Texas Music News — October 20, 2026
Antone’s, Austin’s 51-year-old blues club, just struck a one-year deal with next-door Hotel Trinity. The hotel will pay Antone’s to run twice-weekly poolside sets on its rooftop. The series starts in February. Antone’s will pay the performers, and most will come from Austin’s own scene.
The partnership also gives the hotel five Antone’s-themed suites. Each one has vintage concert posters, a guitar and a piano. Suite guests get access to tickets held back for some sold-out shows, and they may skip the line. They also get free entry to the blues museum Antone’s plans to open upstairs in 2027. Think of it as a hotel room dressed like a backstage pass.
The Blues Club That Keeps the Lights On
Antone’s needs the help. Rising downtown rents, inflation and labor costs have pushed the 400-capacity club toward touring acts that reliably fill the room. That shift has crowded out the recurring blues and roots residencies that built its name. However, the club caught a break less than a year ago, when it won a 50-year lease and $1.3 million in city support. Of that money, $800,000 funds the museum and $500,000 covers rent and operations.
Hotel guest experience director Hannah Hagar insists the club will stay itself. “We’re not trying to bougie-ify Antone’s by any means,” she said. The hotel will not reserve any section of the club for guests, so the dance floor stays open to everyone. Co-owner Will Bridges says the club’s success since reopening a decade ago gave it room to grow beyond its walls. Austin guitarist Gary Clark Jr. built his name on stages like this one, and a storied blues room like it rarely gets a second act. If the experiment works, the oldest blues stage in town may fund its next fifty years from the roof.
Details at KUT
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