What are you listening to in 2026 ?

Mat · Sunday at 4:04 PM

hollydolly said:

Gene Watson would guest at the Wells Fargo Club Houston early 70s. A lot of stars would guest, the club was so busy they had the money to pay for guest. Today 53 years later the building is a private business and the parking lot has totally disintegrated. It was a an adjoined section of a very large shopping center so they had a lot of parking space. Kelly Shoppa was the house band and singer, it was probably the best singer and band in Houston. Before George Straight was even known. Kelly was the second to record Amarillo by Morning, I want to say Mack Davis the first but I might be wrong ... Straight the 3rd to record it, it was and always will be the best by Kelly Shoppa.

hollydolly · Sunday at 4:08 PM

Mat said:
Gene Watson would guest at the Wells Fargo Club Houston early 70s. A lot of stars would guest, the club was so busy they had the money to pay for guest. Today 53 years later the building is a private business and the parking lot has totally disintegrated. It was a an adjoined section of a very large shopping center so they had a lot of parking space. Kelly Shoppa was the house band and singer, it was probably the best singer and band in Houston. Before George Straight was even known. Kelly was the second to record Amarillo by Morning, I want to say Mack Davis the first but I might be wrong ... Straight the 3rd to record it, it was and always will be the best by Kelly Shoppa.

thank for that info Mat...but I have no idea who kelly Shoppa is....

Mat · Sunday at 9:50 PM

hollydolly said:
thank for that info Mat...but I have no idea who kelly Shoppa is....

Kelly was a local Houstonian. He started his career while in high school. There was a Polish outdoor place, I think it was called Marvin Gardens. He was there in the late 60s but I was never at the place. I read recently that Kelly had died about 4 years ago. There were quite a few Country Western Clubs that had large crowds 7 days a week. I usually stayed on my end of town and actually had gone to Gilley's just once. I didn't care much for Gilley's club but I did like a lot of his recordings.

There was a club in Pasadena that one local singer played regularly "Johnny Lee" had one hit record. He married the Blonde Girl "Charlene Ti[ton" who had a role in the TV show Dallas. The older I get the worse my memory gets. It just takes longer to remember some names I haven't spoken for decades. A few of the popular Western Clubs were, The Winchester, The Yellow Rose, The Breezeway next to the San Jacinto River.

Can't forget the Farmers Daughter, then there was the Western Swing owned by the young singer Randy Corner. Randy's club was directly across the street from a High School. Laws were pretty liberal at the time. All I mention were not the only clubs but they have all gone now. This photo was made in early 76 and a get together of friends at The Farmer's Daughter. The Club was one of the older clubs in the Houston area and not very large.

One club outside Houston was in Humble Tx an old oil field town but oh so large today. I can't remember the name of that club but it was rather small and I do remember having to brush bugs and assorted critters off my boots because the entrance had a lot of high uncut grass all around.