Everyone who passes through DFW Airport’s Terminal D walks under a 30-foot bronze wishbone. Terry Allen made it. He titled it Wish.
The entrance to the Wittliff Collections in San Marcos holds a bronze crow made by Terry Allen. It holds the ashes of Guy Clark. He titled it Caw Caw Blues — after the last song Clark worked on before he died.
CB Stubblefield opened a barbecue restaurant at 108 East Broadway in Lubbock in 1968. He said he was just a cook. The musicians who played his Sunday night jams — Johnny Cash, B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan — didn’t believe him.
Terry Allen grew up in Lubbock, Texas — and the 1979 double album he came back to make became one of the finest country records of all time.
The record shop era isn’t over on Franklin Avenue. Spin Connection in Waco carries vinyl, cassettes, CDs, and 8-tracks — every format, still in rotation.
Armando Cardoso didn’t open a record store to sell records. He opened Vintage Mio in Waco to give the proceeds away — to children’s hospitals, domestic abuse survivors, and local artists.
SecondChance Music on Flores Avenue in Laredo stocks vinyl, CDs, cassettes, 8-tracks, and movies, and hosts live acoustic shows on the Texas-Mexico border.
Tony Ramirez spent 50 years collecting records before opening Frank's Collection in the old Palm Hotel in downtown Harlingen. Named for his late brother, the shop holds 5,000+ records and one of the Valley's most colorful personalities.
Four friends who grew up driving hours for vinyl opened Pharr Out Records in 2023. Their downtown Pharr shop specializes in Tejano, norteño, conjunto, and the music born on both sides of the Rio Grande.
Victor Cantu opened Valley Vinyls in 2009 and never looked back. This McAllen institution now carries up to 20,000 records, from 78s to current releases, plus stereo gear.
Between El Paso and San Antonio, most of Texas goes without a record store. Alpine breaks that stretch. RingTail Records carries everything from 1940s big band 78s to reggae to hip-hop — a Far West Texas institution steps from the Granada Theater.
Danny Alcantar's first record was an emo 45. Abel Salazar's was Joan Jett. Together, they built Sound Decay Records — El Paso's underground home for punk, metal, goth, and darkwave.