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Dallas-Forth Worth-area concert venues and musicians have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption to the industry by getting creative with virtual concerts and fundraising events, such as this weekend’s virtual concert and cookout at Billy Bob’s Texas. But this is not the first time the industry has shifted to another platform.
With the launch of MTV in 1981, the music and TV industry saw a new market open and a new way to work in a changing world. Many North Texas venues noticed the popularity of the specialized music channel and started filming concerts to sell the videos to cable networks as a way to reach a broader audience.
The way content is viewed might have changed, but the root of the idea to capture live concerts for preservation and to reach a wider audience was already a thing in the 1980s.
In 1981, ‘Cable producers see clubs drawing national audiences’
On Dec. 2, 1981, Dallas Morning News writer Nancy Bishop reported that Nick’s Uptown, Billy Bob’s Texas and Johnnie High’s Country Music Revue “jumped on the musical bandwagon” and hoped to sell videotaped concerts to cable television and major networks.
Nick’s Uptown, on lower Greenville Avenue in Dallas, opened its doors in November 1980. It had hoped to launch a weekly series called Live at Nick’s, according to Bishop. The first taped show at Nick’s Uptown was with rockabilly pioneer Carl Perkins and Joe Ely. Bishop described Ely as Texas punk or New Wave country.
Billy Bob’s Texas opened its doors in Fort Worth, Texas in 1981 and was promoted as the “World’s Largest Honky-Tonk.” The club was started by Billy Bob Barnett and Spencer Taylor. They had a similar idea to Nick’s Uptown and hoped to sell a weekly series of filmed concerts at their venue. In 1988, the honky-tonk was closed down and months later reopened under new management.
Johnnie High’s Country Music Revue was a variety show that had been around in some form since 1974. Johnnie High and Chisai Childs started the weekly show at the newly renovated Palace Theatre in Grapevine. They changed venues throughout the years to eventually settle at the Arlington Music Hall in 1994. The show ended shortly after Johnnie High’s death in 2010. Bishop reported in 1981 that High was contacted by a Los Angeles production company for tapes of his variety show.
Only Billy Bob’s Texas is still in operation and now hosts virtual shows. Many of the early concert videos still exist and can be found online. Internet Archive, a nonprofit library, is home to many filmed live concerts and episodes of MTV’s early years.
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