photo: Pat Keeney
Willie Nelson, Sirius/XM Radio, ACL Moody Theater and the City of Austin gave music lovers another reason to celebrate on Friday, when they officially welcomed the Sirius/XM broadcast studio to downtown Austin.
And what a party! Except for barbeque and liquor, it sounded like a great Texas housewarming going on down there. Willie Nelson took a break from touring to stop home to to join Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell, and a large contingent of Texas musicians and other artists including Johnny Bush, Jerry Jeff Walker, Joe Ely, Amber Digby, Melissa Ethridge, and many more who stopped by. Fans gathered in the courtyard of the building and got so see Willie Nelson, Dallas Wayne and Mayor Leffingwell speak.
Thanks to Pat (Miss Tex) from Texas, for sharing photos she took at the grand opening celebration on Friday.
Dallas Wayne, host of Willie’s Roadhouse, which airs in the afternoons on Sirius/XM Radio, hosted the party Friday, and it was broadcast live on the radio, so folks , like me sitting at our desks in anywhere, USA could enjoy the festivities. (Thank you Sirius/XM!) Througout the afternoon, Dallas played music and swapped stories with Willie Nelson and other musicians who dropped by his new studio. It really was a celebration and gathering of country music and Texas musicians.
This was not the first day of broadcasts from the new Austin Studio, Dallas Wayne, who is also the host of Outlaw Country, on Sirius/XM Radio in the mornings, has been broadcasting there for a few weeks, working out the kinks and getting ready for the party. Sirius and XM radio originally had a studio in Carl’s Corner, Texas, where they broadcast Willie’s Place, which later became Willie’s Roadhouse, when the Sirius/XM combined. When the Carl’s Corner property changed hands a few years ago, Dallas Wayne moved his operations to his home studio outside of Austin. Willie Nelson, Jeremy Tepper, Dallas Wayne have been making plans to bring the studio to Austin since that time. The opening of the Moody Theater at ACL, and Willie Nelson’s history and financial involvement with that project, along with his nephew Freddy Fletcher, were a natural fit.
Willie Nelson talked about how having the SiriusXM presence in Austin is another great way to promote the music of Austin and Texan musicians. “You can hear a lot of great bands up and down the streets of Austin here and in Texas. This is just another way to help those guys promote their music and stay out there working and picking for us.”
Thanks to Willie Nelson, Jeremy Tepper, Dallas Wayne, Sirius/XM, Freddy Fletcher, ACL and Moody Theater, Mayor Leffingwell and city of Austin, all the people involved in dreaming up idea of having Sirius/XM presence in Austin, and making it a reality in Austin’s beautiful ACL/Moody Theater venue, on Willie Nelson Boulevard. Yeah, sometimes the stars line up, don’t they?
Photo: Pat Keeney
Photo: Monique Claus
It’s a good time to subscribe, or at least take advantage of Sirius/XM free thirty-day-trial. www.Sirius.com
