by Amy Edgerly
If you're from Texas and someone says "Gary P. Nunn" in conversation, you will immediately start thinking "I wanna go home with the armadillo…." Why? Because we all know that the author of the Texas National Anthem, "London Homesick Blues is Gary P. Nunn. And most of us know the story of where and why he wrote it too.
I first met Mr. Armadillo himself on Rodney Crowell's tour bus back in May of this year, purely by fate. So I decided I'd use that introduction to snag me an interview with this legend for my next column. What a thrilling opportunity to get some very sought after stories straight from the horse's mouth. What's the armadillo's attraction? How did "London Homesick Blues" actually come into being? What makes him love Mother Texas so much that he'd write a classic ode to her? Is he a closet biker as well as a cowboy? What was it like playing with Jerry Jeff Walker? So many questions, so little time.
So on a hot day in July, El Borracho and I rode into town to the Firehouse Saloon in Houston. A real honky-tonk just blocks away from the meet-markets of Richmond Avenue. We walked in during sound check and Gary recognized us off the bat, put down his guitar and walked over to sit and jaw with us a minute. We got all caught up since our last meeting, then settled down to brass tacks. I was most curious about this song on his newest release, Something For The Trail, called "Hillbilly, Hog-Ridin', Road-Runnin' Man" (say that three times fast!). He had told us about it back in May, so I had to know: was Gary P. Nunn one of the brethren and we weren't savvy to it?
Turns out he was a biker back in the day. There was even a period in his younger days when two wheels were his only mode of transport. He rattled off the roster of bikes that had passed through his possession, including a Cushman Eagle, a couple of rice rockets (pardon me) and finally two Triumphs. Both Triumphs disappeared off his front porch, one after the other and since the old saying goes "first time shame on you, second time shame on me", he never replaced the second stolen Triumph.
The biker culture explosion that is happening currently is something he very much wanted to be a part of, hence the selection of that particular tune for his new album. Every biker out there should give it a listen. It's the quintessential description of what we are and who we want to be. And it's a real toe-tapper to boot (pun intended)!
It's hard to believe, but Gary didn't always reside here. He did a 20-year stint on a ranch in Oklahoma, post-Lost Gonzo days, and it's the only thing in his life he would've done differently. It seemed like a good idea at the time, a chance to settle down and parlay livestock into pesos, but it just wasn't home. He missed it all, especially the one of kind rowdy, rebellious, country-rock-and-roll music scene that exists only here. So he came back to Texas, back on the trail to music business legendry.
So what is it with Gary and the apparent affinity with the armadillo? Why is it the GPN signature logo? Why did he miss it so much in London? Well, it's the everlasting quality of the armored rodent that captures Gary's fancy. He says the armadillo has been here forever, and it will probably outlast us. He wanted to choose a symbol to represent him and his music that not only personified Texas, but also longevity and endurance, something that will always be around. Plus he needed a word that rhymes with Amarillo when he wrote "London Homesick Blues" !!
It's true — he told us of that famed long visit to England. While there he was having a real time of it comparing words and phrases and expressions that are different between over there and here at home. It evolved into a song-writing exercise to combine the two worlds, the two manners of speaking and see what could come of it. What came of it was the unofficial Texas National Anthem. Not a bad day's work.
Most of us are probably more familiar with the song as Jerry Jeff Walker performs it, whether it's the live recorded version done with Gary on Jerry's Viva Terlingua album or seeing it performed live by JJW. But make no mistake, that song is all Gary. Which did however lead me to ask him about his Lost Gonzo Band days. It sounds like that was a seminal time in a young musician's life. Being able to walk onstage in any venue in Austin and hear the crowd go wild from the first words "Hello, Buckaroos!". It was instant gratification at its finest. Not a bad way to spend (or waste!) one's youth. Gary is proud that he was someone who could always bring out the best in Jerry. And we Texas music fans can all be thankful that he did.
Gary is a wonderful person to sit and chat with, like you might expect. If you wonder what makes him the perfect Texas Ambassador to the Rest of the World, well — he just plain loves the culture of our fair state. A culture that is personified by the ever-enduring armadillo, the rowdy good-time atmosphere of a big old dance hall, the neighbor who will walk outside, beer in one hand, the other offered to you in greeting, the biker roaring through the hills with the wind in their hair and their cares at their back — it's this culture that Gary loves. It's what he likes about Texas. And the love for us he wears in his dirt-eating grin and in his timeless songs is what makes us love him right back.
Gary's career has spanned over 20 years and 10 albums. He has written hits for not only Jerry Jeff, but also Willie Nelson, Michael Martin Murphey, David Allen Coe, and others, including his Redneck self. So he's about much more than one very significant song, or one time period, or one geographic location. Gary loves making music and he loves doing it in Texas. Not so much so that we can be entertained by him, but so he can bring together to enjoy each other in one place, at one time. That, he feels, is his true calling.