John Coleman is a master plumber, who still worked at his day job until this month. Chuck Clark is retired from a career as a civilian employee for the Department of the Army. Both want to be sure you understand that they are NOT re-enactors. But the two self-described “wild west entertainers” have managed to put together one of the most successful, entertaining and educational shows in recent memory with the custom-built, portable, western-style “town” they call Brazos Bottom.

       At one time, Coleman considered himself a re-enactor and tried to do everything in the historically accurate way. When he and his “Cowographers” (a term adopted from a Gene Autry movie) met Clark at the Salado Legends outdoor drama seven or eight years ago, Clark convinced him that it was more important to put on a good show than to wear “authentic” long, woollen underwear. “If we do a skit set in 1865, the audience doesn’t care if we use guns invented in 1868,” Clark declares.

       Shortly after that meeting, Coleman called Clark and asked him to be vice-president of the Cowographers. “He said, ‘I need a VP,” Clark recalls. The two men settled on a division of labor; “John’s administration,” Clark explains. “I’m in charge of the set, the set-up and the shows.” Their enthusiasm and humor soon attracted recruits, and they averaged about sixteen members for the nine or ten shows they did that first season.

       Another group, called Red River Valley Gunfighters, had fallen on hard times, and needed to sell a “town” of six buildings on “the remains” of a house trailer. “We bought the town and the sound system for $1800,” Clark remembers. “But everything was so heavy – it took an army to set it up.” While the group continued to grow, the membership was “ready to revolt” four years ago, because of the hard labor involved in moving the town. Also, the group used to carry nearly a thousand “props” with them on their trips, including a heavy barber’s chair and an anvil that weighed several hundred pounds.

       With the help of some ingenious members, they began to experiment with lighter materials and better construction. They added lightweight “second stories” to several of the buildings, making the town much more authentic-looking, and were able to add buildings to their fold-out town so that Brazos Bottom now comprises a 165-foot-long downtown area, including a stable, a gun shop, a saloon, a hotel, a telegraph office, a bank, a mercantile store, the sheriff’s office, a church and a private ranch house on the other side of the “cemetery.” Above the mercantile store are “Marie’s Millery” and the law office of “Dewey, Cheatum and Howe, attorneys.” All the buildings are wired for sound so that actors can be heard at any section of the “street,” and the crew has eleven wireless microphones for the leading actors in each skit.

       On a typical weekend, the group performs several different skits, one after another, several times a day. Some spectators stay through the “intermission” to watch the show all over again. There is no charge to watch the show, but the Cowographers welcome donations to help pay for ammunition and travel expenses.

       The show requires a major commitment from its members, but despite the heat and the hard work involved in a summer’s schedule, most of the actors are eager for more. “Everyone is a recruiter,” claims Clark, “and we’re especially proud of the number of young people in our group.” Some of those young people have taken on substantial responsibilities, and Coleman and Clark are not expected to take part in the manual labor (although they both play major parts in most of the skits). “They watch us like hawks,” Clark says proudly. “They won’t let us do anything.”

       That bodes well for the future of the Brazos Bottom Cowographers. Both the leaders are a little older, and both have experienced health problems in the recent past. “We don’t intend for this to die,” Coleman stresses. “It can carry on without us.”

       The group performs on more than a dozen weekends each year, often in towns across the Hill Country. They will generally arrive Friday night, set up the town and camp on-site while they perform on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday night, they break down their portable town and head for home. Thousands of spectators enjoy their shows at events like Boerne’s Heritage Gathering, Llano’s Texas Proud Festival, or Goldthwaite’s Christmas in July. They are the official ambassadors for the Llano Main Street Association, and often hold special "jail breaks" at the historic Red Top Jail in Llano.

By John Hallowell

John Hallowell is the past editor of several Hill Country publications. He has been exploring the Texas Hill Country for almost 20 years.