Willie Nelson, Robert Earl Keen and The Jakes at Whitewater Amphitheater

Whitewater Amphitheater's official/unofficial kick off to thier 2025 concert season happened on Friday, April 18th with Willie Nelson and Family w/Robert Earl Keen. The Jakes from Fredericksburg played on the biergarten stage before the gates officially opened. Things have changed quite a bit at Whitewater since I was last there in 2018, but there is definitely a noticeable ease and joy from the staff that I encountered, and the night went off flawlessly... Well, except for some quick, technical issues getting Mattson Rainer's mic hot when he was announcing Robert Earl Keen.

Robert Earl Keen concluded his career as a touring musician in September 2022, but like many who have spent most of their adult lives entertaining large crowds, it's an intoxicant that is difficult to resist. After multiple attempts at finding new hobbies, he decided to spend his retirment doing what he loves the most, entertaining large crowds and continuing to write and record music. Among his accomplishments over the past couple of years, he experienced his Grand Ol Opry debut in March, he'll play Red Rocks Amphitheater on May 9 with Turnpike Troubadours, and will return to Gruene Hall on May 17.

Willie Nelson has assembled a perfect band to accompany him while still maintinaing a relatively busy touring schedule for a 91 year old. Up front with Willie is Waylon Payne who has not only had a very successful career as a songwriter and performing musician, but also has had some success in acting including expertly portraying Jerry Lee Lewis in the 2005 film "Walk The Line". He is also joined up front by his surprisingly entertaining youngest son Micah Nelson, and with 2 guitars and 2 voices adding to Willie, the sound is thick with harmony and both hints of Willie as a younger man and sounds that are both classic and new and bring a brand of Willie to yet another generation in a way that gives them an experience of the history of music as well as fresh, new songs that resonated with the crowd. There are people of all ages on hand for this chapter of Willie, including parents introducting their kids to music that was played for them as children by their parents. It's hard to believe that the original outlaws of country music are all but gone, but for now we still have Willie Nelson, and he's still got us.

VIDEOS:

Willie Nelson:


Robert Earl Keen:


The Jakes:

An end of an era...

I became interested in visiting local venues that had live music around 2010. To be fair, I've ALWAYS loved music, I just discovered (finally) that New Braunfels and the surrounding area was sort of a hot bed of musical talent, and many local restaurants, bars and straight up music venues provided a place for people to use as an outlet for that talent. So after a couple of years of getting to know people that owned and worked in some of these places, as well as some of the local talent, I decided that instead of just going and hanging out and enjoying the music, I'd try to use social media and other skills I've scraped together over the years to make an effort to shine a light on the local music scene. I wanted other people that may not have figured it out yet to realize what amazing talent spends time in the places we live near, and at the same time try to create content to provide more information to people that already loved this local music scene.

So, I started going out occasionally and enjoying some of what our area had to offer, and while I was there I would take a few notes, a few pictures and some video so i could leave behind a memory of what I experienced. Thankfully a few people gave me some advice on different things I could do that would provide more benefit for people living or traveling here, and over a 6 year period I saw and heard a lot of great things and part of my memories are available in the Archive section on the right-hand side that goes from 2012 to 2018 when I decided to take a break. There's also a lot on my Facebook page, Instagram and Youtube channel, go check them out of you'd like, but I decided even though I was stepping away from this, it didn't hurt to leave those memories behind for people to enjoy if they wanted to.

Over the past 6 years I've thought several times about jumping back in and doing something with this platform again, but I wasn't sure what that would mean, so I waited.

The 2025 schedule that was coming together at Whitewater Amphitheater finally nudged me into taking some action. This year I am going to attend several shows at Whitewater, and I'll put a few words down on here along with some photos or video, starting with this past Friday night, when Willie Nelson, Robert Earl Keen, The Jakes and even a brief appearance by Zac Brown kicked off my 2025 music season. I'll have all that ready soon, along with some video from that night.

So, when I say "an end of an era...", this time I mean an end of my hiatus, but I'm not stepping back into things exactly how it was before, I created a Facebook group that people are WELCOME to post information about upcoming live music in the area, whether you're a musician or a fan, feel free to promote any sort of live music anywhere within roughly 50 miles of New Braunfels. I'll also try to share those posts to my Facebook page. When i remember to do it... :) I'll also throw some things out there as I see them.

I do love our local music scene, and it's good to be back, and in the words of Robert Earl Keen, "It feels so good feelin' good again".


The new Facebook group:
Music of New Braunfels (FB group)

The Facebook page:
Music of New Braunfels

YouTube:
Music of New Braunfels (@musicofnb)

Also Insta, X etc at @musicofnb