On the Porch : life and music in Terlingua, Texas / W. Chase Peeler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Peeler, W. Chase, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gentrification--Texas--Terlingua.

Gentrification.

Music--Texas--Terlingua.

Music.

Terlingua (Tex.).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 pages)

Place of Publication:

Austin, Texas : University of Texas Press, [2021]

Summary:

In sunbaked Terlingua, Texas (pop., a few hundred), residents joke that there is a musician under every rock. Located ten miles from Mexico in one of the remotest corners of the United States, the town had a recording studio before it had a school, a well-stocked grocery store, or even a water utility. Open jam sessions are a daily ritual, and some songwriters make a living from their craft despite being thousands of miles from New York or Nashville. Why does such a tiny and isolated place ring with singing and guitars? Based on more than two years of on-the-ground research, On the Porch tells the story of this small but remarkable community. Chase Peeler invites us into the music, introducing us to a cast of characters as unique as the town itself. He reveals how novices and experts perform together—a rarity in contemporary America. He recounts the devastation brought on by a border closure and describes how music is once again uniting people across the Rio Grande. He considers the impact of gentrification in an off-the-grid paradise, and how this threatens to transform a precarious musical ecosystem. On the Porch is a celebration of human musicality, of the role that music plays and can play in our lives, both in Terlingua and beyond.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Prologue: On the Porch

Introduction: Hundred Miles from nowhere

Chapter 1 Starlight and stage lights

Chapter 2 In the incubator

Chapter 3 The Austin effect

Chapter 4 Voices from Both sides

Chapter 5 Getting fatter

Epilogue: Green chile stew

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-4773-2366-X

1-4773-2365-1

OCLC:

1338020291