Five o'clock on a Texas morning, and four young men from Burleson hustle through a stand of trees and slip-slide down a muddy slope, talking in excited tones. There's no reason to rush; they're simply heading back to their campsite at Tres Rios River Ranch near Glen Rose. But they are buzzed, barely 20 years old, and attending a three-day Texas Music festival, so even short walks from Point A to Point B can be raucous missions that present boundless possibilities.

A good Texas Music festival is part Woodstock (without the masses), part Kerrville Folk Festival (without the smugness), and part honkytonk (without a roof, walls, or closing time) -- a mostly self-policed celebration of song and communal spirit.

The music descends from country, blues, and rock but is more precisely a rebirth of the Outlaw genre made famous in the 1970s by hard-partying rebels such as Willie, Waylon, Jerry Jeff Walker, David Allan Coe, and Rusty Wier. Most charter members are still performing with passion, and were reinvigorated in the 1990s when a new generation of Outlaw artists and fans shunned the commercial NashVegas sound and fueled a profusion of independent homegrown music -- and festivals like this one.

The Burleson bunch crashing through the woods at Tommy Alverson's Family Gathering pass a middle-aged man sitting in a lawn chair, chin on chest, feet stretched toward a campfire that's dwindled to smoldering orange embers.

"Dude, this guy's been passed out for hours."

"We should fuck with him."

"Yeah, let's put hot coals on his nuts!"

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