EPISODE 09: ARMADILLO WORLD HEADQUARTERS (AUSTIN, TX)
Hey my little freaks and geeks, happy spring. Welcome to another episode of Nightclubbing with your host Cherry Pie, broadcasting from Lower Grand Radio in Oakland, CA. This is the 2nd to last episode of Nightclubbing, and we’re covering a very divisive genre – and that is country music. In the last episode about the west coast hip hop scene at Skateland, I mentioned that one thing I hear frequently as a professional DJ from my clients is “I like all music except country and rap”. I have my own personal thoughts about why that is, and shoot me a message if you want to talk about it, but all I can say right now is that y’all are missing out on two uniquely American genres, with tons of subgenres and scenes all contributing to our culture.
Country music originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States. It’s known for its ballads and dances-- with simple form, folk lyrics, and harmonies generally accompanied by instruments such as banjos, fiddles, harmonicas, and many types of guitar (including acoustic, electric, steel, and resonator guitars). Though it is primarily rooted in various forms of American and African-American folk music, many other traditions, including, Mexican, Irish, and Hawaiian music, have also had a formative influence on the genre. I’m not going to go super deep into the history and origin of country music, if I did, we’d be here for 12 hours, but I highly recommend the Ken Burns Country Music documentary, you can get it on Amazon prime. Just know that country music is the result of a blend of contributions from various folk traditions, that culminated in the unique setting of the United States and focuses on working class Americans and blue collar life.
Country music before the 1920s was truly just music of the people; regular, ordinary people, played live in communal settings like dances or at religious events. It wasn’t until the first recording technology emerged in the early 1920s that country music (then called Hillbilly music) became a viable recorded genre and was popularized at a larger scale. The relevance of Nashville to country music begins with WSM, a 50,000 watt clear channel radio station established in 1925, which aired the show that would become the Grand Ole Opry, featuring a collection of musicians who played rural style popular music. This was two years before Ralph Peer’s Bristol Sessions, in which the first country superstar, Jimmy Rogers, and the first successful commercial country group, the Carter Family, cut their first records. These technological achievements were the beginnings of the commercial country music industry centered in Nashville, but enjoyed many miles beyond that.
By the 1950s, country music was enjoying immense commercial success thanks to post-war prosperity. The industry had taken ahold of Nashville, and many talented young artists flocked there in hopes of fame and prosperity as a musician. Many of them contributed to the “Nashville sound,” a polished subgenre that dominated radio airwaves in the late 1950s and early 1960s. One of these young musicians was a guy named Willie Nelson from Texas. While working as a DJ at radio station in his native Texas, he wrote songs that would become country music standards, first popularized by stars like Patsy Cline, Waylon Jennings, and George Jones. Eventually, in 1960 he moved to Nashville, Tennessee himself, and later signed a publishing contract with Pamper Music which allowed him to join Ray Price's band as a bassist. In 1962, he recorded his first album, ...And Then I Wrote. Due to this success, Nelson signed in 1964 with RCA Victor and joined the Grand Ole Opry the following year.
Meanwhile in Texas, a different scene was culminating towards the late 1960s in Austin. Due to a unique west coast-Texas connection via music and touring bands flocking back and forth between states during the psychedelic rock and blues heyday centered around San Francisco (which we discussed in Episode 03 about Bill Graham’s Fillmore West).
In 1970, Austin's flagship rock music venue, the Vulcan Gas Company closed, leaving the city's nascent and burgeoning live music scene without an incubator. One night, Eddie Wilson, manager of the local band Shiva's Headband, stepped outside a nightclub where the band was playing and noticed an old, abandoned National Guard armory. Wilson found an unlocked garage door on the building and was able to view the cavernous interior using the headlights of his car. He had a desire to continue the legacy of the Vulcan Gas Company, and was inspired by what he saw in the armory to create a new music hall in the derelict structure.
The name for the Armadillo was inspired by the use of armadillos as a symbol in the artwork of Jim Franklin, a local poster artist, and from the building itself. In choosing the mascot for the new venture, Wilson and his partners wanted an "armored" animal since the building was an old armory.
The Armadillo World Headquarters officially opened on August 7, 1970, with Shiva's Headband, the Hub City Movers, and Whistler performing. The venue quickly caught on with the hippie culture of Austin because admission was inexpensive and the hall tolerated cannabis use, where most others didn’t in conservative Texas.
Soon, the Armadillo started receiving publicity in national magazines such as Rolling Stone. In a story from its September 9, 1974, edition, Time Magazine wrote that the Armadillo was to the Austin music scene what The Fillmore had been to the emergence of rock music in the 1960s. The clientele became a mixture of hippies, cowboys, and businessmen who stopped by to have lunch and a beer and listen to live music. As Armadillo regular and musician, Gary Nunn put it, "It's been said that our music was the catalyst that brought the shit-kickers and the hippies together at the Armadillo".
For Willie Nelson, after mid-chart hits in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, he grew weary of the corporate music scene in Nashville, and in 1972 he moved to Austin. The “Nashville sound” had become a conservative restriction to his and others artistry—and he would lead the outlaw country movement, alongside Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and David Allan Coe, just to name a few, who fought for and won their creative freedom outside of the Nashville establishment that dictated the sound of most country music of the era. Musically, the outlaw sound has its roots in the blues, honky tonk music of the 1940s & 50s, rockabilly of the 1950s, and the evolving genre of rock ‘n roll. The early outlaws were particularly influenced by predecessors like Bob Wills, Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, and Buddy Holly. However, an even greater transition occurred after Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson were able to secure their own recording rights, and began the trend of bucking the "Nashville sound".
The Armadillo was central to the outlaw country movement, it was THE venue hosting acts like New Riders of the Purple Sage, Sir Douglas Quintet, Doug Sahm, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, and of course Willie and Waylon and the boys were all regulars. They also hosted more rock-oriented acts in their 10 year tenure from 1970 to 1980 like ZZ Top, Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC, Frank Zappa, Rush, Van Halen, The Clash, Blue Oyster Cult, Dire Straights and the Talking Heads.
Despite its successes, the Armadillo always struggled financially. The addition of the Armadillo Beer Garden in 1972 and the subsequent establishment of food service were both bids to generate steady cash flow. The predicament was blamed on a combination of large guaranteed payments for the acts, cheap ticket prices, and poor promotion. The club finally had to lay off staff members in late 1976 and file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1977. Another factor in the club's demise was that it sat on nearly 6 acres of land in what soon became a prime development area in the rapidly growing city. The Armadillo's landlord sold the property for an amount estimated between $4 million and $8 million.
The final concert at the Armadillo took place on December 31, 1980. The sold-out New Year's Eve show featured Asleep at the Wheel and Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen. Some reports say the show ended at 4 am, while others claim that the bands played until dawn. The contents of the Armadillo were sold at auction in January 1981, and the old armory was razed for a high-rise office building.
Outlaw country music is still much beloved and celebrated in Texas and beyond.
TRACK LIST:
1. Luckenbach, Texas – Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
2. Mama Tried – Merle Haggard
3. Family Tradition – Hank Williams Jr.
4. It’s Gonna Be Easy – Doug Sahm
5. Pot Can’t Call the Kettle Black – Jerry Jeff Walker
6. Balinese – ZZ Top
7. Nuevo Laredo – Sir Douglas Quintet
8. I’m Goin’ Down – Bruce Springsteen
9. Honky Tonk Heroes – Waylong Jennings
10. L.A. Freeway – Guy Clark
11. From the Bottle to the Borrom – Kris Kristofferson
12. I’m Not Lisa – Jessi Colter
13. Take This Job and Shove It – Johnny Paycheck
14. I Got Stoned and I Missed It – Shel Silverstein
15. I’m a Lonesome Fugitive – Merle Haggard
16. Cosmic Cowboy – Michael Martin Murphy
17. You Can’t Make It Alone – Plain Jane
18. The Letter That Johnny Walker Read – Asleep At The Wheel
19. El Paso – Marty Robbins
20. If I Needed You – Townes Van Zandt
21. Clay Pigeons – Blaze Foley
22. Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys — Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson
