Henry's and the Honky Tonk Heyday

From '90- '92, the world's coolest country music club was a 70-capacity dive on Burnet Road

L-R Bert Rivera, Jason Roberts, Howard Kalish, Don Walser, Skinny Don Kealing

It can’t be easy to impress a member of Led Zeppelin, especially on Burnet Road, but when Jeff Pinkus of the Butthole Surfers took John Paul Jones to a country music club the size of his closet to see Don Walser in early 1992, the legendary bassist rebooked his flight out of Austin so he could have another couple weeks of Henry’s.

Jones was in town to do preproduction for Independent Worm Saloon, the Buttholes 1993 major label debut, but he couldn’t get enough of Walser on Mondays and Junior Brown on Tuesdays. “Holy shit, that’s Jimmy Day!” The former Hank/Elvis/Willie sideman would be tucked in the corner with his head down like he was wanted, but there was no disguising his magnificence on pedal steel, an instrument JPJ was learning.

“There was a feeling that Henry's was the last of a dying breed of Texas clubs and everyone was there to savor the mood,” said John Conquest, a Brit whose Music City Texas (later 3rd Coast Music) championed Henry’s early and often. “Whenever you had visitors from out of town you'd take them to Henry's and the pure Texas honky-tonk experience would just blow them away.”

There wasn’t much to Henry’s, not even a stage, but the calendar was filled-out by such legit, fresh-faced traditionalists as High Noon, Chaparral, Teddy and the Talltops, Ethel and Methyl, Roger Wallace, Wayne “the Train” Hancock, Kelly Willis and Haywire. There was no cooler scene anywhere- definitely not in Nashville or L.A.- than at 6317 Burnet Road, where the masters and disciples played for vintage two-steppers and punks in mohawks. .

But it wasn’t as profitable as an Auto Zone would be, so this mound of Austin soul was wiped away after a Halloween 1992 blowout with the Cornell Hurd Band. The line to get in for that final night stretched almost to the Poodle Dog Lounge! Thirty years later, folks are still talking about Henry’s, but it was open just 11 years- and had been a destination only for the last two. Plus, there were a lot of groovy things happening in Austin at that time. Henry’s had to compete with the Black Cat Lounge and the revived Continental. But for where it was- in the mattress showroom corridor- it was something special.

James and Gayle Henry just before they opened Henry’s in 1980.

As is so often the case in Austin clubland, the owners and staff deserve much of the credit. "James fostered an environment that was just so much fun for the musicians and the crowd,” said Ted Roddy.

“The audience was appreciative and the tips were great,” said fiddler Howard Kalish, who originally played with Walser at Henry’s in August 1990 as a duo. “It's amazing that it was all gone by '92.”

James and Gayle Henry, who married when he was 19 and she 15, were hardcore country music fans from Leander whose yellowed memorabilia covered the walls, with the spirit filling the air. Well, actually cigarette smoke did. Henry’s regulars learned to disrobe at the front door when they got home to let their clothes air out.

Arkansas-born James Henry opened his namesake beer joint in 1981 after retiring from Lone Star Paper at age 55. Gayle grew up working in the country music club business, with her parents Buck and Marie Wickson running the Hilltop Inn (misspelled in the ad below) a Western swing dancehall on far north Burnet Road in the ‘50s and ‘60s. James was there, helping out, most nights.

“I used to sleep in a basket under the bar,” said the Henrys’ oldest daughter Linda Troutman. Younger siblings Laura, Jimmy and Tommy graduated from the same “honky tonk daycare.”

Ad from 1957. Opened in 1949, the original Hilltop burned to the ground in 1959, but was reopened six months later on Hwy 183 at Balcones Drive.

When James and Gayle fulfilled their longtime dream of opening their own country music venue, they continued the family tradition, with the kids serving ice cold beer and great cheeseburgers, while James and Gayle held court at the big, round “King’s Table.” If they called you over to sit with them and their hillbilly friends, it was better than an Austin Music Award.

In the ‘80s, near North Austin was full of quirky beer joints, including the Poodle Dog, Lala’s Little Nugget and Hector Alvarado’s Taco Flats, but what set Henry’s apart was the high quality of live music. The amount of talent per square foot was just crazy!

Howard Kalish, Bruce Robison, Kelly Willis at Henry’s.

"Because of the stuff they played on the radio, I didn't know much about real country music until I started going to Henry's," said former High Noon bassist Kevin Smith, who now plays in Willie Nelson’s Family. "Being 10 feet away from Don Walser when he'd sing was just incredible exposure to the bare, primitive soul of that music and the people who love it."

The Henrys were devastated when they got the notice to vacate, as were the bands and fans, but a “Henry’s Appreciation Night” at La Zona Rosa in Oct. 1992 buoyed the spirits. James vowed that it wasn’t the end- Henry’s would reopen! Location #2 was announced as 9063 Research Blvd, but a lack of parking killed the rezoning request. Henry’s Bar & Grill eventually resurfaced in a much bigger building near the Henry home in Liberty Hill, but Williamson County is apparently where scenesters draw the line. Even Conquest had to talk himself into making that trek.

John Conquest, who passed away in 2016, told everyone about Henry’s.

Don Walser and Junior Brown and Kelly Willis and the Robison brothers went on to score major label deals and tour the world. The bands moved on to Jovita’s and the Continental Club and Ego’s and other places, but the Henrys’ dream ended with the bulldozers of late ‘92. So many things have to come together at the right time to create a magical environment for music. It’s almost impossible to duplicate. Especially with all the red tape.

But James and Gayle Henry made a lasting impact on the Austin music scene. Their club was that rare honky tonk listening room, unlike the Broken Spoke with its live country jukebox for dancing. You went to Henry’s to watch music being made in its natural habitat. Who needs a stage?

James Henry passed away from Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2008, at age 72, and Gayle from COPD in 2017 at age 77. They did what they did because they loved the music so much that they were willing to put in the work to make it happen for everybody. The history of Austin music was made by such folks. When you think about all it, “It’s the people!” is a much better fitting slogan for Austin than “Live Music Capital of the World.”