Antone’s Forever: Iconic Austin Music Venue Announces 50 Year Lease Extension, To Remain At Current Location Through 2075 And Bridge To 100th Anniversary

Antone's 50th Anniversary Is Celebrated On National Television, With Special Episode Of Pbs' 'Austin City Limits' Dedicated To The Club's Past, Present And Future: https://www.pbs.org/video/austin-city-limits-celebrates-antones-the-blues-azh17l/

Antone's - the legendary music venue hailed for "pointing the way toward the future of the blues" (Rolling Stone) - has celebrated its milestone 50th anniversary throughout 2025; and today, the club has announced a lease extension, museum project and grant that will keep Austin's beloved "Home Of The Blues" operating in its current location for another 50 years to come, positioning Antone's to someday celebrate its 100th anniversary.

In a partnership with non-profit Rally Austin, home to the Austin Cultural Trust program, Antone's has secured a $1.3 million investment for the creation of the "Antone's World Famous Museum of the Blues," a permanent installation of history and artifacts on the club's second floor. Coupled with the generosity of the building owner, who helped make Antone's eligible for the grant by agreeing to a favorable 30-year lease with renewal options through 2075, the investment and museum project will ensure that Antone's remains a staple of downtown Austin - in its prime East 5th Street location - for generations to come. Currently slated for a 2027 grand opening, the museum will celebrate Austin's blues heritage, foster educational and community programming and donate a portion of its proceeds to the city's Rally For Live Music Fund.

"We could not be more thrilled to announce this trifecta of exciting news for the future of Antone's, " says Will Bridges, co-owner of Antone's. "Securing a home for 'Austin's Home of the Blues' for the next 50 years is a grand and poetic victory to the impassioned pursuit that Clifford Antone started 50 years ago. And to bolster our presence and impact with the education and preservation focus of the Blues museum deeply enriches and realizes the full vision of our mission. We are eternally grateful to Rally Austin and Finley Company for making this dream come true."

"For fifty years, Antone's has stood at the heart of Austin's identity as the Live Music Capital of the World, a place where legends are born and our city's creative soul thrives," said Theresa Alvarez, President & CEO of Rally Austin."Thanks to the City of Austin for creating the Iconic Venue Fund that fuels Rally's Cultural Trust, which allows us to execute creative solutions for Austin's artistic community! We're not just preserving a venue; we are securing an icon and supporting the creative ecosystem around several venues, theaters, and community centers. Looking ahead, the 2026 bond presents an opportunity to continue growing the Trust into a sustainable, long-term approach to protect and uplift Austin's creative, legacy, and cultural landmarks for generations to come."

As part of this new chapter, Antone's is launching the Antone's Forever Fund, an initiative to ensure that Antone's and the Museum of the Blues thrive for the next 50 years. The fund, established through the Clifford Antone Foundation, will help preserve the venue's legacy and support future educational, cultural and community initiatives.

To kick things off, Antone's is launching a limited-time campaign that invites fans and friends to become Antone's Forever Founding Donors and contribute to the future of the venue and the Museum of the Blues. Founding Donors will be recognized in a permanent installation inside the foyer of Antone's - a cast bronze wall created in collaboration with local design firm MuseWork - as a lasting tribute to those whose generosity is helping pave the way for the next half-century of music. More information on the Antone's Forever Fund, including how to contribute, can be found at AntonesForever.com .

Founded by Clifford Antone in 1975 - as the first live music venue on Austin's now-famous Sixth Street - Antone's quickly became 'home away from home' for a Mount Rushmore of blues musicians including Muddy Waters, Albert King, Otis Rush, Willie Dixon and B.B. King - as well as a broader tapestry of American roots music. The force behind this all was Clifford Antone, a native of Texas' Gulf Coast region who spent much of his youth road tripping through the juke joints of nearby Louisiana, where he developed a deep love of Creole music, R&B, zydeco and, above all, the blues. Under Clifford's guidance, the club would soon become "one of the most important blues joints in the country and a must-visit stop" (Texas Monthly), and he'd establish Antone's Records as an independent home for many club regulars to release their music.

In its five-decade run, the venue has continued to define the present and shape the future of blues music, bolstering the careers of internationally-renowned artists like Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Doug Sahm, Charlie Sexton, Angela Strehli, Lou Ann Barton and many more. Today, it remains a vital presence in the live music scene, with its influence carried forward by a new generation of trailblazing artists including Gary Clark Jr., Kam Franklin, Jackie Venson and McKinley James. Through it all, Antone's has always lived by its founder's guiding philosophy: "Clifford Antone was known for his generosity to musicians," as the New York Times put it.

2025 has seen Antone's celebrate its 50th anniversary with a triumphant slate of live performances, historical exploration, new releases and much more. A five disc box set - 'Antone's: 50 Years Of The Blues' was released in August, paying tribute to "one of the most storied music venues in Austin" (Associated Press) with newly recorded material, long-lost label cuts, rare live performances, an updated photographic and written history of the club and more. Sold-out 50th anniversary celebrations were hosted across the country at iconic venues like New York's Lincoln Center, The Troubadour in Los Angeles and Third Man Records in Nashville - featuring performances from artists integral to Antone's past, present and future.

At home in Austin, marquee events included an Antone's celebration in Zilker Park for 16,500 fans, as well as a Kerr County Flood benefit during the club's 50th anniversary week featuring Jimmie Vaughan and Gary Clark Jr. Recently honored as Billboard's Indie Venue Of The Month , Antone's has also just celebrated their 50th anniversary on national television - with a special episode of Austin City Limits this past Saturday November 8. The episode features performances from artists across generations like Jimmie Vaughan, Sue Foley, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, Charlie Sexton, Big Bill Morganfield, Lil' Ed Williams, Grace Bowers, Bobby Rush and Lurrie Bell. You can watch "ACL & Antone's Celebrate the Blues" here: https://www.pbs.org/video/austin-city-limits-celebrates-antones-the-blues-azh17l/

For more information please contact:

Matt Hanks - [email protected]

Max Lefkowitz - [email protected]

Anna DeNelsky - [email protected]

For more information on the Austin Cultural Trust please contact:

David A. Colligan - [email protected]