Luckenbach, Texas

Luckenbach, Texas
Motto: Everybody's somebody in Luckenbach.
Location within the state of Texas
Country	United States
State	Texas
Counties	Gillespie County
Population (2006)
• Total	3
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-6)
Website	http://www.luckenbachtexas.com/

Luckenbach is an unincorporated community thirteen miles (19 km) from Fredericksburg in southeastern Gillespie County, Texas, United States, part of the Texas Hill Country. It consists of 9.142 acres (37,000 m²) between South Grape Creek (a tributary of the Pedernales River) and Snail Creek, just south of U.S. Highway 290 on the south side of Farm to Market Road 1376. This location is roughly 50 miles (80 km) north of San Antonio and 69 miles (111 km) west of Austin.

On December 15, 1847, a petition was submitted to create Gillespie County. In 1848, the legislature formed Gillespie County from Bexar and Travis counties. While the signers were overwhelmingly German immigrants, names also on the petition were Castillo, Pena, Munos, and a handful of non-German Anglo names.

Its oldest building is a combination general store and saloon reputedly opened in 1849 (1886 is more likely based on land improvement records of the state library) by Minna Engel, whose father was an itinerant preacher from Germany. The community, first named Grape Creek, was later named after Minna's husband, Carl Albert Luckenbach, who was then her fiancé; they would later move to another town which became Albert, Texas. Luckenbach was first established as a community trading post and was one of the few that never broke a peace treaty with the Comanche Indians, with whom they traded.

Citizens of the town claimed one of them (Jacob Brodbeck) had launched the first airplane years before the Wright Brothers.

Its population increased to a high of 492 in 1904, but by the 1960s, Luckenbach was almost a ghost town.

An ad in the paper offering "town — pop. 3 — for sale" led Hondo Crouch, rancher and Texas folklorist, to buy Luckenbach for $30,000 in 1970, in partnership with Kathy Morgan and actor Guich Koock. Hondo used the town's rights as a municipality to govern the dance hall as he saw fit.

Modern Luckenbach

Today the town maintains a ghost town feel with its small population and strong western roots. One of its two main buildings houses the remnants of a post office, a working saloon, and a general store. The other is the dance hall. The post office was closed on April 30, 1971 and its zip code (78647) was retired.

Country music

Luckenbach's association with country music began in the summer of 1973, when Jerry Jeff Walker, backed by the Lost Gonzo Band, recorded a live album there called Viva Terlingua at Luckenbach Dancehall. That album became an outlaw country classic.

Four years later (and a year after Crouch's death), Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson memorialized Luckenbach with the song "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)," cowritten by rock and soul producer Chips Moman and keyboardist Bobby Emmons. In his 2000 book Are You Ready for the Country?, author Peter Doggett recalls that Jennings later told audiences that "he hated the song and (had) admitted 'The guys that wrote the thing have never been to Luckenbach. Neither have I.'"

Notable concert appearances in the town include Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Pat Green, Robert Earl Keen, and Lyle Lovett. The little community is still an active home to country music as of 2010, where folks gather by the score to listen to area musicians and drink cold beer, particularly Shiner Bock, a local favorite brewed by the oldest brewer in Texas.

Country Rock artists Kenny Chesney and Kid Rock later covered the Jennings/Nelson song as a duet as the two performed earlier.

Guinness World Record

"Pickin' for the Record" was a fundraiser held in Luckenbach on August 23, 2009, for the organization, Voices of a Grateful Nation. A Guinness Book of World Record was broken for the most guitar players gathered at one time to play (continuously, at least 5 minutes.) The Luckenbach record broke the standing German record by 50, with the official count at 1868. The day before the Texas event, Elvis Presley’s guitar player made a similar attempt in Louisiana and only signed up 800 pickers.

Visiting

Sign above post office in Luckenbach, Texas

Luckenbach hosts a wide range of visitors each weekend, including bikers, bankers and everyone in between, with a separate area for motorcycle parking and car parking, usually in the grass. On Sundays, it is common for people to bring instruments and those in the crowd entertain each other, taking turns performing under the trees just outside the bar. There is a wide variety of Luckenbach-related shirts, bumper stickers and other novelties. No hard liquor is allowed, and no law enforcement is necessary as the crowd tends to self-police.

There are RV camping spots, and a small creek that runs nearby where the signs state "No Swimming Allowed". This is usually ignored and it is common to see parents there with their children. Areas are set up for pitching washers, which is similar in style to the game of horseshoe, except using a can buried in the ground and players toss large fender washers. Occasionally, local and regional celebrities drop by on a Sunday, as this is the most relaxed day to visit. There is no charge to visit.

A map or directions are needed to get to Luckenbach. The signs leading to the town are often stolen as souvenirs by tourists. Legitimate souvenirs are available at the general store and include postcards, t-shirts, sarcastic and humorous signs, and the local newspaper, the 8-page monthly Luckenbach Moon.

Luckenbach was the setting for the short lived sit-com Lewis and Clark, which co-starred town owner Guich Koock and Gabe Kaplan.

Notable people

• Colonel Alfred P.C. Petsch (1887-1981) Lawyer, legislator, civic leader, and philanthropist. Served in the Texas House of Representatives 1925-1941. Veteran of both World War I and World War II. Born in Luckenbach.

See also

• Lower South Grape Creek School
• Luckenbach School

External links

• Luckenbach from the Handbook of Texas Online
• Official site for Luckenbach and the Luckenbach Dance Hall
• Texas town rooted in country music, a November 2004 CNN article (from web archives)
• Luckenbach, Texas lyrics