Hawg Heaven

Delmer Barkley is possessed of a typically coarse Southern charm. A couple of piercings and faded tattoos adorn his body, accenting his semi-flattop haircut quite nicely.

His voice is a bit froggy, no doubt worn from spending nearly a decade in the bar business, as owner first of Delmer’s Ice House (15515 Garrett) and then the Hawg Stop (11335 Sheldon) five minutes up the road. Barkley manages to respond to every question without answering a single one.

How long have you been in business?

“Oh, I’ve been doing this for a while now, I suppose.”

What’d you do this Fourth of July?

“Oh, we did some things.”

Barkley’s smile, though, is not in line with his homespun get-up of jean shorts and sleeveless T-shirt. His teeth are impeccably straight and white, like seeing a chandelier in a mobile home. Despite his casual appearance, though, Barkley is a shrewd businessman; his work attire just happens to be more biker than button-down.

The signs are there if you’re paying attention: When have you ever heard of a biker bar with a Web site or, for that matter, a biker with a Blackberry? Usually, though, Barkley’s savvy is overshadowed by his aw-shucks disposition and small-town roots.

Originally from Pennsylvania, Barkley made his way to Texas by way of his trucking job — a truck needed to be picked up in Houston, and Barkley volunteered for the next-day trip. Once here, he picked up a copy of the newspaper and never left.

“I looked in the employment section,” he says. “It was bigger than my entire paper back home. I said, ‘Well, there’s gotta be something here for me,’ went home, packed my bags and moved out.”

Impressive, considering we’re hesitant to switch from cable to satellite.

At 35, Barkley decided he didn’t want to work for someone else anymore. He first started a truck-brokerage company, and for seven years things went well. Then, almost as abruptly as things began, they ended.

“One of my biggest clients went bankrupt,” recalls Barkley. “I wanted to put my head between my legs and sit there for six months. That’s probably what prompted me to go into the bar business.”

A resident of forested far, far northeast Houston for nearly 20 years by then — it’s probably more accurate to call him a Sheldon citizen — Barkley opened Delmer’s Ice House, now Double R’s. He wasn’t used to being hemmed down, and space quickly became a factor. Three years after he bought the place, he sold it and opened Hawg Stop on 35 acres of nearby land.

For those of us in town, the phrase “biker bar” is an immediate turnoff, eliciting images somewhere between gnarly-bearded gents and that scene in Brian Bosworth’s completely realistic biker epic Stone Cold, where that guy gets his hand shoved into the rim of a spinning motorcycle tire.

But despite Hollywood’s typically accurate portrayal, Hawg Stop is hardly that gruesome. As a matter of fact, it’s exceptionally well manicured. Even the crowd, most of whom live in the surrounding area, teeters more toward middle-class professionals dressed like bikers than bikers themselves. (Although you will run across the occasional bandido or two.)

About as large as three in-town icehouses, the beer-only bar is, besides being unusually clean for a biker joint, fairly run of the mill. There’s live music on an indoor stage Thursdays through Sundays, a whole heap of stuff hung on the walls and only a smattering of nonwhite people. Soon, Barkley plans to install a full kitchen, and break ground on a planned RV park next year.

The truly impressive part of Hawg Stop, though, the reason it stands well above other Houston biker bars, is the adjoining $100,000 amphitheatre. Matched in odd juxtaposition only by Barkley’s toothsome smile, it almost bursts out of the wooded backdrop. Currently, Barkley holds about seven concerts a year at the amphitheatre, biker-friendly names like Bad Company, David Allan Coe and, most recently, Blackfoot.

Built in 2005, the amphitheatre comes complete with its own manmade hill and five-acre lake. And if Blackfoot’s July 12 show is a typical example, it offers a thoroughly enjoyable concert experience for anyone willing to trek out there. There’s a 3,000-person capacity — so long as you don’t mind sitting on the ground — and a beer trailer makes the otherwise unbearable 200-foot walk to the bar unnecessary.

“I hate the fact that I know this,” begins Hawg Stop regular Keith Sharp, “but a lot of the beer joints around here don’t do what Delmer does. Ten [a.m.] to two [a.m.], seven days a week, he’s working. He never closes early, and it’s always clean. He keeps it first-class here. People around here respect that, [and] they respect Delmer.”

Last Call

We’ve got two contrasting bits of music news for you this week: Firstly, Mitch Burman, owner of the Engine Room (1515 Pease), decided he wouldn’t be renewing his lease this time around, so the downtown venue has closed its doors. If Burman were anything like us when a lease is up, he took all the mirrors and doorknobs on his way out. Jet Lounge, which shared a building and address with the Engine Room, will remain open, as relayed by Jet Lounge booking contact Pete Paez.

On the opposite, less shitty end of music’s circle of life, Houston hip-hop conglomeration H.I.S.D. recently released seasonal EP Summer Sessions for free download at www.peaceuvmine.com. If you hate radio rap, you’ll love these guys. And if you’re just into good free music, you can also grab brand-new Best Underground Hip-Hop winner Fat Tony’s LP for free via www.myspace.com/fattonyrap. You’re welcome.