youtu.be/GozdIQx1Wow LeAnn Rime's giant 1996 megahit "Blue" was written by famous WBAP deejay Bill Mack, but long before, in 1958. There has long been a rumor that Bill wrote Blue for Patsy Cline, but Bill himself said it wasn't true. According to an self-penned article for Truckers Connection, Bill said that his "most noteworthy inspirations [for creating compositions] have been a billboard and attempting to create note changes on a new guitar." He also said: "Inevitably, I would be approached with the question, "What inspired you to write the song?" I wrote "Blue" while picking my new guitar in my home in Wichita Falls, Texas. I was creating some note changes on the guitar when the song entered my mind. Although I wasn't watching the clock, the melody and lyrics came to me in a completed form within 15 minutes. My wife at the time said, "That's the best song I've ever heard! You need to record it as soon as you can!" Bill actually DID record it. You can find that recording online. But LeAnn's is the definitive version.

The staff of Kellery's Bakery on East Gonzales Street in Seguin. I'm not sure when it was taken, but I know that the bakery was in business from 1942-1969 at a minimum. What would you order if you walked in? Me? I'm a poppyseed roll kind of man --- what the Germans call mohn schnecken. Courtesy The Portal to Texas History

Traces of Texas reader Linda Arriaga kindly sent in this great photo of her mom, second from left, with co-workers after a flood at Henke and Pillot #5 on University Drive in Houston. Per Linda, Lois Cox was born in 1921 as one of nine children. She was a 4th generation Texan who was raised in Ten Mile, Texas, which is near Normangee. Lois was 6' tall and a great beauty. Linda's dad, who was 5'10, said it was Lois' long legs that got him. Lois later went to work for the original Jamail Brothers Food Market on South Shepherd and was there for more than 50 years. Linda and her brother worked there during the summers. Thank you, Linda. You've gotta love those tall Texas ladies!

Sleeping Lion Mountain, the prominent rocky mountain overlooking Fort Davis, takes its name from its resemblance to a reclining mountain lion. According to the late Texas historian Lonn Taylor, when viewed from the north, the mountain resembles a mountain lion resting with its front paws stretched out and its head lowered onto them. As for when it acquired the name, I haven't found a reliable source establishing an exact date or identifying who first called it Sleeping Lion Mountain. It is certainly an old local name, but I don't think anybody knows when. It just was. There's also a wonderful historical anecdote involving the mountain. A woman whose father, Lieutenant J. M. T. Partello, served at Fort Davis in 1889 recalled climbing Sleeping Lion Mountain with him when she was five years old and having to shoo away a mountain lion that followed them. That's kinda cool, I think: an actual lion on Sleeping Lion Mountain. Here's an undated photo. I think it's 1940s. It's super. Photo courtesy The Portal to Texas History

There are men, and there are visionaries. John Milkovisch of Houston was a visionary of the first order, a bold man, a man who refused to let conventional notions of good taste, home improvement, or common sense interfere with his artistic ambitions. Beginning in 1968, he transformed his ordinary little house into a glittering monument to aluminum, ingenuity, and glorious Texas eccentricity, eventually covering it with an estimated 50,000 beer cans. I visited it and thought that it's just such a Texas thing to do. John didn't care what anybody said. Where others saw trash, John saw treasure. Where neighbors saw an abomination, John saw possibility. Isn't it the Texas way to swim against the stream, to follow your inner star, even if others think you're crazy? John strung these beer can lids together to serve as wind chimes. As I say, a visionary. One of my own photos, taken in 2012.

In August 1888, Fort Davis received an ice-making machine, which was a remarkable luxury for an isolated frontier garrison in the mountains of West Texas. The machine was installed in the former quarters of the post's military band, and the ice it produced was particularly valuable for treating sick soldiers and preserving food. Unfortunately, the contraption consumed enormous quantities of fuel, broke down frequently, and became the subject of a bitter feud between the post surgeon, Dr. John Lauderdale, and the quartermaster, Joseph Partello. Lauderdale accused Partello of misappropriating construction materials and cheating the medical department on fuel deliveries. He privately described the quartermaster as a "selfish pig." Then, on June 23, 1889, the icehouse caught fire and burned, leaving the garrison without its precious supply of ice. The resulting investigation produced a 41-page report but failed to settle the dispute over the fuel. Can you imagine? It's 1889. Here you are out in the desert, you've got a freakin' ice-making machine, and it's working: you've got actual ice in WEST TEXAS! But, of course, folks can never get along with each other and they start fighting over it and, next thing you know, it's gone. Was it Roseanne Roseannadanna who said "It's always something?" Sigh ... Shown here: A view of Fort Davis circa 1880. Remarkable photo, don't you think?

I hate football. 🤬

Two men and a boy deep in conversation on a street corner in Brownsville, 1942. I have no idea what they're talking about, but I hope tamales are involved. Of course, I always hope tamales are involved. Photo by Arthur Rothstein.

Traces of Texas reader Robert Sorenson kindly sent in this photo of Waylon Jennings with legendary WBAP "Midnight Cowboy" dee jay Bill Mack. Robert said "I saw the photo of Bill Mack with Charley Pride and Merle Haggard and thought I'd send this in. This could be an entry in the most Texas photo of all time." I agree, Robert. I have a ton of great Bill Mack stories. Here's one: In the days before cellphones, women would call Bill's show with messages for their husbands ---- truck drivers somewhere out on America's highways ---- because Bill's after dark radio show covered most of the U.S. and because it had a huge trucker audience. Sometimes the news was that a baby had arrived. Bill would broadcast the announcement, hoping the father was listening. He consequently acquired another nickname: the "Midnight Midwife." Thank you, Robert. This is super duper. I can't believe I've never seen it before.

The Arcane Texas Fact of the Day: The Black Bear Restaurant at Indian Lodge in Fort Davis owes its name to a runaway bear that reportedly treed several Civilian Conservation Corps workers on a windmill. According to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, a CCC camp in the Davis Mountains had a live black bear as its mascot during the construction of Indian Lodge in the 1930s. One day, the bear broke loose from its chain and sent several workers scrambling to the top of a windmill, where they remained stranded for quite some time. The incident became part of local history and the lodge's Black Bear Restaurant eventually took its name from the story. How many of y'all have stayed at Indian Lodge or had a meal at the Black Bear? Shown here: Indian Lodge, 1940s

The Texas Quote of the Day finds famed WBAP DJ Bill Mack on why he kept going : "I get tired of my job but then every once in a while I get a good laugh. There was this guy from Fort Worth about four years ago who was out drinkin’ on Saturday night and he smashed into a parked car. The po­lice hauled him downtown. He said he was entitled to one phone call and the cops said sure. He called me and re­quested ‘A Boy Named Sue.’ The cops called me back and they were laughing.” ---- famed WBAP DJ Bill Mack in a Texas Monthly article, 1975. Bill did the "Midnight Cowboy Trucking Show" from WBAP for 32 years. He became a national institution thanks to WBAP's powerful 50,000-watt clear-channel signal, which could reach much of the continental United States after dark. Bill was born in Shamrock, Texas in 1933 and got his first radio job in Shamrock when he was 17 years old, getting paid 12.50 per week. Shown here: Merle Haggard, Charley Pride, and Bill Mack circa 1968.

One of my favorite all-time grooves. Ringo Starr, Joe Walsh, Don Was ... and the always incandescent Ray Wylie Hubbard ? Are you kidding me? youtu.be/kEf5mqk5mWU

"If I was to stop to fight with everybody who cussed me, I would be fighting all the time. But while they are busy cussing me, I am busy getting their money." --- Shanghai Pierce, cattle baron and all-time great Texas character.

Let me try this once again. I left out the main character. Sheesh! Here's a nifty slice of early 1880s Texas history for you. The 4 people in this surrey are in front of the Veranda Hotel in Richmond, Texas. The hotel was managed by future alcohol temperance advocate and wielder of axes Carrie Nation who moved to Richmond with her husband David in 1881 and managed the hotel from 1881-1889. It was called the Veranda at first and then later known as the National Hotel, and was on the the corner of Morton and Fourth Streets. She took in travelers from all walks of life, sometimes charging little or nothing to those who couldn't afford accommodations. The Nations left Richmond in 1889, following David's involvement in the bitter Jaybird-Woodpecker political feud. David had antagonized members of the Jaybird faction through his newspaper writings and was reportedly assaulted. The family subsequently relocated to Kansas, where Carrie would eventually become nationally notorious for attacking saloons with her hatchet. How's that for a bite-sized trace of Texas history on a Saturday night? Photo courtesy The Portal to Texas History