninety, the Four Sixes cowboy still saddles up every morning to work. Was an honor to profile Boots. Texas Monthly: June 2022 Portraits by Bryan Schutmaat https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1668892869621-RC1JFH75AYS6M2RP298J/image-asset.jpg Longform - This Old Truck For fifteen years, my 2005 GMC Sierra has, through good times and bad weather, taken me to every corner of Texas. It might be time to say goodbye, but it won’t be easy. Texas Monthly: April 2022 Cover photo by LeAnn Mueller https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1639066138903-SC44JTUDU2OI68NVW3D6/image-asset.jpeg Longform - There Will Be Blood Oil-field medics face long hours, grisly accidents, desolation, and low pay. So why do they do it? Texas Monthly: January 2022 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1668892901041-G7LBR5Z5R8IBBV9ROALX/image-asset.jpg Longform - The Resurrection of Bass Reeves His almost superhuman exploits made him one of the West's most feared lawmen. Today, the legendary deputy U.S. marshal is widely believed to be the real Lone Ranger. But his true legacy is even greater. July 2021: Texas Monthly *Nominated for National Magazine Award in Feature Writing https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1668892920004-FHUL71ANG270XN3NF83T/image-asset.jpg Longform - King of the Canine Canon John R. Erickson wanted to become a serious literary novelist, like Faulkner or Hemingway. Fortunately for millions of Hank the Cowdog fans, he failed. Texas Monthly: March 2021 Cover photo by Jeff Wilson https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1668892973133-CHJ2BCPT5H11H3VFE7Z7/0720_COVER.jpg Longform - Can a Renewables Boom Put Texans Back to Work? As the Permian Basin’s oil boom fades, renewables could keep the region working. [Texas Monthly: July 2020] Illustration by Jason Holley https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1668892952028-J9QYH5NQAD6C42WLXDQ5/September%2BCover.jpg Longform - Long Live Honky-Tonks! I traveled some 3,000 miles in search of the state’s best honky-tonks. [Texas Monthly: September 2019] Photo by LeAnn Mueller *Nominated for National Magazine Award https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1668893054679-YG0NBGDZFTGXQCRN1ZRX/Unknown-7.jpg Longform - The Price of Oil The Permian Basin Is Booming With Oil. But at What Cost to West Texans? Though some will reap serious profits, the region’s dealing with skyrocketing rents, overcrowded schools, and potholes as big as VW Beetles. National City and Regional Magazine Award finalist: civic journalism. [Texas Monthly: June 2019] Photo by Nick Simonite https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1668892989439-59L2K4Z3AU5105BNZCSP/Myrtis%2Bcover.jpg Longform - The Jackie Robinson of Rodeo Five decades ago, Myrtis Dightman broke the color barrier in professional rodeo and became one of the best bull riders who ever lived. But his imprint on the sport was only just beginning. [Texas Monthly: July 2018] Photo by LeAnn Mueller https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1574617401549-VEGOKU0TWDFBD69IH0VW/Alamo+Village.jpg Longform - The Last Stand at Alamo Village Remembering “The Alamo” through souvenir shot glasses, John Wayne toilet paper, and the family that brought the 1960 classic to Texas. [Texas Monthly: March 2018] Photo by Reg Campbell https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1668893090014-ZPMXC2UH12Z6WEN51SX0/VZ-Staring%2Bup%2Bat%2BOil%2BDerrick.jpg Longform - The Wildcatters ‘The Iron Orchard’ is a 1967 novel with a cult following among Texas oilmen. Here’s the story of the film adaptation of “the wildcatter’s bible”—fifty years in the making. [Texas Monthly: January 2018] Photo courtesy of Ned Van Zandt https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1668893182419-PMPFG3ZKB1OUEZ0XV18G/Texas%2BMy%2BTexas.jpg Longform - Texas, My Texas, You Deserve a New State Song The hill I will die on. [Texas Monthly: March 2016] [Y’all should probably buy Stephen Harrigan’s book.] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1668893143271-W7OUK96E1W922CUP0VOZ/TheNationalCover.jpg Longform - On the Enduring Legacy of the Black Cowboy Sixty years after they first convoyed into Houston, the country’s oldest African-American trail riders association saddles up. [The National: June 2017 ] Photo by Brandon Thibodeaux https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1668893165378-RBCK3Y8U15CPBTL4NME3/Roughneck%2Btruck.jpg Longform - Learning to Roughneck Growing up in the Permian Basin, I thought I had a sense of what it was like working the oilfields. Turns out I didn’t know a damn thing. Texas Monthly: March 2015 Photo by Jaymee Snow https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings daily 0.75 2024-08-21 https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/vanity-fair-landman-first-look monthly 0.5 2024-08-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/6ff7eab2-c80a-43cd-92dc-b77320f5e25e/Vanity+Fair+-+Landman.png Recent Sighting - Vanity Fair: 'Landman' First Look - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/wallace-inducted-into-the-texas-institute-of-letters monthly 0.5 2023-05-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/0a100cdb-b437-4f55-8212-2851f4da4241/TIL+logo+CHW.jpg Recent Sighting - Christian Wallace Inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/conversation-with-npr-on-the-mythos-of-the-texas-cowboy monthly 0.5 2022-05-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/183ad281-fa68-427d-90c9-688544ed2d8b/Texas+Cowboy.jpeg Recent Sighting - Conversation with NPR on "the mythos of the Texas cowboy" - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/the-resurrection-of-bass-reeves-named-finalist-for-national-magazine-award-in-feature-writing monthly 0.5 2022-05-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/82f8385a-e41c-45f4-a06c-763b880b4329/bass-reeves-us-marshall+copy+2.jpg Recent Sighting - "The Resurrection of Bass Reeves" named finalist for National Magazine Award in Feature Writing - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/billy-bob-thornton-set-as-lead-in-taylor-sheridans-adaptation-of-booomtown monthly 0.5 2022-05-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/e7876c36-bec4-4995-9c68-cb95b74f7435/Billy-Bob-Thornton-Paramount.jpeg Recent Sighting - Billy Bob Thornton set as lead in Taylor Sheridan's TV adaptation of 'Booomtown' - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/boomtown-named-webby-award-honoree monthly 0.5 2021-05-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1620154400037-8S4ZL57ANI1VQ09WF8SG/2560px-Webby_Awards.png Recent Sighting - Boomtown named Webby Award Honoree https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/taylor-sheridan-developing-tv-show-based-on-boomtown monthly 0.5 2021-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1614709221302-V3RV4QDTP64B7R9RDH2X/Taylor.jpg Recent Sighting - Taylor Sheridan Developing TV Show Based on 'Boomtown' https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/the-atlantic-names-boomtown-one-of-the-top-50-podcasts-of-2020 monthly 0.5 2020-12-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1609350045609-Y1QTBLSHPDKRAL0S8VKA/Podcasts.jpeg Recent Sighting - 'The Atlantic' names 'Boomtown' one of the Top 50 Podcasts of 2020 https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/gizmodo-names-boomtown-one-of-the-ten-best-podcasts-on-climate-change monthly 0.5 2022-05-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1609349535332-TOBOEOWNK95IXFTVLLIN/Big+Bend.jpg Recent Sighting - Gizmodo names 'Boomtown' one of the "Ten Best Podcasts on Climate Change" https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/oral-history-of-wishbone-on-kcrw monthly 0.5 2020-10-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1603050053822-9YCZLNXMMN4P1M0QZYYD/wishbone.jpg Recent Sighting - Oral History of 'Wishbone' on KCRW https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/long-live-honky-tonks-selected-as-a-national-magazine-award-finalist monthly 0.5 2020-10-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1601497480181-8OA7N69NMY09JILF3KX3/ASME-announcement-art.jpg Recent Sighting - "Long Live Honky-Tonks" Selected as a National Magazine Award Finalist https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/featured-guest-on-the-new-slang-podcast monthly 0.5 2020-10-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1601571854709-PU3JJGVKFCTPKSXDDM3O/New+Slang.jpg Recent Sighting - Featured Guest on the New Slang Podcast https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/interview-with-nprs-marketplace monthly 0.5 2020-09-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1601497129686-2J1P5S4XTPN0WZYMILX4/Marketplace.png Recent Sighting - Interview with NPR's 'Marketplace' https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/interview-with-nowthis-news monthly 0.5 2020-09-30 https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/a-new-reckoning-for-texas-oil-national-podcast-of-texas monthly 0.5 2020-12-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1609349295637-CQOIDW8S78XINJX5CCJI/NPOT+-+CHW.jpg Recent Sighting - A New Reckoning for Texas Oil: National Podcast of Texas https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/city-and-regional-magazine-associate-name-finalists monthly 0.5 2020-09-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1601496223118-BZ9MHM4UFMA47KURO7K3/CRMA.jpg Recent Sighting - City and Regional Magazine Associate Name Finalists https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/outside-magazine-review-of-boomtown monthly 0.5 2020-12-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1601495882926-NG4OCKW6GSKX2OFLKJ1E/OutsideLogoBanner-1.jpg Recent Sighting - 'Outside' Magazine Review of 'Boomtown' https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/interview-with-marfa-public-radio monthly 0.5 2020-09-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1601495603614-2OJZ6NDWI10JXD2GEWUU/Marfa%252BPublic%252BRadio%252BLogo%252Bfor%252BWeb.jpg Recent Sighting - Interview with Marfa Public Radio https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/from-the-english-department-at-texas-state-featured-alumni monthly 0.5 2020-09-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1601493486327-YVO2LI1PV28915S5CAXF/Texas+State.jpg Recent Sighting - From the English Department at Texas State: Featured Alumni https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/los-angeles-review-of-books-podcast-review-on-boomtown-eebke monthly 0.5 2020-09-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1601492960828-XG5PVH16OO147IX91CND/Screen+Shot+2020-09-30+at+2.09.00+PM.png Recent Sighting - 'Boomtown' Featured on CBS7 https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/los-angeles-review-of-books-podcast-review-on-boomtown monthly 0.5 2020-09-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1582232888197-2RCR1KCEV3UFC8NDWX2I/Boomtown_Stitcher.jpg Recent Sighting - Los Angeles Review of Books: Podcast Review on Boomtown https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/variety-premieres-boomtown-video-trailer monthly 0.5 2019-12-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1575396794521-L9U1X3TZEYYORHL7YILS/boomtown_album-art-nologos.jpg Recent Sighting - Variety Premieres 'Boomtown' Video Trailer https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/2016/3/7/texas-standard-honky-tonks monthly 0.5 2019-11-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1574623949219-U94DH5ML6JDP12PVB3AR/honky-tonks-stagecoach-1.jpg Recent Sighting - Honky-Tonks on the Texas Standard https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/price-of-oil-texas-standard monthly 0.5 2019-11-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1574624885275-KX1BNYQR9312XRIVW130/DSC_0612+copy.jpg Recent Sighting - Talking Oil on KERA's 'Think' https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/iron-orchard-podcast monthly 0.5 2019-11-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1574625977436-K4C9OJBXKWGGJYF9KAC8/Iron+Orchard+illo.jpg Recent Sighting - The Iron Orchard on the National Podcast of Texas https://christianhwallace.com/recent-sightings/roughnecking-texas-standard monthly 0.5 2019-11-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1574625439086-RJHONXI668T6EGDY78AF/roughnecks-russell+lee.jpg Recent Sighting - Roughnecking on the Texas Standard https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1574625473824-FG7PMB7QT6SW6C12LHZ3/roughnecks-russell+lee1.jpg Recent Sighting - Roughnecking on the Texas Standard https://christianhwallace.com/short-stuff-1 daily 0.75 2022-10-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/3b16f5a5-56e1-421d-b8ae-f4f6235a3294/La+Morena+-+80s+1.jpeg Short Stuff - La Morena Wasn’t Just a Restaurant, It Was a West Texas Rite of Passage An ode to my favorite restaurant, a Tex-Mex joint in Andrews, and the man who ran it for nearly forty years. Read more: Texas Monthly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/f30824a1-2d8c-45d2-9358-496325b9c61c/Bob+Wills.jpeg Short Stuff - A Trip to Turkey, TX, Where Western Swing Is Still King Bob Wills fans flock each spring to the tiny Panhandle town to “dance all night, dance a little longer.” Read more: Texas Monthly https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1605806294296-RAV42UQTJP40P0JG1YQ2/20201029_185916.jpg Short Stuff - Letter from Loving County I visited the last county in the nation to record a single case of COVID-19. But that doesn’t mean the virus hadn’t been there. Read more: Texas Monthly https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1601254709939-ZE34Z0ZY67ISVMPUZCAR/wishbone.jpg Short Stuff - Top Dog: An Oral History of ‘Wishbone’ On the 25th anniversary of the show’s debut on PBS, we spoke with the cast and crew about Texas’s favorite lit-loving canine. [Texas Monthly: September 2020] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1575397028818-MHJM4PUEN3D6AWFMDD7O/Terry%2BHolder.jpg Short Stuff - Around the Horn The Craftsmanship and Community of Texas Saddle Shops. [Texas Highways: December 2019] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1605806875718-MIAJMPT8YC5K1PK1I1JT/Prickly%2BPear.jpg Short Stuff - The Misadventures of the Prickly Pear Margarita One man’s adventure in margarita-making turns into a prickly affair. [Texas Monthly: December 2016. This essay was part of Texas Monthly’s “Knives Out” package, a National Magazine Award finalist. ] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1574618624662-SBOT9ZDL9T433OM57U3E/181022_Bourdain.jpg Short Stuff - Anthony Bourdain Asks If West Texans Are the Platonic Ideal of Texans Spoiler: The answer is yes. [Texas Monthly: October 2018.] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1574619108030-BI57NIFCW0XH0WNZ0Y4D/REP-Waterslide-680_0.jpg Short Stuff - The Descent of Man On the viral fame of Waco’s BSR Cable Park—and its redneck reality. [Texas Monthly: August 2015.] https://christianhwallace.com/music daily 0.75 2022-11-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/f869ba56-3c69-41ab-b337-51e0b1375e64/Luckenbach.png Music - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1605805671841-2Y9D3DJOV5GAXF2DPA7W/Jerry+Jeff+Walker Music https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1593115382868-R0GH31QQF43PZ030PQ8P/Willie+Albums+ranked.gif Music https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1609350295765-NW0QOK7WP5Q0U2BQRGVH/Billy+Bob%27s.jpg Music - Honky-Tonk History Or why Billy Bob’s isn’t really a honky-tonk. [Texas Monthly: September 2019] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1608311824948-BIB1SYCC0LBOO6SI4GDD/Terry+Allen-Eat+the+Rich.jpg Music - Terry Allen’s ‘Pedal Steel’ One of Allen’s most enduring and enigmatic lines, “Today’s rainbow is tomorrow’s tamale,” sounds like something Beckett might’ve written if he’d hung out with goat ropers and dipped snuff. [Texas Monthly: March 2019] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1574619491483-I12C1OJH97XQ4SXIUJ33/willie_nelson1.jpeg Music https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1574619736086-FUFUAULCECP9JRDLX4IZ/Lovett+Keen.jpg Music https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1574620074203-NPZAN4Q88SYXNGAMRH9L/Kent-Finlay-photo.jpg Music https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1574621257233-RWYU88081XXKZ82YMAMS/RodneyCrowell6461.jpg Music - Rodney Crowell On Growing up in Houston, His Rise in Nashville, and Writing Honest Songs. A candid conversation with ”the Houston Kid.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1574620603124-U6HPW3H6I2VNL2XHAO8Z/Guy-Clark.jpg Music - Guy Clark November 6, 1941 — May 17, 2016 Guy Clark wrote the kind of songs that make roughnecks weep. Songs about streamline trains, hand-me-down knives, heartbroken winos, and homegrown tomatoes. Songs made of sawdust and sweat. Each was meticulously crafted word by word, line by line, tinkered and tightened until every element was durable, dependable, and timeless as an old denim shirt. Clark was born on November 6, 1941, in Monahans, “out between Pecos and nowhere.” During World War II, his grandmother, Rossie Clark, helped rear him while his father served in the Army. Rossie owned a thirteen-room shotgun motel where a revolving cast of oilfield workers, bomber pilots, and other drifters wandered though. The old man from his 1975 song “Desperados Waiting for the Train” was one such character—a weathered wildcatter named Jack Prigg, who was Rossie’s boyfriend and the closest Clark ever came to knowing a grandfather. Listening to the tall tales of Prigg and his domino partners, Clark’s lyrical storytelling—perhaps his greatest artistic gift—was smithed into shape. The family moved to Houston after the war ended and later to Rockport, where Clark was captain of the high school football team. A spell of wandering took hold of his decade after graduating, beginning with his service in the Peace Corps as the first volunteer from South Texas. He returned from his assignment in India to Houston’s thriving folk scene, where he met both his musical blood-brother, Townes Van Zandt, and his soulmate, Susanna Talley. Clark briefly built and repaired mandolins and guitars in San Francisco, then decamped for Los Angeles where he worked in a Dobro factory. He grew sick of the West Coast, and, determined to make it as a songwriter, said “adios to all that concrete” and headed to Nashville in 1971. Success came quickly. Within a year in Nashville, Jerry Jeff Walker recorded two of Clark’s original compositions, “L.A. Freeway” and “That Old Time Feeling.” It wasn’t long before Johnny Cash came calling, and soon many, many others did too. Ricky Skaggs was the first to hit number one with “Heartbroke.” But though Clark made thirteen studio records of his own, his songs never charted like the ones he wrote for others. Not that opulent commercial success was the aim. “I was never a hit songwriter in country music in that sense,” Clark once told Blurt. “I was trying to do it my way, whatever it took.” And that’s exactly how Guy and Susanna spent the rest of their lives in Music City—doing it their way. The couple’s home was the epicenter of Nashville’s bohemian culture of outlaw poets and artists that flourished in the seventies and early eighties. Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, and more names than you could carve into a dinner table, found inspiration in the community that gathered in the Clark household. Guy’s role as the stately patriarch of this wild family was captured in the cult documentary Heartworn Highways. In the yellowy tint of seventies film, Clark, dark-maned with his denim shirt unbuttoned, a hand-rolled cigarette smoking between his trademark turquoise ring and long slender fingers, can be seen sawing a piece of bone into a new guitar saddle. In that scene, Clark transcended into the ideal craftsman poet from Texas. Despite losing Townes in 1997 and Susanna in 2012, Guy continued hosting young songwriters and collaborating with old pals in his basement workshop. The year Susanna passed, a tribute album to Clark, This One’s For Him, was named Americana album of the year. Then in 2014, his last record, My Favorite Picture of You, earned him his first Grammy for best folk album. These late accolades were well-earned and long overdue, but Clark’s place among the greatest Texas songwriters to ever couple a rhyme was cemented decades before his death this May. Unlike Townes, who claimed that songs came to him in dreams like flashes of cosmic lightning, Guy extracted his words from the mud, leveraging the grease and grime of West Texas. He leaned as heavily on the Jack Priggs as he did on Shakespeare, and in doing so he gave credence to the lives of people that often go unsung. And despite spending his career in Tennessee, Clark always returned to dry, sandy Monahans or briny Rockport—the Texas of his youth—to draw from the well of inspiration. On the back of Old No. 1, Clark’s first record, Jerry Jeff Walker perfectly surmised what would be true of every album Clark ever made: “Guy writes/of old men/and old trains/and old memories/like back & white movies/etched/no, carved like crow’s feet/in the corners of his past/now he’ll close his eyes/and all those faces/and places/pass/again/to the natural music/of a flat-top guitar/a fiddle/a Rockport jukebox/spilling/stories/Texas music/good hard workin’ people/light & dark/like the Texas skies/always changing/but constantly/Texas.” https://christianhwallace.com/about daily 0.75 2026-03-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/68fcad33-7d88-434d-9883-3eb9be31f747/CHW+-+headshot.jpg About Photo by LeAnn Mueller https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/04d03d8d-9084-47e9-b8a3-86d9074cc5b8/Christine-Lancman-CAA-Speakers-Dark.png About - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://christianhwallace.com/boomtown-podcast daily 0.75 2020-09-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1574629044886-VN87W3FETDYK8GUFOFM6/boomtown+gif.gif Boomtown https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1574629248156-UY7DQ8A84OYXSASMGNY2/drilling+rigs.jpg Boomtown https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1577385611001-C5NNV1BUYJGWRRGTTY7I/DSC_0612+copy.jpg Boomtown https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1593108452504-181GABFF50ZN77004PWI/Odessa.jpg Boomtown https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1593109257865-IT74E5CM5XFUH4BHOH6B/Friday+Night+Lights.jpg Boomtown https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1593109526857-ELNQKEXB5L9JDZVI1RJJ/fracking-future-boomtown-oil.jpg Boomtown https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1593109727214-8608ZOVVENBLPUOWOZH4/Big+Bend.jpg Boomtown https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1577385540936-VZ1XVYSK0KWTE74BXF01/roughnecks-russell+lee4.jpg Boomtown https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1574629561242-V9S4PTEULR65R5RFTS2H/roughnecks.jpg Boomtown https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1593108881814-UVMMNXPH2BV5MGWG9273/0928191931d_HDR.jpg Boomtown https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1593109440092-BPYV44L178DF6R8CC4Q5/20191207_105149.jpg Boomtown https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1593109621112-DLLNSIZUQN7ZLDUZ1Q04/boomtown-fracking-george-mitchell.jpg Boomtown https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc9ec78188048744fec0f05/1593109808638-91HZ860H9X8VLNZ9CJ3H/Lendon.jpg Boomtown https://christianhwallace.com/read-me daily 0.75 2019-11-25