Fischer: Willis Alan Ramsey at the Devil’s Backbone Tavern

Willis Alan Ramsey has called the Devil’s Backbone Tavern “one of my very favorite venues anywhere on the planet,” and he means it — he returns to what he calls its “historic stage” again and again. Ahead of a 2025 date there he posted, “I am very much looking forward to returning to the historic stage at the Devil’s Backbone Tavern.”

He’s also given fans the full geographic picture of why the place means so much to him: “The Devil’s Backbone Tavern, in Fischer, Texas, just a few miles from Wimberley and really not that far from Stonewall, TX, the ranch of the 36th President of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson, in the beautiful Texas Hill Country.” The tavern itself dates to the 1890s as a stagecoach stop before becoming a dance hall, and current owners Robyn and John Ludwick — Robyn a respected singer-songwriter in her own right — have spent years reviving it as a listening room for songwriters like Ramsey. He’s regularly shouted out Robyn and her team for keeping the room’s spirit alive, including playing the tavern’s anniversary shows.

I’ve been here ♪