I started working
the door at one
of the staple bars
on East Exchange
in hopes of getting my foot in
to play music,
but I was soon
slinging drinks
one evening in a
desperate attempt
for management
to solve a missing bartender
problem. It was a
welcome promotion for a twenty
three year old that
was broke, trying
to write songs,
and liked to drink
on the job.
So for the next
four years that’s
what I did, I
stayed broke,
wrote songs, and
drank on the
job. All the while
listening to the
old timers stories
of the “working
stockyards”, the
songwriters that
played, and getting to know folks
We’re talking
about “Cowtown”, and
Cowtown has a
spirited past.
that worked at the
restaurants, bars,
shops, and hotels
up and down the
road.
The Stockyards
was home for a
long time in my
twenties. Most often I was behind
the bar, playing,
or having a beer
at a neighboring
joint. Everyone
knows everybody
else and that is
the spirit of what
keeps it alive.
The Stockyards
came into play
in the mid 1870’s
with the arrival
of the railroad
aiding the cattle drives. Meat
processing plants
popped up, an exchange building,
along with the
boarding houses.
Mix in the bars
and brothels
and you’ve got a
future tourist destination complete
with shootouts,
scandals, corruption, and
everything else a
cattle town has to
offer, but it’s not
just another cattle
town.
Acoustic Drive | 25