Texas Essentials: Town Tunes

U. S. Post Office, Luckenbach, Texas. Wikimedia Commons.

When the sun comes up on a sleepy little town down around San Antone.

Tom Johnson, “China Grove”

A year ago or so I published a list of thirteen essential Texas songs—Texcentric tunes extolling the uniqueness of the great Lone Star. That piece was part of a larger series of Texas Essentials where I provided a baker’s dozen of key books and movies every Texan ought to read and watch. I hadn’t thought much about adding to the series until I ran across a chapter focused on Texas town tunes in W. F. Strong’s first volume of Stories from Texas: Some of Them Are True. So, here we are.

Texas singer/songwriter Pat Green sings in “Songs About Texas” that “there’s a song in every town,” implying that every Texas town has a tune dedicated to it—or at least the town is mentioned in a song. To verify a search landed me on a page called “Texas Town Tunes.” Though dated, it listed every song where a Texas town is mentioned in the lyrics, from Abilene to Zapata. A number of songs mention multiple Texas towns: “She’s Like Texas” and “My Texas” by Josh Abbott, “London Homesick Blues” by Gary P. Nunn, “All My Exes Live in Texas,” “Take Me to Texas,” and “How About Them Cowgirls” by George Strait. But it’s Brian Burns’s Texas adaptation of Geoff Mack’s “I’ve Been Everywhere” that wins the blue ribbon for the most Texas towns named in one song: ninety-two (if my count is correct).

What follows is my baker’s dozen of Texas essential town tunes. Unlike Strong, who limited his list to those that charted on the Billboard top 40, my list represents personal favorites. Peccadillos aside, however, each song focuses on one town as its central theme. They’re not ranked according to preference, but according to release date. Each one includes the name(s) of the songwriter(s) and my preferred artists. Feel free to comment and add to this list.

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“I’m a Ding Dong Daddy (From Dumas)” (1937), written by Phil Baxter; performed by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys

“New San Antonio Rose” (1940), written by Bob Wills, Everett Stover, and Bob Symons; performed by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys

“El Paso” (1959), written and performed by Marty Robbins

“Galveston” (1969), written by Jimmy Webb and performed by Glenn Campbell

“La Grange” (1973), written by Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard, and Joe Hill; performed ZZ Top

“China Grove” (1973), written by Tom Johnson and performed by The Doobie Brothers

“(Lubbock) Texas in My Rearview Mirror” (1974), written and performed by Mac Davis

“Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)” (1977), written by Chips Moman and Bobby Emmons; performed by Waylon Jennings, featuring Willie Nelson

“Amarillo by Morning” (1983), written by Terry Stafford and Paul Fraser; performed by George Strait

“Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Mind” (1984), written by Sanger D. Shafer and Darlene Shafter; performed by George Strait

“Terlingua Sky" (1998), written and performed by Gary P. Nunn

“Deep in the Heart of Uncertain Texas” (2019), written by Rodney Crowell and Richard Dobson; performed by Rodney Crowell, featuring Willie Nelson, Lee Ann Womack, and Ronny Dunn

“Waxahachie” (2021), written and performed by Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram, and Jon Randall

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