Armadillo World Headquarters

Jim Franklin is the artist who painted many of the murals at the Armadillo World Headquarters, Austin’s most famous music venue in the 1970s. He also created many of the posters advertising the shows playing at the Armadillo.

A Brief History

August 7, 1970, Eddie Wilson opened the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin. On New Year’s Eve, 1980, Kenneth Threadgill played the last concert. These pictures were taken the following day, January 1, 1981. During its ten year run, the Armadillo was the venue to play in Texas, hosting many local and national acts, including Taj Mahal, Leon Redbone, Asleep at the Wheel, Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, Steve Fromholtz, BB King, Jerry Jeff Walker, Willie Nelson, Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, Greezy Wheels, Edgar and Johnny Winters, the Pointer Sisters, Bonnie Raitt, Chuck Mangione, and many others. It was also the home of the Austin Ballet Theatre and the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar. There was a beer garden outside, and inside it was a huge cavernous place, where you had to sit on the carpeted floor with the smell of beer and ashes from previous performances.

Check out Capitol-City A&E’s article on the AWH!

Some Pictures

	Outside
	Entrance
	Beer Garden
	Mural in parking lot (which was dotted with huge car-swallowing pot holes)
	Rikke, The Guacamole Queen
	We’re All Ears
	The Ragin’ Cajun Doug Kershaw
	Interior, Stage

Closed and gone forever. Jan 1, 1981

Many thnaks to Nicki Turman for compiling this page and providing the photographs.
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