Since Austin doesn’t host a proper county fair like other Texas municipalities of comparable size, consider Lucktoberfest that golden ticket.
Panhandle country queen Tanya Tucker, 64, fit the bill like “T” for Texas on Saturday night, second destination day trip of Lucktoberfest’s christening weekend. Installation makeover at the promoters’ natural wonder site – Willie Nelson’s not-so-faux Western movie set on a horse ranch in Spicewood – Lucktoberfest paired Texan baritone Paul Cauthen with East L.A.’s Rolling Stones, Los Lobos, on Friday and tonight brings their inaugural fall festivities to a peak with Shinyribs and more. Tucker’s middle slot yesterday proved the protein between the hamburger buns, a fair-like hayride through the twang and mythos of this state’s base genre.
On a big sky afternoon, blue and cool, the local headquarters of country music’s paterfamilias shuffled and bustled a honky-tonk answer to Austin on Halloween weekend. An hour outside of this urban beehive, the Deadwood of our hip collective dreams vibed and thrived a cowpoke carnival: games showering tots with toys, a beer hall, and even a fashion show straight down main street. Communal relaxation coursed through an ever-growing herd that swelled steadily until Tucker’s hour-long dinner-time slot, a micro and far more chill ACL Fest. Luck’s South by Southwest fiestas rage same as all Austin March madness, but Halloween weekend crackled and tittered all eras of the state capital in one: Willie’s picnics, Armadillo beer garden gatherings, even the perennial Pecan Street Festival.
Given that headliner Orville Peck inspired an entire alternative reality of country wear – face curtains and steampunk costumes – the fashion runway down the center of town alone strutted its ever-loving stuff akin to the delirious Halloween nights of San Francisco’s Castro district. Freak flags flew Austin’s version of the Lone Star colors, and all the Day of the Dead wear sealed the deal.
Soundtracking such an idyllic bubble, Jake Wesley Rogers laid a runway for Tucker in a sheer red blouse, red sequined skirt, and matching Seventies rock star elevator footwear. Nashvillian by way of Missouri, the instantly-winning extrovert fed the 200-or-so onlookers from the palm of his hand and the seat of his keyboard. Elton John-esque in hooks, looks, and pomp, Rogers lit a Brit-rock fuse that exploded in upbeat choruses and charisma.
As the sun set, sub-headliner Tucker ramped up her mini revue in a manner one imagines the Seminole, Texas, native experienced coming from a tiny town of under 5,000 people: personal, homey, intimate. Still riding double Grammy-winner and 2019 comeback While I’m Living, her first LP in almost a decade and first of original material in nearly double that span, the singer materialized in a sequined hat, denim, and soft brown suede. Her pearl-white mane dazzled.
Backed by a fivepiece group that included her daughter Presley on harmony vocals, the tequila-shooting outlaw sang in a sassy, nasal pinch – high, tight, tart. What it lacked in volume from both the P.A. and projection, she made up for in goose-bump moments of trad country history. Early-Nineties survival odes “Hanging In” and “It’s a Little Too Late” set a rootsy, feisty tone as Presley poured shots and her mother let emotion bubble into stage banter that might mute king raconteur Ray Wylie Hubbard.
When the two women harmonized sweetly on “Strong Enough to Bend,” the softer matte of acoustic guitar and mandolin suited mama bear best. “I’m on Fire” nestled that point home next, Springsteen’s c’mon becoming a pledge in Tucker’s pure and genuine cover. Pedal steel rose as she hiccupped into “Ring of Fire” and then back again.
“Jamestown Ferry” and “San Antonio Stroll” swaggered into an authentic hold-your-breath moment: Loretta Lynn tribute “Blue Kentucky Girl.” Doubled, tripled, or more, the crowd roared. They doubled, tripled that volume for “Texas (When I Die).”
“More tequila,” cried Tucker.
Country cornerstone Sonny Throckmorton, 81, made an appearance, as did Tucker squeeze Craig Dillingham. This Old House could franchise into a live performance chestnut This Old Stage with summits such as that. Even so, only one order of business remained, Tucker’s trademark closer “Delta Dawn,” her first hit in 1972 at the tender age of 13, which naturally everyone intoned at full glorious throat.
Sing us back home, Tanya.
This article appears in October 28 • 2022.
