Since Austin doesn’t host a proper county fair like other Texas municipalities of comparable size, consider Lucktoberfest that golden ticket.

Panhandle country queen Tanya Tucker, 64, fit the bill like “T” for Texas on Saturday night, second destination day trip of Lucktoberfest’s christening weekend. Installation makeover at the promoters’ natural wonder site – Willie Nelson’s not-so-faux Western movie set on a horse ranch in Spicewood – Lucktoberfest paired Texan baritone Paul Cauthen with East L.A.’s Rolling Stones, Los Lobos, on Friday and tonight brings their inaugural fall festivities to a peak with Shinyribs and more. Tucker’s middle slot yesterday proved the protein between the hamburger buns, a fair-like hayride through the twang and mythos of this state’s base genre.

On a big sky afternoon, blue and cool, the local headquarters of country music’s paterfamilias shuffled and bustled a honky-tonk answer to Austin on Halloween weekend. An hour outside of this urban beehive, the Deadwood of our hip collective dreams vibed and thrived a cowpoke carnival: games showering tots with toys, a beer hall, and even a fashion show straight down main street. Communal relaxation coursed through an ever-growing herd that swelled steadily until Tucker’s hour-long dinner-time slot, a…