The Townsend Miller Collection
Townsend Miller was a well-known, influential guy when he wrote a weekly country music column for the Statesman in the Seventies. He was a front row participant in the rise of Austin’s music scene and a vocal cheerleader for the artists that made the city home.
Townsend inspired four stories on the blog. While researching his biography I discovered he used to carry a flask of “Townsend’s Treacherous Treat” as he cycled through Austin’s clubs – I had to take a stab at recreating his secret formula. Researching that led to the surprisingly interesting history of the Stinger cocktail, which Townsend’s Treat is a derivative of. He was also shouting Waylon’s praises before anyone else, and was in attendance to watch the recording of the classic Live album at the Texas Opry House. Pairing his signature cocktail with an album he watched being recorded is as perfect a pairing as there is on the blog.
Mix a cocktail and explore one of the chapter’s of Austin’s weird history.
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The sensational double life of Townsend Miller
Townsend Miller is a character who should not exist in the real world, but for over a decade he was one of the unique personalities comprising the outlaw country scene that permeated Austin in the seventies. He is a throwback to a time when America was great, and dinosaurs like Hunter S. Thompson roamed the…
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Townsend Miller watches Waylon record classic live album at the Texas Opry House
Waylon Live was recorded at the dawn of Waylon’s golden era, and released during the height of it. After toiling in Nashville for years, he had wrestled creative control away from the executives and was starting to flex his newfound muscles. The release of Honky Tonk Heroes in 1973 announced his arrival and is often…
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The revival of Townsend’s Treacherous Treat, Austin’s beloved cocktail of yesteryear
Townsend Miller was a unique character who was larger than life. This article is our attempt to recreate his signature drink, Townsend’s Treacherous Treat, which he carried in a flask while making the rounds of Austin’s honky-tonks in the seventies. To learn more about his extraordinary life, click here. “Townsend’s Treacherous Treat” is a legendary…
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Austin super group delivers highly acclaimed blues album for the Antone’s label
Dreams Come True was a highly anticipated album from an Austin supergroup featuring Lou Ann Barton, Marcia Ball, and Angela Strehli—three artists that dominated the eighties. Angela Strehli won the Austin Music Awards’ Female Vocalist of the Year award five times in the decade, and Lou Ann Barton took it an additional three times. Marcia…
