Poor David’s Pub is one of Dallas’ longest-running live music venues, but for a young Amelia Card, it was her playground.
She and her brother leapt across the chairs set up in front of the stage. She and her dad, the club’s proprietor David Card, sang “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” every year at the annual Christmas party. And for $10, she’d vacuum the place, careful not to suck up any discarded guitar strings.
Poor David's Pub was founded as a listening room in 1977 on McKinney Avenue. The venue moved to Lower Greenville in 1983, before settling into its current home on Botham Jean Boulevard in 2004. David Card was known for giving up-and-coming artists a chance, including Sara Hickman, The Chicks and Maren Morris. Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt and Lyle Lovett have also graced its stage.
“Growing up here is just kind of magical, getting to be around musicians and shows,” she said.
Now, the place is her responsibility.
'Something I've been waiting to do my whole life'
Card took the reins from her dad in June, gave the space a “facelift” in July and reopened the venue in early August.
“I feel like it's something that I've been waiting to do my whole life in a way,” Amelia Card said. “I've always thought in the back of my mind, well, when David retires, I'll take over the venue. But he is 86 now and never talked about retiring until about last year.”
So, she took some detours. She moved to Austin and worked briefly as a singer-songwriter. Then in 2024, she earned her master’s degree and was a social worker for the past two years.
“He was surprised [I wanted to run the venue], which really surprised me because I've done all the roles that you can do here and he and I have talked about the business a lot,” she explained. “... I think he was surprised when I was ready to make a career shift.”
Running an independent music venue is no small feat, and Card has put a lot of pressure on herself to make it work.
But she feels buoyed by the number of people in Dallas who want Poor David’s to succeed. Dozens of volunteers showed up throughout July to help paint, move furniture and do whatever other odd jobs needed to be checked off of the to-do list.
“I feel very carried by the community at this point. I'm going to do my best, but also, I can't do this alone and people have really showed up. I'm just really grateful for that and inspired by that. It's hard to even express in words how meaningful it is,” she said.
Setting the stage for musicians
Bina Domb has been going to concerts at Poor David’s since the 1970s.
She and her daughter Michelle love to see live music together. They grabbed tickets to see The Montvales and Nathan Evans Fox last Thursday at the recently reopened venue.
"It's got a vibe that's very comfortable and warm and inviting, and you can really get to know the artists. You don't have to fight a crowd,” she said. “It has always been great, and I see it still is.”
Baylis Laramore lives in Murphy now, but he started going to Poor David’s around 1986 when he was in his 30s and lived in Dallas.
"It's just a relaxing place to meet up with friends who like the same kind of music I do and the memories of performances of times that I came out. I leave and I think 'Damn, I'm really glad I came to this show,'” he said.
Maintaining a space that’s focused on the music and fostering community are two driving factors for Card as she settles into her new role.
She has community open-mic nights on the schedule, ticketed shows with up-and-coming artists andbigger artists who Card describes as “knockout” musicians.
David Card used to say that he named the club Poor David’s because he started it when he was poor.
Amelia Card jokes that if she’s lucky, someday she might have a smaller secondary venue called Rich Amelia’s. For now, her bigger goal is to keep the venue going and make sure it hits its 50th anniversary in about six months.
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