AUSTIN, Texas — Walking through the halls of the Texas Music Museum, you can see the life’s work of Clay Shorkey and the other founders of the museum. Every single wall is covered with history of Texas musicians and photographs taken by Shorkey.
“I’ve always been interested in collecting music machines and recordings and all this kind of stuff,” Shorkey said.
Shorkey’s interest in collecting parts of music history started when he was young.
“I was about 7 years old ... After my grandfather died, they were clearing out the house," Shorkey said. "He had a phonograph. They put it out in the trash, and it broke my heart."
Since 1984, Shorkey and the other founders have traveled all over Texas researching and documenting musicians. He and the other founders were passionate about showcasing the diverse range of musicians in the Lone Star State.
“We wanted to research all over Texas,” Shorkey said. “We went everywhere finding all of the wonderful musicians that haven’t been given hardly any recognition.”
The museum started small, in one of their garages, then moved to a 2,000-square-foot building on East 11th Street in 1997. But all the history that they’ve collected doesn’t fit in their walls. A large amount of their archives sit in a non-temperature-controlled storage unit down the street.
“We don’t have space to show all this stuff,” Shorkey said.
Shorkey is desperate to find the artifacts a permanent home.
“I feel like we’ve saved some of the most important artifacts that people need to see,” Shorkey said.
The museum is looking for funding and a space larger than 13,000 square feet to hold all of the artifacts. That includes more than 100 oral interviews, a vast collection of vinyl and the largest collection of Texas sheet music.
“We talk about Austin as an important music center, well, this is what we are,” Shorkey said. “We should have this here.”
And finding a place that’s still in East Austin is crucial to Shorkey because of all of the music history in that area.
“We’ve always kind of had our heart here in East Austin,” Shorkey said.
On Thursday, Shorkey and other members from the museum went in front of the Austin City Council to show their support for a mixed-use development on 11th Street, but they are open to any other spaces that will be able to showcase all of their archives.
Because to Shorkey, this museum and all the memories it holds are something he wants to share with the world.
“I’ve even walked around sometimes at night when we’re closed, and I just remember," Shorkey said.
