By the early 1970s, singer and songwriter Gary P. Nunn was helping lead the progressive country music, “cosmic cowboy” movement in Austin with his bands The Lavender Hill Express and The Lost Gonzo Band. With the latter, Nunn recorded three albums—The Lost Gonzo Band (1975), Thrills (1976), Signs of Life (1977)—before they disbanded in 1980, and Nunn went on to pursue his solo career.
On the band’s second album, Thrills, Nunn co-wrote “Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning,” which was later covered by Bluegrass legend John Starling on his 1980 debut, Long Time Gone.
Co-written with Donna Sioux Farar, “Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning” follows the beginning of a bad day from the alarm clock going off late, hinges falling off the gate, spilled coffee, and more, all capped off by a breakup.
The postman delivered
A past due bill notice
The alarm clock rang two hours late
The garbage man left all the trash
On the sidewalk
And the hinges fell off of the gate
And this morning at breakfast
I spilled all the coffee
And I opened the door on my knee
But the last thing I needed
The first thing this morning
Was to have you walk out on me
Last night, you came home late
And I knew you’d been drinking
By that old mellow look on your face
I thought, “It don’t matter
Because it’s the holiday season”
And you fill such a big empty space
But then I laid down beside you
And I wanted your loving
Because your love makes my life complete
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Willie Nelson’s ‘Always on My Mind’
In 1982, Willie Nelson recorded his own rendition of “Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning” for his chart-topping album Always on My Mind. Nelson’s version went to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.
The album, which also featured rerecordings of his 1967 song “The Party’s Over” and “Permanently Lonely” from his 1969 album Good Times, went to No. 1, along with its title track.
A year after the release of Always on My Mind, Nunn released a solo version of his song on his album Pride of Texas – Live at Dingwall’s, London.
“From a Room: Volume 1′
When Chris Stapleton recorded his 2017 album From A Room: Volume 1, the only cover on the album was Nelson’s ballad. Stapleton’s outlaw country acoustic ballad features harmonies from his wife, Morgane. Mickey Raphael, who played harmonica on the original with Nelson—and has toured as part of his band The Family since 1973—is also featured on Stapleton’s rendition.
Stapleton chose the Nelson classic since he always thought of it as the blueprint of a great country song. “It’s a great song and I just loved it. It’s just always been one of my favorite songs,” said Stapleton. “I do think it’s a superbly written country song that if anybody wanted an instruction manual on how to write country songs, I’d probably hand them that song.”
Before covering Nelson, Stapleton covered “Tennessee Whiskey,” made famous by George Jones in 1983, and the Charlie Daniels Band’s “Was It 26,” on his 2015 album Traveller. Stapleton also recorded John Fogerty‘s 1997 song, “Joy of My Life,” Guy Clark’s “Worry B Gone,” and “Old Friend” for his fourth album, Starting Over, in 2020.
“There are great songs out there, and if I love them and I know them, I’m going to sing them just because that’s what songs are for,” Stapleton said of the covers he chooses. “I think songs are meant to evolve after you write them, too. I think you just kind of put them out in the world. They’re not yours after that, they belong to music and the people that want to sing them.”
Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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