A Texas Tribunal: Native/ Not a Native
Who gets to call themselves a Texan? (Sorry, Evan Smith)
When San Antonio-born comedy legend Carole Burnett turned 88 in April, she was referred to as “a Texas native” in some reports. The dictionary defines a native as “belonging to a particular place by birth,” so that distinction fits, even though Ms. Burnett moved away to Los Angeles when she was six and has not lived in Texas for eight decades.
What Merriam-Webster doesn’t take into account is that a person can be a native of only ONE place. You wouldn’t describe actress Jennifer Garner as a native of Texas and West Virginia, even though she was born in Houston. She moved with her family to West Virginia when she was two and grew up there. She’s a Mountaineer at heart.
The rapper Nelly was born in Austin when his father was stationed at Bergstrom, but he identifies with his hometown of St. Louis. If you move from a place while still in diapers it doesn’t count. Same as R&B singer Ciara, the Camp Mabry brat who wasn’t born in Atlanta but got there as fast as she could.
These “Texan/ Not a Texan” determinations don’t always come so easily. Steve Martin and Debbie Reynolds, two of the biggest movie stars from Texas, require more deliberation. Martin was born in 1945 in Waco, where his parents had roots. But the family moved to Garden Grove, Cal. when the wild and crazy toddler was five.
Mary Francis “Debbie” Reynolds was born in El Paso in 1932, but left Texas at age 7, when her father’s job as a sheet metal worker for the Southern Pacific Railroad transferred him to Southern California.
But even after living 90% of their lives in California, both can declare Native Texanhood. Let’s talk about the Hollywood Exemption. Since that’s an area of the country founded on make-believe, from motion pictures to plastic surgery, it’s got weak native genes. Texans should not be penalized with a “Californian” tag because they were the best-looking kids from Brownwood with a dream.
We proudly claim the unsinkable Ms. Reynolds because she fell in love with movie musicals as a girl in El Paso and used a gift of song and dance to entertain the neighbors. “I had a wonderful childhood there," she told the El Paso Times in 2015. Her arch-nemesis Elizabeth Taylor also, coincidentally, lived in El Paso, but that was for only a year (1955) when she was married to Nicky Hilton and lived in the penthouse of the hotel now called The Plaza. Liz: not a Texan!
Let’s rule on actor-writer Ethan Hawke, who was born in Austin in 1970, when his parents were attending the University of Texas. The couple split when Ethan was four and he moved with his mother to New York City, which remains his homebase. But Hawke has worked his way into becoming at least an honorary Texan, with his breakout film, 1994’s Reality Bites, set in Houston, followed by so many collaborations with Austin director Richard Linklater (Boyhood, Newton Boys, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight, Before Breakfast, Before My Afternoon Nap). Hawke’s directoral debut was the biopic Blaze, based on Austin songwriter Blaze Foley. You’ve never won an Oscar, Ethan, but here’s a better award: you’re a Texan!
What qualifies me to determine citizenship in the Lone Star State? I just know this shit and obsess on it more than anyone else. I’ve lived here for 35 years and have written three books on Texas music history, but I rule myself as a non-Texan. I was born in Pennsylvania, but left only my foreskin behind, as I roamed the world with a military I.D. card. I’m a Hawaii native because that’s where I came of age: first kiss, first beer, first concert, first car, first repossession, first bus pass and so on. Oahu comes back to me every time I have new skin cancer. It’s where I’m from.
Musician Post Malone, who has more billion-streaming songs on Spotify (7) than anyone else, was born in Syracuse and moved to the Dallas area when he was nine and his father took a job running concessions for the Dallas Cowboys. Austin Post (his real name) was that kid at Grapevine High who brought his guitar to school and entertained classmates outside during breaks. As a senior he was voted “Most Likely to Become Famous,” so he most definitely came of age in Texas.
Same goes for fellow Grapevine High ex Norah Jones, who was born in New York City, but whose musical ambitions were honed here. And let’s not forget Jennifer Love Hewitt of Waco, who grew up singing Whitney Houston at livestock shows, paving the way for Maren Morris and Kacey Musgraves. Posty: Texan! Norah: Texan! J-Love: Texan, hell yeah!
Now some bad news for Texas two-steppers. Country music icon Buck Owens was born in Sherman, where a stretch of highway is named after him. But the city he’s most closely identified with is Bakersfield, Cal., where he and Merle Haggard built the new sound of honky tonk in the ‘60s. Buck Owens was a Californian.
Singer Tanya Tucker, who won her first Grammy last year at age 61, has a similar profile, with a big difference. She was born in Seminole, TX in 1958, but moved with her family to Arizona as a youngster. Work for father Beau, a heavy equipment operator, kept the family moving, to Utah, then to Henderson, Nevada, where an 11-year-old Tanya attracted the attention of Columbia Records. Tanya’s a Texan because she doesn’t belong to anywhere else, plus she had a 1978 hit with that great anthem “Texas (When I Die).”
It’s possible to earn the Texan tag if you didn’t come here until adulthood. Consider Ray Benson, a native of Philadelphia, who moved Asleep at the Wheel to Austin as a 23-year-old in 1974. Not only has he devoured more tacos than cheesesteaks, but nobody has done more to keep that traditional Texas music alive than Big Ray and his crack Western swing band. Ray Benson is a Texan.
Also, because it was the greatest TV show ever from the Lone Star State, any cast member of Friday Night Lights still living here is a Texan. Wear those Stetsons proudly, Kyle Chandler and Taylor Kitsch! This so-called “Clear eyes, full heart” exemption was unnecessary for Jesse (“Landry”) Plemons, who grew up in Mart, 18 miles east of Waco.
Let’s roll out of here like Dwight Eisenhower’s parents leaving Dennison for Kansas circa 1892:
Actor Forest Whitaker, born 1961 in Longview: Not a Texan. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was a tyke.
Legendary jockey Willie Shoemaker was born in 1931 near El Paso and moved to California at age 10. But he started riding horses on his grandfather’s ranch in Winters, TX, so he’s a Texan through and through.
Actor Jamie Foxx, born 1967 in Kaufman County: TEXAN! Graduated from Terrell High, where he was a star athlete.
Basketball player Kevin Durant: Not a Texan. It doesn’t matter that his jersey number has been retired by the University of Texas, KD is from Maryland.
Singer-actress Selena Gomez, born 1992 in Grand Prairie: TEXAN! Along with Demi Lovato of Dallas, she got her showbiz start on Barney and Friends.
Musician Billy Preston, born in Houston 1946: Not a Texan. Started playing music at a young age in Los Angeles.
All of the non-Texans mentioned here love their association with the state. You can have an inspired affinity even though you live in a lesser state, like the time a man from Oklahoma wrote that classic ode about a soldier in Vietnam who dreams of “Galveston.” One of the greatest Texas songs ever was written by Jimmy Webb. Not a Texan.
Let's also extend honorary status to Native New Yorker Jerry Jeff Walker, because Viva Terlingua.