Bard of the Llano Estacado
Category: Books & Writing... Local...
Posted Wednesday, October 15, 2003 at 12:47 PM [GMT-6]

Burr Williams is the best writer in west Texas, period. There, I've said it, and I aim to stand by it.

Burr masquerades by day as the mild-mannered director of the Sibley Nature Center here in Midland, an organization devoted to documenting and preserving the ecology of the southern Llano Estacado, and to the education of its human inhabitants about its importance. In this role, he is merely the single most knowledgeable person I've ever met when it comes to the flora and fauna which surround us (and which we generally take for granted).

But he's much more than that. He's a insatiable wanderer, a lover of caliche roads leading who-knows-where, a keen observer of the details of nature that the rest of us miss in our headlong rush to irrelevancy. He's a history-sponge, soaking up details of the strange and esoteric. He's a sucker for funny-looking flowers that bloom for only one month and grow only in one acre of one section of one county. He hears in the nuanced howl of a coyote on a cold winter's night the undertones that we desk-jockeys can't perceive, let alone interpret.

Is he the Edward Abbey of west Texas? He'd probably scoff at the notion. But he obviously shares Abbey's love for the desert, if not his obsession with the solitude that often accompanies it.

What has brought on this outpouring of praise? Why, this column in today's MRT, in which Burr fashions a lovely web from the disjointed strands that are Elvis, Buddy Holly, Bob Wills and others. If you like music, history, west Texas or good writing...read it.

[Boy, do I ever miss listening to KOMA-AM, lying on top of a sleeping bag in my backyard at 2:00 a.m., staring up at a billion stars, and wondering if Leslie Gore could ever fall for a guy from Fort Stockton.]

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Comments

Eric, I agree with you 101% about Mr. Williams and his prose. It has become a popular feature on the web site, and I have found Burr in actual reality to be even better than Burr in virtual reality. With the passing of Dr. Warnock a couple of years ago, I would offer Mr. Burr Williams as one of the region's leading natural historians.

Posted by: Jeff McDonald at October 15, 2003 03:50 PM

I realize that your reference to KOMA was a very, very minor part of your post, but it triggered a latent memory. KOMA, "50,000 watts of power" from Oklahoma City, right?

Another late night radio amusement from that era was the Wolfman's gravelly voice that said "send yo fiiii dolla, 98 cent to XERF, Box 950, Coahilla, Mexico. AHHHH-UUUUUU!"

But, enough trivia. Burr Williams' columns are quite good. And, it's great that we have someone here who can share with us so much information about our area.

Posted by: George at October 16, 2003 09:14 AM

Actually, George, I was counting on that "throwaway" reference to bring out comments like yours, as I surely wasn't the only west Texan getting my horizons expanded via the nighttime airways.

And, believe it or not, I almost mentioned XERF, and that other monster just-out-of-FCC-reach blaster, XELO!

Thanks for the comment...

Posted by: Eric at October 16, 2003 09:22 AM

Legend has it that some obsscure member of my family, no long forgotten, used to own that radio station in Mexico from whence the Wolfman howled.

Posted by: Wallace at October 16, 2003 10:42 AM

Man oh Man ... KOMA ... the "Blow Torch" of Oklahoma City. In Salida, Colorado, (the heart of the rockies)I would crawl out my 2nd floor bedroom window onto the roof our our kitchen, dragging a blanket or quilt with me. I, too, would lie on my back, look up at the stars, and listen to the great music and commercials. Oh, yes! I believed the one that said, "In the next five years, thousands of young men and women will be needed as computer programmers. Prepare today." That was 1966-1968 ... KOMA was such an influence that I turned down a full-ride vocal scholarship and went to Park's School of Business in Denver ... and became a computer programmer!

Thanks for the memories!

Posted by: The Parson at October 17, 2003 01:14 PM

K O M A...I hadn't thought about that station in a long time. In my day, it was Temptation Eyes (Grassroots), a lot of Chicago (early 70's) and The Guess Who that I would stay up for. And for a teenaged girl from C-City, that was just heaven! Thanks for the memories.

Posted by: julie at October 17, 2003 05:06 PM

Man, maybe we need to start a "KOMA Nostalgia Fan Club" or something! Judging by the comments, the impact of that station on my generation is perhaps an understudied sociological phenomenon.

Posted by: Eric at October 17, 2003 05:19 PM
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