Arts Alive San Antonio

BY SUSAN YERKES, Contributing Writer

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Garrett T. Capps loves San Antonio, and he’s telling the world with music.

The title song of his recently released fourth album, I Like Austin, But I Love San Antone, makes the point.  He loves his hometown’s laidback vibe, Capps says. He loves the Tex—Mex soul, Fiesta, the city’s rich musical heritage, the welcoming spirit – and of course, the tacos.

Onstage with his band Nasa Country, the 34-year-old singer/songwriter – in his trademark big round sunglasses and crazy Western outfits – is a memorable presence – a “gonzo honky-tonk weirdo freak,” one writer described him. But the cowboy hat is just one of many hats Capps wears these days. He is part owner of the Lonesome Rose, a country-themed club on St. Mary’s Street that wryly bills itself as “the oldest honky-tonk on St. Mary’s.”   He is also a promoter, producer and visionary. He’s the Energizer Bunny of alt-country music, and he seems to be everywhere these days. His podcast “Trouble Country” features nationally-known musicians and he helped create and hosted two streaming “Viva!” telethons that raised more than $10,000.00 to help San Antonio artists impacted by the pandemic. He collaborates with new musicians in all genres and a number or organizations and city departments.

“Music is my life,” Capps said simply. His other interests include yoga and running. And he has a reputation as a sandwich connoisseur. (His Instagram account features a number of short video tributes to sandwiches.) But making music, creating events and collaborating with others take up most of his time.  

“Garrett promotes San Antonio with everything he does,” said Krystal Jones, head of the city’s Department of Arts and Culture. “He is a great advocate for the city as a whole, and he’s great at cross-pollinating.  He collaborates with everyone; he is giving other artists a platform to further their craft. Everywhere you turn around there’s Garrett. He’s at Luminaria, onstage with Flaco Jimenez and the Texmaniacs; he’s booking an experimental harpist at the Japanese Tea Gardens; he’s working with Texas Public Radio. Every moment he has a chance, onstage or off, in Austin or Los Angeles or Europe, online and on his podcast, he is promoting this city. People tune in and learn about what San Antonio has to offer through his work.”

  The Lonesome Rose is a perfect vehicle for Capps’ passion for promoting progressive country music, fellow musicians and his hometown. His background in booking music events and broad collection of contacts keeps the lineup interesting – from regular Cowboy Karaoke nights, rock and rollers, bluegrass pickers, folk singers to up-and-coming alt-country bands. Artists who have performed at the Lonesome Rose include Cajun fiddler Doug Kershaw, Santiago Jimenez, Augie Meyers, Two Tons of Steel, folk legend Peter Rowan, country phenomenon Charley Crockett and rock and rollers like A Giant Dog.  

“I’m an event-minded person,” Capps said. “I like to throw a concert for myself or somebody else. And every event takes on a life of its own. I feel like the Lonesome Rose is like that – it has taken on a life of its own, with all sorts of people, people I know and some I don’t know and tourists… In my head, it’s an extension of my music – a home base for roots music and alternative country and good times, with its own demographic. “  

 The club celebrated a 3-year anniversary in November, but it has the feel of an old Texas dance hall, with a small stage, a long bar, a well-stocked juke box, weathered dance floor and a big back yard with picnic tables and a permanent food truck. It’s more of a quirky Gruene Hall than a Midnight Rodeo.

“When we first opened, I performed here a lot compared to now,” Capps said. “Now I play there like, twice a year, and I make sure it’s an event. It builds my brand up, and it’s just more fun.” In December 23, he will be onstage at the Rose in a different role, playing drums with his friend D.T. Buffkin, in “The Charlie Watts” band. The Sons of Hercules and Los No. 3 Dinners are also on the bill.

Capps started out on the drums.  At Reagan High School, he says, he was in the drum line almost every year. He played with “psychedelic sludge” and “progressive doom” punk groups before finding his groove in alt-country.

“I cut my teeth playing the Austin alternative honky-tonks,” Capps said. But he returned to San Antonio to live and work.

“I’m fascinated with music history, and I got really intrigued about how low-key San Antonio is,” he said. “I have this theory that when the Armadillo World-hippie country-Austin Texas-Willie Nelson took off and changed the course of country music forever, the shadow was cast over San Antonio, but now it’s being pulled off. A spotlight is being shone on San Antonio as a really cool city. There’s a reason San Antonio is mentioned in so many songs in the pre-hippie country era. There were a bunch of honky-tonks in town for decades. So when I heard Danny Delgado and some other folks were going to open a honky-tonk on St. Mary’s I asked if I could be part of it, so I could make it the home of alt-country music,” he said.

“I am obsessed with the idea of bringing artists to San Antonio and showing them a good time. In my experience, especially at the rock club level, the wrong promoter or venue or energy is bad. There are artists who came to San Antonio years ago and never came back. I want them to come here and have a great time – maybe even a better time than in Austin. I feel like the Rose is part of that – like a club house.”    

In addition to booking the Rose and other venues, and recording his own work, Capps produces albums for other musicians. Recently he produced Conjunto star Santiago Jimenez Jr.’s new LP album, Still Kicking. He is also producing Live From The Dakota East Side Ice House, a new album from San Antonio’s Thurman Love and the Anti-Depressants. (In January, Love’s band is booked at the Rose for a Tuesday night series of shows, Ladies Love Lonesome, to benefit Planned Parenthood.)

 “Garrett is a spiritual poet, warrior, musical genius,” Love said. “He’s a rule breaker, and nobody notices he broke the rules until they look back. I think he’s like Charley Crockett, he’s going to be a huge star. He has a heart of gold and a great ear for music, and he gets people to listen.”

Texas Public Radio is another avenue to listening, and Capps worked closely with the station.

“When the lockdown happened, musicians started doing the live-streaming thing. I thought it was cool, but I could see it becoming old, too. I didn’t want to keep opening up my laptop and playing to the camera so I approached TPR with this zany idea about a live staged telethon. We decided to do it and to fund the arts through Luminaria,” he said.   

Rob Martinez, Texas Public Radio’s event manager has known Capps for years, first as a musician – then, with TPR Music director Adam Fleming – as a partner in producing events, including the Viva! telethons in 2020 and 2021, and the Lonesome Lounge Sessions, which streamed during Covid, and will resume in person soon, Martinez said.  Period Modern owner Ted Allen provides eclectic furnishings for the shows.

“The idea stemmed from an event planned to be at Period Modern (a furniture store) that couldn’t happen because of a zoning issue, so he brought it to the Lonesome Rose,” explained Martinez. “From there, it moved on to events with live music and eclectic furniture, and TPR got involved. A lot of musicians routing through Texas skip San Antonio, and Garrett said why not bring them here on a Monday or Tuesday night, and it got to where it was something really good,”   

 “Garrett is very creative,” Martinez added.  “He has a love for San Antonio, and he knows the right people to bring together to create something different. It is always a pleasure to work with him – things just happen organically.”

The pandemic lockdown slowed him down a bit and helped him focus, said Capps.

“Like a lot of artists, in the heart of it [the pandemic] I was knocking out all these ideas, I made a few EPs and decided to do my honky-tonk record. Basically I’m all over the place all the time. I feel like that’s kind of a normal thing for independent artists who love to chase ideas. I’ve written a lot of songs I really love – I have a lot of albums in the can right now, but I do miss killer shows,” he said. “I missed the chaos quite a bit, and now I’m getting opportunities I never would have had if there wasn’t a break. That’s cool.”

   As the live music scene is heating up again, Capps’ schedule is heating up as well. In addition to booking the Rose, performing, promoting shows and producing records, he has a hectic touring schedule. Austin, Little Rock, San Diego, LA and Costa Mesa, Canada, Spain, Belgium, Amsterdam, Sweden, Norway and Germany – all in the first six months of the year. And everywhere he goes, he’ll be singing the praises of San Antone.

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