The Presidio County Golf Committee will host a fundraising concert Thursday evening during the Flying Island Festival in Marfa. The event, organized by the Marfa Municipal Alliance, will feature a musical tribute to the late Texas country legend Jerry Jeff Walker.
The show begins at 8 p.m. at Larry’s Burger Palace, located at Larry’s Corner on Highland Avenue.
Local musician and former Marfa council member David W. Beebe will play bass on eight songs and sing lead on three, including “London Homesick Blues” with Ross Cashiola, as well as “Jaded Lover” and “Pot Can’t Call the Kettle Black.”
“It’s been fun to play with the band again and revisit all the incredible memories of UT Austin, Save Our Springs, and beyond that these records bring back to me,” Beebe said.
Beebe, a longtime admirer of Walker’s music, said he first discovered Jerry Jeff Walker’s records in the early 1990s, purchasing Viva Terlingua used around 1990 and later adding others from Waterloo Records and Sound Exchange in Austin.
The concert will benefit the Presidio County Golf Course, which Beebe said has struggled to remain open following a county decision to defund parks outside of Marfa.
“This event helps keep the golf course going and available to play after our current County Judge pushed for and succeeded in de-funding the parks,” Beebe said.
Beebe added that he’s running for County Judge himself in the upcoming March primary and often performs with a “Beebe for Judge” sticker on his vintage Memphis bass.
He also shared a personal connection to Walker, recalling the last time he saw the singer perform.
“The last time I got to see Jerry Jeff was when Primo and I opened for him at Valentine about a year before he passed — and he totally killed it,” Beebe said.
The Flying Island Festival’s Jerry Jeff Walker tribute is one of several community-driven efforts in Marfa this week celebrating local music and culture.
