Gypsy Alibi: A Gonzo Memoir (Voice in the American West)

Born in San Antonio and raised in Lubbock, Bob Livingston drank from the same West Texas water as musicians like Terry Allen, Joe Ely, Lloyd Maines, and others who were surfing the wake of Buddy Holly, Sonny Curtis, and the Crickets. Livingston made his way to Austin and installed himself among the progenitors of the Cosmic Cowboy movement, who played outlaw country music and broke the rules that didn’t suit them.            Livingston is best known as the bass player and singer for the Lost Gonzo Band that toured and recorded with visionary mavericks like Jerry Jeff Walker, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Michael Martin Murphey. Gypsy Alibi captures the life of a working musician, its flights of (and fights with) creative genius.             Gypsy Alibi is Cosmic Bob’s origin story, but it also tells a tale of how music traverses the planet. Serving since the ’80s as a Global Music Ambassador for the US State Department, Livingston has taken Texas music as far afield as India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Africa, Vietnam, and the Middle East. Livingston’s romping narrative acts as a gonzo travelogue that traces the spread and reception of uniquely Texan culture across the world. Read more