Country Music magazine - April 1975

Jerry Jeff Walker Weds in Texas;

Rents Whole Town For Ceremony

Inside the 125-year old post office-general store-beer joint at Luckenbach, Tex. (Pop. 6) on the afternoon of December 12, singer / songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker married Susan Streit in a ceremony which was both a well-kept secret and several light years removed from your run of the mill marriage. To wit:

Walker who recorded his "Viva Luckenbach" album in Luckenbach's clapboard windowed dance hall a couple of years back, rented the tiny town for the day from friend Hondo Crouch. The ceremony, performed by a tobacco chewing Justice of the Peace from nearby Fredericksburg, was held on a Thursday rather than the originally planned Wednesday for the simple reason that Luckenbach, established in 1857 as an Indian trading post, is closed on Wednesdays.

Serving as best man for the hushed-up affair was the colorful Crouch - owner, mayor and resident cracker-barrel philosopher. Charged with caring for the ring Walker was to place on his new bride's finger, Crouch caused a slight delay when after arriving in tux and top hat (a marked contrast to Walker who wore jeans, cowboy hat and houseshoes) explained he had been armadillo hunting and plumb forgot the time!

Things went off well, nonetheless. The ceremony was short. ("I have to keep 'em short and sweet," explained J.P. Garland Taylor, "'cause with chaw in his mouth a fella could drown from not being able to spit if he conducted a long, drawn out affair.") The new husband and wife joined a gathering of close friends, including members of Walker's Lost Gonzo Band, outside beneath the oak trees for picking and singing, champagne and hot tamales.

"This," marveled the new Mrs. Walker, "is crazy. Two weeks ago Jerry and I went into a jewelry store to buy a collar for our dog and wound up buying a wedding ring. So here we are. It's crazy."

Maybe so, Mrs. Walker, but how many brides can say their husband rented a whole town for their wedding day?

Jerry Jeff, of course, is the man who wrote the song, "Mr. Bojangles."