@tracesoftexas
Purveyor of Texas history and culture. Cowboy boots junkie and chronicler of all things Lone Star. 100% organic, free-range Texas content. A politics-free feed. DON'T get political! Buy me a coffee? Click here: https://buymeacoffee.com/tracesoftexas
The Texas Quote of the Day: "You don't need to hire a shrink. If you're looking for a therapist, just listen to Willie Nelson."
---- Charley Crockett, a fair musician himself, offers words of wisdom
3d
A cowgirl walks a cattle pen fence wearing the fanciest boots I think I've ever seen as another cowgirl applauds and four USAAF personnel look on, wondering if she's going to make it or not. This was taken on the Welder ranch in Victoria county in 1942 by the famed Dmitri Kessel.
Thank you. Now that I look at it even closer, I think I may have left too much red in the men's shirts. But, yes, age is definitely getting to this photo. It's starting to see some chemical decomposition.
Traces of Texas reader Seth is Writing was nice enough to send in this rather self-explanatory photo, taken in Graham, Texas back in 1978. Seth's grandfather, Garth, is standing closest to the horse and was its owner. I didn't even know Graham had a track.
Thank you, Seth. Really awesome!
I love this. It looks like it's behind a glass frame and the colors have faded and there's a bit of age on it so I took it into photoshop and cleaned it up for you. See attachment. Which one of these men is your grandfather? Did he own the horse?
Traces of Texas reader Gary Wood was nice enough to forward this amazing photo of 14 month old Jean Ann Evans napping on the saddle horn of a horse with her mother Billie Anne Evans on the set of the film "Giant" in Marfa. It was taken in July, 1955.
Thank you, Gary. Awesome shot!
TOT reader Lynn Lansford kindly sent in this photo of Nannie Whitman in Fort Worth, taken in 1897. Lynn doesn't know much about Nannie, other than she was a good friend of Lynn's grandmother, Cora. The two went to school together before Cora got married. Outstanding hat. Outstanding dress. Super!
A view of Avenue A in Temple, Texas in July, 1907. Temple was only 26 years old at this time, having been founded in 1881. I am just about 100% positive that the buildings on the right still stand.
Courtesy Southern Methodist University's Degolyer Library.
Yup. I look at the five men on that stage --- Doug, Augie, Flaco, Freddy and Speedy ---- and it's bittersweet. On the one hand, I'm sad that they are gone. On the other, I'm glad they were here.
![Texas Tornados - "Dinero" [Live from Austin, TX]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2lngift75yfsgmnbhd2vmkol/bafkreifm2bike6m72eh4or35ld56mghlytfibwbpp555u72v5fklwjuwcq)
Another great Augie Meyers performance. The rhyming of "dinero" with "Camaro" is sublime. The sound of pure joy.
youtu.be/qop-jdLYpx4?...
![Texas Tornados - "(Hey Baby) Que Paso" [Live from Austin, TX]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2lngift75yfsgmnbhd2vmkol/bafkreidhlx37a6lx5nqsw5xohgk3jciqfh7t45pmvoig4pjoevqrdl6seq)
You KNEW I was going to post this tonight. The San Antonio national anthem as sung by Augie Meyers.
youtu.be/1b6z4Z3vSnU?...
RIP Augie!
TOT reader Wilson Reagan graciously shared this photo of a young George Strait. It appears that it was taken when he was still a student at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos or perhaps shortly after. He would go to have 60 #1 hits. I have never seen this before. Mind. Blown.
I've posted a lot of great faces over time, but this old cowboy at the Texas Cowboy Reunion and Rodeo in Stamford back in 1936 has to be in top-10, doesn't he? He's the epitome of an old cowhand who is now a rancher and who has spruced himself up to come into town. From UTA Special Collections.
A Comanche camp at an unknown date.
A garage owner, left, and a farmer working on a car. Pie Town, New Mexico. The garage owner was from Texas and also owned a filling station, blacksmith shop, and garage. He told Russell Lee that he moved to New Mexico after he could not find work here. I'd like to visit a place called "Pie Town."
Love the Lizards. Have seen them dozens of times.
There may have been beer involved. 😉
Y'all ... some sad news today. The great Augie Meyers --- longtime compadre of Doug Sahm and a member of the great Texas Tornadoes --- has died. Here's a photo of Augie I took in 2018. I spoke with him at length afterward and he was really just a nice, genuine, sweetheart of a man. RIP Augie!!
That's a great one, too. My favorite, because of its meaning, is "The Messenger."
I really like that song.
What I have found is that folks outside of Texas take all of that stuff that we say so seriously, like they think we mean it. Ray Wylie Hubbard is right: the problem with irony is that so many people don't get it.
As Ray Wylie Hubbard says, the problem with irony is that not everybody gets it.
youtu.be/8-cFtSPIF4Q?...
According to TxDot, 98% of Texas adults know that "Don't Mess with Texas" means "don't litter."
youtu.be/hwAhQNfyIys?...
I'm pretty sure that most Texans know what the phrase means, being that we've been bombarded with commercials for the last 40+ years. This is one of my favorites, from 1989.
youtu.be/XlFD0Zyl_f0?...
I can do it in Photoshop, but it doesn't change the reality, which is that it was a glorious day for a party in Terlingua.
Vermont celebrates its independence day on July 8. Hawaii celebrates Hawaiian Independence Day on Nov. 28. California celebrates its independence day on June 14. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make but I am sure that, whatever it is, it's a specious one.
I haven't heard a single Texan brag about disaffected people moving here. I have heard Texas politicians bragging about job creation here in Texas, but they certainly don't have a monopoly on that: all politicians ---- including Joe Biden --- brag on job creation.
As far as "Texas Independence Day," Texas is the only state that was its own separate country, so of course it celebrates that date. The other states celebrate independence day on the 4th of July, the difference being that it wasn't Mexico but England whom they separated from.
