Edwin Osbourne Wilson

Edwin Osbourne Wilson is a former concert promoter and co-founder and owner of the Armadillo World Headquarters (1973–1980).[1][2] The music venue led a music movement in Austin to national prominence from 1973 to 1980 as the birthplace of Texas progressive country, aka "redneck rock" – a fusion of country music and rock – later, more blues than rock.[3] It was a popular venue for Willie Nelson.[4] Wilson is the owner of two Threadgill's restaurants in Austin. The original, which he purchased in the mid–1970s from John Kenneth Threadgill (1909–1987), was where Janis Joplin got her start.

Wilson at the 2017 Texas Book Festival

Growing up

Wilson graduated from McCallum High School, Austin, Texas, in the spring of 1963. In the fall of 1963, he enrolled at the University of North Texas in Denton. At North Texas, he joined the school's Folk Music Club, whose student members included Spencer Perskin,[5] Steven Fromholz, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Michael Martin Murphey. The Folk Music Club was founded and sponsored by Stan Alexander (né Stanley Gerald Alexander; 1928–2017),[6] an English professor who had been influenced by the music scene at Threadgill's in Austin while working on his doctorate at The University of Texas.[7]

Bibliography
  • Threadgill's: The Cookbook, by Edwin O. Wilson, Longstreet Press (1996) & Eakin Press (2002); ISBN 1571686924
  • Armadillo World Headquarters: A Memoir, by Eddie Wilson and Jesse Sublett, TSSI Publishing (publisher) and University of Texas Press (distributor) (2017); ISBN 978-1-4773-1382-4

References
  1. David Richards (né David Read Richards; born 1933), Once Upon a Time in Texas: A Liberal in the Lone Star State. University of Texas Press (2002), pps. 153 & 179–181; OCLC 884576165
    Note: Richards, the author, distinguished his career in Texas as a civil rights lawyer; from 1953 to 1984, he was the husband of Ann Richards; a year before they divorced, Ann Richards was elected Texas State Treasurer, which won her the distinction of becoming the first woman (since Ma Ferguson) in 50 years to be elected to a state-wide office; subsequent to their divorce, she went on to become the Texas Governor
    Limited search via HathiTrust
  2. Eddie Wilson (2017). Armadillo World Headquarters. TSSI Publishing and University of Texas Press (distributor). ISBN 978-1-4773-1382-4; OCLC 969962288, 982487145
  3. Jason Dean Mellard, Cosmic Cowboys, Armadillos, and Outlaws: The Cultural Politics of Texan Identity in the 1970s (PhD dissertation), University of Texas at Austin, May 2009
  4. Robert Heard, "Country Market Bullish for Nelson," Seattle Daily Times, November 21, 1977, pg. E6
  5. Dan Roth, Jan Charles Reid (1945– ), "The Coming of Redneck Hip," Texas Monthly, November 1973, pg. 72
  6. Stanley G. Alexander," Austin American-Statesman, April 12, 2017 (retrieved May 18, 2017)
  7. Jan Charles Reid (1945– ), The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock (revision of the 1974 edition), pg. 57, University of Texas Press (2004); OCLC 907124145, 53138893
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