Austin Music History
The 1970s Austin Progressive Country Phenomenon
Last reviewed: October 27, 2026
Progressive country was the sound of 1970s Austin: country songs played by long-haired musicians for crowds that mixed cowboys, college students and hippies. It blended honky-tonk, folk, rock and Tex-Mex, and it helped make Austin a live music city.
An unlikely crowd
In the late 1960s, rednecks and hippies in Texas were often at odds. In Austin, music changed that. Venues began booking country acts for young audiences, and older fans found they liked the new players. Writer Jan Reid called it 'redneck rock'.
The venues
The Armadillo World Headquarters, opened in 1970, gave the scene a home. Smaller rooms like the Soap Creek Saloon, Split Rail and Threadgill's kept it going night after night — see our guide to Austin honky-tonks.
The music makers
Willie Nelson's move back to Texas in the early 1970s gave the scene a star. Alongside him were Jerry Jeff Walker and the Lost Gonzo Band, Michael Martin Murphey, Rusty Wier, B.W. Stevenson, Steven Fromholz and many more. Songwriters like Willis Alan Ramsey set a high bar for craft.
The look and the attitude
The cosmic cowboy — boots, jeans, long hair, a Lone Star longneck — became the scene's emblem. It was part fashion, part joke and part sincere statement about uniting Texas traditions with a looser outlook.
Progressive or outlaw?
Progressive country overlapped with the Nashville 'outlaw' movement but was not the same thing. We explain the differences in Outlaw Country vs. Progressive Country.
How it faded — and what remained
By the end of the decade the scene had changed: disco and urban cowboy trends arrived, and the Armadillo closed at the end of 1980. But the idea of Austin as a home for independent, genre-crossing music never went away. Many original documents are preserved in Texas music archives and museums.
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