KEEPIN' IT WEIRD: THREADGILL'S, the man and the place.
Last week we headed south, this week we look north, to the old Dallas Highway. Charting the unlikely intersections that shape a city.
Let’s face it. No one ever would have said “Keep Austin Weird” if Threadgill’s hadn’t made it weird in the first place. - Margaret Moser, The Austin Chronicle.
Kenneth Threadgill was 9th of 11 children, a preacher’s kid turned bootlegger who sang country and ran a gas station that had a little bar.
Threadgill’s love for people and music smoothed out the conflicts that usually occurred when longhairs crossed paths with rednecks, and because of this, a new culture tolerance emanated from the tavern, which had a profound effect upon its patrons and the music that came from it. The quintessential beer joint changed with the social climate by inviting the folkies, hippies and beatniks to Wednesday night singing sessions with open arms. Threadgills.com
THE TIMELINE
1930
Kenneth and his new bride Mildred move in with Mildred’s mother in South Austin. He was 20, she was 19, and the census listed his occupation at the time as “surveyor.” But at some point fairly quickly Threadgill found his true calling.
He worked at a Gulf Station on the Dallas Highway (North Lamar) and made a little extra selling $5 copies of the Austin American morning paper, wrapped around bootleg liquor. Eventually he bought the gas station and when Prohibition ended in 1933, Threadgill waited in line overnight to get the first license to sell beer in Travis County. The fillin’ station became Threadgill’s Tavern. Michael Corcoran, Overserved
1933 Threadgill opens a bar inside his gas station. No dancing was allowed. That would have required additional fees to be licensed as a dance hall.
“He sat the bottles on a Lazy Susan on the counter and spun it around. You would take the bottle off, put your money on, and spin it back to him.” Eddie Wilson in Texas Highways.
1940s Threadgill’s closes “for a few years” during World War II, then re-opens as Threadgill’s Tavern when the war ends. The joint only had about 50 seats, and on Saturdays people lined up early to see Threadgill perform with his Hootenanny Hoots. Kenneth also begins hosting mid-week “Hoot Nights”. There wasn’t a stage, performers stood next to the bar.
1945 Kenneth and Mildred move into the Rosedale Cottage that they’ll call home for the rest of their lives.
1948 Kenneth stands in for Hank Williams at Dessau Hall.
“Hank was late getting there and the crowd was getting fidgety. Mrs. Hallie Price asked me to join their band and sing some of Hanks’s songs. I was up on the bandstand singing ‘Lovesick Blues’ when Hank walked in. He just stood there and listened and then we all had a good time talking about our likes in music.” Kenneth Threadgill as quoted in The Austin-American Statesman, July 5, 1970.
1950s A Tradition Takes Root.
In the mid fifties groups of local musicians were coming every week to play, and Threadgill would pay them with two rounds of free beer. In the beginning there was no stage and performers played sitting amongst the customers. A microphone connected to a little amp would be passed around to performers. Eventually Threadgill installed a sound system and musicians would wait in the back for their turn. Austin Historic Landmark Commission, 2020
images courtesy Showmoon Magazine.
1962 Janis Joplin, then a UT student, first turns up at Threadgill’s Hoot Nights.
Julie and Chuck Joyce, two musicians from the Hootenanny Hoots, were driving around Austin and saw a small band, hippies with instruments, on the side of the road. They pulled over and invited them to come to Threadgill's. Since the show was usually in an impromptu, open-microphone style, Janis Joplin, one of the hippie musicians, shyly stepped on the stage before shouting "Silver Threads and Golden Needles." Her voice was a dull shriek that night, most reports say. Nonetheless, she became a close friend of Kenneth and Mildred. Alan Lee Haworth, Texas State Historical Association
It was a very strange amalgram of people. There were all these old Okies, all the kids, little grand kids. Then there were a bunch of college professors — older cats that were into country music intellectually — the first of the folk trend, and then there the young upstarts that were into it too, and that was us. And there was Mr. Threadgill — he surpassed them all. Mr. Threadgill was a hillbilly singer. Janis Joplin, quoted in An Evening at Threadgills, 1972.
1960s A curious McCallum High School student named Eddie Wilson, who grew up a block away, discovers the scene as he’s pursuing Kenneth and Mildred’s daughter.
“I was a sophomore at McCallum and she was a Senior,” said Wilson. “I came over here looking for her, and Mr. Threadgill told me that she had gone off with a guy who had a car. So my next objective in life was to get a car!” laughed Wilson. It didn’t work out with Miss Threadgill, but the 16-year-old Wilson continued to stop by and spend time with her father. Tara Petitt, Spectrum News, 2020
Wilson went on to become a beer distributor before changing careers to open the Armadillo World Headquarters.
1970 Joplin celebrates Threadgill’s birthday by coming to town.
In 1970 a concert in the park near Oak Hill was held to celebrate Threadgill's birthday. His fans consumed bar-b-que, beans, and beer. Janis Joplin, who had been in Hawaii the day before, canceled a $15,000 show to fly to Austin.
She sang a song she’d not yet recorded called “Me and Bobby McGee” and another Kris Kristofferson song “Sunday Morning Coming Down.” An expected crowd of 500 grew to 5,000 when word got out that Janis was in town and had planned to attend.
Three months later Janis died of a drug overdose after promising Kenneth that they would be seeing each other much more often in the future. Michael Corcoran, Overserved
“She was just like one of my own kids. Only thing I can imagine is…recording is real hard.” He shook his head thoughtfully. “At the Newport Festival in sixty-eight there was a party and I sang and she took a sofa pillow and sat right down at my feet. When she died I…” His voice trailed off. “I thought the world of that girl.” Kenneth Threadgill, quoted on JanisJoplin.net
1973 Willie Nelson invites Threadgill to open the very first Willie’s picnic.
1974 Mildred, Kenneth’s wife of 40-plus years, passes away and he closes down.
1979 A fire set by a transient almost burns down the place.
1980 Longtime friend Willie Nelson casts Kenneth in Honeysuckle Rose and puts him on the soundtrack.
Threadgill sang "Coming Back to Texas" and "Singing the Yodeling Blues." He received $3,000 for acting and $4,000 for the songs; he afterward sold almost two million copies of the soundtrack. Alan Lee Haworth, Texas State Historical Association
1981 Kenneth Threadgill celebrates his first (and only) album.
In September 1981 "Silver Haired Daddy" with Renee Best, Steve Mendell, Bill and Bonnie Hearne and Johnny Gimble was released on Armadillo Records. It was recorded at Onion Audio and produced by Michael J. Osborne and Hank Alrich. His work showed the early influences of Jimmie Rodgers ballads and Al Jolson movies, which could be seen in his singing and dancing. Austin Historic Landmark
Commission
1981 Armadillo World Headquarters founder Eddie Wilson, still feeling the loss from closing the iconic venue the year before, convinces Kenneth to re-open as a restaurant, featuring recipes from Wilson’s momma Beulah. It breathes new life into the institution.
At the time, future city council member Daryl Slusher was a starving muckracker. He and fellow journalist Daryl Janes had just started a newsletter covering city hall.
Eddie really liked the Daryl Herald. He invited Daryl and me to the restaurant and gave us these laminated Threadgill’s business cards on which he wrote, “Please feed Daryl so he can get out there again chasing black hats.” Called a “hard card,” this served as instructions to the staff to comp the check. He said to use it about once a week. The only thing Eddie asked was that we give a generous tip. Daryl Slusher, The Austin Independent.
1987 Kenneth Threadgill passes away at the age of 77. But his service station-turned-tavern is now a touchstone for the people who give Austin its pulse.
1996 Wilson opens a second location just south of the river, downtown, that he calls “Threadgill’s World Headquarters”, remodeling an old cafeteria that’s within spitting distance of the former Armadillo World Headquarters, which had been razed and replaced with a multi-story office building.
Things then pretty much froze in place — a good place, rooted in Austin culture — and for the next couple of decades the venues coasted along on reputation and legacy. But tastes change and rents rise.
2010 Kenneth Threadgill is inducted into The Austin Music Memorial.
2015 Wilson auctions off 500 collectibles from the Armadillo World Headquarters.
2018 Wilson closes his downtown location, blaming rising rents and lease uncertainty. He stages a second auction.
“Threadgill’s World Headquarters owner Eddie Wilson watches as his collection of photos, posters and other art from the Armadillo World Headquarters is sold at an auction Saturday. Hundreds of items were auctioned off to a large audience, with some items going for thousands of dollars.” Dave Thomas, Austin American-Statesman, Dec. 8, 2018.
March 2020. The pandemic shuts down Austin. Wilson retires and closes the original Threadgill’s.
“It was just time,” Wilson said. “The place, we’ve been on a shoestring for a long time.” Texas Highways, 2020
“Coronavirus just gave me an excuse for my retirement. By the time we were shut down 24 hours, I knew we were not going to open up again.” Eddie Wilson quoted on KUT, August 2020.
August 2020 Wilson holds a “third and final auction” of memorabilia and collectibles.
March 2021 The New York Times calls Austin “the Hottest Market in the Country.”
April 2021 Wilson Sells To The Journeyman Group, described on its website as “a recognized expert in the development, financing, design and construction of quality properties in a variety of settings.”
TODAY
It’s been three and a half years. Curious what’s happened since, I drove by this morning.
At its best our city’s shaped between the blurred lines, the mix of old and new, people able to find common ground through a common love. That’s what I hold on to, the notion that regardless of what happens here, it’s in the soil.
courtesy Public Access Community Television Video Collection, Austin History Center, 1984.
Next week, we continue the trek north along Lamar towards another iconic landmark.
Alan Berg, Publisher
*quotes edited for concision and clarity.
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I had to read this knowing that it would be depressing. It was. Is there anything left of what made Austin such a great place to live?
Original Threadgill's is the first and only place a waiter asked me if I wanted seconds.