Cheatham Street Warehouse East Entrance 2020

Cheatham Street Warehouse is located in San Marcos, Texas. It was built in 1910 as a grocery warehouse along the railroad tracks for a local grocery. In 1974, Texas State University alumnus (1961, 1965) Kent Finlay and business partner San Marcos Daily Record writer Jim Cunningham leased the building to open a honky-tonk music hall, greatly influenced by Luckenbach, Texas' Hondo Crouch. In 1979, Cunningham grew tired of selling all the beer he could not drink, and moved on to continue his journalism career. Kent and his wife, Diana Becker Finlay (Hendricks) continued to own the business, attempting to owner-finance the sale of the business several times, only to have it return to them; which led Kerrville Folk Festival's Rod Kennedy to describe the venue as "Kent's Bastard Child." The venue provided an outlet for a variety of local musicians at the beginning of their careers.

Southwest Texas State University Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...

student

George Strait George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was credited fo ...

and the Ace in the Hole Band played their first shows in the venue in 1975. In the early 1980s, a young

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years ...

played there every Tuesday night. Cheatham Street Warehouse has hosted such acts as

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and ''Stardust'' (1978 ...

Ernest Tubb Ernest Dale Tubb (February 9, 1914 – September 6, 1984), nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, " Walking the Floor Over You" (1941), ...

Delbert McClinton Delbert McClinton (born November 4, 1940) is an American blues rock and electric blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player, and pianist. From his first professional stage appearance in 1957 to his most recent national tour in 2018, ...

Townes Van Zandt John Townes Van Zandt (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997) was an American singer-songwriter.

Marcia Ball Marcia Ball (born March 20, 1949, Orange, Texas, United States) is an American blues singer and pianist raised in Vinton, Louisiana. Ball was described in ''USA Today'' as "a sensation, saucy singer and superb pianist... where Texas stomp-rock ...

Jerry Jeff Walker Jerry Jeff Walker (born Ronald Clyde Crosby; March 16, 1942 – October 23, 2020) was an American country music and folk singer-songwriter. He was a leading figure in the progressive country and outlaw country music movement. He was bes ...

Ray Wylie Hubbard Ray Wylie Hubbard (born November 13, 1946) is an American singer and songwriter. Early life Hubbard was born in the town of Soper, Oklahoma. His family moved to Oak Cliff in southwest Dallas, Texas, in 1954. He attended W. H. Adamson High Sch ...

Charlie Sexton Charles Wayne Sexton (born August 11, 1968) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Sexton is best known for his years as a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band, though also has become well known as a music producer. Sexton co-founded the ...

Gary P. Nunn Gary P. Nunn (born December 4, 1945) is an American country music singer-songwriter. He is best known for writing "London Homesick Blues", which was the theme song for ''Austin City Limits'' from 1977 to 2004 (seasons 2–29). Nunn is also consi ...

Asleep at the Wheel Asleep at the Wheel is an American Western swing group that was formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, and is based in Austin, Texas. The band has won nine Grammy Awards since their 1970 inception, released over twenty albums, and has charted mor ...

as well as many, many up-and-coming Texas artists such as

James McMurtry James McMurtry (born March 18, 1962, in Fort Worth, Texas) is an American rock and folk rock/ americana singer, songwriter, guitarist, bandleader, and occasional actor ('' Daisy Miller'', ''Lonesome Dove'', and narrator of ''Ghost Town: 24 Hours ...

, Slaid Cleaves,

Shelley King Shelley King (born 25 September 1955) is a British actress, known for her roles as Jay Harper on the BBC drama series ''Angels'' and Yasmeen Nazir on the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. Early and personal life King was born in Calcutta, ...

Hayes Carll Joshua Hayes Carll (born January 9, 1976), known professionally as Hayes Carll, is a singer-songwriter. A native of The Woodlands, Texas, his style of roots-oriented songwriting has been noted for its plainspoken poetry and sarcastic humor. C ...

, Sunny Sweeney, Randy Rogers Band,
HalleyAnna
, and

Todd Snider Todd Daniel Snider (born October 11, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter whose music incorporates elements of folk, rock, blues, alt country, and funk. Early career Todd Snider was born in Portland, Oregon, but was raised in nearby Beave ...

. Kent Finlay died on Texas Independence Day, 2015 and Randy Rogers Band lead singer Randy Rogers, whose debut album was recorded at Cheatham Street in 2000, purchased the venue from Kent's children, Jenni, Sterling and HalleyAnna Finlay in 2017.

References

External links

* {{coord, 29.8767, -97.9398, type:landmark_region:US-TX, display=title 1910 establishments in Texas Texas State University San Marcos, Texas Music venues in Texas Hays County, Texas