The Continental Club — Austin, Texas Music Institution

The Continental Club at 1315 South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas, has been one of the most important live music venues in the state since it opened in 1957. Originally a supper club, it evolved into the definitive Austin honky-tonk — a room where country, blues, rockabilly, and rock and roll converge in a setting that embodies the city's 'Live Music Capital of the World' identity. The club's no-cover-charge policy for many shows and its support of local musicians have made it a crucial institution in Austin's musical ecosystem.

The Continental Club's regulars and residencies read like a history of Texas music: Stevie Ray Vaughan played some of his earliest Austin shows here, Dale Watson has held a long-running residency, and the club has hosted everyone from Wanda Jackson to the Flatlanders to Alejandro Escovedo. The South Congress Avenue location — once a quiet stretch of vintage shops and taquerias, now heavily gentrified — has been the club's home for over six decades, and its neon sign is one of the most recognised landmarks in Austin.

The Continental Club continues to present live music seven nights a week. The room is small enough (capacity around 200) that you can stand inches from the performers, and the atmosphere on a good night captures something essential about Texas music — the intimacy, the sweat, the honky-tonk swing. A second location, the Continental Club Gallery, operates upstairs.