{{short description|American concert promoter}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} thumbnail|Wilson at the 2017 Texas Book Festival

'''Edwin Osbourne Wilson''' is a former concert promoter and co-founder and owner of the Armadillo World Headquarters (1973–1980).<ref name="Richards 2002" /><ref name='awhq' /> The music venue led a music movement in Austin to national prominence from 1973 to 1980 as the birthplace of Texas progressive country, aka "redneck rock" &ndash; a fusion of country music and rock &ndash; later, more blues than rock.<ref>Jason Dean Mellard, ''[http://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/6695/mellardj11151.pdf?sequence=2 Cosmic Cowboys, Armadillos, and Outlaws: The Cultural Politics of Texan Identity in the 1970s]'' (PhD dissertation), University of Texas at Austin, May 2009</ref> It was a popular venue for Willie Nelson.<ref>Robert Heard, "Country Market Bullish for Nelson," ''Seattle Daily Times,'' November 21, 1977, pg. E6</ref> Wilson is the owner of two Threadgill's restaurants in Austin. The original, which he purchased in the mid-1970s from John Kenneth Threadgill (1909–1987), was where Janis Joplin got her start.

== Growing up == Wilson graduated from McCallum High School, Austin, Texas, in the spring of 1963. In the fall of 1963, he enrolled at the University of North Texas in Denton. At North Texas, he joined the school's Folk Music Club, whose student members included Spencer Perskin,<ref>Dan Roth, Jan Charles Reid (1945– ), [https://books.google.com/books?id=KywEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22folk+music+club%22+%22eddie+wilson&pg=PA72 "The Coming of Redneck Hip,"] ''Texas Monthly'', November 1973, pg. 72</ref> Steven Fromholz, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Michael Martin Murphey. The Folk Music Club was founded and sponsored by Stan Alexander ''(né'' Stanley Gerald Alexander; 1928–2017),<ref name="AustinAmericanStatesman 2017 Apr 12" /> an English professor who had been influenced by the music scene at Threadgill's in Austin while working on his doctorate at The University of Texas.<ref name="Reid 2004" />

== Bibliography == * ''Threadgill's: The Cookbook,'' by Edwin O. Wilson, Longstreet Press (1996) & Eakin Press (2002); {{ISBN|1571686924}} * ''Armadillo World Headquarters: A Memoir'', by Eddie Wilson and Jesse Sublett, TSSI Publishing (publisher) and University of Texas Press (distributor) (2017); {{ISBN|978-1-4773-1382-4}}

== References == {{Reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name="Richards 2002">David Richards ''(né'' David Read Richards; born 1933), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=x71aBAAAQBAJ Once Upon a Time in Texas: A Liberal in the Lone Star State.]'' University of Texas Press (2002), pps. 153 & 179–181; {{oclc|884576165}}<div style="margin-left:2em">Note: Richards, the author, distinguished his career in Texas as a civil rights lawyer; from 1953 to 1984, he was the husband of Ann Richards; a year before they divorced, Ann Richards was elected Texas State Treasurer, which won her the distinction of becoming the first woman (since Ma Ferguson) in 50 years to be elected to a state-wide office; subsequent to their divorce, she went on to become the Texas Governor</div>[https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/004242251 Limited search] ''via'' HathiTrust</ref>

<ref name='awhq'> {{cite book |last=Eddie Wilson |date=2017 |title=Armadillo World Headquarters |publisher=TSSI Publishing and University of Texas Press (distributor) |isbn=978-1-4773-1382-4 |postscript=;}} {{oclc|969962288|982487145}} </ref>

<ref name="Reid 2004">Jan Charles Reid (1945– ), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=qCDF5fFuBT8C&dq=%22folk+music+club%22+%22north+texas&pg=PA57 The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock]'' (revision of the 1974 edition), pg. 57, University of Texas Press (2004); {{oclc|907124145|53138893}}</ref>

<ref name="AustinAmericanStatesman 2017 Apr 12">[http://www.statesman.com/classifieds/obituaries-announcements/stanley-alexander/3ubGnyCjFilbYuovG5Vp0M/ Stanley G. Alexander,"] ''Austin American-Statesman'', April 12, 2017 (retrieved May 18, 2017)</ref> }}

== External links == * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IETyrb4MwRo Eddie Wilson describes the first time he saw Janis Joplin] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puLjKDwyocY&NR=1 Wisdom of Eddie Wilson from Threadgills North] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bXiyzNaVB8 Discussion of Armadillo World Headquarters]

{{Commons category|Eddie Wilson}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Edwin Osbourne}} Category:Living people Category:People from Austin, Texas Category:University of North Texas alumni Category:North Texas Mean Green football players Category:Year of birth missing (living people)