Behind the Music: 2000s exhibit now open

By Veronica Young

After traveling through the music history of Deep Ellum in the 1980s and 1990s, the Deep Ellum Community Center is set to unveil the final chapter in its unprecedented three-part series on the cultural district’s musical legacy. Behind the Music: 2000s opened September 2, at 2528 Elm Street, Suite A, and remains on view through October. Admission is free. 

The final exhibition turns toward a decade when the neighborhood’s stages still felt intimate even as Deep Ellum’s reach grew larger. It brings together the photography, artwork, memories and rooms that defined the era including through features on Adair’s Saloon, AllGood Cafe, The Bomb Factory, Curtain Club, Gypsy Tea Room and Sons of Hermann Hall. Together, they tell a story that is not only about who took the stage, but about the spaces that gave artists room to become themselves and audiences a place to belong. 

The series began with the 1980s, when Theater Gallery, Prophet Bar and Club Clearview helped ignite a cultural rebirth. It continued through the 1990s, when Trees, Club Dada and Lizard Lounge became synonymous with crowded rooms, handmade flyers and a scene built through word of mouth. The enthusiastic response to both exhibitions made one thing unmistakable. Deep Ellum’s music history belongs as much to the people in the crowd as it does to the names on the marquee. 

“We’ve been serving up cold beer and live music for so long that our walls have more local history written on them than most Texas textbooks,” Joel Morales, owner of Adair’s Saloon, said. 

That sense of belonging and connection runs throughout the exhibition. Adair’s moved to Deep Ellum in 1983 and became a proving ground for country artists and working songwriters, its graffiti covered walls evolving into an unofficial guest book. AllGood Cafe opened in 2000 as an intimate gathering place where food, music, neighborhood regulars and touring artists crossed paths. The Curtain Club became a headquarters for North Texas rock and metal, while the Gypsy Tea Room gave rising artists a room large enough to matter and intimate enough to keep the audience close. 

“Gypsy Tea Room was, by necessity, a venue that allowed us to keep the artist in Deep Ellum for another show or two on their way up, and also to capture bands like Robert Plant, Patti Smith, Beck, Eminem, Willie Nelson, and even Philip Glass and his piano,” William Brandt Wood, co-owner and co-founder of Gypsy Tea Room, said. “It was a room that was big enough for the economics to matter and small enough for the crowd to very intimately connect with the artist during the show.” 

At the other end of the scale, The Bomb Factory returned in 2015 with room for thousands, reopening a building whose industrial past stretches back more than a century. Erykah Badu headlined its reopening concert and made the venue home to her annual birthday celebration. Yet, even at its largest, the story of Deep Ellum music remained personal. 

“The resurrection of The Bomb Factory stands as an undeniable milestone in my life,” said Clint Barlow, the operating owner who relaunched The Bomb Factory in 2015. 

As visitors explore the exhibit, digging a little deeper with each feature wall, a story of a symbiotic ecosystem that was Deep Ellum’s music scene emerges. Clint Barlow who played at Curtain Club in its final week and many times before went on to reopen Bomb Factory and own Trees. Mike Snider who opened AllGood Cafe after helping launch Gypsy Tea Room first booked shows at Sons of Hermann Hall. And no place exemplifies the connections across venues and generations as much as Sons of Hermann Hall. Sons of Hermann Hall carries that intimacy across generations. Originally built in 1910, its wooden ballroom has welcomed musicians, dancers, families and neighbors for more than a century. Robert Earl Keen recorded The Live Album there, the Old 97’s returned in March 2026 to perform Too Far to Care in its entirety for a live concert film and documentary, and Kelly Clarkson gave her first American Idol audition there in 2002. Every Wednesday, Swingin’ at the Sons keeps the dance floor moving. 

“Sons of Hermann Hall is one of Dallas’ most beloved historic venues, bringing people together through music, dancing and community for generations,” Amber Morchower said. “It is a place where history is not just preserved, but still actively lived every day.” 

The Upstairs Gallery at the Community Center expands the story through photography by Jason Janik and Mike Brooks, whose images document Deep Ellum musicians across the years. A special tribute to Dallas artist Cabe Booth features his distinctive band portraits and artwork, including pieces that once hung inside the Curtain Club during its heyday. 

The public is invited to celebrate the exhibition at a free opening reception on Wednesday, Sept. 16, at the Deep Ellum Community Center. Guests may reserve free admission at deepelluminfo.com. The exhibition is open Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 7 p.m. and remains on view through October. Visitors are also encouraged to contribute their own stories and Deep Ellum music collectibles to the community wall. Guest contributions will become part of the Deep Ellum Archive, a partnership with the Dallas Public Library, which has collected more than 2,000 artifacts for students, researchers and Dallasites to explore. 

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