Texas Music Cafe may not look like too much from the outside—just another storefront on Waco’s quiet 6th Street. But inside? The walls are close, the stage is in your face, and suddenly you’re in the middle of a show that could blow your hair back.

Past performances include blues legend Classic Ballou, guitar renegade Ian Moore, and Hamell on Trial (whatever the hell that was)—all of it filmed and streamed to the rest of the world.

And Waco? Half the time, it shrugs. But this is Waco’s real music export, whether the city is ready to claim it or not.

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Papa Joe's Texas Saloon is an honest-to-God Texas roadhouse perched on the edge of an I-35 frontage road south of Waco, equal parts neon mirage and last-stand bunker for anyone who knows country music died with Merle Haggard.

It's the kind of beer joint where time doesn’t move, it settles in—and where every creak of the floorboards and swig of Lone Star feels like a dare.

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Hit subscribe so you don't miss the next episode of Your Waco Weekend—and visit wacoinsider.com to check out our full events calendar and sign up for our weekly events newsletter.