Billy Bob's Texas
The year was 1981. Prepared for their plan to fall through, Billy Bob Barnett and Spencer Taylor set April Fools' as the opening date for their brand-new, cowboy-themed nightclub situated in the heart of the Fort Worth Stockyards. Much to their surprise, all goes according to plan on April 1, as Larry, Steve, and Rudy: The Gatlin Brothers are the first to take the stage at what will become known internationally as “The World’s Largest Honky-Tonk.”
Forty years later on April 1, 2021, Billy Bob’s Texas is coming full circle as it kicks off a month-long celebration with The Gatlin Brothers returning to the stage.
Once The Gatlin Brothers were booked for the event, general manager Marty Travis continued to curate a star-studded lineup of country music artists to perform throughout the month of April into the first week of May. The lineup includes Hank Williams Jr., Midland, Dwight Yoakam, and Miranda Lambert.
“It turned into an anniversary day, to an anniversary weekend, to an anniversary month,” Travis says.
To commemorate the country nightclub’s upcoming anniversary and its continued contribution to preserving Fort Worth’s Western heritage, on March 23, the City of Fort Worth and Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price honored Billy Bob’s with an official proclamation designating April 1, 2021, as Billy Bob’s Texas’ 40th Anniversary.
As part of the celebration, Billy Bob’s will also be releasing a 40th anniversary coffee table book alongside digital archives detailing the rich history of one of the city’s most prominent landmarks.
“We’re just hoping for the entire month of April to release content that creates a little bit of nostalgia and pays respect to the last 40 years of Billy Bob’s Texas, that really highlights the history — not only of the building but of the brand and of all the people who have been through here over the last 40 years,” says Terran Flusche, director of marketing for Billy Bob’s.
Before it was Billy Bob’s, the 127,000-square-foot building constructed in 1910 was an open-air barn housing prize cattle for the Fort Worth Stock Show. The building was later converted into an airplane factory during World War II and then into a massive department store before becoming home to the iconic country nightclub it is today.
Billy Bob’s opened in 1981 at the climax of the Urban Cowboy craze. The honky-tonk has closely followed the fluctuations of the Fort Worth oil, gas, cattle, and real estate industries across its history, Travis says, from when the industries were booming in the early 1980s to when they came crashing down around 1987. Bankrupt, Billy Bob’s was forced to close its doors Jan. 8, 1988, until a new management team — that included Stockyards icons Holt Hickman, Donald K. Jury, and Steve Murrin — brought it back to life in November of that same year. Billy Minick would later join Billy Bob's as partner and manager, with wife, Pam, serving as head of marketing.
Billy Bob's Texas
Line dancing at Billy Bob's in the 1980s
Since opening, Billy Bob’s has welcomed more than 25 million visitors to enjoy late-night line dancing atop a Texas-sized stage, dining and drinking at more than 30 bar stations, pro-bull riding, and, of course, the concerts. Over the years, many country music stars have made history at Billy Bob’s, leading the country nightclub to tout the title of “Country Music Club of the Year” 12 times by the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association.
For the last 40 years, Billy Bob’s has hosted many record-setting country music stars. In 1983, Merle Haggard set a world record for buying the largest round of drinks for which the bill, consisting of 5,095 shots of Canadian Club Whiskey for the entire club, totaled $12,737.50. In 1986, Hank Williams Jr. set a record for the most bottles of beer sold at a show with 16,000 bottles, and this record stood strong for the next 30 years until Ryan Bingham shattered it with 16,800 sold at his show in 2014. Recently, Miranda Lambert claimed the titles of not only the first solo artist to sell out at the club but the first female artist to do so as well.
While Billy Bob’s is widely known as a country music scene, it has also welcomed some of the biggest names across rock 'n' roll. Ringo Starr, Men at Work, REO Speedwagon, Styx, The Doobie Brothers, KC and the Sunshine Band, Pat Benatar, and ZZ Top are only a few that have set foot on the stage at Billy Bob’s Texas.
Billy Bob's Texas has played host to some of the biggest names in music throughout the decades. Here are a few highlights.
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Jerry Lee Lewis in 1981
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Merle Haggard in 1983
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Ray Charles in 1984
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The Judds in 1985
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Chuck Berry in 1988
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Garth Brooks in 1990
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Ringo Starr in 1997
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Joseph Dowling
Miranda Lambert in 2011
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The Toadies in 2015
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Kacey Musgraves and Leon Bridges in 2016
Billy Bob’s can easily accommodate 6,000 visitors, though attendance at the 40th anniversary concerts will be capped at 50% due to COVID-19. The pandemic has pressed Billy Bob’s to make some difficult decisions over the last year, Travis says, such as furloughing around 260 employees and taking 30% pay cuts for the 10 who stayed on staff at the beginning.
“When we first opened back up, it felt like every six weeks I was having to reinvent my business model,” he says. “Every week there was something. Every week there was a problem.”
Since reopening in August, Billy Bob’s hasn’t looked back. Many furloughed employees have been able to return, and preventative measures continue to be in place. In addition to restricted capacity, sanitizing stations and temperature screenings remain for everyone who walks inside; and masks are still required for backstage personnel to ensure the health and safety of performers, despite Governor Greg Abbott’s lifting of the mask mandate.
Adapting business operations to comply with federal and local COVID-19 regulations was challenging, Travis says, but Billy Bob’s is proud of what it was able to accomplish during the past year. The club underwent much-needed renovations, conducted five blood drives, and held livestreamed concerts, from which proceeds were donated to the Texas Restaurant Association, Texas FFA, and the United Way of Tarrant County Creative Industry Relief Fund.
Billy Bob’s prides itself on being more than an entertainment destination. It rightfully boasts about its unwavering dedication to curating an authentic Texas experience for both locals as well as out-of-town guests.
“We are constantly looking for how to fix problems and make things better,” Travis says. “We are constantly looking to give people a reason to come back.”
