We were at the Pedernales Studio and he drove up and stopped to chat. I asked if I could shoot his portrait and he said, “sure”. Click. That simple.

Can you find your parents, or grandparents? This was counterculture ground floor, the foundation of the entire Austin Music scene. It all started here in 1970. It closed New Years Eve 1980 to Frank Zappa proclaiming”Good night, Austin, Texas, wherever you went…”. The Armadillo should have been converted into a historical monument, like the Alamo; it’s gone but not forgotten by anyone who sweated through those halcyon un-airconditioned summer nights...So many great acts, one after another, all playing new vital music. We thought we were discovering the world of music, but really the world of music was discovering us….

There’s something really appealing about Dolly in bell-bottoms and a big ol’ wig.

This is BB before his first heart attack, when he truly was a huge force of Nature. The Ambassador to the World for the Blues. The Best of America.

…after a show in Waco TX. February, ‘77. He signed until they were all happy.

Willie’s older sister and only sibling. She still plays in his band, bringing her graceful hymn-influenced style along for the ride. A wonderful human being in every way.

This would, much later, be the Album cover for “Waylon Live”, released on BMG Heritage records. I call it “The glare”.

My first year in Austin. I was 21. There was protest and upheaval in 1970. That was the context for what was to come.

Viet-Nam War protest.

Viet-Nam War protest.

Zappa loved the Armadillo, and we loved him back.

@ Thanksgiving concert 1972. Armadillo WHQ

This was the concert where he first sang “I just wanna be a cosmic cowboy…

So, in ‘72 the Stones played Ft Worth. I went, and took my $25 camera with a couple of rolls of film. I didn’t know I was a photographer; I was a 23 yr old kid with a camera. I had seats way back, but in those days, believe it or not, one could walk up to the front row, and with no security to bounce me(!), I was the closest person to Mick. I shot both rolls. When the concert was over Mick threw this huge bunch of roses into the crowd and they hit me in the chest!

The point is that when I got back to Austin people really, really wanted prints… and they threw real money at me for them. The light bulb over my head didn’t take long to burn bright — “hey, I could make a living doing this!”

…and that’s how I got started doing this self-taught, self-directed job of shooting musicians. I was just trying to pay the rent.

This is the first of many times that I’d photograph him.

…and just like that, an era was over

@ the Armadillo World Headquarters

@ Armadillo WHQ

He was wandering around, playing songs.

In retrospect, in front of my lens, Roky looked as good here as he ever would. Some years earlier, at Travis High school, the teachers thought he was the best looking boy in the school.

early 1974. This was the first time I saw what would be his regular band throughout most of his career,

Actually, we saw the rainbow first, and built the shot from there.

Reciting his poem “Luckenbach Moon” for the audience

They both had birthdays in March, so they celebrated them together.

…at noon in Bryan/ College Station at the Texas Motor Speedway.

When the music was starting up down here, he was finishing up his run…

As we loved to say, “where’s there’s a Willie, there’s a Waylon”.

His album cover “Blue Skies” on Lone Star Records

This was the cover of his self-titled album released on Lone Star Records. I shot it in my back yard.

…at work.

Their last outdoor concert. I was fortunate to get to shoot it.

Got the Texas Hatter’s hat and his Charlie Dunn boots. Hard to get more Texas than that!

Those boys from Carolina sure could sing.

Taken from St.Edwards University. It is the basis of the actual Austin City Limits skyline backdrop, updated repeatedly over the decades.

The Neville Brothers in Mardi Gras regalia with The Big Chief, George Landry.

New Year’s Eve 1979. @Austin Opera House.

@ Austin Opera House

…before it started, before noon, from onstage, on the 4th.

Gone but not forgotten. If he didn’t want you onstage, you were not onstage. Enough said. Taken at the Picnic.

…at Briarcliff, TX.

It should be a museum. Or a church. At least it should get a memorial plaque, talking about the birthplace of something very special…..Instead it’s now a parking lot and a high-rise. It’s to our eternal glory that our music scene burst forth here in such humble surroundings, and to our eternal shame that we didn’t understand what the Armadillo was, and try to preserve it, like our very own Alamo. I guess it’ll have to live on in our hearts, where it really belongs.

Some things never change. The attitude stays the same.

My favorite shot of BB. He seems so satisfied.

...from the roof of the new Hyatt Regency Hotel. ATX. Ann could be plenty tough when needed.

Jimmy Vaughan and Kim Wilson.

…concert at Auditorium Shores.

@ Southpark Meadows, ATX

…1990 at home. One of the best songwriters in town. This image graced the cover of his book of songs.

Austin native and friend. If you can’t dance to WC’s music, you can’t dance.

…singer by night, waitress by day.

Antone’s is Austin’s Home of The Blues. Since the ‘70s they’ve been located in about, guessing, 6 different locations, but the sound is always the same

Albert was the real deal. He had a long guitar cord and used it to go outside into the parking lot, and out into Guadalupe Street (with traffic), while he was playing for the audience inside. I’d never seen that, and can tell you that someone playing guitar in the street, dodging cars, is a very odd sight. Even if you knew he was connected to the band playing inside, it was still quite a sight.

Ann was hilarious, and so is Dolly. Their raucous laughter echoed throughout the entire ground floor. I wish I could tell you what they were talking about, but it was too racy for here. Ask me in person and I’ll tell you….

My favorite politician of all time. As real as it gets, and hilarious…A good friend.

So, we’re at the Fairgrounds in Johnson City, at a political rally for Dukakis for President, and I turn around and see her, about 100 yards away sitting on a longhorn steer. She saw me running up with my many cameras banging against each other, and she yells, in her incredibly thick Texas accent, “Scott, don’t you dare take my picture!” I ignored her and pressed on, laughing uproariously, and barely got the shot before she could get off.

God, I really miss Ann Richards. She didn’t get nearly enough time on the planet.

Ray Benson, the tall guy in white, is leader of Asleep (essentially the band is made up of him and whomever he has onstage with him). The Austin Opry/Opera House is gone, but was in existence as Willie Nelson’s (he owned it for about a decade) music venue from 1977 to about 1986 or so. I had my darkroom in the building, total access to anywhere I wanted to go, pretty much the run of the place. Today no photographer has access like that; I didn’t know how fortunate I was but I do now….

This was the beginning of “Blues on the Green”.

The little city by the Colorado River. Population 358,950 in 1980.

Currently (July 2019) the 11th largest city in the country, pushing a million inside the city limits (two million metro), growing faster than anyplace over the last 5 decades. There’s a reason for that. The people who chose to live here moved here to get in on a really good thing. Nice, friendly folks with a certain consciousness, self-select themselves as residents, moving from all over the country (now well over a hundred a day). Think classic Athens, about 500 BC, moved forward 2500 years. I really love this place, and so do most of the folks who live here… we’re all on the cutting edge of the future.

Ava Cherry was David Bowie’s girlfriend for a while; that puts the shot in context. She was a professional model, and loved to pose. And no, that’s not Jimi, although he looked and played just like him…

Stomu Yamashta went on to become a monk after the tour, but his band was an amazing collection of talent.

Billy Callery, a talented singer songwriter, hitchhiked into town from Nashville in 1972 with his band-mate Roger Bartlett . A friend of mine picked them up; they asked if she knew of anyplace or anybody who would put them up. She brought them straight to me.

This turned out to be life-changing event for me. Billy, 5 years older than me, became a great friend, sort of a big brother, and my guide to the nascent music scene and all of its denizens. And, actually, the fact I’m a photographer can be traced straight to him…

We (Billy, my future wife Mary, and I) were driving my VW bus down 6th St. in 1973, and I said, “what I’d really like to do is be a photographer”… Billy said, “well, then just be a photographer!”. I said, “but I have no training and I barely have a camera”, and I’ll never forget what he said: “Well, if you want to be a photographer then just BE a photographer; just call yourself that and stop doing other things to make money— that’s how I did it, I just called myself a musician and stopped working in the lumberyard.” … I took his advice and started being a photographer that very day.

Now known as Will Callery, living in Kentucky. A singer-songwriter, hell-raiser and trouble-maker, and one of my best friends, back in the day...Wrote “Hands on the Wheel” for Willie among other things. We ran together in the early 70s, and he introduced me to many of the musicians who were showing up and moving in, like Willie.

He burst onto the scene with his album “Old Five and Dimers”. He is a truly great songwriter, making great music to this day.

A local cowboy, Bobby Steiner, won National Bull-Riding Champion at the NFR championships in the early ‘70s. I may have the exact title of what he won wrong, but you get the idea. It was a big deal at the time— I just liked the way his boots and jeans met — a cowboy fashion statement.

Since he was on top of the world, he was also trying his hand at Rock Star, too…..You can’t say he didn’t try.

One of many performers for Willie Nelson’s Big 6-0 celebration/production. KLRU is where Austin City Limits was recorded for 36 years, although this show was not an ACL taping.

….for the Big 6-0 celebration, Willie’s 60th Birthday televised event. KLRU is the local PBS station where Austin City Limits was born. It has a fairly large soundstage in the building; for 36 years all of the ACL shows were taped there. (Now we’re at ACL Live at the Moody Theater, a much larger venue)… This show wasn’t an ACL taping, however...

This event is the only time I got to shoot Bob up close and easily accessible. It is much easier to get intimate (easier for the viewer to access emotionally) portraits if you are physically closer to the subject.

…backstage at the Austin Opera House. Muddy Waters opened for Bonnie. Research appears to confirm that the mystery band member is Austin’s own Pinetop Perkins

I’ve been photographing Bonnie since I started making images — we’re roughly the same age, although she’s been playing longer than I’ve been shooting. Bonnie is one of the greats in just about every way — singing, songwriting, guitar playing —she’s a truly great slide guitar player. Her seminal album “Home Plate” is still among my top 10 of all time.

Bonnie onstage at the Opry House (called Opry House until 1977, Opera House after that.) You can tell by the carpet. Willie owned the venue (Tim O’Connor ran it), and it was my home as the house photographer for over 5 years. This is where I really got started doing this for a living.

Ah, Bonnie. What a class act! And a pretty good performance portrait.

Performance portrait. Hmmm. What’s that? Essentially, it is a portrait of a person performing. (duh!)… It should accomplish some things to be good. It should convey the living experience; if it really does its job you can hear the music. It should tell a story, even devoid of context; in fact, isolating the subject out of nothingness helps turn the portrait into a symbol, or, if pared down enough, into an icon. In the end it should convey some of the divine nature of music, the sound the Muses make.

…self-explanatory. Detail shot. I love detail shots; if you’re going to tell a story you have to cover all of the facets if you want the story to be rich and full.

l-r Bob Livingston, John Inmon, Bud, Gary P. Nunn writing captions as “M.D.Shafter” for The Lost Gonzo Band. Bud is gone, but his writing will live on. In my opinion, Bud is the finest writer who ever lived here, with the possible exception of O. Henry, and maybe Billy Lee Brammer (The Gay Place).

Find your ancestors!

Detail from backstage looking through the speakers at the crowd. Something about this woman, in context, makes me smile.

Now, this field of fans is endless houses as far as the eye can see. Austin never stops changing but always somehow seems the same to this long-time resident.

This city truly has become the “Live Music Capitol of the World”. Ever since the early ‘70s huge crowds will turn out to hear music by the thousands.

This image is from early on — now the same spirit has manifested in SXSW (South By Southwest - the music industry’s celebration of live music by bands from all over the world), and ACL Fest, a two weekend mass-gathering outdoor music festival that features every hot band, and everybody who is anybody, since 2002.

In ‘75 there was a daylong show, headlined by Willie, at Bulverde, a little town north of San Antonio. It was a foggy day. I shot details of the crowd, and various vignettes, and thought nothing much about it. I was learning my craft and was trying for”artsy”. Much much later, when the W Hotel Austin opened, the owners decided to feature my photography throughout the hotel, one in every room. They loved these foggy studies of 70s concert-going America and picked them for display. I’ve grown to love them too, as time capsules to the beginning…

Wow. Take a look at those clothes. 70s all the way.

Devoid of context, this shot works as a “wtf?”

Still life: before the show, waiting on the music, in the fog.

One of the differences between people socially drinking and people smoking pot is the people smoking pot will always stand in an inclusive circle.

Texas still life. Eat more cows, y’all.

In the very beginning there was no problem with driving your pick-em-up truck right up to near the front of the stage. The correct public etiquette had not been worked out yet.

Backstage, between sets.