The Bellamy Brothers at Billy Bob's Texas

Tonight, I took my family honky-tonking. The Bellamy Brothers were performing at Billy Bob's Texas. This is a famous western-style bar, with a large dance floor and stage located in the Fort Worth Stockyards area.

We arrived in the Dallas/Fort Worth "metroplex" early to give us time to check into our hotel. We live a fair distance away and since we planned to attend the Bellamy Brother's show tonight and a different show tomorrow night, we sprang for a hotel room. We reserved at a Wyndham Gardens Hotel in Dallas. The place caters to business travelers during the week with rates to match, but on weekends the rates drop to something very reasonable. It is a beautiful hotel with an excellent, though expensive, restaurant.

After checking in, we headed over to the historic Fort Worth Stockyards. It has changed since the last time we were there about fifteen years ago. It always was a tourist destination, but it has become much more of a tourist trap. For example, free parking has become difficult to find. They have added some "street shows," including a gunfight. Here is the touristy welcome sign...

The "station" has a number of shops and restaurants under one roof. For dinner, we decided to go with Mexican cuisine and selected the Habanero's Grill and Cantina. The food was very good, the portions were ample and the prices reasonable.

Billy Bob's has lots of pool tables, about half a dozen bars, their own retail store, bull riding, a pizza kitchen, a steakhouse kitchen and two stages. One with a large dance floor and small tables. The other, the main stage faces a large group of long tables with reserved seating for concerts.

The Bellamy Brothers took to the main stage at 9:30 PM and played 'till eleven, covering many of their greatest hits, including Let Your Love Flow, For All the Wrong Reasons, Kids of the Baby Boom, and one of my personal favorites (mostly because I AM one, complete with long hair and a full beard) – Old Hippie.