Forty years ago, a dressed up, VIP-filled crowd packed a sprawling conglomerate of former livestock pens in the heart of the Fort Worth Stockyards.
Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers opened Billy Bob’s Texas in front of a standing room only crowd of more than 6,000 on April 1, 1981. It was so packed that the fire department kept tabs on the overflow crowd.
Robert Gallagher was one of 1,300 VIPs that night — in fact, he was VIP No. 461. At the time, Gallagher was a 35-year-old proprietor of the Music Exchange, a record store in the Stockyards. He also dabbled in booking music acts around town. Later, Gallagher became Billy Bob’s Texas’ entertainment director.
Thursday’s Gatlin Brothers show will serve https://getzonedup.com/ as a Billy Bob’s reunion, with original club owner Billy Bob Barnett and many former employees expected to help celebrate the anniversary.
Billy Bob’s Texas has become a famous nightclub over the years, while hosting anyone and everyone in country music, as well as acts beyond country and western, including Tina Turner, Ringo Starr, The Go-Go’s, Ray Charles, Bob Hope and B.B. King.
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