All Photos: Alan Mercer
Taken at The Texas Opry Theater in Weatherford, Texas
Gary P. Nunn has been taking Texas to the country and Texas country to the world for some 40 years now, establishing himself as an icon of Lone Star music. A founding father of the progressive country movement out of Austin in the 1970s that changed the face of popular music, Gary P. is also an independent music pioneer who continues to oversee his own record label and song publishing companies, manage his own career (with the help of his wife Ruth), and play most every weekend at top music venues throughout Texas and beyond. His composition “London Homesick Blues” — with its internationally known “I wanna go home with the Armadillo” chorus — is a signature Texas country song that was the theme for the PBS concert TV show “Austin City Limits” for nearly three decades. It’s no wonder that All Music Guide hails him as “a Texas music institution.”
Born in Oklahoma, Gary P. Nunn found his heart’s true home in the Lone Star State after his family moved to West Texas when he was in sixth grade. In the town of Brownfield just outside of Lubbock, he was an honors student, excelled in athletics, and started his first band soon after arriving. When he landed in Austin in 1967 to study pharmacy at the University of Texas, he presaged the “cosmic cowboy” movement to come with one of Austin’s favorite bands, The Lavender Hill Express, with the late Rusty Weir. After Willie Nelson, Michael Murphey and Jerry Jeff Walker all moved to town, Nunn was such a pivotal figure on the scene that at one point he was playing bass with all three artists. His talents on keyboards and vocals were also heard on many of the legendary albums from that era.
When Murphey arrived in Austin in 1972, he immediately asked Nunn to help him put together a band. While in London recording Murphey’s Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir album, two key events occurred for Nunn. One day in his hotel room, wishing he were back in Texas, he wrote “London Homesick Blues.” As Nunn recalls, “I just wrote it to kill time, and as a humorous exercise in writing a country song. I never thought that anything would ever become of that song. No one is more surprised than me at what it became.”
At Abby Road Studio, he also met an English music publisher who at the time had 90 songs on the British Top 100. It inspired Nunn to start his own publishing company when he got back to Austin to funnel songs he liked by songwriters he knew to the artists he worked with as well as others.
Nunn was a key figure in The Lost Gonzo Band when they recorded Jerry Jeff Walker’s landmark ¡Viva Terlingua! album, on which “London Homesick Blues” was a breakout hit. During his time with Walker, Nunn recalls, “I was fortunate enough to have some good songwriters come my way, and I channeled some of their tunes to Jerry Jeff. And they became some of his more popular songs, even today. I seem to have always had a knack for finding a tune.” And Nunn’s own songs have always served him well, being recorded by stars like Willie Nelson (“The Last Thing I Needed, The First Thing This Morning”) which hit #2, Rosanne Cash (“Couldn’t Do Nothing’ Right”), which hit #15 on the country singles charts), David Allen Coe and many other artists.
After four years and six albums with Walker, The Lost Gonzo Band struck out on their own in 1977 to record three critically acclaimed major label albums. Then in 1980, Nunn went solo when the Gonzos called it a day, and he hasn’t looked back since.
He started his own label, Guacamole Records, and was finally the full master of his own musical fate. His unflagging popularity in and around the Lone Star State has kept the houses full for 30 years whenever and wherever he plays. And Nunn has also made numerous visits to Europe, where he’s considered a Texas musical legend. Along the way, he has appeared on TV shows like “Austin City Limits,” “Nashville Now,” TNN’s “Texas Connection” and many others as well as on national broadcasts of Texas Rangers baseball games singing the National Anthem.
In addition to the many gold albums on which he has played and/or written and published songs, Nunn has earned a number of notable awards and honors over the years. He was named an Official Ambassador to the World by Texas Governor Mark White, and years later Governor Rick Perry also declared him an Ambassador of Texas Music. In 2004, he was inducted into the Texas Hall of Fame, and he is also honored in the West Texas Walk of Fame in Lubbock as well as the Texas Department of Commerce and Tourism’s roster of Lone Star Greats who are leaders in the fields of art, athletics and music. As well, the Oklahoma House of Representatives recognized Nunn for his contribution to the preservation of the unique Southwestern style of music.
AM: Gary, I hear your famous song, ‘The Last Thing I Needed The First Thing This Morning’ was just recorded by Chris Stapleton!
GPN: Isn’t that super?
AM: How does that make you feel?
GPN: I can’t tell you how good that makes you feel.
AM: What about the first time it was recorded by Willie Nelson for his Grammy winning album, ‘Always On My Mind?’
GPN: Both of them were at the peak of their careers when they cut the song.
AM: What does that tell you about that song?
GPN: Well, it must be pretty good. (Laughter)
AM: Yeah, I’d say it is. This question is so random, but I love your song, ‘Reggae Armadillo.’ How did that come about?
GPN: We were cloistered in a hotel on the Rhine River in Koblenz Germany. We were touring there over the summer. This was during the week while we had a layover so we’d go out to these German White Wine Festivals that they have up and down the Rhine River Valley. One night we came home and this Dutch guy who was in the band was real jazzy and into Reggae. I just popped into that song goofing around with the guitar in our suite. I was just playing it like a reggae song and it just happened.
AM: You are known for your Honky Tonk style, but you really do cross through musical genres. There is a Jazz influence at times.
GPN: Right, that is Western Swing. Anything that is indigenous to Texas is something I try to dabble in. I like to play like Bob Wills and Hank Thompson and those guys.
AM: You’ve been called one of the founding fathers of progressive Texas music. Do you agree with that?
GPN: Well…I was there from day one and I nurtured the original guys and I backed them up and helped them when they came to Texas. I more or less showed them the town. I’d take them around and help them put bands together. So, I was there and if they want to say ‘father,’ OK I’ll take that. (Laughter)
AM: You were an honor student and athlete in school. How did you end up in music?
GPN: I was always so attracted to music. Anytime there was any music going on, I just had to be in the middle of it. I was raised on a school yard. My dad was a coach and a teacher. Making good grades was required by the family. Then my dad coached me to play ball. I started at a very young age and when I moved to Texas in the Sixth grade I got to participate in all these sports like football, basketball and baseball.
AM: How did ‘Austin City Limits’ come to use your song as their theme song?
GPN: They were just putting together the series at the time and they were looking for a theme song and that song was blowing up at that time. Jerry Jeff had just had ‘Red Neck Mother’ so ‘London Homesick Blues’ kind of fixated in the atmosphere at that time so they just selected it because they thought it was appropriate.
AM: You’ve been at the right place at the right time!
GPN: (Laughter) A couple of times!
AM: Of course, you are immensely talented and so deserving of all your success but many people are talented and don’t get much reward.
GPN: There are so many really talented people out there that can’t get started. You really have to pay attention to the business aspect of it.
AM: Are you good at the business side?
GPN: Pretty good. I didn’t waste any money. I always lived like I was never going to have another job tomorrow. I was never extravagant. I didn’t buy expensive toys or do things just for show. I lived very conservative. Now at this point in my life, it’s turned out pretty good.
AM: You are in the Texas Hall of Fame, the West Texas Walk of Fame and you’re the Musical Ambassador for Texas. What does this mean to you?
GPN: Being Ambassador means a lot to me because actually, I have gone out of my way in order to promote Texas music, Texas artists and the Texas music industry. That’s why I started a publishing company, so we wouldn’t have to go to Nashville. We can do it ourselves. We started out slow and let it build to set an example for others. This tells them, “You can do this too.” You can start your own publishing company and you can make your own records here in Texas. We’re not going to be superstars but we’ll lay the foundation for others.
AM: You have shown others they can have a long career with Texas music.
GPN: The original idea was taking Texas music to Country music.
AM: Are you writing now?
GPN: I have been focusing my writing on my memoirs. I’m just completing it now. The story of my life.
AM: Isn’t that a hard job?
GPN: It was very easy for me. I just knocked it out off the top of my head. The stories are turning points and highlights of my life. The title is ‘Home of the Armadillo’ and it will be published this fall.
AM: I can’t wait to read it.
GPN: I think you will enjoy it. I enjoy reading it myself. (Laughter)
To learn more about Gary P. Nunn visit his web site http://www.garypnunn.com/