Joe Gracey RIP

Joe Gracey, once the best-known radio voices of Austin, Texas progressive country giant KOKE-FM, has died at age 61 from cancer.

Gracey ambled into the brave new world of progressive country on KOKE-FM, one of the driving forces behind establishing Austin radio as being about Austin music. That was an old-fashioned notion, one left over from 1960s AM stations that depended on as much local and regional music as national hits.

That meant not just Hank Williams, but Linda Ronstadt wailing his "Lovesick Blues" at at time when she was one of the young country queens and played at the Armadillo. Lots of Willie, lots of Waylon, lots of Willie and Waylon. By God, it was good music for good times in Austin's 1970s, fueled by Shiner Beer - the lager, not bock - and Pearl and Lone Star, no fancy beers. "Don't it make you wanna dance?" Rusty Wier rejoiced as the Gonzos sang songs about nights that never got lonely on Gracey's KOKE-FM.

KOKE-FM was the soundtrack for Austin in the early 1970s, and Gracey was a character on the air, proclaiming the syrupy commercial for Lowell Lebermann Lincoln-Mercury dealership as his favorite and sometimes crooning along with it at the mic. In 1978, a short, brutal battle with throat cancer left him without his inimitable voice. Gracey remained on the scene, often scribbling comments in conversation. He married the wonderful Kimmie Rhodes; it seemed a poetic justice that though his corporeal voice was gone, his words in songs would not be suppressed.

One of the most remarkable aspects of community support for Austin music is the ability to come to our city and hear its music on the radio. A lot of folks adopted that idea a long time ago and the notion has been carried out in subsequent decades, especially by KLBJ, KGSR, and KUT. Because of Joe Gracey.

This is for Joe, the original Super Roper. Feel free to sing along, if you can remember. "Lowell Lebermann, Lincoln Mercury ... your contact for luxury!"