Lubbock: Terry Allen at Stubb’s Bar-B-Q

CB Stubblefield opened a barbecue restaurant at 108 East Broadway in Lubbock in 1968. He told people he was just a cook. The musicians who played his Sunday night jams didn’t believe him. In the 1970s and early 1980s, the Sunday jams hosted Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Joe Ely. They also drew B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Tom T. Hall, and a young Stevie Ray Vaughan. Stubb’s Bar-B-Q was four pairs of rooms in a former motor court. But for one decade in West Texas, it was the most interesting music club in the country.

The restaurant had a specific character. Stubb himself would get onstage every night and sing “Summertime” before the evening ended. He would also sing “House of the Rising Sun” every night. During it, he would tell the crowd, “Just a cook, y’all.” He meant it as modesty. Nobody in the room believed it. One evening, Paul Milosevich brought touring star Tom T. Hall to Stubb’s. Joe Ely and Hall played pool that night — with broomsticks and an onion. Hall was so delighted he wrote a song about it: “The Great East Broadway Onion Championship of 1978.”

Just a Cook, Y’all

Stubb’s original restaurant closed in the early 1980s. Stubb himself moved to Austin, set up his famous sauce company, and died in 1995 at age 64. But the site at 108 East Broadway didn’t become a parking lot or a forgotten patch of dirt. In 1999, Terry Allen created a bronze sculpture of Stubblefield for the site. The statue shows Stubb holding a platter of barbecue. His other hand is open and extended — welcoming you the way he always did. Small plaques set into what remains of the floor mark the kitchen, cash register, and restrooms. The original pit location is also noted. Allen and Stubb were friends. The sculpture shows it.

Stevie Ray Vaughan spent a Saturday before his first Stubb’s gig hunched over the jukebox, copying down lyrics. Among those lyrics was “Tin Pan Alley,” which appeared on his debut album. That’s the kind of place this was. For the full story of what Terry Allen built as a sculptor and musician, see the Wittliff Collections listing in San Marcos and Terry Allen’s Wish at DFW Airport.