Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 5h 27 years ago today, on October 9, 1999, the Houston Astros played their last game at the Astrodome. The team had played at the Dome for for 34 years. In 2000 they started playing at Enron Field aka Minute Maid Park aka Daikin Park. Here: fans at the last game, courtesy the Houston Chronicle. 14811
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 20hThinking about Merle Haggard made me think of his collaborations with Willie. I've loved their cover of a famous Bob Dylan tune since I first heard it. Just two old warriors and old friends. youtu.be/GzR5gJRtxcQyoutu.beDon't Think Twice, It's AlrightYouTube video by Willie Nelson - Topic 1282
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 22hBy now all y'all know that Buck Owens was a Texan, but did you know that in 1963 Merle Haggard played bass in Buck's band? Here's a 1963 photo of L-R: Wayne Stone, Don Rich, Buck Owens, Jay McDonald, and Merle Haggard. Merle gave Buck the idea to call his backing band the Buckaroos. Pretty great! 2403
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 08/10/2026In September, 1903, Lucille Mulhall set the world steer-roping record at the Grayson County Fair in Denison, Texas, when she roped and tied a steer in just 30 seconds. Here's photo of Lucille in 1909. She was one of the first rodeo cowgirls. This tidbit may be on the pop quiz, by the way. 1342
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 08/10/2026"Who are those two **sholes with Switzer?" --- a drunk Oklahoma Sooners fan yells at the Texas-Oklahoma game in 1976. The two **sholes with Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer were, in fact, President Gerald Ford and U.T. head football coach Darrell Royal. President Ford had traveled to watch the game. 1171
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 08/10/2026A Cross-B Ranch cowboy, Frank Smith, brands a maverick calf out on the open range in 1909. Frank is using a ring branding iron for this. Another great shot from famed cowboy/photographer Erwin E. Smith, who left a great archive of photos that you can view at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth. 0313
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 08/10/2026Lyle Lovett's entire Tiny Desk concert is worth watching but this part, especially, being that this is my favorite Lyle Lovett song. youtu.be/LFs3XUqJvNg?...youtu.beLyle Lovett: NPR Music Tiny Desk ConcertYouTube video by NPR Music 1294
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 08/10/2026So, several of my FB readers have already had this and said it was delicious! 000
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 08/10/2026Traces of Texas reader Anita Leipper graciously submitted this wonderful 1967 photo of girls at the Texas A&M Consolidated High school prom. Anita's older sister is second from the right. The gloves, the dresses ... too perfect. Thank you, Anita. This photo just SCREAMS 1967 to me! 1312
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 07/10/2026You've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cow bell! 020
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 07/10/2026The Fletcher's Chocolate Corny Dog won in the "sweet" category at the State Fair this year. Description: made out of smooth milk chocolate fudge, dipped in Fletcher’s Corny Dog batter. Then (naturally) they deep fry it, top it with a drizzle of yellow vanilla icing and serve with raspberry compote. 4242
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 07/10/2026The Texas Quote of the Day: "I get from the soil and spirit of Texas the feeling that I, as an individual, can accomplish whatever I want to, and that there are no limits, that you can just keep going, just keep soaring. I like that spirit." ---- Barbara Jordan, Texas trailblazer 0324
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 07/10/2026A man in Canadian, Texas, as seen by the artful camera of Julius Born, who turned the back of his small general store into a makeshift studio and made magic. Courtesy the The Portal to Texas History 1376
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 07/10/2026A muddy downtown Freer, 1937. This scene is actually tame compared to some I've seen, but can you imagine how hard it would be to actually keep your clothes clean in such a milieu? A super photo from Carl Mydans for LIFE magazine. 0316
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 07/10/2026More cowbell? This is the cowbelliest song of all time. Goodness, Delbert, his band, and Ashley Cleveland TEAR IT UP on this song. youtu.be/gERl4BLpG9c Sheesh!youtu.beDelbert McClinton and Ashley Cleveland - liveYouTube video by guitlines 2163
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 06/10/2026With players practicing in the background! 120
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 06/10/2026I've always loved Joe Ely's version of this song, but David's is just as good. And why not? He wrote it. youtu.be/wyXwB3B5Fbg You can call out the sheriff and the highway patrol There's a fool on the road careening out of control Hard liquor, fast women, Lord I can't leave 'em be And I wish ...youtu.beDavid Halley "Hard Livin'"YouTube video by haltmusic 1232
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Ray Tompkins submitted this circa 1935 photo of the famous Fulton mansion in Rockport, Texas. The mansion, which still stands, overlooks Aransas Bay down there in Rockport. I have to say that it is one of the state’s most remarkable Victorian homes. Built between 1874 and 1877. Thanks, Ray! 0706
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Scott Reeder shared this shot of his dad, Hugh Reeder, and his sister back in 1950. Hugh was a linebacker for the Texas Longhorns and, when his wife (Scott's mom) had to work, she'd drop Scott's sister off when the Longhorns were practicing so that Hugh could take care of her (in between tackles). 2353
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Cowboy stuff. One of my own photos, taken in Brown county in 2015. 1263
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Whatever she sang, she put her entire body and soul into it. youtu.be/A24JZkgvNv4youtu.beBig Brother & The Holding Company, Janis Joplin - Summertime (Audio)YouTube video by JanisJoplinVEVO 1273
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 05/10/2026I just put on her greatest hits album. I especially like the version of Summertime on it. 100
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 05/10/2026TOT reader Miriam Wells found this photo of Janis Joplin in the First Christian Church Youth Choir of Port Arthur, Texas, taken on Dec. 26, 1954. Janis is on the second row, second from the left. She was 14 years old when this was taken. Miriam found this at the Portal to Texas History. 1475
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Morgan Tippit, the Police Chief of Liberty, Texas, some time during the 1950s. He looks like the kind of law enforcement officer who would run things in an Andy Griffith/Mayberry kind of way. I can almost see Skeeter, the town drunk, letting himself into a jail cell to sleep one off. 0272
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Look at the separation between the horse's back and the bottom of the saddle. 010
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 04/10/2026The Texas Quote of the Day: "People, whether they know it or not, like their blues singers miserable. They like their blues singers to die afterwards." ---- Janis Joplin, in an interview with rock journalist Dave Dalton in June, 1970. Three months later --- 56 years ago today --- Janis died. 1449
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Dave Henderson shared this stunning photo of his grandfather, Tom Henderson, who was a well-known bronc rider and Wild West Show performer for 25 years. He was based in WIchita Falls but rode in rodeos from Montana down to Texas. You can really see the coiled power as the horse readies to spring. 3442
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Just think: the planet has been here for billions of years and we got to live at the same time as Stevie Ray Vaughan. youtu.be/ihoudTTcWp4?...youtu.be"Life By The Drop"- Stevie Ray VaughanYouTube video by Jennifer AngelGuard144 56612
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 04/10/2026The face of hardship: a migrant agricultural worker and his wife outside their tent in San Sebastian, Texas, 1939. 1517
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 03/10/2026A happy scene in Rockport, 1911. I think the folks here have just arrived. I am really trying to make out what's on the flag and I think I see the word "thistle" in reverse but I just ... can't ... quite ... read it. Eeesh! 2365
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Texas drought reveals dozens of dinosaur tracks hidden for millions of years www.chron.com/wildlife/art...chron.comRare Texas find reveals 60 new dinosaur tracks, mysterious claw marksVolunteers raced to document the finds before the Paluxy River rose again. 37517
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Tomorrow, October 4th, is the 150th anniversary of the opening of Texas A&M to classes. It was on October 4, 1876, that the doors opened to students ... of whom there were six. By June 26, 1877: there were 106 students. Shown here: the A&M campus in 1877. 0235
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Stevie Ray Vaughan was born 72 years ago today in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas. TOT reader Watt Casey took this photo of Stevie Ray with Double Trouble (Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon) at Sam's BBQ in East Austin on July 20, 1981, and let me share it here. Thank you, Watt. RIP Stevie Ray! 2809
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 03/10/2026My friend Mary sent this link to me and said that Waylon was "one of the handsomest men to ever live." youtu.be/2OU4ZhZc5Zw?... 51 years ago. Can that really be true?youtu.beWAYLON JENNINGS - LONESOME ON'RY AND MEAN (Live In TX 1975)YouTube video by waylonvids 1285
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Who says we don't have fall color in Texas? I took this shot of a bigtooth maple in Dog Canyon in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The canyon was covered in mighty swales of red and orange and yellow and I felt fortunate, indeed. 2456
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 03/10/2026UT football player Jack Crain, an All American, with two attractive co-eds in front of the Littlefield fountain on the UT campus in Austin. Talk about big man on campus! 2223
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 02/10/2026A camp for oilfield workers near Snyder, 1949. Sort of a man camp, I reckon, but for roughnecks and tool pushers who had families. Think of how many times variations on this have played out in Texas! That little kid probably had to manufacture his own fun, from his own imagination, I'm guessing. 2334
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Little house on the prairie # 173. An abandoned house in Hale County. One of my own photos, taken in 2007. It was a bit windy. There was a door that kept creaking open and slapping shut. I was alone with the ghosts. 2503
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Not only still there, but about to be repurposed. I think the Gage folks bought it and are turning it into a visitor center. 011
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 02/10/2026youtu.be/5cvzXSaXYq0?si=0lS2DCMFqbpqILgy I've made no bones about the fact that, being pure poetry, this is my favorite Robert Earl Keen song. Houston's Bonnie Bishop's voice lends itself well to the song's dominant themes of resignation and loss. Here's a live version. Tell me what you think.youtu.beBonnie Bishop - "Not a Drop of Rain"YouTube video by Charlie Burttram 3215
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 02/10/2026The old depot in Marathon, Texas on an early morning walk. Marathon was served by the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railway, a branch of Southern Pacific. I'm not sure when it was abandoned. One of my own photos, taken in 2018. 2525
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 02/10/2026The Dinner Bell Cafe in Muleshoe, Texas. What an utterly classic collection of cars. It's like if you drew up this scene in a movie you were writing. I'll let you car folks tell me exactly what they are re: model and makes. 5454
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 01/10/2026TOT reader Jeff Martin kindly shared this excellent 1906 portrait of his great grandfather, Tolbert Toombs Ginn, who served as sheriff of both King and Stonewall counties. Aren't those some awesome boots? The Sheriff was apparently a formidable man, as evidenced by a 1918 article I read. 0281
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 01/10/2026A man and woman in El Paso circa 1900. They look wealthy to me. I have decided that his name is Ferdinand, he's an attorney, and that her name is Maria. 1292
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 30/09/2026 Texas Tech University is 101 years old today, on account of it opened in Lubbock on Sept. 30, 1925. There were 914 students in four schools: Agriculture, Engineering, Home Economics, and Liberal Arts. Naturally, being Texas, there was chicanery involved. But that's a story for another day. 6352
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 30/09/2026I have heard that he was quite the character. 100
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 30/09/2026A house in Comanche, Texas, 1939. By the time Russell Lee took this photo, it was simply an elaborate pigeon roost. It no longer stands, but part of its foundation still does. 3664
Traces of Texas @tracesoftexas.bsky.social · 29/09/2026This is a photo of Texas Longhorn superfan Scott Wilson in his longhorn-themed Cadillac. Scott was undoubtedly on his way to a game when this was taken. Before he died last year at the age of 74, Scott had seen 595 longhorn games in a row, without missing a single one. Courtesy Scott's social media. 3502