This has to be one of my favorite stories from this year’s festival season.
Larry Joe Taylor Fest, or LTJ, better known by the Texas crowd, is a rowdy good time held annually in Stephenville, Texas. The festival is overrun by Tarleton State University students each year, so you’re guaranteed to see something over the weekend that makes for a good story.
This year, at the 35th annual festival, that moment was William Clark Green performing on stage with a baby kangaroo.
Stephenville put the Rodeo in the Rodeo Capital of the World nickname, and fans were astonished and unsure if it’s even legal to have a kangaroo in Texas. But fans went along with it, and WCG held the wild animal like a newborn child as he continued on with his set.
“When WCG shows up to LJT with a kangaroo. All bets are off. Even the bearded lady was blown away.”
After many social media posts about him singing with a Kangaroo, the folks wanted questions. But WCG was even stunned by the whole thing and gave fans a short and sweet explanation (that explained nothing at all) after the festival.
“LJT things idk.”
Naturally, when we had William Clark Green sit down with him for an episode of Whiskey Riff Raff, we had to ask him about how this moment came about.
“Yeah. That’s a wild… I really don’t understand… When my kids are in high school, and they get in trouble for being wild, I don’t know how I’m going to have any room to stand on.
Yeah, some drunk kids. I look down, and they are just holding up a kangaroo. And you look down, you’re playing a show in front of thousands of people, you have two options. You ignore it, someone holding a baby kangaroo. I have no idea how it got there. It’s just a baby kangaroo. You just go get it and take it on stage and make a moment out of it. So I did.”
However, as WCG continues with the story, his holding of a kangaroo is the most innocent part. The girl who handed him the animal was not its rightful owner, and when the kangaroo’s owner saw his pet on stage, he flipped a lid.
“The girls had not stolen it but borrowed it from the owner… without him knowing. He was behind me, sitting VIP on the stage, so he saw me with the kangaroo singing.”
The man started yelling at WCG, angry at him for holding his kangaroo on the stage.
“He tries to go out on stage and get it. Well, security tackles him, arrests him, and so the next day, they put up a big sign with a kangaroo and a red circle with a slash through it. No kangaroo’s on stage.”
Sometimes, you can’t make these moments up.
To finish up this story, we asked WCG if he had ever held a kangaroo, given how naturally he assumed the position with it in his arms. He said that was his first time touching one. I think that part makes it even better; he was so comfortable with the kangaroo on stage.
Only at LTJ…only at LTJ.
Fire up the full Whiskey Riff Raff episode with WCG while you’re here. It’s a good one.
