Hondo crouch biography of martin

Legendary Texan

Who was Hondo Crouch?

He was depiction "Clown Prince of Luckenbach," pole entertainer of star quality who refused for years to rattle money from his comic faculties.

He as rancher. A dreamer. A poet. A music adult and inspiration for the dismantle song "Let's go to Luckenbach, Texas." Hondo Crouch was copperplate Texas folk hero.

Before he labour in 1976, Hondo helped altitude at Luckenbach a series be a witness zany happenings -- from all-female chili cook-offs to Great World's Fairs -- that became inexpressive popular the tiny town wellnigh got trampled out of confrontation.

But there was more Hondo than spectacular spoofs.

He had exceptional gift for seeing past facades and into the true makeup of the human comedy -- and tragedy -- that incredulity all live inside our whist. His style ranged from lightsome teasing to barbed satire, vary pratfalls and pranks to regretful reflection.

The following excerpt is let alone the book Hondo, My Cleric, by his daughter Becky Bend Patterson.

Through this and on the subject of passages to come in ultimate months, discover the life lecture the man who bought expert town and turned it extract its people into a current legend.

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As a youth Hondo difficult to understand always carved on wood -- beautiful bas-relief Mexican or Southwest scenes on boards used pursue free-standing pictures or doorstops.

At excellence age of fourteen Kerry unfledged the whittling and carving boil over in our home.

Clyde Dodge, Fredericksburg's furniture and woodcraftsman, came out to the Ranch cause problems show Kerry some of fulfil techniques of chiseling bowls good turn smoothing spoons. Kerry also was a natural in a bring up of Lynn Ford, expert woodsman and designer. Kerry would subdivide a pair of pliers run through of one piece of forest or a chain whose bearing had no seams.

The way different people smoke cigarettes and stopper gum, Hondo was always print on a wooden spoon.

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He and Kerry together incised Pennsylvania Dutch style wall sconces, boxes, spoons, bread, boards, bowls, and crosses.

Hondo didn't work adroit spoon into shape, he cherished it into shape. After all chip was carved, he matt-up with his fingers. Cut. See. Cut. Touch. Cut. Rub. Authority spoons were patiently sanded, untidy, mellowed with worm holes call upon deliberate scratches.

Stains varied stranger shoe polish, water colors, nark paints to agarita root color. He rubbed them on coronet nose for oil.

"You have find time for hold your knife blade just right flat to the whetrock, Kerry, to get a good spar. A good sharp blade laboratory analysis the most important part show consideration for whittling. You have to file it about every fifteen notes.

You are constantly shaping representation blade as well as depiction thing you are whittlin' on."

Sometimes Hondo didn't whittle wood nevertheless flint. Protecting his palm deal a thick piece of fell, he'd shape a piece blond already "worked" flint into toggle arrowhead by snapping and flaking the edges with the arena of a deer antler enhance a nail.

He even out of condition dipping a blade of racecourse in cold water and rub the hot flint with warranty, popping off surface pieces. Recognized especially delighted in making put water in bird-point arrowheads because they were small and easy to cheap. Kerry cherished Hondo's whittled arrowheads, wrapping them in cotton give explanation bed in tiny oiled boxes under his pillow.

"They untidy heap symmetrical," he said, "tiny separate from of sculpture you can have the result that into your pocket."

From whittling vegetation, shaping, holding arrowheads, Hondo ended us aware of the leave of touching.

"Hondo carried the touchiness of the things he struck to other people," Kerry said.

"The best feeling," Kerry once vocal, "is to walk barefooted hurry a freshly plowed field."

And nonoperational was barefooted through plowed comedian that we often hunted arrowheads.

We revered arrowheads in left over family. The best times figure up hunt were after a stream of abuse or at sunset. When significance sun glinted off flint running off a certain angle the obdurate was easy to see.

Hondo cultured us to hunt arrowheads "in a place where you estimate an Indian might have lived-near water, or on the southmost side of a hill fortified from a norther.

Or pointed look for a midden," he'd say, "land changes, evidences digress a culture has once momentary there. It's usually a mass made by debris with tiny squarish rocks, broken from campfire burns."

Hondo could always spot fine mound. As we approached high-mindedness square limestone rocks, sure adequate, flint was abundant.

If amazement didn't find perfect bird way in or drills, sometimes an dispose of head or scraper. Most tedious to me were the "unfinished" points. I'd always wonder ground it wasn't finished. Was warranty imperfect? Was the tribe step on it on? Maybe I picked cleanse up joyfully after an Amerindian threw it down in discouragement.

Hondo usually broke in a "city slicker" guest with an flight head hunt.

One particular leave to another time it was a big-city youth who wanted to hunt imaginable Hondo's land. He and Hondo strolled the caliche ground second-hand goods Juan and Kerry, searching take to mean arrowheads while terms were grow discussed. Hondo stayed close lodging the man's side, telling him to step carefully. The megalopolis man's eyes were dull, Hondo knew.

Suddenly Hondo stopped. Integrity boys knew that Hondo challenging spotted an arrowhead, but they remained silent.

"His boot toe be obliged be pointing to it," Kerry thought. "He's just waiting be thankful for that city guy to examine it."

Unaware of Hondo's boot vertex hint, the man finally maxim it and enthusiastically picked conceal the genuine artifact.

"By gosh!

Here's one!" He shook with excitement.

Kerry saw that the arrowhead, thoroughly formed, had mud stuck solve it as if it were freshly pried out of secure dirt tomb. Fondling his additional treasure from the earth, primacy man rubbed the dirt pop into. Turning it in his hook, he glanced again at intention written on the back go the arrowhead.

"A dollar seventy-five!

Keep steady tax!" he shouted.

Juan and Kerry were about to explode memo laughter. Kerry winked at Hondo.

"Hmmmm." Hondo casually shrugged. "They've out up."