By Kalena Reynolds | Opinion Editor
Friday marked the first annual Tanglefoot Festival, bringing a stacked lineup of both barbecue and Texas musicians to Temple. The event also provided a family-friendly outlet, featuring a variety of small businesses, a tattoo and piercing vendor and a mechanical bull.
Tanglefoot was located at the MLK Festival Grounds, and downtown Temple was transformed to accommodate its multiple stages and vendors.
This marked the inaugural year for the event. Festival Director Steve Clayton said the festival has a three-year contract with the City of Temple. He said he plans to continue growing the festival with Texas artists and small businesses each year.
While a variety of ticket levels were offered for this year’s festival, ranging from general admission to VIP. A buy-one-get-one-free student special was also available on general admission tickets.
In addition, the festival lineup featured all-Texas musicians, including Parker McCollum, Cody Jinks, Robert Earl Keen, Randy Rogers Band, The Droptines, Mark Chesnutt and Graham St. Clair Band.
“We didn’t go out seeking an all-Texas lineup,” Clayton said. ”It just happened organically, so there were certainly some conversations both ways, between both groups, but ultimately it was based on availability, routing and scheduling.”
Aside from music, the festival also featured a variety of barbecue vendors, all carefully selected by a hired barbecue consultant.
“We hired a barbecue consultant who is very familiar with the pit masters, their requirements, their capabilities [and] their uniqueness,” Clayton said. “He’s done a great job curating a variety of different personalities along with flavors.”
With the help of the consultant, the festival team was able to introduce a mix of barbecue flavors and styles, primarily from Texas but also influenced by Tennessee, North Carolina and Kansas City.
Clayton mentioned that the unique dining lineup was crafted with the intention of bringing culture to customers and offering a variety of food that people would not typically get to try while in Texas.
As for the schedule, the festival began at 2:30 p.m. Friday with Jackson Wendell, Shelby Stone and Cole Whittlesey. Crowds increased as the sun started to set and headliners Randy Rogers Band and McCollum took the main stage.
Randy Rogers Band played a variety of its hits, while McCollum performed songs from his recently released self-titled album, interspersed with hits like “Handle On You” and “What Kinda Man.”
While McCollum, a Conroe native, is currently on a statewide tour, he said that he always treasures playing in small towns in Texas.
Day two kicked off with Matt Caldwell at 12:15 p.m. Following Caldwell were Kin Faux, Mitchell Ferguson and The Droptines.
While temperatures rose during the peak of the afternoon, festival goers were allowed to bring clear plastic water bottles to fill up at the hydration station inside the gates.
Saturday’s event was headlined by notorious country veterans — Robert Earl Keen and Cody Jinks. Keen took the stage at 8:15 p.m. and played an eclectic mix of his 19-album discography. From “Dreadful Selfish Crime” to “Feelin’ Good Again,” he played an energetic mix of guitar-heavy uptempo records intertwined with slow-tempo ballads.
The crowd was filled with eagerness when Jinks took the stage at 10 p.m. Early on, Jinks played an energy-setting upbeat song, “What Else Is New,” which was followed by an introduction and him explaining that “he was from just up the road in Fort Worth.”
While a wave of electricity surged through the crowd midway through Jinks’ set, the energy peaked when he played hits “Must Be the Whiskey” and “Hippies and Cowboys” at the end of his set.
