festival fever

Bunkhouse's Trans-Pecos Festival of Music and Love furthers its mission, donatesto Wildfire Relief and offers more tickets

1953 VAGABOND
Trans-Pecos Festival of Music and Love 2010

Today, El Cosmico announced that $5 of any music or camping ticket purchased for the 6th Annual Trans-Pecos Festival of Music and Love between now and September 20th will go to the Central Texas Wildfire Relief Fund, helping families and individuals in the Central Texas area who were affected by the devastating wildfires.

The philanthropic bent fits perfectly within the Festival's mantra of "music and love," organized and run by Liz Lambert's Bunkhouse, a collective renowned for designing and managing the most eclectic boutique hotels in Texas (see: Hotel St. Cecilia, Hotel Havana, Hotel San Jose, El Cosmico).

So how do designers and a hotelier know how to do a music festival so well? Lambert ingeniously hosts the Trans-Pecos Festival on El Cosmico hotel grounds—home to a slew of renovated airstreams, yurts with bamboo floors, teepees with king sized beds and plots where you can pitch your own tent. Rather apropos of a festival that encourages attendees to "dance in a wide open field, sleep under the stars and eat drink and be merry."

Musically, this year's Trans-Pecos bill features—but is not limited to—Tift Merritt, Patty Griffin (with a special guest everyone is buzzing about), Ben Kweller, The Black Angels, Amy Cook, Kat Edmonson and the recently added Mother Falcon.

And seeing as how Marfa is recognized as one of the hippest art communities, not only in Texas, but in the U.S., there will plenty of offerings in the way of cultural consumption. You're always welcome to venture off Festival grounds and visit the famous Marfa galleries or poke around the vendor marketplace, featuring art, clothing and other survival necessities from Squashblossom Vintage, Alabama Chanin, Satch, Bootleg, Chia Hats, Gail Chovan for Blackmail, Alyce Santoro/Sonic Fabric, Catherine Abston and others.

And should you get an athletic itch in your legs, there's also a baseball field.

And a sewing workshop.

And a trunk show.

There's seriously nothing you cannot do. Purchase your ticket now, send $5 to help the wildfire victims, and as Trans-Pecos likes to say, pick whichever Festival elements you like and "choose your own adventure."

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The 6th Annual Trans-Pecos Festival of Music and Love will take place in Marfa from Sept. 22nd through Sept. 25th.

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Willie forever

Willie Nelson receives prestigious honor and inaugural endowment at UT Austin

Photo by Pamela Springsteen

Willie Nelson will receive the LBJ Liberty & Justice for All Award at a gala this spring.

Willie Nelson has earned countless awards for his seven-decade music career, but the legend is also well known for his activism — particularly in the areas of farming and food security. In recognition of his longtime advocacy work, the LBJ Foundation will present its most prestigious honor, the LBJ Liberty & Justice for All Award to Nelson this spring.

The award will be presented at a special gala tribute dinner on Friday, May 12, 2023, which in turn will benefit the newly established Willie Nelson Endowment for Uplifting Rural Communities at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, a part of The University of Texas at Austin.

According to a release, the endowment will fund research and student fellowships focused on sustainable agriculture, eliminating hunger, resilient energy, sustainable water, and natural disaster recovery to benefit rural and farm communities.

Along with Neil Young and John Mellencamp, Nelson organized the first Farm Aid concert in 1985 to raise funds for struggling farmers, which has since raised over $70 million for those who own and operate family farms throughout the United States. He has also helped raise millions around disaster relief, for families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks and for veterans, as well as working toward environmental and animal advocacy, and voting rights. His Luck Family Foundation provides financial grant assistance and other resources to artists, organizations, and programs in need, donating proceeds from Luck Reunion events to Farm Aid and other longtime charity partners like the Texas Food & Wine Alliance.

“Willie Nelson is a national treasure who gained fame through his sheer musical talent and won hearts as someone who truly cares about the lives of his fellow Americans," says Larry Temple, Chairman of the LBJ Foundation Board of Trustees, via release. "A product of rural Texas, Willie has never forgotten where he comes from. His longtime efforts to raise money and awareness for family farmers through Farm Aid and numerous other endeavors to help those in need throughout his career make him a true inspiration.”

The dinner will honor Nelson's lifelong support for rural communities, embodying President Lyndon Baines Johnson's commitment to public service, particularly in the areas of farming and food security. With their similar backgrounds as rural Texans, both President Johnson and Nelson shared a keen awareness of the struggles of those who work in the agricultural industry.

“The bounty of the earth is the foundation of our economy," President Johnson shared in a 1965 Special Message to Congress on Agriculture. "Programs in every aspect of our nation’s life depend on the abundant harvests of our farms.”