Up until ¡Viva Terlingua! in late 1973, The Lost Gonzo Band had been jokingly referred to as “The Austin Interchangeable Band,” as they backed both Jerry Jeff Walker and Michael Murphey concurrently. They specialized in country, folk, and rock and roll, but, much like The Band, they could also do just about anything you could dream up. Reportedly, Robert Plant said they were the “best fucking band [he] ever heard!”
For ¡Viva Terlingua!, the band consisted of [taken from the album liner notes]:
JERRY JEFF WALKER / Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
GARY P. NUNN / Acoustic and electric piano, organ on “Wheel,” background vocals, lead vocals on “London Homesick Blues.”
ROBERT LIVINGSTON / Bass, background vocals
MICHAEL McGEARY / Drums, percussion
HERB STEINER / Pedal Steel
CRAIG HILLIS / Electric guitar
MICKEY RAIPHELD [sic] [Mickey Raphael] / Harp
KELLY DUNN / Organ, electric piano on “Wheel.”
MARY EAGAN [sic] [Mary Egan] / Violin
JOANNE VENT / Background Vocals
Earlier in the same year, the core Gonzos (credited as The Robert Livingston Uncivil Opera) had recorded Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir with Michael Murphey (now Michael Martin Murphey). A year before that, in 1972, they had worked on Jerry Jeff’s eponymous “brown” album, and Gary and Bob were featured on Murphey’s Geronimo’s Cadillac.
From the inside of (my copy of) CCS:
(I’ll update this pic when I get McGeary’s signature someday….)
Over the years, The Lost Gonzo Band has put out its own albums, together and apart, and still performs in various permutations as the spirit strikes.