The Enduring Influence of the Armadillo

Armadillo World Headquarters co-founder Eddie Wilson was on hand at ACL Live on February 15th for the reveal of the Austin FC’s 2024 season kit. The soccer club jerseys now sport the logo for a resurrected Armadillo World Headquarters brand, Armadillo World, with a promised venue documentary and a series of musical events in the works.

“I have been living a Ted Lasso episode for a couple of years,” said Wilson, who explained that “some friends involved in the soccer club” approached him about aligning themselves with the legendary Austin music venue, kickstarting the collaboration. A hub known for uniting rednecks, hippies, and beatniks under one roof to hear country, jazz, rock, and folk, the venue earned its now-iconic status in the years between 1970 to 1980, boosting what would eventually be called a progressive country style.

“They came to me and they’d said that they’d been in Austin for a few months studying what makes Austin Austin, and that they kept finding my fingerprints on a lot of stuff,” said Wilson. “They wanted to know if they could smear some of that around.”

Kicking off the musical reboot under Armadillo World’s brand was William Beckmann, Del Rio country music young gun whose cover of “Volver, Volver,” a song popularized by Vicente Fernández, roused the notably Latino fanbase for the Austin FC.

Western swing greats Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel, a band that closed down the Headquarters at their last 1980 event, played a nimble and joyful set before welcoming singer-songwriter Gary P. Nunn on stage, alongside Beckmann, to sing “London Homesick Blues.” The song’s refrain “I wanna go home with the Armadillo,” was written about the famous venue, with Nunn later saying, reportedly, that the lyric might have been “I wanna go home to the Armadillo.”

Following the country bands, Gina Chavez took the stage and introduced Austin FC players Dani Pereira and Ethan Finlay. After a spirit rally led by La Murga de Austin, Austin’s rising hip-hop stars Blakchyl and Kydd Jones wrapped the event.

A couple of Austin-born friends, Kaylan D. and Tracy M. were at the event primarily to support the hometown team, but unlike others we spoke to, they had heard of the bands on the lineup. Other attendees had never heard of the Armadillo World Headquarters, like Sol A. and Armando S., both from Mexico City.

“I didn’t know the bands, but we loved them,” said Sol A.

Likewise, Cynthia M. and Jessica G., each from Brownsville, said they had heard of neither the venue nor the bands on the lineup. Each person we spoke to said they attend as many games as they can, or have season passes, suggesting the chance for the Armadillo to smear a little more hometown love across a varied cultural group, not just in the 1970s, but also today.