DUANE
Get the App
Luckenbach
Gillespie County, Hill Country
“If you've heard the name, well, hold on, because the story behind it is even better than the legend.”
English
Español
The markers come first
Every story starts with an Official Texas Historical Marker. The words on those markers were researched and written, mostly by volunteers on county historical commissions, and approved by the Texas Historical Commission. That work, done over nine decades in all 254 counties, is the foundation of everything here.
Each of the 15,375 marker pages on heyduane.com shows the official marker text, credits the Texas Historical Commission and links to the marker's page in the THC Atlas.
Two ways to hear each one
Classic Texas reads the marker word for word. Duane's version retells the same history the way a good storyteller would at a roadside stop. 13,787 markers have Duane's retelling, about five million words of Texas history in all. Every marker page has audio you can play right in your browser, with no app or account needed.
Hear it for yourself
Four markers from four corners of Texas. Play Classic Texas, the marker read word for word, then Duane's version. Each one is in Spanish too.
Republic of the Rio Grande
Laredo, Webb County
“In January of 1840, a man named Señor Antonio Canales gathered with other Federalists near Guerrero to do something audacious: they were going to found a whole new republic.”
English
Español
SS Selma
Galveston, Gulf Coast
“Most ships earn their legends out on the open water; storms, battles, distant ports. The SS Selma earned hers by never quite making it to any of them.”
English
Español
Buddy Holly
Lubbock, West Texas
“His mother and siblings were already singing and playing instruments, so the boy practically learned to breathe in four-four time.”
English
Español
How the retellings are checked
Duane's retellings are written with AI, then checked by a second, separate AI pass against the marker text before they are used. A retelling that adds or changes facts is rewritten. If it fails twice, Duane reads the marker itself instead. On the more difficult topics in our history, Duane just reads the marker straight.
When a county historical commission sends a correction and the Handbook of Texas or the THC confirms it, Duane's retelling gets a short note crediting the commission. The marker text is always read as written.
The voice
Duane's voice comes from a new generation of AI speech that can be directed like a voice actor. Every recording gets the same direction: a warm, unhurried Texas storyteller with a natural Texas cadence and no exaggerated twang, who lets a good line land before moving on. In Spanish, Duane speaks the Mexican Spanish of South Texas and northern Mexico, with native pronunciation of names like Béxar and San Benito. The Spanish voice was chosen in a blind listening test.
In all, there are more than 57,000 recordings in English and Spanish, more than 1,800 hours, each made one at a time. A separate speech-recognition pass listens to each take to make sure it plays to the last word, and a take that stops short is recorded again.
Duane is named for Michael Breed's grandfather, Duane Harvey Wilkinson, a history lover who never passed a marker without slowing down.
En español
14,724 markers have a page in Spanish, with a translation of the marker text and Duane's Spanish narration. 12,806 of them also have Duane's retelling in Spanish, more than 900 hours of Spanish audio in all. The trails and On This Day are in Spanish too.
Each translation was checked against the English by a second AI pass for omissions and errors, and every year in the English must appear in the Spanish, or the translation is redone. Translations that never passed were left out rather than published.
Every Spanish page is labeled "Traducción no oficial" and links to the official English text. If you read Spanish and spot something to fix, please write to michael@heyduane.com. Every note is read.
Who made it
Duane is made in Dallas by Michael Breed, under Boot Canyon Advisory LLC. It is an independent project, not affiliated with the Texas Historical Commission. Questions, corrections and press inquiries: michael@heyduane.com.