Hug-In Dance

Saturday was a full day for Kate and I with her brother Gord and his squeeze Val at the Luckenbach, Texas Hug-In. That's a Valentine's Day celebration in a tiny village (population 3) made popular many years ago by a Waylon Jennings song entitled "Luckenbach, Texas". There's a general store cum bar and a dance hall -- oh yes, there's the feed lot and an outdoor crapper. But there's also lots of huggers camping, pickers picking with the chickens under the live oaks and just generally hanging out drinking beer, telling lies and singing songs.

Luckenbach's hey-days would have been in the 1970's when it was purchased by an eccentric hill country character by the name of Hondo Crouch. It became a hang out for the developing Outlaw Country music movement -- Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker and more. You can drop in most days to find someone plucking on a guitar and singing some songs. It's a testament to it's popularity that you will find it on most road maps even though there really is no village there. Population 3 is an exaggeration.

Back in Austin we met a server at Joe's Crab shack who said he came from the Fredricksburg area (Luckenbach is about 10 miles from Fredricksburg) but had never heard of Luckenbach. He was a very nice friendly fellow but we told him he lost his Texas-cred on that one.

Kate and I enjoyed an afternoon outside under the live oaks drinking beers and listening to the singers and poet. Gord and Val explored the village and hung out in the camp grounds where they have adventures to tell. We retreated into the store to warm up around the wood stove when evening arrived while Gord and Val grabbed us some seats in the dance hall for the evening's adventures starting at 9:00. We grabbed a corner table in the tiny bar. Kate had brought her guitar (we travelled to Texas with bikes, cats and guitar!) with the intention of encouraging others to sing. It worked! We had a wonderful time sitting in the some of the pickers and even joined in on a few

Luckenbach is about an hour and a half out of Austin and as I was the designated driver I kept my wits about me and stayed sober. We had been to the hug-in several times over the years (the first time we found Luckenbach back in 1990 was a hug-in) this was the 38th annual hug-in. And this was the only time and I was able to stay vertical for the dance.

Gary P Nunn and the Bunkhouse Band played the dance hall at 9:00. The hall was packed as pictured above. Fortunately Gord and Val had saved us a seat else we would have been standing -- and Kate can't do that! We were glad of the opportunity to enjoy the music with the 3-500 in attendance.

We've seen Gary a couple of time before at the Broken Spoke in Austin (another old time dance hall) and this is music just made for the dance hall and the Texas 2-step. You will be familiar with the song London Homesick Blues made famous as the theme music for Austin City Limits with the famous "I wanna be home with the Armadillo" refrain and perhaps the haunting What I Like About Texas which enumerates some of what we love about the state. Gary has a ton of great tunes and the Texas-cred to go with them. He's one of the gang that made Outlaw Country what it is today -- Gary was in the Lost Gonzo Band and sang London Homesick Blues on Jerry Jeff Walker's Viva Terlingua album recorded live in this same old dance hall back in 1973.

Gord and Val were dancing the night away while Kate and I played it low key -- with her bum knee dancing was not on our radar. For some a snooze in the car seemed the better part of valour..

We crept away at midnight to the sounds of Gary P Nunn playing "Reggae Armadillo" -- it's time to leave when they parody their hits. An uneventful drive back to Austin with three passengers gently cutting wood made for the end of another perfect day.

"You ask me what I like about Texas? Well I could tell you, but we'd be here all night long." -- Gary P Nunn