How the Pohly Hat Co. Started Part 2
Living out my bucket list is very important to me. In early February 2022, I lost my four-legged best friend, Kaila. In dealing with the ongoing grief of her loss, I took it upon myself to start crossing off more of my bucket list items. I am always invigorated by live music and I have wanted to see Willie Nelson play in person since my childhood road trip days where old country was a constant on the car radio. Listening to music has a way of taking me back to simpler and juvenile times. The memories attached with songs are what makes me tick.
In Summer of 2022, I decided I would make a trip to see Willie Nelson play live to celebrate my birthday. Off I went planning a trip down to where my roots of my Pohly grandparents were for a number of years in the hill country of Texas. I booked my ticket to see Willie play the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend in New Braunfels, Texas at the Whitewater Amphitheater. Much to my surprise and absolute delight was the fact that my new favorite artist, Zach Bryan, would be opening for Willie!
The concert was a dream with the intimate venue and the beautiful breeze blowing along the river. Zach Bryan could not be more humble and completely grateful to be opening for the legendary Willie Nelson. I fell in love with every single one of Zach’s songs that night as each one spoke to my heart and soul. He sang “Godspeed” and it was an awakening within me. That song made me even more grateful for my life and all the blessings bestowed upon me with my amazing mom and my relationship with Our Lord and Savior. Zach Bryan closed out his portion of the concert with his usual song, “Revival” where he changed the lyrics from “Baptize me in a bottle of Beam, put Johnny on the vinyl” to “Baptize me in a bottle of Beam, put WIllie on the vinyl”. It was a concert I will remember for the rest of my life as a pivotal turning point in my love of music.
I wanted a way to remember the concert forever and always, yet the merchandise sold at shows is not really my thing. It is all very impersonal and everyone gets them same items. I thought to myself, how can I hold onto these memories forever in a way that is not just a simple t-shirt. My creative juices starting flowing as I had seen a felt, large brim hat designed with burned artwork and I wanted to do something like it as a tribute to this phenomenal concert experience. I set out buying a gray felt hat and burned some barbed wire around the top and then added some leatherwork around the band. I included the Revival song title on the back and the revised “Revival” lyrics on the under portion of the brim along with the venue. It is now a wearable tribute that takes me right back to that beautiful early Summer day enjoying the greatest of music from an old country legend of a musician to the next legend in the making, Zach Lane Bryan. I am a fan through and through and wear my hat to relive that memory on the regular.