There’s nowhere more classically Austin than the Continental Club, the granddaddy of local venues. The South Congress mainstay has lived a few lives since opening in 1955 (a ritzy supper club, a burlesque parlor), but since the ’70s, it’s been famous for intimate shows from country, rock, and blues greats like Link Wray and The Replacements. Today the retro room is the go-to for classic American music from local legends that helped establish ATX as the world’s live-music capital.

The night before the Austin leg of The Rolling Stones’ 2021 tour, Mick Jagger stopped by the Broken Spoke for a beer and a round of pool. The wood-paneled dance hall looks like a saloon ripped from a Western and plunked onto South Lamar, and since opening in 1964, it’s hosted several generations of country legends, from Garth Brooks and Dolly Parton to Charley Crockett and Sturgill Simpson. Not to worry if your Texas two-step’s a little rusty—the Spoke offers dance lessons most nights.

The tiny Burnet Road institution is an “only in Austin” type of dive, largely unchanged since opening in 1963 in a building now over a century old. Cowboys, bikers, artists, and tourists squeeze in for ice-cold Lone Stars and performances from honky-tonk heroes like Alvin Crow or Jason Roberts. But what you’re really going for is Chicken Shit Bingo, the Sunday bar game of local legend. (The rules? Buy a ticket and hope for one of the bar’s pet hens to do their thing on a matching bingo square.)

Poodie Locke, longtime stage manager for Willie Nelson, bought the Spicewood staple in 1997 as a place to drink while off the road. Though he passed in ’09, the Hill Country roadhouse remains plastered with wall-to-wall tour memorabilia and is usually full of regulars telling stories from the good old days. Country greats like Billy Joe Shaver, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Asleep at the Wheel have played the 300-capacity space—and, of course, Willie himself, who still checks in from time to time.

Blink and you’ll miss Sam’s Town Point, the ramshackle tavern hidden by trees on the southern edge of town. The neighborhood joint is a charming antithesis to Austin’s shinier new developments with its cheap beer, wood paneling, and worn carpet. What it lacks in architectural splendor, it makes up for in quality music on two stages—think pedal steel showcases, western swing nights, and residents like the Little Elmore Reed Blues Band.

The east side’s premier hipster honky-tonk opened in 2011 and shot to the top of the neighborhood’s live-music scene. But with its vintage neon and dusty chandeliers, the White Horse has the feel of a much older ATX institution, where gray-haired couples and twentysomethings can be found two-stepping ’til late. Residencies established modern outlaw acts like Mike and the Moonpies and introduced a new generation to Conjunto Los Pinkys, and a given Friday lineup can include upward of five bands.

South Austin’s coolest newcomer couldn’t have opened at a less auspicious time (summer 2020), but Sagebrush stuck the landing and established itself as a South Congress staple. The space boasts two stages inside its stone facade and one more on the sprawling back lot, which hosts food trucks and pop-up shops. The venue shares ownership with the White Horse, so the lineups are similarly eclectic: Americana, soul, and Tejano music, plus a vibey light installation that mimics a West Texas sunset.

In the late ’70s, the saloon’s original owner bought an old train depot for $300, hauled it onto 5th Street, and hired Donn Adelman to play piano so he could dance with his wife. And voilà: Donn’s Depot, downtown’s most charming dive, where happy hour runs late, Christmas decor stays up year-round, and talented residents play country, western swing, and American-songbook classics on the baby grand. Still holding court at the piano weekly? Mr. Donn Adelman himself, over 50 years later.

The old-school dive bills itself as “the biggest little stage in South Austin,” and they aren’t lying about the “little” part—yet somehow bands cram their gear into the corner and crank out country, rock, and blues six nights a week. (The seventh day, naturally, is for karaoke.) From the outside, Giddy Ups looks like a Wild West saloon, while the inside’s more like a cozy living room where you can catch a set from blues legend W.C. Clark or country stalwarts The Pearl Snaps.