![]() She recalls first going there in her late teens, while visiting her older brother Bruce Robison when he lived in San Marcos. Robyn says that the Devil’s Backbone has been one of couple’s favorite local hangs for as long as they’ve lived in Wimberley (20 years), and her own fondness for the tavern goes back even further. But for all the stress and anxiety that’s entailed, it’s above all been a true labor of love. Indeed, while their business partner Road came onboard with a fair bit of relevant operations know-how, gleaned from years of booking Luckenbach, Threadgill’s and, most recently, the Old Coupland Inn and Dance Hall (which she bought and began restoring herself a year ago), the Ludwicks are having to learn this whole other side of the music business on the fly. “But going into this … ( laughs) I didn’t know the first thing about running a dancehall and bar!” ![]() “I love hard labor, and I’ve always loved doing everything myself and learning new things,” she says after her set, alluding to her and her husband’s other passion-project side gig, restoring vintage AirStream trailers as vacation rental homes. With myriad little management-level details/worries on her mind at the moment (like the parking situation outside and whether or not they’ve got enough Lone Star Light on hand to get them through the day), doubtless she’s eager to just strap on a guitar and play: Not just for the thrill of breaking in her own dancehall, but because that 40 minutes or so performing in front of an audience will likely be her first chance to actually “relax” in months. 21, and she’s a few minutes from joining Lunchmeat and the rest of her band onstage to kick off the day’s “Devil’s Revival” festivities, an afternoon of free live music which will also feature an acoustic set by gravel-voiced Austin legend Jon Dee Graham. Jon Dee Graham and Mike Hardwick playing the first “Devil’s Revival” Sunday on Oct. “Our kids think we’ve lost our minds,” Ludwick says, with a little laugh suggesting she’s half inclined to agree with them. And they’re not just leasing the building, either, as the bar’s previous proprietors, Helen and Rick Ferguson (and others before them) had for decades they bought the whole damn place - along with the two acres of rugged and supposedly haunted Hill Country property (the site of an old Indian campground) on which it’s stood for nearly a century. 20, the Ludwicks and Road officially became the proud new owners of the Devil’s Backbone Tavern. And to think all it took was a small matter of rolling up her sleeves and doing it herself - well, along with her husband/bass player John “Lunchmeat” Ludwick and longtime friend Abbey Road. “I really wish somebody would do with something with it …”įast forward to the present, and Ludwick’s wish has come true. “This is the coolest part of the bar, but it’s been closed forever,” she sighed. But Ludwick saw something more, hiding in plain sight: the ghost of a “gorgeous” old dancehall just needing a little TLC to bring it back from the dead. ![]() “Check this out,” she said, cracking a door to the right of the shuffleboard table to reveal a large adjoining room full of boxes, retired neon beer signs and all manner of other cobweb-crusted hoarder’s detritus. The Devil’s Backbone Tavern in Fischer, Texas. ![]()
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