![]() Nunn was left alone in cold, rainy London for much of the month. The duo did some gigs to publicize Murphey signing a European deal with EMI, plus the singer and then-wife Diana, a Brit, took their two-year-old son Ryan all around the U.K. It hurt Murphey most to lose from his band the versatile Gary P., also a great bass player, who he took with him to London for a month in early ‘73 while the others toured with Jerry Jeff. Hillsboro, TX native Johnston also managed the singer, who would add his middle name to the marquee to distinguish himself from the actor Michael Murphy ( Manhattan, An Unmarried Woman ). Murphey, who stayed in Austin only two years, had legendary producer Bob Johnston (Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Simon & Garfunkel) in his corner. Inmon played the Jade Room and New Orleans Club with Plymouth Rock and South Canadian Overflow, respectively, while Nunn was in highly successful cover band Lavender Hill Express with Rusty Wier. Nunn as rock n’ roll guys, not country” said Jay Aaron Podolnick of Odyssey Sound. John Inmon, who had been in Austin rock band Genessee with Nunn, replaced Hillis on guitar, and McGeary’s friend from California Kelly Dunn came sliding in with his B3 organ to make the Gonzos the best band in town. But two major label acts can share a band like they can a spouse, so sides were chosen, with Hillis and Steiner hitching a ride in “Geronimo’s Cadillac,” while the others became Jerry Jeff’s Lost Gonzo Band. Oneonta, NY native Walker and Murphry, from Oak Cliff, had been mutual admirers since playing Dallas folk club the Rubiyat in the ‘60s. When Murphey called in sick on the hometown finale, a drunken Jerry Jeff filled in. Murphey teamed with Willie a couple months later on the disastrous Armadillo Country Music Review (they couldn’t even spell “revue”), a six-city Texas tour which overestimated the number of cowboy hat-wearing hippies in Abilene, Wichita Falls and Lubbock. The Austin Interchangeable Dance Band, as Steve Fromholz dubbed them, also backed Walker and Murphey when they played the Armadillo on a co-bill on August 2, 1972, 10 days before Willie Nelson’s legendary hippie/redneck christening. Nunn on keyboards, Craig Hillis on guitar, Mike McGeary on drums and Herb Steiner on pedal steel. Both albums were recorded with the same band- Bob Livingston on bass, Gary P. ![]() Michael Murphey gave it a name with his 1973 album Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir (A&M), but Jerry Jeff Walker gave it a sound and an attitude- frisky and carefree- later that year with ¡Viva Terlingua! (MCA).
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