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Austin vs. San Antonio? Garrett T. Capps picks his winner

songwriter Garrett T. Capps picks Tex-Mex favorite, Austin or San Antonio.

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Local singer-songwriter Garrett T. Capps has released a new single titledย I Like Austin, But I Love San Antone.ย Credit: Bonnie Arbittier / San Antonio Report

Austin vs. San Antonio? In new video, Garrett T. Capps picks his winner

โ€œAnd if weโ€™re judging just by tacos, then thereโ€™s only one place to call home,โ€ sings Garrett T. Capps in hisย newly-released singleย โ€œI Like Austin, But I Love San Antone.โ€

Capps speaks โ€” of course โ€” of San Antonio as the primary Tex-Mex taco city, resolving (at least for himself)ย a longstanding dispute between the two towns.

Already known for his 2016 hit single โ€œBorn in San Antone,โ€ later used in the opening sequence of the third season of the Netflix seriesย Billions, Capps has redoubled the effort to tout his hometown with a new honky-tonk album titled I Love San Antone, to be released digitally Aug. 20.

Perhaps beset by pandemic lunacy, Capps produced a madcap promo video for the single, staged atย The Lonesome Roseย honky-tonk, which the musician co-owns.

Theย video beginsย at a food truck with Capps ordering a decidedly Austin-style โ€œbaja shrimp taco, with the hibiscus-infused cole slawโ€ on a black-bean infused tortilla. He is then set upon by a traditional San Antonio puffy taco, which chases him into the empty bar for a goofy dance-off that features prodigious cleaning of the bartop.

Capps lyrically serenades his city as a โ€œmelting pot,โ€ and nods to local classics such as the oldย Farmerโ€™s Daughterย 8,400-square-foot dance hall, which in 1961 hosted as its first band Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, andย dancing on the Hermann Sons rooftopย (which once purportedly featured a concert by George Strait).

Austin is treated with kid gloves in the song, likely because Capps maintains a frequent presence there as a musician, but in his estimation, it canโ€™t compare to the feel of its slower-moving South Texas civic cousin:

These days Austin is still a groovy place to be
But itโ€™s been taken over by strangers and the big manโ€™s companies
And San Antone is still layinโ€™ low and takinโ€™ it day by day
And Fiesta with that Tex-Mex soul,
And weโ€™ll treat you like family

It is perhaps telling that by the end of the video, Capps and the puffy taco, played by musicianย James Steinle, make friends and dance together. Though Steinle currently calls Austin home, heโ€™s given a pass on partisanship, having been born just outside of San Antonio in Pleasanton.

The first album release show โ€” or โ€œfiesta,โ€ in Cappsโ€™s terms โ€” for I Love San Antone will take place Aug. 20 at the Lonesome Rose, followed by shows in Austin, Dallas, and Houston.

NICHOLAS FRANK

Nicholas Frank moved from Milwaukee to San Antonio following a 2017 Artpace residency. Prior to that he taught college fine arts, curated a university contemporary art program, toured with an indie rock…ย More by Nicholas Frank

This story originally ran on San Antonio Reports website, see article here: https://sanantonioreport.org/garrett-t-capps-video-puffy-taco-austin-san-antonio/


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