Art Ranch Acoustic -- Bob Livingston

Last night Bob Livingston played an incredible set with a post party rehash in the courtyard late night. He revived old stories with the Lost Gonzo gang. Stories like the first time the Gonzos heard Gary P. Nunn sing, "Home with the Armadillo," after coming back from London. Jerry Jeff felt it's potential when he saw the crowd at Luckenbach breaking beer bottles over their heads and women taking their tops off. He knew they had a hit.
Bob played that Gary P. Nunn ode to Texas Friday night with his own twists and turns including a break away into the Bee-Gee's, "Staying Alive!" It was brillant. Though not as brilliant as his tryst into a Middle English-speaking rap a la the Canterbury Tales in the middle of another song, I can't remember which. He also charmed the crowd with Michael Murphy gems like, "Geronimo's Cadillac." Thank God, though, that he spared us from, "Wildfire!"
He finished the set with two more impressive covers, Jimmy requested a popular ditty from another Lubbock native. The Buddy Holly song, "Not Fade Away," which Bob recorded in a very admirable rendition with his equally as musical son, Tucker. Then he called Jimmy to the stage to finish out the set with a Woody Guthrie tune. He told a story about Woody. He said that when Woody went before the McCarthy panel in the 1950's, the senator said, "Mr. Guthrie, are you a communist?" To which Guthrie replied, "Well, I don't know about that but I do know I've spent most of my life in the red!" Then Bob and Jimmy rode off in Geronimo's red Cadillac convertible singing, "This land is your land, this land is my land..." as they waved to the crowd in the Great Room. A stellar set by a cosmic storyteller song smith extraordinaire.