Willie Nelson

“There are no bad days” was the slogan Poodie Locke, Willie Nelson’s stage manager of 34 years, put on a sign outside his Poodie’s Hilltop beer joint in Spicewood. But Wednesday was a dark one for members of the extended Willie Nelson family as Locke was found dead of an apparent heart attack at his home in Briarcliff, about 30 miles west of Austin. He was 56.

“He wasn’t feeling well and Shaye (Locke’s girlfriend) called for EMS at around two in the afternoon,” said Bryan Dixon, a manager at the Hilltop. “Poodie collapsed just as the ambulance got there, but they couldn’t revive him.” As news spread, Locke’s 133-capacity club quickly filled up with mourners.

Poodie Locke standing behind Willie Nelson
with Paul English and Budrock Prewitt

“Willie loved Poodie’s exuberance,” said Casey Monahan of the Texas Music Office, who hung out with Locke Saturday at Nelson’s show at Carl’s Corner. “Willie’s whole thing is living in the moment and that was Poodie.”

In Willie’s band of gypsies, Locke was the ringleader who had a hug for everyone no matter how much else was going on. Everybody loved Poodie, the only roadie with his own logo and line of barbecue sauces, but there was work to be done so both of the Nelson crew buses had signs that said “Poodie’s on the other bus.”

“He was the heart and soul of the road crew,” said Joe Nick Patoski, author of the definitive Nelson biography “An Epic Life.” Although the touring life can be stressful, Poodie always had a smile because, after all, he had the best seat in the house.

“I do not recall ever seeing him any way but calm,” said lawyer Bobby Earl Smith, who met Locke as a member of Freda and the Firedogs. “All hell would be falling around him and he just kept keeping on, slow, deliberate, getting the job done.”

Locke was a gentle giant who treated everyone special, which is why it was inevitable that, in 2002, he opened Poodie’s Hilltop Bar & Grill. It would be a place where Willie’s cronies and crew could hang out between tours, but Poodie spent many of his “off” days working on his laptop at the bar, setting up stage specifications for tours. He’d always drop everything, however, when an old friend popped in.

The Hilltop became a place where the famous, such as Willie, Merle Haggard, Garth Hudson of the Band and Big & Rich would sometimes play for hours, unannounced.

As his mother Gloria “Momma” Locke loved to say, Poodie won the Most Beautiful Baby contest in Waco when he was just a few months old. The nickname “Poodie” came from a younger sister who couldn’t pronounce “pretty” in describing her sibling.

A 12-year-old Locke met Nelson, from nearby Abbott, in Waco. Before hooking up with Willie just before “Red Headed Stranger” blew up, Locke was a roadie for B.W. Stevenson.

“Indecision may or may not be our biggest problem,” Locke quoted Willie as summing up the life of being on the road for up to 275 days a year. Although he’s met countless celebrities through the years, Poodie’s only asked for two autographs: John Wayne and Walter Cronkite.

Locke worked a Willie show at Carl’s Corner Saturday and seemed to be in good health, according to Patoski. He’s survived by his girlfriend Shaye, his sister Cindy and his mother.

You were lucky if you knew Poodie Locke, a larger-than-life folk hero who epitomized, behind the scenes, the humor and humility and edication his boss presented onstage. You can be sure there is devastation in Willie World. A member of the immediate family, Willie’s spiritual kid brother, has passed on.

There’s a little less love out on the road. But, as Poodie knew better than anyone, the road still calls.

By Michael Corcoran
www.Austin360.com

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