There are few places more synonymous with country music in Texas than Luckenbach, and there are few places more synonymous with an individual artist than Luckenbach is with Jerry Jeff Walker.
When Walker recorded his album Viva Terlingua! in Luckenbach’s legendary dance hall in 1973, it put the tiny destination spot on the map, and made names for some of the artists featured on the album such as Ray Wylie Hubbard and Gary P. Nunn.
Jerry Jeff Walker died on October 23rd, 2020 at the age of 78, but in Luckenbach TX, legends never die.
A bronze sculpture was unveiled in Jerry Jeff’s honor on a Saturday, October 8th a few years ago. It depicts the songwriter sitting right beside Luckenbach founder Hondo Crouch.
His vision has allowed Luckenbach TX to remain a destination spot over 50 years after Viva! Terlingua, and 47 years after Waylon Jennings had a #1 hit with the “Luckenbach TX” song.
Now meet Ken from Kemp, TX.
He strolled into Luckenbach on a COLD Saturday night. Naturally, he had to wear his original 1980’s black denim Jerry Jeff Walker jacket. It was a beauty.
It hardly looked worn but we knew it could tell stories…so a store clerk offered him cash for the jacket or a story about the jacket. There was no way he was giving it up, so the story began…
Ken fought in the army in Vietnam in 1972. At the time he said he was listening to Jimi Hendrix- wasn’t big on country in those days. When he got out, someone handed him a vinyl record- it was Viva Terlingua! by Jerry Jeff Walker. He said it changed his life and his love of music forever.
A couple years later he made his way to California and there in a grocery store parking lot- in his Jerry Jeff Walker tee- heard someone playing JJW on their car radio. He walked around until he found a man cleaning his Spider Fiat there in the parking lot.
“Do you even know who you’re listening to?” Ken said to the stranger, still surprised hearing JJW in California.
The stranger replied, “Of course I do, I’m from Texas!” (Minus a few explicits) and Ken stated he was from Texas too. (Minus a few more explicits).
They became best friends. They loved country music, went to concerts together, and loved Jerry Jeff Walker. They then later became best friends with Jerry’s merch guy after years of attending concerts. The jacket was a CREW jacket, none were ever sold. 40 years later, Ken inherited the jacket. He’s had it for 2 months and wears it proudly.
Ken was grateful to share his story and we were happy to hear it. We asked him if we could snap a pic of his jacket as he walked out…as he did he thanked us for keeping the spirit of Luckenbach alive- wagged his finger and said, “You know what? Thanks for listening and thanks for giving a damn…”
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Pretty special story. I hate to mention it, but the word you were after is “expletives.” Explicitly!
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