Austin, Texas: Centre Of The Known Universe Quiz

Answer: 10,753

Of all towns with a population greater than 100,000, Vacoas-Phoenix, Mauritius, is the farthest you can get from Austin without going into space.

Jerry Jeff Walker, has made his home in Austin since the 1970s.

Austin is the state capital of Texas, and is the 11th most-populous city in the USA, with a little under 1m residents at the 2017 US census bureau estimates.

Answer: 4,912

"When you're down on your luck
And you ain't got a buck
In London you're a goner...." in the words of "London Homesick Blues", a song by Ray Wylie Hubbard that got plenty of attention when he sang it on a Jerry Jeff Walker album.

The song later became the theme used by Jerry Jeff in his TV show "The Texas Connection".

Answer: 3,382

Jerry Jeff Walker has never played, La Paz Bolivia, but if he had, he could have used the private plane he owned at one time for touring to land at the world's highest international airport. (A fact that comes up in pub and table quizzes ad infinitum.)

Answer: 8,464

Like La Paz, Bolivia, Jerry Jeff Walker has never played Sydney, Australia.

In fact, according to a comprehensive list I found online of his tour dates from 1966 to 2018, he has rarely played a concert outside north or central America.

Answer: 216

"Abilene, Abilene, prettiest town I've ever seen", according to the words of the song by Bob Gibson. (It was a big hit for George Hamilton IV). His good friend and co-performer Tom Paxton famously accused Gibson of writing the song about Abilene, Kansas, rather than Abilene, Texas. The Kansas Abilene is 636 miles from Austin.

The town was also famed by Gary P. Nunn who sang about going:
"Home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
The friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen".

Answer: 2,606

The local tourist board declares that Halifax has "more pubs and clubs per capita than almost any city in Canada". If Jerry Jeff had spent a night in the cells in Halifax rather than New Orleans after a barroom contretemps, he might never have written "Mr Bojangles".

Halifax also boasts a host of festivals each year, while Austin is noted for its annual South by South West (SXSW) jamboree.

Answer: 6,548

"Cause I got a feeling
Something that I can't explain
It's like dancing naked
In that high hill country rain..." Jerry Jeff Walker sang about the place he calls home.

If, like Jerry Jeff, you like dancing naked in the rain, Tokyo, Japan, could be the place for you. It averages 60.2 inches of rainfall each year, compared to the 34.25 inches in Austin.

Jerry Jeff would also find there is a deep country music culture in Japan, a legacy - like baseball - left by all those US military personnel who have served there since WW2.

Answer: 1,377

"If I can just get off of this LA freeway
Without getting killed or caught
I'd be down that road in a cloud of smoke
For some land that I ain't bought bought bought...." in the words of a Guy Clark song that Jerry Jeff Walker turned into a minor radio hit in 1973.

Jerry Jeff also covered Clark's "Desperados Waiting For A Train". He also recorded songs written by Ray Wylie Hubbard, Townes Van Zandt, Michael Smith and Gary P. Nunn, among others.

Answer: 1,170

Belize is a country where Jerry Jeff Walker established a retreat on Ambergris Caye. For many years he invited friends and followers to an annual camp-out at his home.

It is probably fair to say that Jerry Jeff Walker enjoyed the wilder side of life as a popular touring singer. He did get himself clean and fit - some run-ins with the Internal Revenue Service probably focused his mind:
"Income tax is overdue, I think she is too
Been busted and I'll probably get busted some more..."

Answer: 508

"I met him in
A cell in New Orleans
I was
Down and out
He looked to me
To be
The eyes of age
As he spoke right out..." is verse two of Jerry Jeff Walker's most famous song, "Mr Bojangles".

This is the story of Jerry Jeff's encounter with an itinerant entertainer in a New Orleans jail cell. Jerry Jeff was 'enjoying' the rest after a disagreement over a woman in a local bar; the other man was a habitual drunk:
"I dance
"Now at every chance
"In honky-tonks
"For drinks and tips
"But most of the time
"I spend behind
"These county bars
"'Cause I drink a bit"
'Bojangles' was the nickname used by entertainers who would go into a bar:
"He said the name
Bojangles and
He danced a lick
Across the cell..." and tap dance or mime to a song on the jukebox.

The song has been recorded by numerous singers. It was a Billboard Hot 100 Number Nine for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970.