I'll agree, a lot of smokehouses in Texas use Mesquite wood to smoke their meats and since Mesquite is a hotter (and smokier) burning wood than other hardwoods (say, oak), it does tend to dry out the meat.....I've never tried KC BBQ, but I've heard there are some outstanding places to try. If you're ever in Texas and want some good BBQ, just look for the sign,
"Can't beat our meat" and you've landed at a pretty damned good spot.
Not sure if you remember all the BBQ threads I did in Texas over the years Sofa, but I found very few....Austin, Houston, Dallas/FortWorth....less than a handful....and the beans were aweful.......with one exception. We are talking nonnational-chain places of course.