Editor’s note: The San Antonio Report is pleased to feature the weekly bigcitysmalltown podcast hosted by Robert Rivard, co-founder of the Report. We’ll be publishing a brief synopsis of the podcast each Tuesday
While bigcitysmalltown host Robert Rivard is away on vacation, guest hosts Kory Cook and Nicholas Frank stepped in for a conversation with San Antonio musician and honky-tonk co-owner Garrett T. Capps.
Capps talks about running the Lonesome Rose, colloquially known as the oldest honky-tonk on the St. Mary’s Strip, during existential challenges from the coronavirus pandemic through the massive, multi-year construction project on North St. Mary’s Street.
Cook, music director and regular announcer on Trinity University’s jazz-focused independent radio station KRTU 91.7 FM and drummer in Capps’ NASA Country band, asked Capps about his abiding love for Texas music history and featuring musicians from previous eras on the Lonesome Rose stage.
“My passion for making music and wanting to create events revolved around music, as well as [being] totally interested in the history of local music especially. It’s all converged at the Lonesome Rose where people can drink beer and hang out,” Capps said during the podcast.
As San Antonio Report arts and culture reporter, Frank has covered Capps since his song “Born in San Antone” was featured as the opening song in season three of the Netflix television series Billions in 2018.
Among other topics, Frank asked Capps why Texas country music is so popular in the far-off burg of Groningen, Netherlands, where NASA Country has toured annually.
“From what I understand, there are certain pockets of the world that just got heavily fascinated and fell in love with a lot of Texas music,” Capps said. “In Sweden and Holland … it’s a dense collection of fans of Tex-Mex music and cosmic country.”
Tune in to episode 55 of bigcitysmalltown for the full interview with Cook, Frank and Capps.
