PrintTwo-Step Troubadour
Photography: Heidi Labensart
“I’m having more fun now than ever," says veteran musician Gary P. Nunn. "It just feels good. When you have a great band behind you and the audience is out there on the dance floor, you just say, ‘Yeah! This the reason I got into this in the first place.’ I love it more than ever.”
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Even before former Texas Governor Mark White named him the state's "Official Ambassador to the World," Gary P. Nunn took two-step to another level. If you've ever enjoyed music by Willie Nelson circa 1972 or watched an episode of the popular PBS concert TV show Austin City Limits, chances are you've gotten to hear some of Nunn's work. A songwriter and performer for more than 40 years, he is one of the founding fathers of the progressive country and Western sound that came out of Texas in the 1970s, and his song "London Homesick Blues" served as the theme music for Austin City Limits.
His new CD, Taking Texas to the Country, is full of the classic two-step sound that people like to dance to, and there's a reason for that, says Nunn. "I hear a song and if it suits me, I just give it a try. The band works it up, and if it gets people on their feet, then I know I’ve got something."
EnlargeReleased on Nunn's own label, Guacamole Records, Taking Texas to the Country is a far cry from your typical Nashville album, with nary a guest star or "featuring" track to be seen. The sound is clean and spare, but not boring. In fact, it's a thrill to hear two-step music that isn't trashy or trite. The songs are full of skilled musicianship and the kind of playful feel-good lyrics that are truly hard to find anymore. The result is an album which plays like a sincere and heartfelt ode to dance hall country music. It's a perfect example of how vibrant and alive the tradition can be when you take good, danceable tunes by good writers and put them in the hands of good musicians (It's notable that the producer, Tommy Detamore, is a fine musician in his own right and plays superb pedal steel on several tracks).
Now an icon of Texas music, Nunn recalls wanting to be a band director while growing up in the Lubbock area. "Anywhere there was music I had to be right in the middle of it. I had a good band director in school who encouraged me. He played with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra and would take me to gigs in Brownfield and places like that." Nunn muses, "I guess I did turn out to be a band director, but I only have three or four members to direct." Shortly after that, Nunn played with various small guitar combos in the area and then moved to Austin to attend pharmacy school at the University of Texas.
But music proved to be more fun: Along with the late Rusty Wier, Nunn founded The Lavender Hill Express, a popular local band that had a deep influence on the “cosmic cowboy” sound in 1967. Life quickly got busy as he made a reputation for himself as a sideman for Michael Martin Murphey, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Willie Nelson. The touring and recording work was steady through the ’70s, but it was Nunn's songwriting that would eventually garner him enough attention to pay off the note on his 800-acre cattle ranch.
"I had some property up there [in Oklahoma] that I inherited, and there was another piece of land next to it that my uncle was going to sell off," Nunn recalls. "I didn't have a job at the time, but I bought it and ran a good size herd for a while. Fortunately, right about the time I was getting upside down on the deal, Willie Nelson recorded my song 'The Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning,' and I got it paid off. We lived there for 18 years," he says fondly.
Nunn somehow managed to run the working ranch at the same time as his musical career, and eventually he had the idea to use the ranch as a venue.
The annual Terlingua North Chili Cook-Off and Music Festival kicked off in the late ’80s, and it soon became known as a place for young bands to launch their careers. “It seems every time we had a young and upcoming band up there, it was like they hit a diving board and just sprung into the air,” Nunn recalls, naming Cross Canadian Ragweed and Pat Green as two notables who got their start there.
But, he says, running the business side of a record label (Guacamole Records) is not as much fun or exercise as cattle ranching. "I miss doing the physical side of the work," he says. "But this keeps you busy, too."
In support of his new record, Nunn and his band are playing a full string of shows all year long. Nunn says playing classic venues like The Broken Spoke or Gruene Hall is one of his favorite things to do. "I really do love to play those old dance halls. For me it’s like carrying on a tradition that’s been going on for a hundred years," he says.
FYI: www.garypnunn.com
