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Fifty years ago, Willie Nelson transformed country music with the release of Red Headed Stranger. The album was recorded at Autumn Sound, a studio in Garland (now Audio Dallas Recording Studio). To celebrate the album’s anniversary and its ties to North Texas, Garland Cultural Arts and KXT 91.7 FM will be presenting ‘Songs and Stories Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger’ on May 16 and May 17 in Downtown Garland to honor Nelson’s work and its lasting impact on popular culture.

A concept album about a man who kills his wife and her lover, Red Headed Stranger was a critical and commercial success, helping define the outlaw country music movement and making Nelson a luminary of the genre. Though some of his earlier work, like 1973’s Shotgun Willie, has lived on among fans, Red Headed Stranger was his first true blockbuster success.

The anniversary celebration will kick off May 16 at the Plaza Theatre with a special screening of the 1986 film Red Headed Stranger, which was inspired by the album and stars Nelson and Morgan Fairchild. Fairchild herself will be in attendance, taking part in a discussion about the original album’s legacy before the screening with author and journalist Michael Granberry, Nelson biographer Joe Nick Patoski, and musician Joshua Ray Walker.

On May 17, the party will move to the streets. From 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., there will be free live music at venues around the square, including Fortunate Son, Intrinsic Brewery, and Dead Wax Records. One of Nelson’s touring buses, also called Red Headed Stranger, will be available for photo opportunities, while a shuttle will take visitors who purchase a ticket to Audio Dallas, where the interior remains virtually unchanged from when Nelson recorded the album.

That evening, Ray Benson, Rhett Miller, Joshua Ray Walker, and Max and Heather Stalling will take the stage at the Granville Arts Center to discuss Red Headed Stranger and its influence as they take turns playing songs from the album. Matt Hillyer will play lead guitar with a backing band led by the event’s Musical Director, John Pedigo.

Highlighting Downtown Garland

Amy Rosenthal, Cultural Arts Director for Garland, has helped spearhead efforts to make the Red Headed Stranger anniversary event a reality. She and her collaborators envision this as an opportunity to fully activate Garland’s downtown, which the city has invested heavily in to upgrade infrastructure and beautify the space.

“It’s been incredible to see everyone’s enthusiasm and passion,” says Rosenthal. “This project just really speaks to people in a certain special way. I mean… from the artists that have been influenced by this album to just recognizing that, hey, the birth of this really cool outlaw country music movement was right here in Dallas, you know, in Garland.”

Musician Jeff Ryan serves as creative director for the project, brought in by broadcaster Eric Nadel (the voice of the Texas Rangers), who was an early supporter of the event. Ryan already knew Amy Rosenthal and was able to hit the ground running, collaborating with her to secure the lineup of featured musicians for the celebration.

Speaking on the enduring legacy of Red Headed Stranger, Ryan says he sees it as a “massive, bold statement” by Willie Nelson.

“You know, he didn’t just go and record a record that someone else wanted him to record. He made the record that he wanted to make. Like, he literally set it up like a campfire in this very small studio in Garland, Texas…in 1975 and did it in a couple of days,” explains Ryan.

“Musically, what it means is that he stripped off all the Nashville-ness of what he was so immersed in for so long,” he continues. Everyone involved says they want to stay true to that minimalist approach when the album is performed in Garland.

“We’re not over-producing this,” says Rosenthal. “We are really going back…and taking our inspiration from the original recording.”

At the same time, Ryan says, they wanted to avoid just having the musicians sit on stage and play one song after another. The goal was to create something more interactive, with the performers arranged in a loose semi-circle on stage, with the same types of instruments that are on the album being played by a backing band. Once they have worked their way through Red Headed Stranger, the musicians may play some additional songs. Ray Benson, a friend of Nelson’s, will tell stories and bring historical context to the discussion, while the other musicians provide intergenerational perspectives on the album.

While Red Headed Stranger is the impetus for the event, the weekend will also be about celebrating Garland’s history, letting attendees experience its downtown in full bloom, and recognizing the city’s place in Texas’ cultural history. That history will be codified during the event, as representatives from the Texas Music Office will be on hand to certify Garland as a “Music Friendly City.”

“It’s just a celebration of everything about Garland,” says Ryan.

Tickets for ‘Songs and Stories Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger’ are available now.

Willie Nelson's pivotal album, 'Red Headed Stranger,' hit the half-century mark, and Garland, TX, is throwing a shindig worthy of the outlaw country milestone. On May 17, fans and a who's who of Texas musicians will converge at the Granville Arts Center for a tribute concert to capture the spirit and influence of the 1975 classic.

Ready to revisit the renegade tales of the 'Red Headed Stranger'? The one-night event boasts performances by Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel, Rhett Miller from Old 97's, Joshua Ray Walker, and the Stallings, plus The Band of Strangers recreating the sparse sounds of the album, with Joshua Ray Walker laying down the law and Texas legend Matt Hillyer wielding the lead guitar. As Garland's Municipality website described, along with the tunes, there'll be storytelling as artists share personal takes on the album's lasting legacy and their local ties.

From 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., the Fringe Concert Series amplifies the festivities in Downtown Garland. It showcases North Texas artists Angel White, the Mongol, and Frankie Leonie, among others. The streets become a live score of local talent, and attendees soak up the ambiance of new and familiar, original sounds.

Adding to the day's fanfare, an exhibit featuring Willie Nelson memorabilia from The Wittliff Collections takes fans down memory lane, expect to catch a peek at a tour bus named after the legend himself, 'Red Headed Stranger' parked ready for those priceless photo ops Garland gets certified as a "Music Friendly City" by the Texas Music Office to join the ranks of Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin making the event a tip of the hat to the music-savvy community's commitment to the beats.

Showtime is 8:00 p.m. sharp, and ticket details and further info are available at the City of Garland's announcement page.

Alejandro Jaramillo, an animal control officer for the city, assumed this would be an ordinary rat snake. Even then, it would be his first ever snake call in two years on the job. When he arrived on the scene, near the intersection of Apache Drive and Broadway Boulevard, he saw this was no ordinary rat snake.

The python stretched 15 feet, its massive body slithering across the yard. Nearby, a man peered down from his truck, where he took refuge to escape the reptile.

“My heart sank a little bit when I saw it,” Jaramillo told The Dallas Morning News on Tuesday. “I was like ‘Oh boy.’”

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Video posted by the city Tuesday showed the 15-foot reticulated python wriggling across the grass as a crowd gathered to watch in horror and perhaps fascination.

Jaramillo said he first grabbed the snake hook, which he quickly realized would be far too small. He then tried to grab the python with his bare hands, which the snake did not like and attempted to strike back. When the snake headed toward the road, Jaramillo pulled it back into the yard.

“It was agitated,” he said. “They’re a lot faster than you think it would be.”

The python eventually slithered into the engine of a nearby truck, and Jaramillo lured it out by making loud noises. After about two hours, he was able to capture the animal using a net and catch pole. A co-worker delivered a tote bag large enough to hold the snake.

On Facebook, the city of Garland praised Jaramillo for staying “calm, professional, and focused on protecting the community and the animal.”

For his part, Jaramillo said he was shaking the entire time.

Authorities later found the snake’s owner, who was in the process of moving when the animal got loose. The owner plans to reclaim the python Wednesday and move it to its new home outside Garland, said Alberto Maldonado, community outreach coordinator for Garland Animal Services.

The owner was not cited, Maldonado said, adding that he had a state license to own an exotic pet.

Reticulated pythons are the longest snakes in the world and among the heaviest. They can grow up to 25 feet long and weigh well over 100 pounds. The snakes are constrictors, which means they kill prey by wrapping around them and squeezing.

In very rare cases, the pythons have swallowed humans.

This is not the first time a loose snake menaced North Texas. In 2021, a highly venomous cobra escaped its unsecured enclosure in Grand Prairie, where residents were so worried they reported losing sleep.

The snake’s owner was sentenced to 15 months of community supervision. The snake was never found.

A 15-foot yellow python weighing 85 pounds had to be pulled from a parked car’s engine Saturday night. After more than two hours, the Garland Animal Control Officer safely captured the python.

It was around 11 p.m. Saturday when Alejandro Jaramillo, the Garland Animal Control Officer, got a call.

“They just told me that it was gonna be a snake. I did not know that when I would arrive, it would be a 15-foot python,” Jaramillo said.

Jaramillo’s snake prongs, he said, were of no use.

“Normally, we use these to grab the head of the snake so you can control it. Obviously, its head was too big to be controlled by this and it was too strong,” Jaramillo said.

Instead, Jaramillo had to use a net and a catch pole. Still, the snake continued to slither away.

“It turned around when I pulled its tail and tried to lunge at me,” Jaramillo recalled. “From there, it slithered underneath his truck and then went up into his engine bay to where I had to attempt to pull it out or lure it out.”

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Nick Garza lives next door.

“It was crazy,” Garza said. “It was huge… it was like a snake you see at the zoo, you know?”

It was the size and color of the snake that helped experts determine the snake was likely someone’s pet.

“A 15-foot python doesn't happen naturally. It has to have been fed in good condition and stuff like that. So that's how we kind of knew,” Alberto Maldonado said.

Maldonado is the community outreach coordinator for the Garland Animal Shelter. “And on top of that, it was banana colored. So, that is another indication that a lot of people have like a pet (snake).”

Within six hours of its safe capture, Maldonado said numerous people volunteered to foster the python.

“It’s being taken care of,” Maldonado said. “In the city of Garland, regardless of the size of the animal or the shape or what kind of animal it is, we're always going to be there to provide our services for them.”

On Tuesday morning, Maldonado was notified that the owner of the python had come forward.

“The owner of the Python was actually moving addresses. He's moving out of the city limits. And in the meantime, he decided to put up the snake enclosure and put the python in a temporary case for it to be living for a little while,” Maldonado said.

The snake, however, made its way out. The snake was found near Apache and Broadway in South Garland.

“It didn't get very far at all, if anything. It just had to cross one major road, and it was there. So, I'd say about maybe like 400 yards, if that.”

Maldonado said the owner will not face any citations.

“Just like how we don't get you in trouble for your dog running out at large, it's the same thing. It's a pet. It was an isolated incident,” Maldonado said. “It was an accident, and he came forward, gave us all the paperwork and documentation to prove that it was his.”

The owner will only have to pay a standard impound fee before being reunited with their pet.