Armadillo World Headquarters (The 'Dillo or Armadillo WHQ) was an influential Texas music hall and beer garden in

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

at 525 Barton Springs Road – at South First Street – just south of the Colorado River and downtown Austin. The 'Dillo flourished from 1970 to 1980. The structure that housed it, an old National Guard Armory, was demolished in 1981 and replaced by a 13-story office building.

History

In 1970, Austin's flagship rock music venue, the

Vulcan Gas Company The original Vulcan Gas Company (usually called simply Vulcan) was the first successful psychedelic music venue in Austin, Texas. The Vulcan opened its doors at 316 Congress Avenue in the fall of 1967, and closed in the summer of 1970. Gary Scanlo ...

, closed, leaving the city's nascent and burgeoning live music scene without an incubator. One night, Eddie Wilson, manager of the local group

Shiva's Headband Shiva's Headband (or Shiva's Head Band), was an American psychedelic rock band, formed in Austin, Texas, United States, in 1967. Original members included fiddler Spencer Perskin and his wife Susan, keyboardist Shawn Siegel, guitarists Kenny Parke ...

, stepped outside a nightclub where the band was playing and noticed an old, abandoned National Guard armory. Wilson found an unlocked garage door on the building and was able to view the cavernous interior using the headlights of his automobile. He had a desire to continue the legacy of the Vulcan Gas Company, and was inspired by what he saw in the armory to create a new music hall in the derelict structure. The armory was estimated to have been built in 1948, but no records of its construction could be or have been located. The building was ugly, uncomfortable, and had poor acoustics, but offered cheap rent and a central location. Posters for the venue usually noted the address as 525 Barton Springs Road (Rear), behind the Skating Palace. The name for the Armadillo was inspired by the use of armadillos as a symbol in the artwork of Jim Franklin, a local poster artist, and from the building itself. In choosing the mascot for the new venture, Wilson and his partners wanted an "armored" animal since the building was an old armory. The nine-banded armadillo (''Dasypus novemcinctus'') was chosen because of its hard shell that looks like armor, its history as a survivor (virtually unchanged for almost 50 million years), and its near-ubiquity in

Central Texas Central Texas is a region in the U.S. state of Texas surrounding Austin and roughly bordered by San Saba to Bryan and San Marcos to Hillsboro. Central Texas overlaps with and includes part of the Texas Hill Country and corresponds to a ph ...

. Wilson also believed the building looked like it had been some type of headquarters at one time. He initially proposed "International Headquarters" but in the end it became "World Headquarters." In founding the Armadillo World Headquarters, Wilson was assisted by Jim Franklin, Mike Tolleson (''né'' Robert Michael Tolleson; born 1942), an entertainment attorney licensed by the

State Bar of Texas The State Bar of Texas (the Texas Bar) is an agency of the judiciary under the administrative control of the Texas Supreme Court. It is responsible for assisting the Texas Supreme Court in overseeing all attorneys licensed to practice law in Te ...

in 1968, Bobby Hedderman from the Vulcan Gas Company and Hank Alrich. Funding for the venture was initially provided by Shiva's Headband founder's father, Dan Perskin, and Mad Dog, Inc. an Austin literati group that included

Bud Shrake Edwin A. "Bud" Shrake, Jr. (September 6, 1931 – May 8, 2009) was an American journalist, sportswriter, novelist, biographer and screenwriter. He co-wrote a series of golfing advice books with golf coach Harvey Penick, including ''Harvey Pen ...

. The Armadillo World Headquarters officially opened on August 7, 1970, with Shiva's Headband, the Hub City Movers, and Whistler performing. Michael E

The Armadillo caught on quickly with the

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

culture of Austin because admission was inexpensive and the hall tolerated cannabis use. Even though illicit drug use was flagrant, the Armadillo was never raided. Anecdotes suggest the police were worried about having to bust their fellow officers as well as local and state politicians. Soon, the Armadillo started receiving publicity in national magazines such as '' Rolling Stone''. In a story from its September 9, 1974, edition, '' Time magazine'' wrote that the Armadillo was to the Austin music scene what The Fillmore had been to the emergence of rock music in the 1960s. The clientele became a mixture of hippies,

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...

s, and businessmen who stopped by to have lunch and a beer and listen to live music. As Gary Nunn put it, "It's been said that our music was the catalyst that brought the shit-kickers and the hippies together at the Armadillo." At its peak, the amount of Lone Star draft beer sold by the Armadillo was second only to the Houston Astrodome. The Neiman Marcus department store even offered a line of Armadillo-branded products. The unique blend of country and rock music performed at the hall became known by the terms "The Austin Sound," "Redneck Rock," progressive country or "Cosmic Cowboy." Artists that almost single-handedly defined this particular genre and sound were Michael Martin Murphey, Jerry Jeff Walker and

The Lost Gonzo Band The Lost Gonzo Band was an American country rock band which was founded in 1972 and toured and recorded with some of the most iconic and colorful musicians in Texas including Jerry Jeff Walker Michael Martin Murphey and Ray Wylie Hubbard. They wer ...

. Many upcoming and established acts such as Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Ray Charles,

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, ...

and ZZ Top played the Armadillo. Freddy Fender, Freddie King,

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, The Sir Douglas Quintet all recorded live albums there.

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

played five shows during 1974. The Australian band

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...

played their first American show at the Armadillo with Canadian band Moxy in July 1977. The Clash played live at The Armadillo with

Joe Ely Joe Ely (born February 9, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist, whose music touches on honky-tonk, Texas Country, Tex-Mex and rock and roll. He has had a genre-crossing career, performing with Bruce Springsteen, Uncle Tupelo ...

on October 4, 1979 (a photo from that show appears on the band's '' London Calling'' album) and the notorious Austin punk band The Skunks. Despite its successes, the Armadillo always struggled financially. The addition of the Armadillo Beer Garden in 1972 and the subsequent establishment of food service were both bids to generate steady cash flow. However, the financial difficulties continued. In an interview for the 2010 book

Weird City ''Weird City: Sense of Place and Creative Resistance in Austin, Texas'' is a non-fiction scholarly text by Joshua Long published in 2010 by University of Texas Press. The book uses the " Keep Austin Weird" movement as a central focus to discuss ...

, Eddie Wilson remarked:

"''People don't remember this part: the months and months of drudgery. People talk about the Armadillo like it was a huge success, but there were months where hardly anyone showed up. After the first night when no one really came I ended up crying myself to sleep up on stage.''"

This predicament was blamed on a combination of large guaranteed payments for the acts, cheap ticket prices, and poor promotion. The club finally had to lay off staff members in late 1976 and file for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

in 1977. Another factor in the club's demise was that it sat on of land in what soon became a prime development area in the rapidly growing city. The Armadillo's landlord sold the property for an amount estimated between $4 million and $8 million. The final concert at the Armadillo took place on December 31, 1980. The sold-out New Year's Eve show featured

Asleep at the Wheel Asleep at the Wheel is an American Western swing group that was formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, and is based in Austin, Texas. The band has won nine Grammy Awards since their 1970 inception, released over twenty albums, and has charted more t ...

and Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen. Some reports say the show ended at 4 am, while others claim that the bands played until dawn. The contents of the Armadillo were sold at auction in January 1981, and the old armory was razed for a high-rise office building.

Live recordings made at the Armadillo

Progressive country, rock, blues, punk

# Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen: ''Sleazy Roadside Stories'' #* Recorded December 1973, released in 1988; # Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen: '' Live from Deep in the Heart of Texas'' (1974); #

Captain Beefheart Don Van Vliet (; born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as Th ...

, The Mothers: '' Bongo Fury'' (1975) #* Frank Zappa (lead guitar, vocals);

George Duke George M. Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a pr ...

(keyboards);

(harmonica, vocals, shoppy bags); Bruce Fowler (trombone); Tom Fowler (bass); Denny Walley (guitar, vocals); Terry Bozzio (

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

) #* Recorded May 20 & 21, 1975; "200 Years Old" and "Muffin Man" intros were recorded in January and February 1974 at the

Record Plant The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including Blon ...

, Los Angeles; #* Back-side of the

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to either the printed paperboard covers typically used to package sets of and 78-r ...

: "Special thanks to the kitchen staff at The Armadillo, especially Jan Beeman" ''(née'' Janelle Gay Hopper; 1934–2007) #

New Riders of the Purple Sage New Riders of the Purple Sage is an American country rock band. The group emerged from the psychedelic rock scene in San Francisco in 1969 and its original lineup included several members of the Grateful Dead. The band is sometimes referred ...

: '' Armadillo World Headquarters, Austin, TX, 6/13/75'' (1975) # Sir Douglas Quintet, Freddy Fender,

Roky Erickson Roger Kynard "Roky" Erickson (July 15, 1947 – May 31, 2019) was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was a founding member and the leader of the 13th Floor Elevators and a pioneer of the psychedelic rock genre. Biography Erickso ...

: ''Re-Union of the Cosmic Brothers'' (1975) # Waylon Jennings: ''Waylon:Live'' (1976) # Sir Douglas Quintet: ''Live Love'' (1977) # Doug Sahm, Augie Meyers & Friends: ''Wanted: Dead or Alive'' (1977) #

The Bugs Henderson Group Buddy Henderson ''( né'' Harry Fisher Henderson; October 20, 1943 – March 9, 2012), better known as "Bugs" Henderson, was an American blues guitarist. He was popular in Europe and from the 1970s, was based in Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas, where ...

: ''At Last – Recorded Live on Stage'' (1978) # The Cobras: ''Live & Deadly'' #* Cobras: Denny Freeman (guitar), Larry Lange (bass), Rodney Craig (drums), Joe Sublett (''né'' Joseph M. Sublett; born 1953) (saxophone), Paul J. Constantine (born 1950) (trumpet), Larry Medlow "Junior Medlow" Williams Jr. (1953–1997) (vocals, rhythm guitar), also with Angela Strehli & Paul Ray (''né'' Paul Henry Ray; 1942–2016) (vocals) #* Recorded November 1979, released in 2011;

Jazz

# Freddie King; with David "Fathead" Newman and Jerry Jumonville: ''Larger Than Life'' (some tracks, not full record) #* Freddie King (vocals, guitar); John Thomas, Darrell Leonard (trumpets); Jerry Jumonville (tenor and alto sax); David "Fathead" Newman (tenor sax); Jim Gordon (''né'' James Wells Gordon) (tenor sax, organ); Joe Davis (''né'' Joe Lane Davis; 1941–1995) (bari sax); Alvin Hemphill (organ); K.O. Thomas, Louis Stephens (piano); Michael O'Neill and Andrew "Jr. Boy" Jones (guitar); Robert G. Wilson (1956–2010), Bennie Turner (bass guitar); Charles Myers, Big John E. Thomassie (1949–1996) (drums); Sam Clayton (congas) #* Recorded April 1975; RSO SO-4811 #

Carla Bley Carla Bley (born Lovella May Borg; May 11, 1936) is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and bandleader. An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera '' Escalator over the Hill'' ...

Mike Mantler Michael Mantler (born August 10, 1943) is an Austrian avant-garde jazz trumpeter and composer of contemporary music. Career: United States Mantler was born in Vienna, Austria. In the early 1960s, he was a student at the Academy of Music and ...

(trumpet); Gary Windo (sax); Alan Michael Braufman (saxophone);

John Clark John Clark may refer to: Entertainment *John Clark or Signor Brocolini (1841–1906), Irish-born American operatic singer and actor * John Clark (actor) (born 1932), English actor and theatre director *John Clark (American actor) (1933–2011), ...

(French horn);

George E. Lewis George Emanuel Lewis (born July 14, 1952) is an American composer, performer, and scholar of experimental music. He has been a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians ( AACM) since 1971, when he joined the organization ...

(trombone); Bob Stewart (tuba);

Blue Gene Tyranny Robert Nathan Sheff (January 1, 1945 – December 12, 2020), known professionally as "Blue" Gene Tyranny, was an American avant-garde composer and pianist. "His memorable pseudonym, coined during his brief stint with Iggy and the Stooges, was de ...

(keyboards); Patty Price (bass); Phillip Wilson (drums) #* Recorded March 27, 1978; Hi Hat HHHCD3112 # Phil Woods Quartet – 2 releases: ''Live'' (1978) and ''More Live'' #* Mike Melillo (piano);

Steve Gilmore Rear Admiral Stephen Richard Gilmore, (born 17 January 1961) is a retired senior officer of the Royal Australian Navy. He served as Commander Australian Fleet from October 2009 until December 2011, and as the Head Australian Defence Staff (Wash ...

(

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

); Bill Goodwin (

) #* Recorded May 23 & 26, 1978; Aledphi AD5010; , , , , # Anthony Braxton (solo alto sax) (1978) #* Recorded October, 1978; released March 2011, Braxton Bootleg Records BL007

Selected people

Music poster artists (alphabetical)

Posters by the following artists were part of the iconic artwork that helped define Armadillo World Headquarters in the 1970s – "The Armadillo Art Squad:" *

Michael Edward Arth Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

(de) (born 1953) * Kerry Awn * Ken Featherston (''né'' Kenneth Wayne Featherston; 1951–1975) * * Danny Garrett * Henry Gonzalez (''né'' Enrique Barrientos Gonzalez; 1950–2016) *

Guy Juke William De White (born September 4, 1951), better known as Guy Juke, is a Austin, Texas–based graphic artist and musician. As a poster artist he created memorable imagery for nightclubs such as Armadillo World Headquarters and was one of the 'A ...

Bill Narum Bill Narum (January 11, 1947 – November 18, 2009) was an artist, illustrator, and Texas counter-culture icon known for his work in popular entertainment, and for being one of the few non-natives to have lived with the Tarahumara tribe of norther ...

(''né'' William Albert Narum; 1947–2009) * Micael Priest (1951–2018) * Dale Wilkins (''né'' Dale Evan Wilkins; born 1949) * Sam Yeates (''né'' Samuel Wade Yeates; born 1951)

Photographer

Vermont-born Burton Wilson (''né'' Burton Estey Wilson; 1919–2014) – no relation to Eddie – was the '' de facto'' house photographer for the

and Armadillo World Headquarters. Eddie Wilson once told him, "Just tell anybody who asks that you own the place. That way, you'll never need a backstage pass."

Legacy

Historical marker

On August 19, 2006, the City of Austin dedicated a commemorative historical plaque that had been installed in the parking lot of One Texas Center, where the Armadillo once stood. The '' Texas Monthly,'' in its 1999 "Best of the Texas Century" edition, named Armadillo World Headquarters as the "Venue of the Century."

Annotations

Notes

References

News media

* * * * * * *

Books, journals, magazines, and papers

* * * * poster – Note: an original poster – 11 3/16 in. (284.2 mm) × 16 13/16 in. (427.0 mm) – is held by the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History * * * * * * * (preview ''via'
Google Books
* * * * * * (the book began as an article for '' Texas Monthly'' and was then expanded and published by

Heidelberg Publishers David L. Lindsey is an American novelist, working primarily in the mystery and crime fiction genres. He has published fourteen novels in a writing career spanning 29 years. Biography Lindsey was born in Kingsville, Texas, in 1944. He spe ...

in Austin) *
alternate link
limited search, ''via''

HathiTrust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locally ...

). Note: Richards, the author, distinguished his career in Texas as a civil rights lawyer; from 1953 to 1984, he was the husband of Ann Richards; a year before they divorced, Ann Richards was elected Texas State Treasurer, which won her the distinction of becoming the first woman (since

Ma Ferguson Miriam Amanda Wallace "Ma" Ferguson (June 13, 1875 – June 25, 1961) was an American politician who served two non-consecutive terms as the List of Governors of Texas, governor of Texas: from 1925 to 1927, and from 1933 to 1935. She was the firs ...

) in 50 years to be elected to a state-wide office; after their divorce, she went on to become the Texas Governor. * * * * * * * * * The ''Texas Times'' is a bygone tabloid, monthly except June, printed by the Texas Student Publications, Inc. ( UT Austin), under the auspices of the University of Texas System; it launched September 1968

Audio-visual media

* *

Government and genealogical archives

* (searching "Burton Estey Wilson," born October 19, 1919,

Derby, Vermont Derby is a town in Orleans County, Vermont, United States. The population was 4,579 at the 2020 census, making it the most populous community in Orleans County. The town contains four unincorporated villages: Beebe Plain, Clyde Pond, Lake ...

; GS Film: 2073394; Digital Folder: 7011700; Image 1690 of 2859; citing Secretary of State;

State Capitol Building This is a list of state and territorial capitols in the United States, the building or complex of buildings from which the government of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia and the organized territories of the United States, exercise ...

; Montpelier)

External links

awhq.com
– Armadillo World Headquarters Official Site (website registrant is Threadgill's Restaurant – officially known as Threadgill's Restaurants, Inc. – which, since the mid-1970s, has been owned by Edwin Osbourne Wilson, co-founder of Armadillo World Headquarters) {{Authority control Demolished music venues in the United States Culture of Austin, Texas Music of Austin, Texas Music venues in Austin, Texas