If you go to the University of Texas website and look up Cactus Café, you will find a description of an incredible historical site in Texas music.  What you won’t find on the site is the school’s decision to close the institution after 31 years of operation.

Joe Ely and Joel Guzman at the Cactus Cafe

Texas officials say they will shut down operation of the campus landmark in August. It is part of a process to save chase and use money more effectively for students enrolled in classes.

The Cactus Café opened in 1979. It has seen some of the top local, regional and national acts perform there. It helped start the careers of people such as Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith. Robert Earl Keen, Allison Krauss, the Dixie Chicks, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Townes Van Zandt, and Guy Clark are just some of the performers who have appeared there.

Billboard Magazine listed the Cactus as one of the 15 “solidly respected, savvy clubs” nationwide, “from which careers can be cut, that work with proven names and new faces.”

Beginning in August, they will have to look elsewhere.