Another musical artist has put San Antonio in the spotlight and created a catchy song about it. The practice comes from a long tradition in music, perhaps most notably starting with Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys.
The practice was continued by Lyle Lovett, and also by the Texas Tornadoes.
The romance and attraction of San Antonio has made the city a well-spring for musical creativity. And now, another artist has stepped forward with his offering: Garrett T. Capps. When it came time for the San Antonio-based singer to write his adoring San Antonio-centric song, involuntarily, another city loomed large.
“When people are talking about San Antonio and how it could be better or cooler, Austin’s always brought up,” he said.
Don’t get him wrong; he really enjoys being in Austin.
“I do like Austin a whole lot. Austin’s opened many doors for me in many different ways,” Capps said.
Still, Austin’s always-cooler-than-its-neighbor reputation just stuck in his craw. So he wrote his new song, “I Like Austin, But I Love San Antone.” He couldn’t help making a jab at the capital city in the music video made for the song.
It shows him ordering tacos at a taco truck, as if he were an Austinite. He requests a “baja shrimp taco with hibiscus-infused cole slaw.” The taco truck operator isn’t havin’ any of it though, and then the song breaks in.
“I like Austin — but I love San Antone! They both have hard-luck women dancin’ in their honky-tonks.”
Co-written with Mitch Webb, the song’s sound harkens back to Doug Sahm and the Texas Tornadoes.
“The band that I got to play on the record turned it into more of a Tex-Mex stomper, which I’m really happy about,” Capps said.
The coronavirus resurgence has kept Capps from playing the song in public, or in front of his Austin fans. He’s betting that once he’s able to play it on the road, Austinites will get a laugh out of it too.
“I’m always poking fun at certain things in Austin. And I do like to wave the San Antonio flag ridiculously,” Capps said. “And I wanted it to be a very San Antonio beer-drenched honky tonk Tex-Mex jam.”
The hit isn’t Capps’ only San Antone track. He’s also got “Born in San Antone” and “Goodbye San Antone, Hello Amsterdam,” which — along with the new song — make up his top three tracks on Spotify.
The new song is the title track of his upcoming album, which comes out Aug. 20 on vinylranch.com.