A Rich Musical Tradition - Music has been an indispensible element of daily life in the history of Red River City, consolation for the soul. From the early days, dance halls rang with the sounds of fiddles and banjos playing the popular waltzes of the time, a diversion for the work-weary hard rock miners who were a long way from home and still broke.

At the same time, the piano in the parlor at the Young family home provided formal songs for “proper” folks, nourishment for the spirit and a taste of culture in an otherwise rowdy and sometimes violent gold camp atmosphere.

Dust Bowl Days - During the 1930s and ‘40s when the town was rapidly growing to meet the needs of weary travelers and vacationers fleeing the dust storms on the plains, performers like Santa Fe Kate, the Oklahoma Playboys and Professor Marmaduke entertained the “Texicans” with tunes like those heard on the radio “back home.” Whether dancing at the Black Mountain Playhouse, Tony Simion’s Dance Hall or Dan Zehna’s Silver Spruce, the music was swingin’ with the life and times of down-home folks.

Folky Rockin’ Cowboys - Following World War II, the growth continued as lodges, restaurants and souvenir shops sprang up. By the 1960s, the folk song craze that swept the country set up shop in Red River but The Coachmen (Wayne Kidd, Rick Fowler and Ray Wylie Hubbard) became Three Faces West and the Progressive Country music scene of Austin soon had a summer Outpost in Northern New Mexico. Michael Murphey, Rusty Weir, Steve Fromholtz and Jerry Jeff Walker could be found honing their skills on Red River stages.

The Urban Cowboy mania of the 80s saw the Great American Honky Tonk Band ministering to the 2-step fans, while the 90s brought the star power of Michael Martin Murphey’s legendary WestFest to town with Brooks & Dunn, The Texas Tornados, Dixie Chicks, C.J. Chenier and Don Edwards.