On the Porch: Life and Music in Terlingua, Texas

by W Chase Peeler

"In the desert of West Texas, ten miles from Mexico, lies the small town of Terlingua. On any given day, most of the people there are tourists visiting nearby Big Bend National Park. But a few hundred people call Terlingua home, and if there is one thing they love, it's music. Terlingua's music scene is the envy of cities many times larger. Local and touring musicians perform in commercial venues seven nights a week, and there is no end to informal porch-front jams. The town had a recording studio before it had a school, a well-stocked grocery store, or a water utility. Why does such an isolated, little-known place ring with singing and guitars? Based on more than two years of on-the-ground research, On the Porch tells the story of this remarkable community through careful documentation and the testimony of its members. Chase Peeler situates Terlingua in the broader worlds of the culture industry, amateur music, and US-Mexico border politics. He also explores the collision of gentrification and off-the-grid fantasy, as urbanites move in and transform a precarious human ecosystem. Today there are more than a hundred songs about Terlingua. On the Porch celebrates that musical spirit, showing how it sustains a place like no other"--

241 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 14, 2021

Reviews

[June · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author has captured the essence of a small West Texas town and the surprisingly deep roots of it's music culture that is one of it's strongest foundations. On the Porch is well written, insightful, tender, interesting, complex and quite astute. An excellent book!

[Jaime Dickerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have an interest in the Bug Bend region of Texas, grass roots Texas music, or the strange and beautiful town of Terlingua, this is a terrific book!

[Paige Fuhrman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Take me back to Terlingua rn @Corissa @Ashley