LORAN SMITH: Getting back to the basics at Luckenbach, Texas

LUCKENBACH, Texas — If you know about this unincorporated town in the Texas Hill Country, you probably are a country music fan who has heard Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings sing of going back “…to Luckenbach, Texas,” or “The Basics of Love.”

If you are familiar with the history of this part of the country, where German immigrants put down roots before the Civil War, you might expect any social gathering to be accompanied by the polka, but this is a place for country music aficionados — all three of them. That, officially, is the population of Luckenbach. The post office was closed on April 30, 1971, and its zip code, 78647, was retired.

There are two main buildings here — one which once was the post office. This building also serves as a working saloon and a general store which is mostly a souvenir shop, where business seems to function briskly. The other building is the dance hall where “Waylon, Willie and the Boys,” performed. The town’s motto (Everybody’s Somebody in Luckenbach) is often referenced in the local newspaper, an eight-page monthly known as the “Luckenbach Moon.”

Wonderfully, Luckenbach is an alluring piece of Americana. A trip here is worth the effort. Its proximity to Fredericksburg, 13 miles away, offers considerable options for tourists. Thirty minutes east of here, you can visually massage the landscape that daily greeted Lyndon B. Johnson when he was growing up in Johnson City.

This is the heart of the Texas Hill Country where Spanish and German influences are experienced in food, beer, architecture and music. And don’t forget about the Comanche’s, who got here first — back when none of their kind staked out claims and had any need for barbed wire.

They make highly regarded wine here which is gaining in importance. Tourists can’t get enough of the Texas Hill Country. Retirees have a deep and abiding affection for the hill country, too. Only Florida attracts more retirees. If you are among the well-to-do in Austin, Houston or San Antonio — even Dallas — you likely have a ranch in these parts to retreat to when down time comes about.

Linda Baardseth made an introduction to Leah and Greg Thomas followed by one to Lorna Bowermaster, assistant manager of the store. Lorna has a niece, Rachel Swartz, who lives in Athens. Greg then hosted a tour of the dance hall, built in 1870 where leading names in country music have performed. It can seat up to 500, and many weekends, it is jam packed. When Willie last performed, in a nearby field, more than 17,000 came for an up-close and personal performance. They pick and sing in the general store every day at 1:00 p.m. There are two house guitars if you mosey in without one and want to join the fun.

When I am out this way, I often pause and recall Gene Autry singing that endearing and classic Western, “Back in the Saddle again.” You remember? “Out where a friend is a friend; and the longhorn cattle feed on the lowly jimson weed.” Driving into Roger Cameron’s spread, there stood a stately longhorn — the kind you have often seen in movies. Made one feel he was in the movie himself. Only needed some cattle rustlers and six guns popping.

I have driven out of the way to have lunch with Roger and his wife, Rene, to renew a latent friendship, owing to the friendship of a man from the hills of Tennessee, Gene Hartman. There was no agenda with the Cameron’s—it was purely social. Once you know a gentleman, there is always cause to underscore continued interaction.

Roger’s remarkable success was built on recruiting military officers for the business world. He realized that junior military officers could integrate quickly and successfully in business. For over 45 years, Roger and Rene provided leadership and training which enabled thousands of military officers to flourish as businessmen. Their firm, Cameron-Brooks, became a pacesetter with the concept of recruiting from the military. That should make you feel good about our military!

Retirement has enhanced Roger’s quail hunting opportunities. His card should read, “Have (shot) gun, will travel.” Not even Paladin, the gentleman gunslinger, could shoot like Roger, whose affection for the sport of quail hunting has him traveling all over the U.S. His favorite sport often brings him to South Georgia, the quail hunting capital of the world.

You find interesting people (and places) wherever you go, and you don’t have to look under a rock to find them.