Meet Mad Jack’s 'Left-Hand Man'
As James Jackson builds his next dream, he's left his mountaintop bbq in the hands of manager Chris Shaw — and while still for sale, Cloudcroft's beloved pit is open, smokin', and 'not going anywhere'
It was 20 degrees and barely past dawn on a February Thursday when four people were already shivering in line outside Mad Jack’s Mountaintop Barbecue.
BBQ legend and owner James Jackson wasn’t there that morning. But the pits were lit, the wood was burning low and slow, and everything inside was running exactly the way it always has. That’s not an accident. That’s Chris Shaw.
This article originally appeared in the March Mountain Monthly.
Shaw has been with Mad Jack’s for eight years. For the past four of those, he’s been the one keeping the fires burning when Jackson is away — and over the last year, Jackson has been away quite a bit, with good reason. He’s purchased land along the Pedernales River near Johnson City, Texas, and is deep in the process of building a second location: Mad Jack’s Hill Country Barbecue. The project is as ambitious as it sounds.
“We’re deep in the Texas Hill Country,” Jackson said by phone recently, calling from the job site. “Close to Fredericksburg and the famous wine trail. We’ve got about 580 feet of river frontage on the Pedernales River, and I can’t think of another barbecue joint that’s on the river — so that might make it kind of special.”
The new venture is also, he admitted with a laugh, a chance to be closer to his grandkids. ”As much as I love Cloudcroft,” Jackson said, “we love little Wyatt and Penny a little more.”
Get to Know Shaw
Jackson says with unmistakable affection, “You know how folks usually say they’ve got a right-hand man? Chris is left-handed, so jokingly we always call him my left-handed man. But yeah, he’s top-notch. I was lucky to get him.”
That luck was the result of a winding road. Shaw’s sister Xochitl had moved to Cloudcroft two years before Chris and his family did, operating her shop Mountain vs. Moon in what is now the Mad Jack’s bakery space. He came up to visit her, and that’s how he first crossed paths with Jackson. They were both from Central Texas — and hit it off.
“He originally was gonna hire my wife Stephanie,” Shaw said, recounting the story with good humor. “She ended up going to the brewery. He was looking for a manager — so I started here.”
Shaw had never done barbecue. He’d been a baker for a while, built elevators, and played guitar in Austin bands for two decades. On day two on the job, multiple people called in sick. “I was just kind of thrown to the wolves,” he said. “I had to grill. I didn’t even know the menu. But I kind of figured it out, I guess.”
Eight years later, Shaw is one of only two people — himself and Jackson — who can work every position in the building. Morning guy, night guy, grill, pit, front of house. He knows the flow of the seasonal visitors, the temperament of the wood-fired pits, and the faces of the regulars.
“Low and slow. Good wood and good music and good meat.”
— Chris Shaw, on the secret to great barbecue
Same Brisket. Same Atmosphere.
For anyone anxious about what a transition means for the quality of the food, Shaw is direct: nothing is changing. “I won’t change a thing. Keep it exactly the way he was doing it. James got us here for a reason, based on what he was doing. So I don’t want to change anything too crazy — some things here and there — but I’m not going to change the experience or the way that we operate with a brisket.”
Jackson echoed that confidence from Texas. The two are aligned on what matters most: quality. “We’re spending a crazy amount on brisket — all natural, no hormones, no antibiotic brisket,” Jackson said. “We could save about $2,000 a week if I went to a cheaper brisket. But he’s on board with me about keeping the quality top-notch. Which means everything.”
That commitment shows up in the line that sometimes wraps around the building. On weekends, customers are outside by 8 a.m. — sometimes waiting three hours, sometimes in the rain. Shaw takes that seriously.
“Nobody’s gonna wait in the line for something that’s just okay, or something that’s hit or miss,” he said. “So it’s super important for me to just make sure that it’s top-notch every day, no matter what. You never know who’s in that line — we’ve had YouTubers with millions of followers come through. If they have a bad day, 2 million people just saw that it sucked. And so the pressure’s on, but I can take it.”
One small touch that captures Shaw’s approach: he reads customers’ names off their trays and greets them by name when they reach the counter. “They’re always like, how do you know my name?” he said, grinning. “It makes it a little more one-on-one.”
Jackson, for his part, is confident the warmth of the place will remain intact. “He’s got the personality I need to talk with people,” he said of Shaw. “He’s honest as all get-out, he’s great with customers, and he’s been with me for 8 years. He’s on the same page with me as far as quality.”
The Crew That Keeps It Going
Shaw isn’t holding things together alone.
“I’m really blessed to have such a good crew,” Jackson said.
Elyse Shadwell has stepped up to take charge of all the sausage-making, going above and beyond to fill in wherever needed. “Between her and Shaw, I think we’ve got things covered pretty good,” Jackson said. “She goes above and beyond.”
Kristy Dankert, who also serves as the restaurant’s hostess, has taken over cornbread-making and the baking duties — stepping into a role that had been a point of pride for the operation. Jackson’s fiancée, Gracie Jo Grey, calls it “passing the whisk.”
Setting the Record Straight
Both Shaw and Jackson want to address the rumors directly: Mad Jack’s Mountaintop Barbecue in Cloudcroft is not closing.
“I get that question every day,” Shaw said. “Business as usual. Same standards, same quality. We’re not closing down after we open” — referring to the Texas location.
“Everybody seems to think I’m closing the place,” Jackson confirmed. “We’re not closing the place. I really want people to know that.”
Jackson does acknowledge that the Cloudcroft location is still for sale. Jackson says if a buyer emerged, the transition would include all recipes, techniques, the Mad Jack’s name, and — if they honor the quality standards — the crew.
“Anybody with any sense would probably keep it the same,” Shaw said.
In the meantime, Jackson plans to continue hauling firewood to Cloudcroft and staying a week or two at a stretch. He’ll be posting on social media when he’s headed to town — so keep an eye on the Mad Jack’s Facebook page if you want to catch him in person.
A Rock-and-Roll Pitmaster
Ask Chris Shaw about standing in front of a crowd, and he’ll tell you it doesn’t faze him. For more than 20 years, he played guitar in Austin — first with a band called Waitsix, and later with a second project called Execution by Music. He played every club in Austin. He knows how to be on.
“In music, you’re in the zone, so it could be two people or a thousand people out there — I’m not seeing it the same way,” he said. “Barbecue is a little different. But it’s so cool to meet all the people from all over the world. We’ve had every continent come through here. It makes the day so interesting.”
Shaw also handles the live music bookings for the restaurant’s summer season — a natural fit given his background. He still plays guitar at home and is thinking about teaching his eight-year-old daughter, Willow.
The parallel between music and barbecue isn’t lost on him. “Half of the experience here is the crew and the people,” he said. “The food is obviously why people are coming. But the other half is the people — they want to feel like they’re coming to our backyard to have barbecue.”
So if you drive up the mountain on a cold winter morning and see a line of dedicated souls standing outside in the dark — know that inside, the fires have been tended since before you woke up, the brisket is on track, and a guy who’s played sold-out clubs in Austin is ready to greet you by name.
Open Thursday–Sunday. Tip: Arrive early — they sell out, and they mean it.
Follow Mad Jack’s on Facebook for updates on Jackson’s visits, hours, and music schedule.
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