August 17-20 celebrates the 20th edition of “Hot Chili Days, Cool Mountain Nights” which will fill the town with the liveliest of music featuring Gulf Coast troubadour Larry Joe Taylor & Friends, as well as multiple cook-offs in downtown Brandenburg Park: CASI “Red River Red” cook-off, New Mexico State Green Chile Championship and the Lone Star BBQ Society cook-off.
When Larry Joe Taylor first played in Red River as a way to get away from the summer heat in Texas and have a little fun in the mountains, the idea of a festival had not yet been born. A gig at the Motherlode Saloon, however, eventually turned into a songwriter workshop with such luminaries as Guy and Susan Clark and Joe Pat Hennen. The idea had come at the right time and grew into a series of songwriter showcases at various venues in town, with a day-long festival in Brandenburg Park.
Since then the list of songwriter/singers reads like a “Who’s Who” of Americana music, featuring performers of national and international renown. Joe Ely, Richard Lee, Radney Foster, Michael Martin Murphey, Chuck Pyle, Keith Skyes and Bob Livingston are just a few of the great entertainers to grace the high country stage during the mid-August party.