‘Poodie’ Locke Dies

Randall “Poodie” Locke, 56, who served as stage manager for Willie Nelson for 34 years, died of an apparent heart attack at his home in Briarcliff, Texas, May 6.

“I do not recall ever seeing him any way but calm,” attorney Bobby Earl Smith, who was a member of Freda & The Firedogs, told the Austin-American Statesman. “All hell would be falling around him and he just kept keeping on, slow, deliberate, getting the job done.”

Locke opened Poodie’s Hilltop Bar & Grill in Spicewood in 2002, where artists including Nelson and Merle Haggard would apparently drop by for impromptu performances from time to time.

Locke also sold his own line of barbecue sauces.