Arriving in 1978, hitched to the back of the Sex Pistols tour bus, punk soon became as mythic in Texas as the state's devotion to football, cattle, and prayer. Confrontational renegades like the Huns, the Big Boys, and the Dicks led a defiant new era of blood, sweat, and cross-dressing cowboys. Austin son Pat Blashill grabbed a camera and began shooting local punk bands, uncovering a story of desperation and creative deliverance, set in trailer parks, low-rent shared housing, and wild, Texas bucket-of-beer bars.

Along the trail Blashill befriended and photographed the Big Boys, the Dicks, Butthole Surfers. Poison 13, the Hickoids, the Offenders, Scratch Acid, Daniel Johnston, Doctors' Mob, Glass Eye, and others. As Austin became a mecca for live music, he captured equally iconic images of touring bands including Sonic Youth, Devo, Samhain, Soul Asylum, the Replacements, and the Dead Kennedys.

More than two hundred of Blashill's deep black and white photos are joined here by essays from director Richard Linklater (Slacker/School of Rock); singer David Yow (Scratch Acid/Jesus Lizard); drummer Teresa Taylor (Butthole Surfers); and local luminaries Adriane "Ash" Shown and Donna Rich. True mavericks banded together to make a stand, and]‚]Texas Is the Reason.

"Pat Blashill's beautiful book of photos captures the poetics and energetic eccentricities of the post punk Austin, Texas music scene of the '80s, things one will never get on the internet. Long live books and this one kicks ass."ƒ‚‚"ƒ‚‚€ƒ‚‚"Kim Gordon

"There's certainly an art to photographyƒ‚‚"ƒ‚‚€ƒ‚‚"and there's also an art to being in the right place at the right time. Pat Blashill demonstrates both of those things over and over again in Texas Is the Reason. Great bands come out of great scenes, so Blashill shoots not just the shows but the community. Even the intimate moments scream punk rock, and even the punk rock moments scream intimacy. 'Transcendent music is sometimes made by actual humans, ' Blashill writes in his equally vivid essay. 'After you understand that, you don't need rock stars anymore.' Nailed it."ƒ‚‚"ƒ‚‚€ƒ‚‚"Michael Azerrad, This Band Could Be Your Life

"A profound experience for me"ƒ‚‚"ƒ‚‚€ƒ‚‚"Richard Linklater