This Week in Texas Music History: Texas Intl. Pop Festival
This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll commemorate the Lone Star State’s own version of the Woodstock Festival.
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From August 30th to September 1st, 1969, just two weeks after Woodstock, Angus Wynne III organized the Texas International Pop Festival in Lewisville, outside of Dallas. The festival attracted an audience of 150,000 to hear performances by Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, Santana, B. B. King, Johnny Winter, and others. Local radio stations warned that the festival could attract thousands of pot-smoking hippies. However, the Lewisville chief of police praised the concertgoers for their peaceful behavior and asked only that they keep their clothes on while enjoying the music. Despite this request, the Texas summer heat proved to be too much for many in the crowd, so they stripped down and went skinny dipping in nearby Lake Lewisville.
Despite some minor problems, the Texas International Pop Festival was a success, making it the state’s first major outdoor rock festival.
Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll meet the man who revolutionized Texas-Mexican music from his own living room.
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