Before Austin became the "live music capital of the world" and attracted tens of thousands of music fans, it had a vibrant local music scene that spanned late sixties psychedelic and avant-garde rock to early eighties punk. Venues such as the Vulcan Gas Company and the Armadillo World Headquarters hosted both innovative local musicians and big-name touring acts. Poster artists not only advertised the performances-they visually defined the music and culture of Austin during this pivotal period. Their posters promoted an alternative lifestyle that permeated the city and reflected Austin's transformation from a sleepy university town into a veritable oasis of underground artistic and cultural activity in the state of Texas. This book presents a definitive survey of music poster art produced in Austin between 1967 and 1982. It vividly illustrates four distinct generations of posters-psychedelic art of the Vulcan Gas Company, early works from the Armadillo World Headquarters, an emerging variety of styles from the mid-1970s, and the radical visual aesthetic of punk-produced by such renowned artists as Gilbert Shelton, Jim Franklin, Kerry Awn, Micael Priest, Guy Juke, Ken Featherston, NOXX, and Danny Garrett. Setting the posters in context, Texas music and pop-culture authority Joe Nick Patoski details the history of music posters in Austin, and artist and poster art scholar Nels Jacobson explores the lives and techniques of the artists.

(Book). The Outlaw phenomenon greatly enlarged country music's audience in the 1970s. Led by pacesetters such as Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Bobby Bare, artists in Nashville and Austin demanded the creative freedom to make their own country music, different from the pop-oriented sound that prevailed at the time. Complementing the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's exhibition Outlaws & Armadillos: Country's Roaring '70s , this 120-page, fully illustrated book examines the 1970s cultures of Nashville and fiercely independent Austin, and the complicated, surprising relationships between the two.

In this gonzo history of the "City of the Violet Crown," author and journalist Joe Nick Patoski chronicles the modern evolution of the quirky, bustling, funky, self-contradictory place known as Austin, Texas. Patoski describes the series of cosmic accidents that tossed together a mashup of outsiders, free spirits, thinkers, educators, writers, musicians, entrepreneurs, artists, and politicians who would foster the atmosphere, the vibe, the slightly off-kilter zeitgeist that allowed Austin to become the home of both Armadillo World Headquarters and Dell Technologies. Patoski's raucous, rollicking romp through Austin's recent past and hipster present connects the dots that lead from places like Scholz Garten-Texas' oldest continuously operating business-to places like the Armadillo, where Willie Nelson and Darrell Royal brought hippies and rednecks together around music. He shows how misfits like William Sydney Porter-the embezzler who became famous under his pen name, O. Henry-served as precursors for iconoclasts like J. Frank Dobie, Bud Shrake, and Molly Ivins. He describes the journey, beginning with the search for an old girlfriend, that eventually brought Louis Black, Nick Barbaro, and Roland Swenson to the founding of the South by Southwest music, film, and technology festival. As one Austinite, who in typical fashion is simultaneously pursuing degrees in medicine and cinematography, says, "Austin is very different from the rest of Texas." Many readers of Austin to ATX will have already realized that. Now they will know why.

Willie Nelson has spent the last 30 years on that higher plane of celebrity where he signifies many things to many people--American folk hero, national treasure, Outlaw, tax dodger, country traditionalist, actor and friend of the farmer amongst many others. Acclaimed biographer and journalist Joe Nick Patoski offers a frank and thorough portrait, adding some surprising insight on this beloved performer. From his humble beginnings in Waco, TX, cared for by his grandparents, to learning to play guitar at 6 and wrote his first song at 7 to his remarkable rise to legendary status as a genre-bending music maker and a bona fide Hollywood darling, Patoski draws from his own association with Nelson, a relationship that began in the 1970s when Patoski began writing about the man and his music. Why does Nelson keep going down the road, steady as a mountain stream, creating an illusion for the millions that sit in awe of him as he sings the same repertoire night after night? With relish, Willie delves into these questions and more as Patoski reveals the true motivations for the Texanmost Texan.

"How did this city, one that has such an ineffable but palpable personality and spirit, become what it is--for better and worse? Joe Nick Patoski's recent book, Austin to ATX: The Hippies, Pickers, Slackers and Geeks Who Transformed the Capital of Texas, answers the question both empirically and spiritually, tracing the many people and the many places they built along the way toward establishing this weird, idiosyncratic, flat little planet."--NPR "In Austin to ATX: The Hippies, Pickers, Slackers and Geeks Who Transformed the Capital of Texas, author Joe Nick Patoski digs into what made Austin the city we live in today. With everything included--from Amy's Ice Creams to ZZ Top--Patoski covers its rich history with a candor and keen eye that keeps Austin weird without becoming maudlin."--Austin Monthly

The evening of May 10, 1970, found a young Watt M. Casey Jr. standing awestruck, only a few feet from Jimi Hendrix as the legendary guitarist tore into his unique arrangement of "The Star-Spangled Banner" on the stage of San Antonio's Hemisfair Arena during the Texas leg of his Cry of Love Tour. Bemoaning the fact that he had no camera to document the amazing experience or the visionary musicians creating it, Watt promised himself that he would make up for his oversight in the weeks and years to come. Little did he realize at the time that Hendrix had less than five months to live. Casey made good on his resolution, and My Guitar Is a Camera provides the evidence. With a foreword by Steve Miller, this rich visual history of the vibrant live music scene in Austin and beyond during the 1970s and early 1980s allows Casey's lens to reveal both the stage, awash in spotlights and crowd noise, and the more intimate backstage moments, where entertainers hold forth to interviewers and friends. As Outlaw Country's cosmic cowboys mixed with East Coast rockers, Chicago bluesmen, and West Coast hippies, Watt Casey roamed at will, capturing the people, places, and happenings that blended to foster Austin's emerging reputation as "Live Music Capital of the World."

To keep the land in the family . . . To operate the land profitably . . . To leave the land better than they found it . . . Each year, Sand County Foundation's prestigious Leopold Conservation Award recognizes families for leadership in voluntary conservation and ethical land management. In "Generations on the Land: A Conservation Legacy," veteran author and journalist Joe Nick Patoski visits eight of the award-winning families, presenting warm, heartfelt conversations about the families, their beloved land, and a vision for a healthier world.
"Generations on the Land" celebrates these families' roles as conservation leaders for the nation--far beyond the agricultural communities where they live--and reinforces the value of trans-generational family commitment to good land stewardship. The eight landowners profiled by Patoski include six ranchers, a forester, and a vintner. They reside across the country: in California, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Their conservation accomplishments range from providing a habitat corridor for pronghorn antelope to hammering out an endangered species "safe harbor" agreement for grape growers.
A short introduction by a fellow conservation or ranching professional precedes each of the personal portraits by Patoski, which are written in an informal, conversational style. Brent Haglund, president of the Sand County Foundation, provides an introduction to the purpose and work of the foundation, and a conclusion summarizes the substantive conservation contributions of the Leopold award winners.
With more and more attention being focused on the tensions between the agricultural and economic potential of land and the preservation of the natural environment, a better understanding of sustainable agriculture is becoming increasingly vital. By showcasing the leadership of these Leopold Conservation Award winners, "Generations on the Land "will inspire a whole new cadre of landowners to build a lasting heritage of conservation and sustainable land use--benefitting the earth and its inhabitants for decades to come.
"Paper used in printing this book was provided by Mixed Sources: materials manufactured under certification by the Forest Stewardship Council." "In 1939, Aldo Leopold wrote 'When land does well for its owner, and the owner does well for his land, when both end up better by reason of this partnership, we have conservation.' "Generations on the Land" demonstrates this simple yet powerful concept through a series of inspirational and instructional essays drawn from hardworking landowners from across the nation. Whether you manage a working landscape yourself, or are one of the urban many seeking insights into how humanity can achieve a sustainable future, you need to study this book."--Richard C. Bartlett, Thinking Like a Mountain Foundation

His blistering guitar playing breathed life back into the blues. Performing night after night - from his early teens to his tragic death at age thirty-five, in tiny pass-the-hat clubs and before thousands in huge arenas - Stevie Ray Vaughan fused blazing technique with deep soul in a manner unrivaled since the days of Jimi Hendrix. The genuineness and passion of his music moved millions. It nearly saved his life. Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire is the first biography of this meteoric guitar hero. Emerging from the hotbed of Texas blues, Stevie Ray Vaughan developed his unique style early on, in competition with his older brother, Jimmie Vaughan, founder of the Fabulous Thunderbirds - a competition that shaped much of Stevie's life. Fueled by drugs and alcohol through a thousand one-night stands, he lived at a fever pitch that nearly destroyed him. Musically exhausted and close to collapse, in his final years Stevie Ray mustered the courage to overcome his addictions, finding strength and inspiration in a new emotional openness. His death in a freak helicopter crash in 1990 silenced one of the great musical talents of our time. Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire reveals Stevie Ray Vaughan's life in all its remarkable, sometimes unsavory detail. It also brings to life the rich world of Texas music out of which he grew, and captures the staggering dimensions of his musical legacy. It will stand as the definitive biographical portrait of Stevie Ray.