Don Henley: Return to Cass County
Multiple generations continue to dance and sing, fall in and out of love, expand their dreams, and otherwise resonate with the tunes of the Eagles and founding member Don Henley, who hails from a small town in the Upper East Side of Texas. But perhaps even more...
Cass County Album Review
With the very first few slow and steady notes of a sliding steel guitar reminiscent of Floyd Cramer’s "Last Date," Don Henley’s first date in 15 years with a solo album draws listeners in to a sense of home, community, and the pleasure of being at peace where you are....
Meet Guitarist Ally Venable
By Tom Geddie Ally Venable was more than thrilled to play the man’s guitar for a few minutes while he sat at his booth at the Dallas International Guitar Festival and sipped coffee. The man was Gary Hoey, who’s labeled as one of the top 100 guitarists of all time and...
Musgraves Returns for Hometown Hang
By Tom Geddie It might be easy for so many people to think of Kacey Musgraves’ return to Mineola on September 26 with her full band as the return of a conquering hero, an overnight success. The truth is, as young as she still is at 27, it’s already been a long...
Borrowed Dogs Make Great Companions
By Edward H. Garcia One of the joys of walking around in our community is the companion dogs we often pick up. Over the years on our daily walks, my wife and I have had at least a dozen part-time pets. Typically, we’ll walk in front of a certain house and there is the...
Blake Neely Scores in Hollywood
By P.A. Geddie When Star Wars premiered in 1977, an eight-year-old boy sat in awe in a dark theater in Paris, Texas. Along with millions of other viewers, he was intrigued with the story of the young farm boy Luke Skywalker who joins forces with a Jedi Knight and...
The Great Debaters of Wiley College
History was made on April 2, 1935, when a debate team from the small African American Wiley College in Marshall beat the reigning national collegiate debate champions, the University of Southern California (USC). But Wiley would not supplant USC as collegiate debate...
Hattie Brantley
Hattie Brantley (inset) was born April 4, 1916, in Jefferson. She was a lieutenant and nurse in the U.S. Army at the start of America’s involvement in World War II and was stationed in the Philippine Islands when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. She was evacuated...
Cool Guy in Your Seventies
By Edward H. Garcia First off, it’s not easy. Ask your grandkids. And maybe you think you’re already cool. You aren’t. Ask your grandkids. Cool is a state of mind, and it can be cultivated. The trick is to look around and see what cool people do or did and try to...
Remember Your Valentine with Chocolate Souffle
By Lyndsay Caldwell Valentine’s Day goes hand in hand with flowers, presents and chocolate. February 14 falls on a Saturday this year and that means expectations are even higher. If you prefer to stay home and avoid the reservations nightmare of tables for two, I’ve...
The Legend of Wild Willie
By P.A. Geddie It was 20 years ago this month when a tall, pony-tailed, white-bearded man and his band of dreamers began inviting the public to come experience the East Texas hillside they turned in to a mountain town. Just a few months earlier, the bearded one,...
The Pulpwood Queens
By Alia Pappas Tiaras and bedazzled hot pink t-shirts sparkle while scissors, blow dryers and hairspray bottles flit about in the hands of Beauty and the Book’s stylists as they perfect the looks of their clients. While waiting under the dryers for their dye jobs to...
Coming Summer 2025
County Line Magazine archives are going to The Portal to Texas History, a gateway to rare, historical, and primary source materials from or about Texas. Look for the County Line issues there soon.