Tyler & East Texas this week: Gary P. Nunn, Paul Thorn and more

The man who wrote the old Austin City Limits theme closes the week at Liberty Hall, Paul Thorn plays Longview, and The Surfrajettes bring surf rock to a Tyler barbecue joint.

Three shows, two nights, and a Sunday that comes with a little Texas music history attached. That's the week in Tyler and East Texas, and none of it requires a long drive.

Start with the history. Gary P. Nunn plays Liberty Hall in downtown Tyler on Sunday, and if you have ever watched *Austin City Limits*, you have heard his work. Nunn wrote "London Homesick Blues" in a London hotel room in 1973, while he was over there recording with Michael Murphey and wishing he were back in Texas. The song landed on Jerry Jeff Walker's *¡Viva Terlingua!*, sung by Nunn with the Lost Gonzo Band, and it went on to serve as the opening theme of *Austin City Limits* from 1977 to 2004. He was inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame in 2014. The chorus about going home to the armadillo has outlived the theme slot, and a Sunday night in a downtown theater is a fine place to hear it.

The room is part of the draw. Liberty Hall started life as the Liberty Theatre; the city of Tyler bought the building, refurbished it in an art deco style and reopened it in September 2011 as a community performing arts hall. Today it runs live music, comedy and classic film revivals, and it is small enough that there's no bad seat.

Saturday splits two ways. Paul Thorn plays the Longview Museum of Fine Arts at 7 p.m., a gallery setting for a songwriter whose catalog moves between country, rock and folk. Back in Tyler, The Surfrajettes take the stage at Stanley's Famous Pit BBQ at 8:30 p.m. with a night of surf rock, which is a fine thing to pair with brisket.

Here's the week, night by night:

Sat, Nov 14 — Paul Thorn, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, 7 p.m. Tickets via SeatGeek.

Sat, Nov 14 — The Surfrajettes, Stanley's Famous Pit BBQ, Tyler, 8:30 p.m. Tickets via OpenDate.

Sun, Nov 15 — Gary P. Nunn, Liberty Hall, Tyler, 7:30 p.m. Tickets via Ticketsauce.

If you only make one, make it Sunday. Not every week brings a songwriter whose tune opened four decades' worth of public television music nights, and Liberty Hall is the right size room to hear him tell the stories behind the songs.

If you can make two, Saturday's early start in Longview and the later one in Tyler give you a real choice, not a conflict: pick the museum for a seated songwriter night, or Stanley's for something louder with a plate in front of you.

Either way, it's a weekend with something on both nights. Get out there.

Sources: Gary P. Nunn (Wikipedia) (en.wikipedia.org); Austin City Limits (Wikipedia) (en.wikipedia.org); How Songwriter Gary P. Nunn Influenced Outlaw Country and the Austin Music Scene (Rolling Stone) (rollingstone.com); Liberty Hall (Tyler, Texas) (Wikipedia) (en.wikipedia.org); Liberty Hall: About Us (libertytyler.com); KLTV: Looking back at almost 100 years of Tyler's Liberty Hall (kltv.com); JamBase: Gary P. Nunn at Liberty Hall (jambase.com); JamBase: Paul Thorn at Longview Museum of Fine Arts (jambase.com); JamBase: The Surfrajettes at Stanley's Famous Pit BBQ (jambase.com)