Clockmaster's Hour

Today’s guests are Austin and Taylor Burge, the owners of Chaparral Coffee and Chaparral Cantina on the Lockhart Square. Taylor also serves on the Lockhart City Council.

Ok I might be a compulsive recorder.Phone calls, live performances at the Baker, nature sounds, conversations, field recordings, half-formed skits that got abandoned, interviews… this is the kitchen sink thrown in…. Experimental and for the adventurous only.

Today’s short podcast is also something of a plug for an organization that I think is extremely worthwhile for anyone with an interest in their family history, the history of the caldwell county, or the history of Texas for that matter. I’m talking about the Genealogical and Historical Society of Caldwell County, of which I became an official member today. Peggy Engledow is a librarian and researcher at the Historical Society, which is located in the back of the Luling Public Library. She is also the author of Bad Boys of Caldwell County, which is now on its third volume.

Today’s guest is Jodi Fischer. Jodi is the pastor of Old Lytton Springs Church in the unincorporated community of Lytton Springs, about 10 miles north of Lockhart.

Today’s guests are Sara Barr, Layne Tanner, and Jessica Rutland, the founding women of Lockhart Arts and Craft, which was a music venue, a bar, a multipurpose space, and a lot of different things to a lot of different people on the Lockhart square from 2017 until 2025.

Sandy and Cheryl Dozier talk about their roots in Lockhart, why it’s good not to be a jerk, and how photography connected them more deeply to their community. We also talk about Lockhart’s rapid change and why they’re not pulling their hair out about it.

My guest today is Doug DeGirolamo. Doug is the Artistic Director of the Gaslight-Baker Theatre here in Lockhart and most recently directed its production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Today’s guest is Luca Newkirk.Luca apprenticed at Lockhart's now-closed Southwest Museum of Clocks and Watches from 2023 until its closure in 2025. She now operates Central Time Clock Repair Company alongside Lazarus Dugas, serving the horological needs of Caldwell County.Luca was also the star and central subject of my film Clockmaster, which documented the museum during its final year of operation. While many of these conversations on Clockmaster’s Hour are with old-timers, I'm just as interested in the threads that connect one generation to the next. Luca is part of that weave.

Roberto Méndez is 91 years old. He went from shining shoes on the Lockhart square as a boy to owning two buildings on it today.He is the son of Pablo and Frances Mendez, from San Luis Potosí, Mexico.This conversation is recorded in Henry's Restaurant, where Roberto drinks coffee every morning.And as a bonus, my conversation with Roberto is followed by a conversation with his son, Richard Mendez, age 61. Richard manages A-1 Bail Bonds with his sister, Belinda, in the building on Market Street that Roberto bought in 1969.

Today's guest is Jessamin Swearingen. Through her fourth great-grandfather, A. L. Brock, and the Swearingen family, her roots reach back to the foundational beginnings of Lockhart. Nearly 180 years after her ancestors first settled here, Jessamin became the first Swearingen in that direct line to be born outside of Texas. I was connected with Jessamin through her cousin, Philip Norman, who told me she had been researching her family's history with the goal of turning it into a graphic novel. That research became the starting point for our conversation. As a quick note, you’re gonna hear us mention Jack Jackson several times throughout this episode. Jackson was a Texas-born illustrator, historian, and pioneer of the underground comix movement. He created books such as Los Tejanos, Lost Cause, Commanche Moon, and The Alamo: An Epic Told from Both Sides. And you should check him out.

Welcome to the first episode of Clockmaster's Hour, a podcast connecting the past, present, and future of Caldwell County through oral history. My name is Brandon Gray and I live in Lockhart, Texas.In this first episode, I’m joined by cousins and lifelong friends Velia Sanchez and Rose Marie Lockwood. Velia is the daughter of Cruz Garcia Sanchez and Adela Mayo Sanchez. Rose Marie was raised by her grandparents, Monico and Dolores Cisneros.As children in the 1940s, they attended the Navarro School, Lockhart’s segregated school for children of Mexican ancestry and Spanish-speaking families. Before it became known as the Navarro School, it was simply called the Mexican School. It closed shortly following integration in the 1950s.