Giddy Up to This Psychedelic Cowboy Bar Opening in Houston
Although the theme of Meow Wolf Houston remains a mystery, the immersive art experience reveals that it’ll have a hidden dive bar inside.
There has to be an old country song out there about heaven being a dive bar. I can almost hear it: A Lone Star in my grip, a Malboro on my lips, two-stepping with my lady on my hip—this dive bar must be heaven. Somebody get Willie Nelson’s agent on the phone, stat. Dreams of ghost writing music aside… With the ever-trending cowboy culture on people’s minds, the yeehaw-ification of pop art doesn’t end with Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter.
Meow Wolf Houston, slated to debut in the city’s Fifth Ward neighborhood later this year, shared news of a concept inside its forthcoming art experience: Cowboix Hevvven.
Although “the theme and narrative for Meow Wolf Houston will be announced soonish,” we at least get a glimpse into this food and drink experience, per a release. “Cowboix Hevvven promises to transport guests into a surreal dive bar in the afterlife.”
Cowboix Heavvven will be a full restaurant and bar within the walls of Meow Wolf Houston. Probably accessed through saloon doors that double as a portal to another dimension. The honky tonk watering hole isn’t a mere caricature of Texas bars, but rather a psychedelic celebration of them.
Meow Wolf Houston’s lead artist and creative director Cole Bee Wilson is a fifth-generation Texan who will captain Cowboix Hevvven. Through Wilson’s vision, this hidden dive bar aims to redefine cowboy culture and community—a noble endeavor for a weirdly misunderstood state whose Western history has seen an uptick in visibility and cache recently.
We’ve seen cowboy boots popularity boost last summer (and still going strong). There’s the aforementioned Cowboy Carter and not to mention Bella Hadid’s evolution into a Rodeo Girlfriend. So it’ll be interesting to see, nay hear, Cowboix Hevvven’s cosmic country’s aural backdrop via “an interactive jukebox that blends traditional country melodies with futuristic soundscapes, featuring 30 songs recorded by a diverse array of Texas musical artists.” Genres span classic country, Americana, Ranchero, Tejano, and country-adjacent tunes from 30 Texas artists.
No word or details just yet on what Cowboix Hevvven’s “distinctive twist on classic dive bar fare” will be, which, by this description, can truly be anything. We just sincerely hope it includes Ranch Waters and a hefty dose of queso blanco.