New Mural in Alpine Pays Tribute to Texas Music Legends

Much is made of the town of Marfa in West Texas as being this artistic enclave where one can go to find themselves out in the expanse of the open desert, and it’s received renewed attention since Miranda Lambert dragged Jon Randall and Jack Ingram out there to record a scratch track album called The Marfa Tapes released earlier this year.
But many who’ve made the side trip off of Interstate 10 down Hwy 90 will tell you the town of Alpine just east of Marfa is just as cool, if not more, and if for no other reason than the great murals that can be found in the town of 6,000. And recently, a new mural was unveiled on the side of the Printco building at the corner of 5th and Murphy. Facing downtown and right by the Amtrack station, the mural pays tribute to Texas music, and specifically many of the Lone Star State’s country heroes.
Commissioned by the non-profit Alpine Artwalk organization, and painted by renowned muralist Stylle Read, the mural is a portrayal of many of the Texas musicians that put the state on the musical map.
“My original idea was just to have something up there as a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement to The Beatles, because I’m a big Beatles fan,” says Joe Esparza, who owns the Printco building and business in Alpine with his wife Betse. “I wanted it to mimic the Sgt. Pepper album cover.”
But it soon became something more.
“Every couple of years the Alpine Artwalk gets together to raise a bunch of money to have a mural done by Stylle Read,” explains Joe Esparza. “Obviously, every mural is different. When I was ready to build my own building, I got in touch with Keri Blackman of Alpine Artwalk, who is a friend of mine ever since I’ve been here for over 20 years now, and said, ‘Hey, you can have my north wall of the building for a mural.’ She asked, ‘What do you want?’ And I said, ‘I want a tribute to music. I want a tribute to Texas music.'”
Mock ups were done, first in a sketch, then with images of the respective artists the Alpine Artwalk folks discussed, and soon the mural came to life. It was finished near the start of August.
Stylle Read is no stranger to working in the medium of music. Born in Lufkin, TX to painter Sleepy Read, and raised in Tyler and Fort Worth, in the late 70’s Stylle found his calling painting Western scenes on the sides of vans. He then graduated to emblazoning the sides of the tour buses of country music greats with Western murals, including Hank Williams Jr. and others.
“No pun intended, but Stylle put his style to it.” says Joe Esparza. “There’s an Amtrack right here next to the railroad tracks that parks here twice a day. People will get off the train and come over to take pictures. Any given moment I can walk around, and there’s somebody standing out there taking a picture, talking about it, and trying to name who is who.”
You might want to play the game at home too (see bigger pictures below). The mural includes:
Bob Wills • George Strait • Selena • Waylon Jennings • Willie Nelson • ZZ Top • The Flatlanders • Buddy Holly • Janis Joplin • Buck Owens • Jerry Jeff Walker • Omar and the Howlers • Robert Earl Keen • Roy Orbison • Stevie Ray Vaughn • Townes Van Zandt • Kris Kristofferson • Charley Pride • George Jones • Ernest Tubb • Blind Lemon Jefferson • Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown • Cody Johnson • Gary P. Nunn • DJ Screw • Flaco Jimenez • Freddy Fender • Guy Clark • Kevin Fowler • Lightnin’ Hopkins • Lydia Mendoza • Lyle Lovett • Miranda Lambert • Pantera • Ray Wylie Hubbard • Ray Price • Randy Rogers • Roky Erickson • Sly Stone • Tanya Tucker • Van Cliburn
It’s a pretty incredible list of names, and really helps to illustrate the breadth of important musicians from the Lone Star State, and not just from the country genre. But of course—like with anything—you can point to a few names that could have also been included. In fact, that’s what the paper in San Antonio chose to focus on with their coverage of the mural, making their point with angry Twitter posts asking where folks like Beyonce and Emilio Navaira were, as opposed to appreciating that someone took the time and effort to make the mural in the first place—and despite the work being country-centric—making sure to represent a wide variety of music and ethnic backgrounds.
“It was the [Alpine Artwalk] board who decided who was going to go up there. And they tried to go across the board as far as genres,” says Joe Esparza. “You could say most genres are represented, but it’s more heavily towards country. We weren’t necessarily trying to make a statement with it. We weren’t trying to leave out the San Antonio and Houston areas. It was just a mural I wanted on my wall. I like music. I love all kinds of music. I wasn’t trying to alienate anybody. 95% plus of the feedback has been positive.”
And now folks traveling through Alpine have another destination point. And the public art piece is not done just yet.
“Here pretty quick we’re gonna start work on a patio out in front of the mural that leads to the bottom of the mural where people can sit, and it’s going to be shaped like a guitar, and the fretboard leads out to the sidewalk of the street.”
They plan to have the project completed by the Artwalk 2021 Arts and Music Festival in Alpine, November 19th and 20th.
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photos by Joe Esparza



September 3, 2021 @ 7:50 am
Not sure if Kevin Fowler and Cody Johnson should be on this.
September 3, 2021 @ 8:13 am
I appreciate they put the effort out to include a couple of the newer artists. Kevin Fowler probably would have not been my first pick, but he was pretty important to putting music from the Texas panhandle on the map. Cody Johnson is selling out Rodeo Houston these days, so if anyone from the new class deserves it, it’s probably him.
With something like this, you can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Every single person who stands in front of the mural will have a different opinion on who should be on it. This is one of the reasons I no longer do lists. Someone will say it’s illegitimate because so and so is on it, and someone else will say it’s illegitimate because so and so isn’t. You can’t include everyone, and you can’t not include anyone.
So you do the best you can to field a good crop of names, and hope folks appreciate that you put the effort out to beautify the world a little bit more, and honor some music greats.
September 4, 2021 @ 5:15 am
Aaron Watson would have been a way better choice than Kevin Fowler. Including a Cody Johnson is just pandering.
September 3, 2021 @ 8:02 am
It just needs Daniel Johnston now.
September 3, 2021 @ 8:07 am
Nooooooo Billy Joe?
Might as well put The Beatles in it….
September 3, 2021 @ 8:12 am
I’m playing where’s Waldo and can’t find Randy Rogers or Kevin Fowler
September 3, 2021 @ 8:18 am
Definitely seeing Randy Rogers just above Ray Wylie Hubbard on the top row, left side. Not making out Kevin Fowler either.
September 3, 2021 @ 8:28 am
That looks way more like Josh Abbott than Randy to me, that’s why I was thrown off
September 3, 2021 @ 9:17 am
Glad they got Selena and Abbot brothers in there!
September 3, 2021 @ 10:41 am
Its a privately owned building,and self funded mural. The owner can paint anything he wants to on it. Its his call. Dont get me wrong, not trying to rankle anybody, but i say enjoy what has been done here. Should i ever drive through town, im gonna stop by and check it out. I think its pretty cool as is.
September 3, 2021 @ 10:52 am
Uhh, I wasn’t being sarcastic. Selena is literally my favorite artist on that wall, and as important to music as just about anyone pictured (not going there on a back and forth argument with this group). I saw Pantera about 6 times, including their last US show.
September 4, 2021 @ 6:25 am
I only see half of Pantera in the painting (Dime and Vinny). Am I missing Rex and Phil, or were they left out? I like the mural, although at first it looked like some testes hanging off of Dime’s chin; I pretty quickly realized it’s a dyed goatee and was surprised he was included (I looked at the photo before reading the list of those included).
September 5, 2021 @ 1:37 pm
I think Rex and Phil were left out, which makes some sense given that dime and vinnie are dead and the fact that there was limited space. Not to mention Phil being a prick (overall).
September 3, 2021 @ 10:55 am
Wasnt directed at you Billy. Sorry. Thats where the comment box appeared. Just a general observation with all the nitpicking on this thing. Its a fine mural.
September 3, 2021 @ 3:18 pm
Ahhhh. Got it! ????
September 3, 2021 @ 9:25 am
I do dig seeing Bob Wills right up there at the tippy top of the tippy top!
Cause once you’re down in Texas Bob Wills is still the king!
It’s a very cool achievement and something that little town should be proud of…
September 3, 2021 @ 9:26 am
Cody Johnson and Kevin Fowler but no Johnny Rodriguez or Billy Joe Shaver? GTFOH
September 5, 2021 @ 1:04 am
I pretty sure that is Johnny R on the far right.
September 3, 2021 @ 9:32 am
Kind of surprised Doug Sahm got missed, but more surprised that I didn’t know Sly Stone was from TX, for some reason I thought he was a CA native.
September 3, 2021 @ 6:57 pm
Did they have to be from Texas or just come to represent Texas music? Because I thought Jerry Jeff was from New York before landing in Texas…
September 4, 2021 @ 3:33 pm
If you had to boil it down to one person who is responsible for Austin, TX becoming the Live Music Capital of the World, it would be Jerry Jeff Walker, Yankee or not. Roky Erickson would be a close second.
September 3, 2021 @ 9:46 am
Rodney Crowell
September 3, 2021 @ 9:59 am
and Delbert McClinton, doggone it!
September 3, 2021 @ 9:47 am
Big names from blues that I don’t see:
Freddie King
Johnny Winter
Albert Collins
September 3, 2021 @ 3:25 pm
Joe Tex, Rev. Al Green (but they had to go somewhere else to make it…)
September 4, 2021 @ 8:52 am
And it would have been cool to have brother Jimmie next to Stevie Ray. And to get a little greedy, maybe Jimmie’s old bandmate Kim Wilson next to Jimmie. Sort of a hat tip to the Fabulous Thunderbirds classic lineup.
But hey, can’t have everybody in there. Lots of great artists up on that wall, with some lesser known artists making the list while some well known and still very good artists not up there (e.g., Lee Ann Womack). And cool that Roky Erickson is there. It is a little perplexing that Billy Joe Shaver didn’t make the cut, though.
September 3, 2021 @ 12:31 pm
Beyonce?
How about instead of woke idiots complaining about their trash singers being left out, why don’t they make their own mural?
September 3, 2021 @ 1:18 pm
Add this as Item 538 of things to check out………list is growing faster than my wallet will allow me!
September 3, 2021 @ 1:19 pm
Went to Alpine a few years ago when I was spending some time at Big Bend National Park. I hope to get there again, and when I do I will have to check this out. Pretty cool!
September 3, 2021 @ 1:19 pm
The artist could make a small fortune selling prints of that! I know at least 2 people who would but one- my oldest son and myself.
September 3, 2021 @ 4:59 pm
Could have easily included the three Beaumont Boys, Mark Chesnutt, Tracy Byrd, and Clay Walker on that mural. But nicely done
September 4, 2021 @ 9:48 am
No Parker McGollum (yes McCollum as in Gollum from The Lord of the Rings.. It’s his new nickname)
September 4, 2021 @ 10:14 pm
I think its really , really cool, too many big names in Texas they can do all four walls, what about Bobby Keys, Lloyd Maines, Stevie Ray, Joe Sample, Wilton Felder, Wayne Henderson, the list goes on. Its a great piece of art and it should encourage others to do the same for people that inspired them! I hope to visit it some day! Don’t nit-pick on every deletion, also where is Don Walser, Doug Sahm, Rusty Weir, Bugs Henderson, Lyle Mays……., so much time so little canvas! Thanks Trig.
September 5, 2021 @ 9:23 am
It’d be cool to see Emilio Navaira up there. Mance Lipscomb and Chelo Silva too.
But no matter who you put up there, Twitter would find a way to complain about it. Don’t let the haters spoil a beautiful thing.
September 6, 2021 @ 9:58 am
I would have included local talent Dottsy (Brodt). She’s been an artist since the early 1970’s. She had a hit on Jesse Colters song “Storms Never Last” and a few others. She recorded two albums for RCA also.
September 6, 2021 @ 10:06 am
P.S. This is from Wikipedia about Dottsy:
Dottsy Brodt Dwyer (born April 6, 1953 in Seguin, Texas, United States)[1] is an American country music singer. She grew up in Seguin. Between 1975 and 1981, she recorded as Dottsy for the RCA Records label.[1] During that timespan, she charted thirteen cuts on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, including the Top Ten “(After Sweet Memories) Play Born to Lose Again.”[1] Four of her other songs reached Top 20 on the same chart.[2]
She returned to her hometown where her family has deep roots. She married and took time off needed to raise her children, while being active in local groups. After her children finished college, Dottsy signed with Heart of Texas Records and in 2010 released an album entitled Meet Me in Texas. She has been performing on a circuit of mostly small towns in Texas, usually touring with other artists from the label.[citation needed]
Dottsy’s favorite venue is the Texas Theatre in Seguin, an 80-year-old one-time movie house.[citation needed] She helped the Seguin Conservation Society raise funds to restore the small movie palace.[citation needed]
September 6, 2021 @ 6:38 pm
Cool! Kudos to Joe Esparza for capturing the rainbow, too.
September 9, 2021 @ 10:27 am
No Ryan Bingham??
January 24, 2025 @ 6:06 am
Just gorgeous. Sad that the area in front of the mural was not completed as planned. We were there yesterday and it’s overgrown with tall weeds that obstruct the view.