Polka king Alex Meixner’s move to New Braunfels could make the town a destination for squeezebox fans
Famous polka musician Alex Meixner wasn’t on the bill at Krause’s Cafe & Biergarten a few weekends ago, but fans who were there to see Soul Sessions still got to hear him play when he did. sits on trumpet for a set.
It won’t be the last time he takes the stage. Meixner, who is moving to New Braunfels from his home in Florida, has formed a partnership with Chris Snider, the owner of Krause’s. It will help reserve numbers and create new programming for the brewery.
And he will also play there from time to time, both with his own band and alone with other bands.
“In many cases, the real fun for everyone is that you don’t know what days I could get on stage and play with a band,” he said. “It’s part of the spontaneity of Krause’s experience.”
News of Meixner’s partnership and move created a lot of buzz in New Braunfels and among polka fans across the country. Posts about it on the group’s Facebook page prompted strangers to note that they now have a reason to visit New Braunfels. And the locals welcomed Meixner and his family. There was even an “all is well, all is well” meme in the mix.
The seeds of the partnership were sown when Chris Snider’s father, Ron, reopened 1930s-era Krause’s in December 2016. It had been closed for more than 30 years when Snider took over. (Ron Snider died last year and Chris took over the business with his mother and sister.)
“Alex is obviously such a unique personality and performer in the polka world and had been playing Wurstfest for 20 years,” Snider said. “So he was known to the community, and my family, having no experience running a German brewery, I think my dad saw Alex as someone who could provide entertainment and provide value. .”
It didn’t quite work out at the time, Snider said, but when the idea of tapping into Meixner’s expertise came back, the timing was better.
“The stars have aligned, for lack of a better description,” he said.
Meixner will continue to tour and he intends to talk about Krause and New Braunfels along the way.
“When I travel, I will let people in other parts of the country know about all the amazing things that are here at Krause, which is really the heart of New Braunfels,” he said.
His band members are not moving to New Braunfels, although the plan is for them to come play at Krause’s house twice a year. The first shows will take place on May 27 and 28.
Meixner said New Braunfels has always had a special place in his heart.
“I’ve always loved the city,” he says. “The first time I came here in 1999 and started meeting people, it was just a really amazing mix of cultures and the openness of the music scene there.
“The town has practically doubled in size since I started coming here, but it still has that small-town charm and feel, and the mix of respect for its roots and the desire to keep those roots so visible to the public. he most recent era is quite amazing. And Krause really embodies that so well.
Polka is in Meixner’s blood. He is a fourth generation polka musician who started playing with his father’s band when he was a child. He has long been struck by the durability of the genre.
“We’re talking about traditional music that came into prominence in the late 1800s,” he said. “In many ways, he’s had his day in business. But so much music around the world is polka-based and includes accordions. So without the name polka, it still transcends so many ethnic boundaries, political boundaries and socio-economic groups.
“It’s such a common and joyful kind of sound. People could use a little more happiness in the world.
A good example is “Happiness is a Choice”, the title track from his 2014 album. His friend Carlton Pride wrote it for his reggae band, Mighty Zion, then told Meixner he thought it would do too. a good polka song.
“And I’m like, you better believe it!” He said, “Our people, your people, it’s the same thing – it’s happy music, it’s happy vibes,” he said. “So bring the reggae, bring the polka, bring the country – it all comes together.”
Along the Texas-Mexico border, musicians borrowed both the accordion and the polka from German immigrants in the late 1800s to create what would become conjunto music.
Gary E. McKee, editor of Texas Polka News, said Meixner’s move is a big deal that will help raise the city’s profile. Musicians already see Krause as a good place to play, he said, and Meixner’s role there will add to that.
“I see it capable of maybe rejuvenating the live music scene in general there,” he said.
McKee noted that Meixner has contacts he can leverage to bring in musicians who haven’t played in New Braunfels in the past, building on the foundation Krause already has in place. And that’s part of what Snider hopes will happen.
Just having Meixner on stage more often is also a big check in the plus column, especially since he defies all polka stereotypes.
“His knowledge of music continues to amaze me, and his ability to remaster songs from Guns N’ Roses to Ozzy Osbourne into polkas is one of the most fun things for me about it,” Snider said. “It really shows his ability to engage a large audience, and for someone running a German-American brewery, engaging the widest possible audience is part of the goal.
“It’s important that this entertainment is relevant to our environment, because that’s really what sets us apart. We want people to come to Krause and have a unique, engaging, and relatable experience.
Ensuring audiences can relate to the music also motivates Meixner, as does honoring community history.
“It’s not like some sort of generic dinner-show situation where we’re going to disneyize little Germany here. It’s a city with real roots,” he said. “And so we have the German aspect, but it’s also Texas.”
To help educate people about the town’s roots, Krause will launch a New Braunfels citizenship program in March.
“The goal here is that we’re going to teach you how to be a New Braunfelser,” Meixner said.
He may be a relative newcomer, but he’s well on his way to becoming a local, Snider said: “I haven’t seen anyone move to New Braunfels with a lot more roots than Alex for being a recent transplant. “
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