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How David Gordon Green Became Hollywood’s Horror Necromancer
Shortly after David Gordon Green’s first feature film, George Washington, was released in 2000 to critical acclaim, he told me he was working a day job at a doorknob factory. The then-25-year-old had...
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Everything Wasn’t Fine: Doug McGrath’s Play About Growing Up in Midland
Douglas McGrath is best known for his work in film: as a cowriter for Bullets Over Broadway; a writer and director for Emma, Nicholas Nickleby, Infamous; and an actor in Quiz Show, Happiness, Michael...
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How Round Top Became a Whole Vibe
When I arrived in Round Top, locals warned me that the opening day of the Marburger Farm Antique Show looked like Spain’s running of the bulls. Improbable as this sounded to me, it was an apt...
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The DWI Lawyer Who Represented Cocaine Traffickers—and Paid the Price
On an otherwise ordinary day, FBI Special Agent Jason Rennie received an extraordinary package. He had been told ahead of time by the U.S. attorney’s office in Plano that it contained allegations of...
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The Exoneration of Anthony Graves Still Resonates
Throughout the nineties, Pamela Colloff had been reporting on criminal justice issues—police misconduct, fair sentencing, and cold cases—and as the new millennium got underway, increased DNA testing...
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At the Festival of Texas Fiddling, “Let ’er Rip, and Maybe a Little Out of Tune”
While any fiddler in Texas can play “Faded Love,” the versions at the Festival of Texas Fiddling, in Blanco, might sound as different as an owl does from a rooster. The styles could be Gulf Coast,...
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Checkerboards, Stripes, and Fish: A Family of Luthiers Unearths Its Magical...
Like rent and wisdom, appreciation often increases with the passing of time. Many families have a few heirlooms with sentimental value—a beloved china doll or a lunch pail from days of yore—but rarely...
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The True-Crime Classic That Inspired HBO Max’s Forthcoming ‘Love & Death’
In the fall of 1980, an attorney looking for some free publicity called Texas Monthly staff writer John Bloom and told him: in one of the wildest crimes in state history, his client, Candy Montgomery,...
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An Unforgettable Texas Tale of Envy, Embezzlement, and Fruitcake
Texas Monthly has a history of publishing oddball crime stories, such as “Family Man,” the tale of a suburban dad who stole safes with his down-and-out siblings, or “How Not to Rob a Bank,” about two...
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The Ultimate Road-Trip Playlists for Six Texas Destinations
Way back in the Cretaceous era, whenever I took a road trip, I would play a cassette or CD by an artist from the city I was visiting. It was an experiment to see if the songs would deepen my...
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A Culture Writer and Lifelong Selena Fan’s Ultimate Love Letter to the Icon
Texas Monthly has published many stories on the tejano legend Selena over the years, starting with a 1994 piece that ended, “A million Selena fans can’t be wrong,” which was quickly followed by a 1995...
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Hip Bars and Culinary Surprises Take Longview to a New Level
Every town wants to be known for something. In Texas it’s often a popular farm crop: Poteet has strawberries. Mission has citrus. Luling has watermelons. You get the idea. Longview’s railroad and oil...
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The Glowing Letter That Brought Thousands of German Immigrants to Texas Was a...
Imagine someone interviews you, your siblings, and your parents about a family trip—you’d all have different versions. But now let’s say your dad’s version—the sunniest of all—prompts a movement....
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Shattering the Glass Bong: Women Take On the Male-Dominated Weed Space
Something strange happened when the smoke shop MaryJae, in Austin, posted a pink marijuana leaf in their storefront: longtime users and curious newbies reflexively walked toward it from down the block...
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Got an Unsolved Murder? Call the Cold Case Club
Unlike biking or scrapbooking, Dianne Kuykendall’s hobby is not suitable for polite conversation. She regularly checks the Tarrant County medical examiner’s website, for example, looking for newly...
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When Vertigo Melted My Brain
It started when I was carrying a laundry basket from the dryer to the couch. Time began to slow, thickening like cooling wax. A pounding heartbeat accompanied a heaviness in my chest and a weakness in...
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We’re Number One!
The Lone Star State has always been a land of extremes. The weather, the miles and miles (and miles) of Texas, the dramatic history that’s more eventful than that of some full-fledged nations. There’s...
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When This Watchmaking Instructor Is in the Classroom, the Hours Pass Like...
Stanley McMahan, who is 62, lives in Blossom, near the North Texas town of Paris. He earned his watchmaking credentials in Switzerland and has taught horology at Paris Junior College since 2018.About...
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A New Photo Exhibit Celebrates the “Cultura” of South Texas, From Sandra...
From a young age, San Antonio photographer Al Rendón felt a compulsion to photograph events. In 1969, as he watched the moon landing, the twelve-year-old took a photo of his television set. That same...
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Waiting in Line for Ken Paxton
While many expected a crowd to form outside the Capitol grounds’ black wrought-iron fences on the first morning of Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial, those who arrived first had to have been disappointed...
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