Kacey Musgraves is the hottest ticket in New Braunfels, and her three-night, sold-out run at Gruene Hall is providing a boost for the city's historic district.

Why it matters: The Grammy-winning singer, who now typically plays arenas and headlines major festivals, is drawing legions of fans to the iconic Hill Country venue, offering a real-time look at how a major star can supercharge a local economy.

• The last of the shows is tonight.

Driving the news: Musgraves last performed Gruene Hall in 2014, before her rise to global stardom.

• Since then, she's won multiple Grammys, including Album of the Year for "Golden Hour."

Catch up quick: Tens of thousands of people tried to get tickets to Musgraves' shows at Gruene Hall — a nearly 150-year-old dance hall with a capacity of 800 — according to Cami Lehmann, vice president of marketing at Molak Corp., which owns Gruene Hall, Gristmill and other restaurants and shops in the area.

• Tickets sold out in minutes.

What they're saying: Sold-out shows "create a ripple effect across the district — driving meaningful traffic to our other businesses, including the Gristmill and the new H.D. Gruene Mercantile," Lehmann tells Axios.

• At the Gristmill restaurant beside Gruene Hall, reservations have been snatched up every night of Musgraves' run.

Between the lines: The East Texas native's return to Gruene Hall highlights the draw of intimate venues — even for arena-level artists.

• John Kunz, former longtime owner of Waterloo Records, which hosted a record signing for Musgraves on Sunday, said Musgraves can sell out Austin's Moody Center but: "You lack that intimacy, that immediacy that you get being right down there on the wooden floor in front of her."
• That dynamic can amplify the economic impact, particularly with shows landing on typically slower nights.

What's next: Musgraves will perform at the Moody Center on Oct. 7.

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Pitmaster Evan LeRoy wants to give you his secrets.

Driving the news: LeRoy, the chef and co-owner of LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue, and Paula Forbes are releasing a new cookbook — "New School Barbecue: Recipes for Next-Level Smoking and Grilling."

• It's available for pre-order now and will be available anywhere books are sold beginning next Tuesday.

We caught up with LeRoy ahead of the cookbook's release for our Desert Island Dish series.

What is one meal you make when you're low on energy and time?

"My go-to is green chile wild boar made in the pressure cooker for tacos, quesadillas, or served over rice. I always have some tortillas at home and some wild boar or venison in the freezer. I like this preparation because it's so simple.

• I just put the frozen wild boar meat in the pressure cooker with some salsa, onion, garlic, and seasoning. The pressure cooker takes the meat from frozen to tender and pullable in under an hour while I clean the house and get my daughter ready for bed."

You're on a desert island. What's the one dish you'd like with you?

"Tacos of any kind are my desert island dish. I can never get tired of them and there are endless variations with salsas and fillings.

• "Some of my favorite places to grab tacos in Austin are Nixta, Cuantos, Discada, and Tacos Amazonas."

What's next: You can catch LeRoy at a book signing and conversation at Book People on May 13 or at a book launch at Yeti's flagship store on May 15.

An endless supply of Lone Star

🍎 Austin ISD teachers Megan Vasquez of Becker Elementary and Alasin DeVeny of Joslin Elementary both won thousands of dollars for themselves and their schools as winners of 2026 H-E-B Excellence in Education awards. (KVUE)

💒 A South Austin church was vandalized for the second time in less than a year with a message that church leaders say targets the congregation and LGBTQIA+ community. (KXAN)

💰 A winning $20 million Powerball jackpot ticket was sold at a QuikTrip in Leander. (Fox 7)

🏆 Texas Monthly senior editor Aaron Parsley won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for his heart-rending account of his family's experience during last year's devastating floods. (Texas Monthly)

🌳 Stat du jour

Last year's ACL Music Festival generated $8.5 million toward Austin park improvements.

• The festival's partnership with Austin Parks Foundation has provided more than $79 million to the public park system, according to an economic impact report released yesterday.

Hoping to manage hydrilla, a non-native aquatic plant, the city of Austin on Friday released 2,790 sterile grass carp into Lake Austin

State of play: Hydrilla, which can choke water intake pipes and be a general nuisance to boaters, is growing in approximately 37% of the lake, up from 30% in September.

• Grass carp prefer to eat hydrilla over other plants, according to the city's watershed protection department. The latest release increases the population of carp from five to eight fish per acre of hydrilla.

Flashback: In July 1999, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) first documented 23 acres of hydrilla in Lake Austin.

Stunning stat: In mid-February of this year, a TPWD survey estimated 592 acres of hydrilla in Lake Austin.

Between the lines: Warm weather and fertilizer runoff have contributed to the recent hydrilla growth, according to city officials.