Kim Phillips: 'That's what I like about Texas'

I'll bet there are few Texans who haven't heard the song "What I Like About Texas":

"You ask me what I like about Texas I tell you it's the wide open spaces! It's everything between the Sabine and the Rio Grande. It's the Llano Estacado, It's the Brazos and the Colorado; Spirit of the people down here who share this land! You ask me what I like about Texas It's the big timber round Nacogdoches It's driving El Camino Real into San Antone It's the Riverwalk in Mi Tierra Dancing to the Cotton-eyed Joe It's stories of the Menger Hotel and the Alamo! Hey, you ask me what I like about Texas It's Bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes Swimming in the sacred waters of Barton Springs It's body surfing the Frio It's Saturday night in Del Rio! Driving across the border for some cultural exchange! It's another burrito, it's a cold Lone Star in my hand! It's a quarter for the jukebox boys Plays The Son's of the Mother Lovin' Bunkhouse Band You ask me what I like about Texas" — From the album Home with the Armadillo: Live from Austin City Limits, June 1984)

Texas Music Hall of Famer Gary P. Nunn released this song in 1984, and the very next year was named an Official Ambassador to the World by then-Texas Gov. Mark White. Twenty years later in 2004, Gov. Rick Perry declared Nunn an Ambassador of Texas Music.

Now here we are 13 years further down the road, and Nunn is back in the Texas ambassador seat singing that same great Texas tune, the theme of this summer's travel and tourism #WhatILikeAboutTexas campaign. The campaign is spearheaded by the Texas Travel Industry Association (TTIA) and underwritten by partnering communities, Denton being one.

"This campaign celebrates the people of this state alongside its natural, well-known and even obscure attractions," TTIA president and CEO David Teel said. "It welcomes all visitors to our state through ideas and experiences about Texas, from Texans — all types of Texans."

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