A new exhibit at the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University transports visitors back to a time and place where one outsider artist captured the very essence of Texas. That artist was Jerry Jeff Walker, and the exhibit highlights the creation of his iconic album Viva Terlingua—a record that is considered by many to define Texas music.
In the opening track of Viva Terlingua, Jerry Jeff Walker introduces himself as “Scamp Walker,” a reference to a time in his life when he might have been a bit of a wanderer—a fitting moniker for a man known for his free-spirited ways. The song was recorded on August 18, 1973, not in a plush West Coast studio but in a sweltering 100-degree barn in downtown Luckenbach, Texas. The rustic, unpolished setting mirrored the spirit of the music itself.
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