The Country Music Association of Texas has named Gruene Hall the best live music venue in Texas.
(If you're new to the area and wonder how it's pronounced, not to worry: its local pronunciation is quite easy: "green.")
The music venue is essentially the epicenter of the small town of Gruene, located just northeast of the New Braunfels city limits, and overlooking massive bald cypress trees that hug the shoreline of the Guadalupe River.
Anna Towzin is Gruene Hall's director of marketing, and she says the building has been the town’s place music for generations.
“Gruene Hall was built in 1878 and is the oldest continually run dance hall in Texas. When Pat Molak bought it years ago, almost to our 50th anniversary now, it was still being run as a dance hall, and he restored it, and it's been open every day since then, except for certain holidays,” Tauzin said.
Its distinctive understated façade is just white siding with the name "Gruene" in big block letters and "Hall" in cursive writing. The site comes across without pretense, almost austere. Tauzin said that lack of pretense hasn’t gone unnoticed by film and video makers.
“It's been featured in a few different movies. I think most people remember the 1996 John Travolta film, Michael. That was probably the most well-known one,” she said. “In fact, I think we still have some movie props in our basement from the movie itself. But then it was also featured in another movie in 2006 called Coyote Funeral.”
Texas is full of high-end luxury dance halls with killer sound systems and computer-synchronized light shows. Apparently, Gruene Hall’s austerity rates high with the Country Music Association of Texas.
“We do our best to preserve the uniqueness of the hall by not changing too much. I mean, a few unavoidable repairs here and there are made,” Tauzin said. “The experience of seeing a show and seeing an artist at Gruene Hall can best be described as a music high. There's no VIP section, you know, [to] separate you out from the artist and the floor, and the music sounds just incredible.”
And in fact, walking into Gruene Hall is like walking back in time.
“It has original wood floors; the side panels open up to let in some breeze on the side. It's, it's pretty old school Texas. You know, it's a little rowdy, a little sexy.”
That breeze she mentions is important, given that Gruene Hall has no air conditioning.
“We do have what is affectionately known as swamp coolers, which does keep the place cool, you know, during the spring and long summers of Texas, but it's just part of the charm of Gruene Hall. It's coming through there. I'd recommend people bring a bandana,” Tauzin said.
This is the second time they’ve managed to win the Best Live Venue in Texas, and she sees no reason for that trend to disappear.
“I think it's amazing that live music is something that really brings people together,” she said. “You know, live music venues and dance halls are one of the great places still where everyone is welcome.”
She said they’re open every night for live music, and many of those nights are free.
