Riffs, Roams and Raves: A Weekly Column Riffs, Roams and Raves uncovers the creative, noteworthy and accomplished in the Wimberley Valley and beyond with tips on who to hear, where to go and what to see from managing editor Teresa Kendrick.
The high-spirited triumvirate of Texas talent — Marcia Ball, Shelley King and Carolyn Wonderland — rang out the 2024 Stars over Wimberley concert series with two memorable performances at the Wimberley Playhouse last week. Tickets for the initial performance sold out so quickly that a second show was added.
Titled “Home for the Holidays,” the performers loaded up their quivers with affectionate, double-dipped-inmirth songs that found their mark with the audience. Shelley King, in black with her splendid brunette tresses shining, warmed up the audience with her song “Christmas in Austin” with Marcia Ball at the piano and Carolyn Wonderland rocking a hot guitar solo. Wry, rowdy, and oh-so-real lyrics, combined with the trio’s bouncy patter, quickly established a party vibe on stage.
Carolyn Wonderland in cowboy boots and a dress of red tulle, established her Chuck Barry chops with his “Run Rudolf Run.” She joked about her custom hair color which she called “Chuck Berry” and quipped, “You mix it, you name it.”
In husky voice, Marcia Ball, also in red with a leopard-print jacket, performed her rich-ly drawn Christmas in Louisiana party song, “Fais Do Do.” In another song written from a kid’s point of view, she lampooned spectacularly lame parents with the lyrics “Mama don’t roll that reefer, Santa might see you.”
Shelley and Carolyn showed off great vocals on King’s lively “Kick (From Page 3)
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up Your Heels.” Carolyn followed with a song from the Janis Joplin songbook, “What good can drinking do?” that showcased Wonderland’s exceptional blues-gospel-rock voice.
All three performers joined in on a beautiful rendition of Willie Nelson’s “Pretty Papers,” despite a short lapse in which all three forgot the lyrics at the same time. They giggled and so did the audience, who loved them all the more for it. Perhaps the goofiest song of the night was Marcia’s “Happy Hippie Christmas.” Instead of roasting the turkey, hippies set the turkey free.
At the beginning of the second set, Lisa Nelson won a raffled basket full of memorabilia from the 2024 Stars over Wimberley season. She offered it up for an impromptu auction conducted by Coach Smith. After several minutes of spirited bidding, Andrew Weber took home the prize.
In the audience, singer songwriter Floramay Holliday from “Oak Cliff, the cool part of Dallas” was called to the stage to perform a Christmas song popularized by Elvis.
As the second set drew to a close, Marcia performed the title song to her recent album “Shine Bright” with the following introduction. “We encourage people to do random radical acts of kindness, generosity and goodwill. But if you can’t do that, then just sing ‘Shine Bright.’” And so they had, all night long. Even when Marcia deadpanned Beth Crowley’s hilariously depressed song, “You Ruined Christmas,” the Wimberley Playhouse shone with their talent, their music and their ability to connect to their audience. It was a fitting end to the WimberleyArts. org series that provides scholarships to students by way of the Robert Moreman Memorial Scholarship Fund. In January, WimberleyArts. org will launch their Winter Nights concerts and singer songwriter workshop.
Roams: Kerrville for Texas Furniture Makers’ Show My roam to Kerrville for the 25th Annual Texas Handmade Furniture show was grounded this week because of the surgery to repair our dog’s ACL. Birdy, a sweet Rottweiler- Doberman mix, blew out his left rear anterior cruciate ligament after a wild day of chasing rabbits. For those who are interested, the free show at the Kerr Arts and Cultural Center ends December 13.
Raves: Whiskey Ridge For those who haven’t heard, the Whiskey Ridge restaurant, across from the Hays City Store, opened November 11 in Driftwood. A week after they opened, I circled the FM 150 roundabout and pulled into the parking lot to see if the new restaurant had any business. After trying for several long minutes to park, it dawned on me that business might be booming.
While I didn’t have to exactly armwrestle my way to the hostess stand, the large handsome restaurant was brimming with customers ordering drinks, watching the game at the bar or dining on elevated, scrumptious- looking food. The place was positively festive with the clink of glassware, the smell of the wood fired grill, and people only too happy to shout over the ambient noise.
Owned and operated by two Austin couples with a long-standing restaurant partnership, Matt and Kathy Dodson, and Doug and Katie Young, the foursome also owns two upmarket sports bars in Austin named the Cover 2 and the Cover 3.
Before being seated, I strolled the layout. An indoor-outdoor bar was situated on one end of a large rectangle. In the middle was the dining area with a wide-open kitchen at one side. At the end of the rectangle was a wall of whiskey barrel heads behind which was a whiskey cache. Doors on two sides of the building led to covered, tiled patios with beautiful outdoor fireplaces. At one of them, a family was warming themselves from one of the first cold nights of the season.
At the bar, I took a seat and chatted with my neighbor who turned out to be Karen Ward of Wimberley. Her husband Greg Ward, a 12 Rivers real estate agent, sat next to her and I quizzed them about their entrees. Both meals looked very ample and delicious. We had to raise our voices over the din to hear each other but the three of us persevered and Greg and I discovered we had a story in common.
Owner Kathy Dodson tapped me on the shoulder and led me to a seat at a banquette and long table set up for communal dining. I loved seeing good tableware and a cloth napkin next to the menu. Over a glass of delicious Russian River Pinot Noir, I studied the menu. Appetizers, salads and handhelds took up one side of it, and items from their wood-burning grill, entrees and shareables took up the other.
I knew enough about Whiskey Ridge to know they served fresh Gulf Coast seafood and locally sourced meats, but they also catered to drink connoisseurs with their extensive collection of rare and small-batch whiskeys, ryes and bourbons.
Their steaks and chops come from the R-C ranch in Bailey’s Prairie, TX. Wagyu brisket and N.Y Strips, ribeyes, filets and pork chops landed on the tables of nearby diners as did oysters, calamari, gumbo and flounder from the gulf coast. Executive chef Steve Warner, a veteran of ATX Cocina and J. Carver’s could be seen in the kitchen wrangling orders.
I chose the bacon- wrapped jumbo shrimp with a chipotle peach glaze from the grill menu for $23 and the Wimberley Salad, $10, from the three salads offered. Described as fine cut cabbage and carrot, with mango, avocado, ramen noodles and heirloom tomatoes, the Wimberley Salad was topped with thai basil and a roasted peanut dressing. It was divine, as were the shrimp, and I wondered how the salad came to be named after Wimberley.
Impeccable service came from Kef, pronounced “keef,” who said he is an old hand at getting restaurants opened, on the server end of things. “I love the challenge of working out the kinks and the opportunity to see how different restaurants operate,” he said. He also dished about rare, small-batch whisky bottles that collectors vied for.
I asked owner Kathy Dodson, who stopped by to chat, if they expected this instant response from the community. “We felt good about Whiskey Ridge from the very beginning,” she said. From what I saw, the restaurant appears to have been born under a lucky star banked by a combined 50 years of experience with central Texas natives at the helm.
I left with eco-conscious cardboard togo containers for the large portions I didn’t want to leave behind. Whiskey Ridge is open Sunday to Wednesday from 3 to 10 p.m., and until 11 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Open Table reservations are available at whiskeyridgetx. com/ but plan well in advance as they go very fast.
