Double D BBQ, 28510 N US Hwy 377, Bluff Dale. 817-202-5981
When it comes to music venues, there’s unassuming, and then there’s Double D BBQ. Still, for a food trailer parked next to a former flower shop on Highway 377 in unincorporated Bluff Dale between Granbury and Stephenville, this little place seems to have something going on.
Just a couple of years into its existence, owner Dana Deatherage’s labor of love got tagged as Listening Room of the Year for 2025 by the Texas Music Chart Awards. Deatherage, who reached state charts as a singer-songwriter before pivoting to pitmaster, explains the venue’s success as “magic.” Whatever the cause, Double D BBQ books a steady stream of Texas singer-songwriter stalwarts.
For June, the list includes Sundance Head, duo Meredith Crawford and Zach Aaron, Brandon Rhyder, and Statesboro Revue, with ticket prices ranging from $20 to $40 as they always do. In the year since Deatherage started booking big acts, the tiny stage has hosted sold-out performances — at significantly higher prices — of the likes of Walt Wilkins and Josh Weathers.
So, what’s up? Bluff Dale lacks even a blinking yellow light to break up the drive from Fort Worth to Stephenville. The Greenwood Saloon pulls steady honkytonk crowds just across the highway, but nothing about a quick look at Double D BBQ makes you think: This place is destined for stardom.
Double D got formal validation this year when it was named the state’s top listening room. Selection involved multiple rounds of industry insider nominations, social media interaction analyses, and fan voting, said TMC founder Brian Sprague. When it was over, Double D won by a wide margin over better-established listening rooms around the state, Sprague added.
Well before that, the pocket-sized venue was getting notable real-world strokes. Deatherage, Sprague said, “had a lot of artists that are used to playing Billy Bob’s and the main stage at Larry Joe Taylor’s festival.”
Apparently, Double D BBQ has emerged as the place headliners play when they don’t want center stage in a large venue. Before every performance, Deatherage explains why to the fans in attendance. “This is a listening room,” he says, friendly but no-nonsense. “If you want to have a conversation or talk on the phone, please go outside.”
It works. Fans don’t chatter, hoot, holler, or do much but listen, smile, clap, and request songs from the artists’ original playlists. At a Zac Wilkerson show last weekend, holders of the $20 tickets appeared laser-focused on the soul-flavored Amarillo songwriter’s engaging lyrics, bluesy vocals, and resonant guitar work. If somebody had dropped a pin, it would have been noticed.
Intimacy and focus on the art are keys, as explained by Max Stalling, a longtime North Texas-based singer-songwriter currently performing with his fiddler wife as Max and Heather. Stalling, who has played Double D before and is booked there for October, said approvingly, “It’s not a place you come and just drink beer.”
The place itself is a circa 1930 gas station called the Cow Smith Building that has hosted a menagerie of businesses. It was a florist in 2023 when Deatherage rented a spot in the parking lot for his barbecue trailer. Soon, he started paying small acts to perform on the patio. In 2024, he took over the whole structure and began pursuing higher-profile artists, letting them set their own prices and keep the entire door.
The performance space is a cinder-block rectangle beneath a veneer of rock and petrified wood. It’s tiny, seating only 50 or so in a dining and music room no more than 1,000 square feet. Patrons have to step outside to order beverages from a small bar or food from the trailer. When the house is full, just a couple of feet separate listeners from performers.
Amplification comes from the portable Bose L1 rig and eight-channel mixer Deatherage used for his own solo gigs. Somehow, cracked bare concrete floors, painted block walls, and none-too-high ceilings supply acoustics that please listeners and performers alike.
“It has a really unique crisp sound,” said Taylor Ashlynn, music journalist and owner of PinaTaylotta Petals, the flower shop that occupied the building before she moved it around the corner. “It’s a true authentic sound.”
Double D regular Sheila Maine from nearby Paluxy feels acoustics are a big part of what keeps her coming back. “You don’t always get that when you go to hear music. You may know the people who are playing are good, but you can’t really hear it.”
That difference is not lost on the musicians.
“It’s a perfect place to bring 50 folks together who want to listen to the music provided,” said Texas country veteran Brandon Rhyder, who has played there twice. “Listening venues are harder and harder to come by these days, but [Deatherage] is managing it all well.”
All this means Double D is not a place to get loud and party. That’s OK with the likes of Stephenville’s Courtney Patton, the Texas Music Chart Awards’ female artist of the year. “I don’t play bars much. I play places like [Deatherage’s] that have a fan base of people that love music and the stories behind the songs.”
Indeed, while you can enjoy an adult beverage at Double D, that’s secondary.
“It’s not like bars that just want to sell beer and the music is background,” said Gary Newell, who books musicians all over the state as Cresson-based Prime Time Entertainment. Deatherage, Newell continued, has “a special thing going out there.”
Much of this is by design, with Deatherage carefully balancing what he’d like with what is possible. Shows typically go from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. That avoids conflicts with Greenwood Saloon, a well-established venue across the highway, where bands often don’t take the stage before 10 p.m. As Newell put it, “You get out of there early enough to still go to Billy Bob’s and party on the rest of the night.”.
Plus, venue size alone dictated the listening room approach.
“You can’t have a band in there because if you start hitting on drums, it’s way too loud,” Deatherage said. “The space itself said that’s what it had to be.”
Most performers are solo or duo acoustic acts.
Although best-known for curating music, Deatherage sports significant cooking chops. As with the music, he serves barbecue and sides with a distinctive touch. The sauce, for instance, resembles vinegar-based Carolina blends more than the spicy, tomato base most Texas pitmasters ladle.
Unsurprisingly, Deatherage seasons the cuisine with passion and commitment.
“He hands you this barbecue like it’s on a pewter charger with golden utensils,” Stalling said. “I love the fact he takes it so seriously.”
In the future, Deatherage may construct an outdoor courtyard. That will let him add seating, sell more tickets, and produce a fatter take for artists with bigger financial requirements. It will also end the listening room vibe, at least for outdoor shows.
But for now, he’s keeping it small, intimate, and focused on songwriters.
“We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing and sell out as many shows as we can,” Deatherage said.
