One of the newer, but highly-beloved music clubs in Central Texas is having to abruptly close due to financial constraints. The business isn’t historic, but the building it occupies is, and the club was opened to bring some culture and night life to the small town of Martindale (pop. 1,200). Duett’s Texas Club has dutifully done this very thing since opening its doors officially in October of 2023, but will celebrate its final day on Saturday, March 28th.
“We’ve been struggling since day one,” says co-owner Katie Grametbaur, who operated Duett’s with her husband Ryan. “We’ve been bootstrapping this since the first six months in, literally running week to week, sometimes day to day, hour to hour in some cases. We never thought we would have the opportunity to own and run a business like Duett’s. We love it. We love the community, and the people, and what we’ve created. But unfortunately Duett’s is a big business, and it takes a lot of money to run it, and in small town Martindale, it’s hard to sustain it.”
Both Ryan and Katie Grametbaur were already part of the Texas music community when they opened Duetts’s. Ryan performs classic honky-tonk country under the stage name Ryan Quiet, and Katie led the art department for Willie Nelson’s Luck Reunion, imagining many of the event’s renown art installations. They named the club after their daughter Duetta.
“We’ve gone down with the ship personally,” Katie continues. “We’ve put every single dollar we have personally into the business. We haven’t paid ourselves. We haven’t been able to keep up with bills, and what it takes to sustain the business in Martindale. With that said, we’ve come to the hard realization that it’s time to part ways … There just comes a point in time to say that it’s done.”
Though Martindale itself is rather tiny, it sits right between San Marcos and Lockhart, and is only about half an hour from Austin. Duett’s is located at 420 Main St. in a building originally constructed in 1924 to be a Hupmobile car dealership. Maury Domengeaux and Steve Schlossareck acquired the building in 2019 and embarked on an effort to restore it, while also revitalizing the heart of historic Martindale.
The building has since been officially registered as a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. The building and part of downtown Martindale were featured in the Taylor Sheridan TV series 1923.
The situation around Duett’s is somewhat similar to the Coupland Dance Hall in Coupland, TX. Also located in a small town about half an hour from the Austin populous with hotel rooms as part of a bigger historic building, it was set to close down in October of 2025. After Saving Country Music wrote about Coupland’s financial troubles, local promoters Lightstream Presents who also operate the Cedar Park venue The Haute Spot stepped up to save the business.
Over it’s tenure, Duett’s became both a beloved venue for locals, and a destination spot for people from Austin, New Braunfels, San Antonio, and beyond. Bands like Silverada took a shine to the place, performing at the club, as well as hosting a song swap there in early January. Dale Watson, Ellis Bullard, Dylan Earl, Theo Lawrence, Susto Stringband, and Dallas Burrow are just some of the many performers who’ve played Duett’s.
To help recoup some of the debt incurred over the last couple of years of operation and to celebrate the club’s brief but proud legacy, they’re throwing one last party on Saturday, March 28th from noon to midnight. Connor Palamino, Mark Jungers, David Beck, Ryan Quiet, Matthew Logan Vasquez, David Ramirez, and David Miner are all scheduled to perform. There will also be a food buffet.
“We have quite a bit of debt that we have to figure out how to pay,” says Katie Grametbaur. “So we’re going to try and sell as much inventory as we have, and be able to pay people back as much as we can. We’d love to hug you, cry with you, and celebrate what we have been able to create.”
Duett’s did create something special during its tenure, and it’s something Martindale and Central Texas won’t be able to replace easily. Meanwhile, the story of Duett’s is a similar story that is playing out all across the United States for the type of smaller music venues that foster community, and give those vital opportunities to local artists to cultivate a career.
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