Until recently, the home of the Texas country music concert scene had dirt floors. But they've moved on up.

At the Cross Canadian Ragweed concert on May 29, promoters of the Texas Country Live series debuted their latest upgrade to the Las Palmas Race Park in Mission: a concrete floor.

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It's a humble improvement, said veteran concert promoter Nano Ramirez. But also a bit of a thank you to the loyals who've stuck it through the almost year-long establishment of the concert series.

For the first time since La Villa Real Special Events Center closed in 2006, the live Texas country music scene in the Valley is a reflection of how it's doing on the charts; it's strong and shows no signs of waning.

The death of La Villa Real was for some concertgoers like the loss of an old friend. Andin the case of Texas country music, it was a friend whose doors were always open. The venue's demise meant it had nowhere to go. But the void left by the closing led to the unlikely emergence of another venue - the Las Palmas Race Park.

It was there that Ramirez and his son J.R. Ramirez, saw an opportunity. With J.R. at the reigns, the duo backed the Texas Country Live series.

For almost a year, they've hosted several acts from the genre that's a little rock a lot of country and mostly honky tonk, including Granger Smith, Cross Canadian Ragweed and the Eli Young Band. This summer their efforts will culminate with two huge acts in the Texas country music scene - Kevin Fowler and Pat Green. Fowler will take the stage June 25 with Mark McKinney and Honeybrowne, and Green plays July23.

In the years following the closing of the popular concert center, Nano Ramirez, who since 1977 ran the operation, noticed that he was frequently getting requests for the artists he used to bring down to the Valley, like Robert Earl Keen, Pat Green and Mark Chestnut.

"When you have something for 30 years, you tend to take things for granted. I had no idea that when the Villa Real closed there was going to be a huge void left," Ramirez said.

The Texas country music genre had trouble finding a place to belong for many years. Mainstream audiences were accustomed to being split into two clear-cut categories, top 40 country and no country. In the Valley, Texas country fans were underground until the early 2000s when they found their clubhouse, La Villa Real.

From the inside, Fowler noticed that the Valley, like other parts of Texas, needed time to get accustomed to the genre. But the attitude of the average music listener has changed, he said. They're more open to regional music, whether that region is from South Padre is Rio Grande City or border to panhandle.

"Texas is just a really independent. Texans want their own music and their own beer and Texas wants to have their own identity," he said. "They want something they can call their own. You don't get that state pride anywhere else."

And though the Internet has been the scapegoat for crippling album sales across the music scene, it has been an asset to the Texas country music.

"With the Internet coming on around the same time as this scene, it fueled this thing," he said. "It's really just wild how big it's grown."

Artists like Jack Ingram, Pat Green and The Eli Young Band are examples of Texas country music breaking into a world dominated by country/pop like Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban, Fowler said.

"I remember Pat was the first guy who could draw 1000 people and we all thought he was king," Fowler said. "And now just seeing this thing grow to what it is now has just been an awesome ride."

Ramirez said that monthly Texas country music acts are planned through August and a festival is in the works.