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Gypsy Alibi: A Gonzo Memoir
Editorial Reviews
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“Bob Livingston needs no alibis for the stories he tells of his life in music, from growing up in Lubbock raised on rock and roll, country and folk, to his stints with Jerry Jeff Walker and Michael Martin Murphey in Austin as the original Cosmic Cowboy, to his own solo career working the honky-tonks of Texas and the back roads of India. It ain’t bragging if it’s true. Besides, you can’t make this stuff up.” —Joe Nick Patoski, author of Willie Nelson: An Epic Life
“Bob should be the World Ambassador for Texas Music. Anyone who can teach an audience of 2,000 in Bangladesh to yodel, in unison, and then close the show with all of them singing on the Buddy Holly song “Not Fade Away” deserves your attention. Bob Livingston lived and breathed the Austin Music Scene of the ’70s and beyond. Now he’s written it all down for us to enjoy. . . . Dig it!!” —Lloyd Maines, music producer and musician
“My father, Hondo Crouch, said, ‘You can’t forget memories.’ And Cosmic Bob has a memory like a steel trap. In great detail the singer/songwriter/master storyteller and international music ambassador spins the tale of Texas music from the roaring ’70s into the present day. Bob was a member of Jerry Jeff Walker’s Lost Gonzo Band, and their quintessential album ¡Viva Terlingua! was the first to define outlaw music and its audacious freewheeling fun that literally taught us how to be Texan. We can’t get enough!” —Becky Crouch Patterson, author of Luckenbach, Texas: The Center of the Universe
About the book
​Gypsy Alibi is Cosmic Bob’s origin story, but it also tells a tale of how music traverses the planet. Serving since the ’80s as a Global Music Ambassador for the US State Department, Livingston has taken Texas music as far afield as India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Africa, Vietnam, and the Middle East. Livingston’s romping narrative acts as a gonzo travelogue that traces the spread and reception of uniquely Texan culture across the world.
“Bob Livingston wasn’t just eyewitness to a seminal moment in American music history, he was a lynchpin co-conspirator. So whatever you think you know about !Viva Terlingua! and Geronimo’s Cadillac, about Rapps Cleaners and the fabled alleys of Austin, you don’t have the whole story until you read this book by the legendary Cosmic Bob. It’s history that matters.”
—John Spong, longtime Texas Monthly writer and host of the PRX podcast One by Willie
“There’s a reason a reason why the dust on Bob Livingston’s boots is caked on thicker than most and why his story jumps off the page like a bronco. He did not go gently into the wild and woolly nights of the origin story of what we call Texas music today. Bob’s honesty and fearlessness helped shape modern Texas music for the better.”
—Hector Saldaña, The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University
Music Store
NEW! Up The Flatland Stairs
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ELIZA GILKYSON: "I have this Bob Livingston recording (of Up The Flatland Stairs) on constant play in my car. I “can’t get enough of it.” Super musical production from this guy who keeps evolving and never looses touch with his roots or the joy of making music."
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CD's & Downloads are also available on iTunes.
*Stay tuned for more merchandise coming! (NEW CD, Tee Shirts, Psychic Readings...)
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