A river that begins in eastern New Mexico and travels in an arc through Texas to the Gulf of Mexico. The Brazos River Basin encompasses 42,000 square miles in the Lone Star State, or about one-sixth of the state.

It was named by Spanish explorers who may have been quite thirsty after weeks of trapsing across the dry plains. The spider web of tributaries were seen as "los Brazos de Dios", or "the arms of God".

Since its discovery, the river has been an important, and for some almost spiritual, landmark. It carries with it the stories of native Americans, cowboys, bootleggers, Civil War heroes and goats, Mexican outlaws, sharecroppers, circuit-riders, and honky-tonks as it meanders, sometimes trickling, sometimes roaring.