The music of West Texas has taken the country and the world by storm for over 40 years, from Buddy Holly to Joe Ely. These Lubbockites have blazed exciting new musical paths that much of the world has followed. That tradition continues to this day. Not to be outdone, another prominent local tradition is great BBQ. And no one has done BBQ better in these parts than the late C.B. Stubblefield.
C.B. "Stubbs" Stubblefield worked many jobs in his day, from the cotton fields surrounding Lubbock during his childhood, to his job as staff sergeant in what was to become the last all-black Army unit in Korea. He cooked meals for some 10,000 soldiers, and often served as a self-styled wartime disc jockey who spun 45s for his buddies in the trenches. Stubbs was once asked by a reporter to name the worst job he'd ever held. His answer, classic Stubbs, was "I haven't had it yet." This is his legacy.
Stubbs cooked for presidents and their families. He's been referred to in letters from Tom T. Hall and former Texas Governor Mark White. His establishments have been frequented by the likes of the Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson, B.B. King, Robert Cray, Los Lobos and the late Stevie Ray Vaughan. Rumor has it that they wouldn't settle for anything less.
It all began in Lubbock, Texas, in a small barbecue restaurant at 108 East Broadway near the Lubbock Fair Grounds. Stubbs "Blue Plate" specials of fantastic barbecue created quite a following. During this time (the early 1970s), Stubbs met and befriended Jesse Taylor and Joe Ely. Soon he was plunged into the very happening Texas Music scene by one of the country's most promising rock n' roll bands...and, as they say, the rest is history.
During the next 10 years, Stubbs little 75 seat restaurant with a pool table in the back room gained national attention as a not-to-be-missed blues and barbecue house. When the juke box was not playing vintage blues records the place was filled with the sound of great live music from groups who eagerly played against one wall in a shotgun shack-style restaurant. Stubbs had Stevie Ray Vaughan and Triple Threat, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, George Thorogood and the Destroyers, the Joe Ely Band, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Los Lobos and Robert Cray inundate him with requests to complement the great barbecue with great music.
Customers came hours before the music would start just to make sure they had time to eat Stubb's great barbecue. His restaurant, adorned with dozens of photos of Stubbs and his music industry friends, Jimmy Dean, Emmy Lou Harris, Linda Ronstadt and the like, helped to create a little of the "magic" Stubbs began. From these roots Stubbs has grown.
Stubbs left us in 1994, but his legacy lingers on. The new Stubbs Restaurant, located in the historic Lubbock Depot District, continues to honor his memory by producing more of the tangy, sweet barbecue for which Stubbs became famous. So next time you're out this way, be sure to stop in. Besides, you never know who might drop by.
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