Everybody is Somebody in Luckenbach

Traveling east from Frederickburg, Texas, I had no particular destination in mind. But in no time at all, I found myself happy as could be, driving down a characteristically small country road, warmed and with windows open, past a mosaic of fragrant scrub pine and sage.

The fact that I even discovered Luckenbach is a bit of a marvel itself, as over the years, most road signs directing travelers there have been stolen as souvenirs. But for others, the determined visitor still can find the historic hamlet just a few miles east of Fredericksburg, on Farm Road 1376, south of U.S. 290.

A mixture of caliche hills and bottomlands on Grape Creek, Luckenbach’s checkered past is a charming discovery. In 1970, local rancher and popular character Hondo Crouch bought Luckenbach after seeing an advertisement in a local newspaper that read ‘town for sale. – lock, stock & dancehall.’ A former swimming champion, bit actor and columnist, Hondo attracted an eclectic mix of fun seekers, free spirits, music lovers, music players, hippies, out-laws, cowboys and lovers.

Luckenback boasts a Post Office and a General Store, a 1930’s dance hall of epic proportions, a bar and an oak grove, where under the shaded canopy from the hot Texas sun, one can lay claim to witness musicians who simply show up and entertain. Years ago, Willie Nelson would throw his 4th of July picnic on the Luckenbach property, which only seemed to cement its reputation as a worthy country music outpost.

I took up a position at the end of a well-worn, liquor-stained wooden picnic table close to the outdoor stage. There, sitting next to a man with a handlebar mustache and a well-fitting hat, something magical was in the air, swirling around me, serving only to heighten my senses and pitch them in a direction to explode. Whether it was the tingling excitement of whether Lyle Lovett might show up, the smell of the earth, the angle of the sun, or the shade of the 500 year-old oaks, to this day I cannot be certain. However, I will never forget the feeling nor has it ever been been duplicated. The beauty of the land, durable simplicity and western ambiance all combined effortlessly, resulting in an experience that was somewhere between surreal and spiritual.

I sat intently for an hour or more, surrounded by locals I would later learn, listening with all of my senses to music that emanated from the simple stage. There was no pretense or expectation. I knew no one; at the same time, I knew everyone.