March 1, 2001

I'd like to share with you a unusual and moving experience I had the week of Feb. 10th. We had a Thursday night show at a venue in Dallas called the BOAR'S NEST, then on Friday in Mingus, TX at the R BAR. Both are new venues for us and they both treated us super. That week we had gotten a call at the booking agency with a very unusual request. The fellow said his dad had passed on and they wanted very much to have us perform at a gathering following the memorial services. It was 300 miles away and started at 1:00PM. They made a point to emphasize that it was very important to them for us to do it. I had been suffering from an upper respiratory situation and was feeling poorly and there was only time for about 3 hours sleep if we were going to make it on time. I thought that if it was important to the family, that I would make the effort. So we did.

Turns out that Bob Dabney was the Assistant Chief of Police in Baytown, TX and judging from the number of people who attended his services, was universally loved and respected. Apparently he was also about the biggest fan of Gary P. Nunn there ever was. His wife and son told me that he had always planned to have me play for his retirement.

Of course, many of those in attendance were law enforcement officers who gathered to pay their respects. From them I heard numerous accounts of how Bob Dabney sat them down to make them listen carefully to the words of the songs that I have recorded. No CD's, cause he couldn't rewind them. He kept up with our tour dates on the web site. I told some of the officers, "I'm going to have to be more careful what I do now, that I know you guy's are watching!" We had a good laugh about that.

The reason I'm telling this story is to confess how profoundly moved and humbled I was from that whole experience....that an Assistant Police Chief in Baytown, TX was listening to every single word of every song and that he would insist that his fellow officers sit down and listen to......that he wanted me for his retirement party.....that his family wanted to give him that to commemorate his passing. It's hard to express exactly, but I just wanted to express to his family, friends and fellow law enforcement how moved I was.

When you sing the songs your fondest wish is that people will listen closely and take them to heart. When you get hard evidence that it's happening, it makes you want to jump for joy. At the same time, it makes you almost want to cry.

Sure wish I had had the opportunity to know Bob Dabney.

Gary P.