Legendary Willie Nelson Mural Destroyed in Austin, Texas

For anyone that’s ever taken a stroll through Austin, Texas in the last 10 years, it was hard to miss a beautiful mural for Willie Nelson and Janis Joplin on East 7th street. However, sadly, you won’t be able to see it any longer.

Recently, Saving Country Music reported that authorities demolished the building. It’s another piece of Austin history being taken down as the city slowly becomes homogenized. Currently, the plans are to replace it with a high rise building. However, there’s no word on how exactly it will be used. What’s certain is that the bar that housed the Willie Nelson mural had structural damage from a fire.

However, the heartbreaking part in all of this is that the artist Wiley Ross didn’t know it was happening that day. They showed up for a meeting with the building’s owner to see how they could set up a version of the mural elsewhere in the city. Karma Montagne, a representative for Ross, details the shock they experienced watching the Willie Mural come down. “By the time we got there, Janis [Joplin] was already gone,” Karma says. “Watching the mural come down like that, it really was a shock, especially when we were standing there having a meeting, breathing in the rubble, and watching it happen.”

Willie Nelson Mural Comes Down With Hopes of Recreating Elsewhere

Unsurprisingly, other bars are currently offering Wiley the opportunity to recreate the Willie mural. It’s adjacent to the former building at the whiskey bar Seven Grand. Now, Ross and Montagne go back to the drawing board to see how everything works out. “The site is going to be cleared this week. So we’re going to go back on Monday and take pictures of the building next door, and then draw up a design to see how we could fit it,” Karma says.

“It may be about six feet shorter, but it’s about the same width. So we’re just discussing if it will be the same mural, or something else,” Karma continues of the Willie mural. “They were excited, they were kind, and they were happy. They though it was a such a good thing, and it could be lit up to be beacon for the area, and a place of safety.”

Additionally, the pair want to preserve the mural digitally. That way, if an event like this happens again, there’s preservation for Nelson. That certainly doesn’t strike me as one in the same but I understand the sentiment.