Gary P. Nunn - Totally Guacamole (1992)

Man, this is something else. Adamantly not Nashville, for one. (Which is still saying a lot.) Adamantly retro. (Not as unique, but still just fine.)
And completely Gary P. Nunn one of a series of former Jerry Jeff Walker sidemen to step out into their own spotlight.
Totally Guacamole works as a microcosm for Nunn s outlaw image, from shunning the then-Nuevo Country stars in the funny Purty Boys to his penchant for writing the note-perfect hill country ditty. (That goes back to 1973 s London Homesick Blues, a song he penned while with Jerry Jeff that become better known as Home with the Armadillo. )
This Nunn record starts off with a one-two-three punch of pleasant conhunto-flavored tunes that sound like everything country music should be. After all, Nunn launched a solo career after serving, at one point, in concurrent stints as bass player in bands led by progressive stars Walker, Willie Nelson and Michael Martin Murphey.
His indie-label attitude (this album was originally issued on the terrificly named Campfire Records out of San Antonio) carries throughout Totally Guacamole.
Now, it helps if you have a healthy affection for the Lone Star State. I suspect only a native could sit through You Can t Get the Hell Out of Texas without getting distracted. (Here s a sample lyric, recalling the old Motown trick of cross-country name dropping: It started with the Alamo, it ain t never gonna stop. Not as long as there s Austin, Houston, Amarillo, Lubbock, Dallas, Fort Worth )
San Antone, Corpus Christi and Padre Island provide a backdrop for other songs here. Nunn later had a greatest hits package, issued this summer, called What I Like About Texas.
Apparently, everything.
Just when it might seem rote, though, Nunn unfurls Purty Boys, a let s-get-down-to-business question in song: Everybody knows who wrote Redneck Mother fellow by the name of Ray Wylie Hubbard, Nunn croons. Besides, who ever heard of Lake Alan Jackson?
It s a hilarious kiss-off and, really, the heart of the album.
Totally Guacamole is the kind of country that used to get made with regularity: Music without pretension, proud of its roots, and without studio-exec sheen a hoedown, minus the focus group.