Midland: The Tailgate

The Permian Basin has never lacked for country music fans. What it lacked, for a long time, was a venue worthy of them. The Tailgate changed that.

The Tailgate opened in 2021 at 4401 North Big Spring Street in Midland, and it came in with a clear intention: to build an outdoor concert venue that could attract the same acts playing Dallas and Houston, but keep them in West Texas where a large share of their audience actually lives. The Permian Basin runs on oil money, and when oil is up, the concert budgets follow. The Tailgate read that correctly and built something to match.

The venue is a large outdoor space with a covered stage, a serious sound system, and enough room for a crowd that actually came to see the show rather than just be near it. Aaron Watson has played it. Shane Smith and the Saints have played it. So have Randall King, Flatland Cavalry, and a rotating cast of Texas country artists who have strong followings in the basin.

Texas Country in the Permian Basin

West Texas has its own relationship with country music. The music here leans hard and honest — red dirt and Texas country rather than Nashville pop. Consequently, The Tailgate’s booking calendar reflects that preference. The crowd that fills the venue on a Saturday night knows the words to every song and expects the band to play until everyone has had enough. The Permian Basin does not do things halfway.

The Tailgate is open Friday through Sunday, with the heaviest programming on Friday and Saturday nights. Food trucks typically set up on event nights, and the bar is fully stocked. Tickets are available through Tixr for larger shows; some events are general admission with no advance purchase required.

A Destination on the West Texas Music Route

Midland sits roughly halfway between Dallas and El Paso on Interstate 20, which makes The Tailgate a natural stop for anyone building a West Texas music itinerary. Drive west from the Metroplex, catch a show in Midland, and keep going toward Alpine and the Big Bend country. The music changes as the landscape does — tighter rooms, smaller crowds, more pickers than rock stars. For the intimate end of that spectrum, the Starlight Theatre in Terlingua sits at the far end of the route.