Riffs, Roams and Raves:
Riff: Bobbie Nelson and Amanda Shires
Last year in March, Bobbie Nelson, older sister to Willie Nelson, died at the age of 91. She was an accomplished pianist and member of the Willie Nelson band from 1957 through 2021.
After a chaotic start in life in which both parents abandoned them, the siblings were raised by their grandparents who put them on the road to music. Willie credits Bobbie with grounding him and providing the direction he needed throughout his life, both personally and professionally.
On stage she was a lovely and equable presence, by all accounts, with her signature long hair and wide brimmed black hat.
Willie credits Bobbie with being “. . . the real musician in the family.” The two played together for more than 80 years, 64 years professionally, with Bobbie forging many elements of Willie’s sound. Her influences were gospel, Bach, Gershwin, Hoagie Carmichael and others, and reviewers called her playing “immaculate.”
In Austin in 2021, Nashville fiddle player Amanda Shires paired up with Bobbie to record the album “Loving You.” Their collaboration produced an album of enduring songs that were Bobbie’s favorites, such as “Always on my Mind,” “Summertime,” (from the 1935 opera “Porgy and Bess”) and eight others, including the title tune, an acoustic number that Bobbie wrote that showcases her long communion with the piano.
At Gruene Hall last weekend, Shires, with superstar Ray Benson and his band, Asleep at the Wheel, paid tribute to Bobbie in a performance dedicated to her.
Precisely at 8 p.m., Benson and “the Wheel” cranked up and inaugurated the tribute with his enduring brand of Western Swing. At six foot seven inches, his robust baritone and engaging showmanship coalesced a hot, sweaty audience into a jubilant love letter to the genre with “Miles and Miles of Texas,” “Take Me Back to Tulsa,” and “Hot Rod Lincoln.”
When Shires came on stage with her fiddle, she told the crowd, “This concert is a tribute to Bobbie. I first saw her playing when I was 16 . . . Much of my path seemed possible because I saw her making a career in music.” Photos of their collaboration show the two embracing warmly with apparent affection.
In no time, the audience was singing along with “Waltz Across Texas” and “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground,” both songs from the album.
Later, as I left the Hall for cooler air in the courtyard, I could hear “Summertime” drifting through the screen doors and into the street. Amanda’s vocals, so reminiscent of Dolly Parton’s, helped create a perfect collision of music, place and time that seemed to be a fitting homage to the late Ms. Nelson.
Roam: Gruene Gruene, of course, is pronounced “Green.” Once an industrious cotton town settled by German immigrants, it fell into decline and was incorporated into the city of New Braunfels in 1979. Like Albert, Texas, there is no actual town of Gruene anymore. Rather, it is a district of New Braunfels and a tourist destination on the Guadalupe River, 30 miles from Wimberley.
It was 103 degrees when I rolled into town on a Sunday afternoon. The streets were full of plucky visitors wearing high-summer gear, taking in the sights and seeking out any air conditioned place they could find.
If they’d set their sights on the landmark Gristmill Restaurant, they would have been sorely disappointed. A former cotton gin, the huge enterprise has ten dining areas that include an outdoor restaurant and seating for perhaps 500 people at a time. The one thing it can’t offer though, is air conditioning.
By 5 p.m., it was sweltering inside the Gristmill. Its high ceilings and overhead fans did nothing to ameliorate the accumulated heat of the day. A battalion of young people served the crowds with a professionalism and an equanimity that was flat out admirable. How the staff could operate in the heat and turn out quality, upscale food is beyond me.
About fifty steps from the Gristmill, the Gruene Antique Company drew visitors into its 6500 square feet of collectibles — and air conditioning. Far from the thrift store end of the spectrum, the company is remarkable for its thorough labeling of practically every item to be found in its huge store, with the item’s name, era, and value. You know what you are buying, and they certainly know what they are selling you. Prices are collector prices, but fortunately not all the items are so dear that most people can take home a memento of their visit to Gruene.
Around the corner from the Gruene Antique Company is The Barn pottery, formerly known as “Buck’s Pottery,” and literally housed in a barn for the last 42 years.
Rick Buck, a relative of the founders, Dee and Terry Buck, gave me a tutorial on how to pronounce their shared last name from his position over his pottery wheel in the shop’s studio. It’s not “buck,” like a mate to a doe. “It’s “boo,” like the sound a ghost makes, with a “k” sound at the end,” he said, and nodded when I got it right.
As I watched his nimble fingers work his clay into a bowl, I asked if he suffered from arthritis or carpal-tunnel syndrome, common complaints of ceramists. He said “No,” attributing the health of his wrists to wearing elastic supports at night.
Mr. Buck asked me if I needed any high pressure sales tactics, and I laughed at his forthright tongue-incheek suggestion. He didn’t need to. The work in The Barn is beautiful, fine and practical, with components that say “quality.” I was pleased to find pottery beverage jars with metal, not plastic, spigots.
Every year on the 4th weekend in October, The Barn hosts the Texas Clay Festival, gathering more than 70 Texas potters together to exhibit their wares and to fortify their connections with each other.
No trip to Gruene would be complete without taking in a show at Gruene Hall, the oldest continuously operating dance hall in Texas. Thoroughly broken in like a pair of cherished boots, you’d be challenged to find a level floor in this landmark that was built by the town’s namesake, Heinrich (or Henry) D. Gruene. Following the burning of the town’s cotton gin in 1922, the stock market crash of 1929 and the Mexican boll weevil, Gruene became a ghost town. In the ‘70s, it almost fell to developers who wanted to raze the old district. But thanks to the efforts of historian Cheryle Fuller, who conducted a historical survey, Gruene was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Three other people are credited with saving Gruene Hall and the buildings we visit today: Chip Kaufman, Mary Jane Nalley and Pat Molak. Without their efforts Gruene would be tourist river condos.
Rave: More Fave Raves Readers have written in with their favorite bites and beverages from vendors around town.
Becky and Mark Williams say the Butter Rum Budino Trifle at Longleaf Bar + Grill is incredibly delicious and light as air.
Karitta Love at the Wimberley View says she’s a fan of the Old 300 BBQ in Blanco and Robert’s by the Lake restaurant at Canyon Lake.
Lisa and Art Valentine say the pork chops at Longleaf Bar + Grill are always good and love the Top Shelf Margaritas, empanadas and shrimp dorado tacos at Corazon de Mexico. Branching out into Austin, they told me the Kemuri Tatsu-Ya Japanese restaurant is terrific. They also like to be in the audience on Tuesday and Friday nights when Marvin Bottera and his band, Broken Glass, play at Fish Tales.
Share your fave raves by emailing me at tkendrick@wimberleyview. com.