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Butch Hancock And Turk Pipkin's Two-Man One-Man Show

“Now, we did this show almost thirty years ago at Capital City Playhouse, a formerly legendary theater in Austin, Texas that no one remembers,” says Turk Pipkin of his upcoming show with old friend Butch Hancock. “So, back by lack of popular demand after thirty years.”

It’s been a while since the last installment of their “two-man one-man show,” but Butch and Turk have remained close friends since meeting decades ago in Austin. “I met Turk right out here – you know, two hundred yards from here, out on the Drag,” Hancock says. “And he was out there juggling and I was totally amazed and went up and talked to him and from that day on, we’ve known each other.”

These days, Pipkin’s career has expanded to include writing, filmmaking, photgraphy, and philanthropy (his Nobelity Project has been working to build libraries in Kenya since 2006), so he doesn’t have as much time for juggling as he once did. He has promised to include some juggling in the upcoming show, though. “I will juggle something in this show,” he says. “I don’t know how much – maybe I’ll get Butch to bring his most valuable guitar and I’ll balance it on my nose. How’s that?”

As for Hancock, he’ll be doing what he does best. “I’m gonna try to cover probably a lot of years with several songs,” he says. “Starting out with some obscure ones and getting to some obscure ones. So it’s gonna be fun.” 

The name of the show – Own Their Own – comes from what Pipkin and Hancock say is a uniquely West Texan pronunciation quirk. “Own, O-W-N, is how West Texans pronounce the word O-N,” explains Hancock.

“I think the West Texas sensibility, Butch from Lubbock and me from San Angelo… it permeates our work. It may permeate the room, I’m not sure,” Pipkin says. “And we’re both wordsmiths. I’ve been a writer my whole life and Butch is probably the most wordsmithy songwriter Austin’s certainly ever turned out. So I think that introduces a lot of possibilities for fun and merriment, and maybe some mayhem too.”

Butch and Turk: Own Their Own is November 30 at the Stateside Theatre.

Mike is the production director at KUT, where he’s been working since his days as an English major at the University of Texas. He produces Arts Eclectic, Get Involved, and the Sonic ID project, and also produces videos and cartoons for KUT.org. When pressed to do so, he’ll write short paragraphs about himself in the third person, but usually prefers not to.
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