W. Chase Peeler, a researcher who studies music cultures, headed to the farthest corner of West Texas in 2013 to find a remote region where music was in full bloom. He drove through Big Bend, stopped in Terlingua Ghost Town, and discovered a community so musically inclined that it’s said “there’s a musician hiding under every rock.” Case in point: The town of roughly 100 people had a fully equipped recording studio 25 years before it had a school, a water utility company, or a decent grocery store. Peeler, a multi-instrumentalist, fell in love. He stayed more than two years, conducting doctoral research in ethnomusicology, trying to suss out what made Terlingua such a musical oasis. The culmination of his work is On the Porch: Life and Music in Terlingua, Texas.
Located in canyon country, with Big Bend National Park to the east and Big Bend Ranch State Park to the west, Terlingua is so remote that the nearest stoplight is in Mexico, 65 miles away. Some residents live so far off the grid their homes are visible only by plane. (Rumor has it that one man has lived in a cave for more than 25 years.)
