Finding friends at Fuel

by John Hallowell

       If there is a single place that best embodies the spirit of today's Texas Hill Country, I'm guessing that it's the Fuel Coffee House on East Main Street in Llano. Of course, there's not much of the "Wild West" motif at Fuel, but the century-old rock building which housed Watkins Grocery for most of the 20th century has more than its share of historic character. It also has modern equipment which allows Fuel  to offer coffee drinks that rival those from any big-city Starbucks, and a sound system that produces professional-quality concerts from its rounded stage. But it's the wonderful variety of people and activities that make Fuel such a special place; any given day might find regular coffee-drinkers, laptop computer users, a knitting club, a Hebrew language class, an art class or a Bible study; a meeting of census workers, attorneys, salesmen or civic leaders. Teachers stop in before school, and students gather there in the afternoon. Musicians jam, readers read, retirees and tourists just visit. It's one of the most comfortable places you can imagine.

       The non-profit coffee shop's slogan is "Coffee + Music + Community." And while Fuel excels at all three, it's the music that is making a name for the unique little venue. Largely due to the efforts of Todd and Dana Wright (who managed Fuel for a couple of years), local author/musician/promoter W.C. Jameson and a loyal following known around Texas as the "Llegendary Llano Audience," Fuel has attracted a number of well-known and accomplished performers for live music up to (sometimes) four times in a week.

       It helps that Llano has a considerable local talent pool to draw from. Darrell Staedtler, whose songwriting credits include George Strait's #1 hit, "A Fire I Can't Put Out," is probably the best-known Llano musician. He is usually accompanied by Brandy Lee Sanderson, a golden-voiced musical prodigy who as a child used to sneak away from home to practice on the church piano and has taught herself to play several other instruments in the years since. Among the most notable of the others is Harriet Myrick, a Dallas native with a fine arts degree who has been singing professionally since she was a senior in high school, and who had nine of her songs selected by Charlie Pride's publishing company for publication in the early '90s. When she's not performing, she  teaches art  at Llano Elementary School. Lainey Wright was a high school senior just over a year ago, but she has just completed her second CD and a "coffeehouse tour" around Texas. Jenny Taylor won "Best New Female Vocalist of the Year" from the southwestern division of the Country Gospel Music Association last year; Keenan Fletcher teaches violin at Harmony School of the Arts in Marble Falls. Other locals participate in "Open Mike" nights and a First Friday Jam at Fuel. Recent Musical guests from other towns included an a capella women's choir from Yale University, a Methodist Youth choir from Costa Rica and a choir from the International Street Church in Dallas. Guests at W.C. Jameson's bi-monthly "Songwriters in the Round" event have included noted performers Danny Brooks, Mike Blakely, Walt Wilkins, Thomas Michael Riley, Buzz Cason, George Ensle, Paul Finley and Tim Henderson.

       To top it all off, Fuel has instituted a wonderful Sunday afternoon tradition of serving free hamburgers to anyone who stops in between 4:30 and 6 p.m. Volunteers cook hamburgers on a donated grill, while other volunteers serve them (with all the trimmings and complimentary coffee, water or lemonade; nothing is for sale on Sunday) and others hold signs on the street corner to alert unsuspecting passers-by to the unique event. While the original plan was to try to help locals who were feeling the economic pinch of recent years, organizers have found that the event is a blessing to many others as well. Anyone who observes the cheerful atmosphere at Fuel, especially  on a Sunday afternoon,  gets a better understanding of what is so good about living in the Texas Hill Country. Y'all come and see us!

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.