After the trying events of 2020, Jody relished the
opportunity to return to Brady, Texas, that October to record some songs that
really meant something to her. This collection, produced by Justin Trevino, was
birthed by those sessions.
Jody's love for good storytelling and strong melodies around
which she could wrap her richly expressive voice first drew her to folk music
in the 1960's, so it is only fitting that she finally recorded "Wayfaring
Stranger," a spiritual song she'd been singing since her early folk days.
On "Blessed Are the Believers," written by her
good friend Bonnie Shannon, Jody teams up with an artist she'd long admired,
the ACM Award winning Tony Booth. Jody was thrilled to find that she and Tony
shared a common faith in Christ.
Jody's love for Gospel, Country and Storytelling are melded
into her moving version of "Tramp on the Street," which she recalled
first hearing as a recording by the Maddox Brothers and Rose. Next up, the song
"I Can't Even Walk Without You Holding My Hand" seems a deeply moving
metaphor for Jody's life's journey. Her daughter, singer/songwriter Robin
Brooks, describes it as "a very touching performance by Mom."
Jody's delivery demonstrates a certain beauty, dignity, and
humility that can only be communicated with the wisdom and experience gained by
the passing of time. To lighten the mood, a spirited single track "Your
Exes," recorded in March 2017 at Heart of Texas, is included, as well as
the 55th Anniversary version of Jody's Grammy Award winning hit "Queen of
the House" (a special request from Heart of Texas Records President Tracy
Pitcox), which was originally released in 1965. Once again, Jody nails it.
Although Jody has since gone to rest in the Lord since she
approved the final mixes in September 2022, she was delighted that the project
was finally coming to fruition. Jody loved these special recordings, and I
believe you will, too.
Jody Miller & her daughter Robin Brooks
Finally, on a personal note, I want to say what a pleasure
and honor it has been to call sweet Jody Miller (or dear Myrna Joy Brooks, as
friends and family knew her back home in Blanchard, Oklahoma) my dear friend.
Our families grew to know and love each other, and she was a precious mentor
and confidante to me. Her life and career, both worth exploring, are so full
that I do not have the space to cover them here, but I salute Jody, and I shall
never forget her...until we meet again in the presence of the Lord.
Jody Miller & Jennifer Anne McMullen
This CD is very special as it presents in a Scrapbook form and it includes Jody's "farewell" letter to her many listeners. I think you already know this, but it is worth repeating. There is a direct link to ordering the CD at jodymillermusic.com, or folks may go look for it via Heart of Texas Records at hillbillyhits.com.
2021 proved to be a chance for resurgence in Rī Wolf’s music
career. After spending the last 14 years as a collegiate track and field coach
in Texas and almost 9 years away from music, Rī Wolf is bursting back into the
music scene with a Grass Roots Americana sound reminiscent of a West Texas
Troubadour making his way back home.
Rī is returning with a sound that’s rooted
in great songwriting, unforgettable melodies and rugged authenticity. With an
acoustic guitar driven mix of country, soul, blues, and rock, Rī brings these
elements together for a unique, but familiar sound laced with stories true and
familiar to those who call Texas and the Great Plains home.
Photo by Alan Mercer
Alan Mercer: Ri, I
heard you used to be a coach of some kind. What can you tell me about that?
Ri Wolf:I was. I got
into music in my early twenties. I was working with Cary Pierce of Jackopierce.
He produced one of my records. I was going around the country performing at
colleges, but ultimately at that time, it wasn’t paying the bills.
AM:A reality for
many musicians.
RW:I had always had
an interest in athletics. I had been an athlete my whole life and I thought
maybe the next step for me was to pursue a career in coaching. I decided to
finish my degree and I got a job offer at Texas A&M University as a
graduate assistant. I went out there and finished up my masters and soon after
I was hired as a head coach of the division 2 track & field program. This
is when I’m 28 years old. At that point I was still playing music sporadically.
It was more of a hobby than anything, so I went full force into coaching.
AM:How long did you
coach?
RW: Almost fifteen years.
AM:All this time
keeping music as a hobby?
RW:Actually, I let
it go completely. I stopped writing and stopped playing. I’m the type of person
who doesn’t like to do anything half-assed.
AM:OK, you want to
give all to whatever you are doing.
RW:Yes, I felt like
I would be pulling away from my career, which I was doing really well at. We
won a national title at West Texas A&M while I was there. Every once in awhile
I would pull my guitar out and play some songs that I liked, but I wasn’t writing,
and I had no intention of getting back into performing.
AM:Before you
decided to drop out of music had you been writing?
RW:Yes, I was writing
a lot.
AM:Are any of those
songs part of your repertoire today?
RW:Only one and I’m
looking to bring that song back on a live album I’m going to record here pretty
soon.
AM:So what happened
to get you focused on music again?
RW:Personally, I was
getting burned out on the way the politics of college athletics was working. To
be honest I really didn’t like the way coaches were being treated. I felt like
at the collegiate level we were becoming the middlemen. It was all about saving
face with student athletes, who have been given a lot of power. That’s great
for them, but the whole discipline aspect of it and coaching to develop young
men and women, for me it was much harder. My hands were tied, and I felt like we
weren’t getting a lot of help.
AM:I’m sure you
weren’t getting much help.
RW:I was coming to
the end of my contract with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley down in South
Texas near Mexico. We were five miles from the border. I was in my fourth year
there and covid hit. The whole university shut down. So, we found ourselves at
home wondering what to do and wondering what was going to happen. Because of
covid I started dabbling in playing some of the Blues stuff that influenced me
so long ago. I would post videos of my playing the guitar. I wasn’t writing or
singing, just playing.
AM:What convinced you
to start singing again?
RW:I did an
interview with a sports podcast, and they knew my history with playing music,
so they asked me about it. They asked me to play a song on the show. I hadn’t
performed in years. One of my big influences was Bob Marley. He is a master of
melody.
AM:So are you.
RW:He has been my
staple for how the message doesn’t get across if the melody doesn’t stick. The
melody can carry your message. That’s the avenue to say here is how we connect.
Anyway, I decided to play ‘Redemption Song’ on this podcast. I have video of it
since it was live on air, so I looked back on it and watched it and thought to
myself, “Man, I need to do this again.” That was a turning point for my life. I
just started diving in. I was at home and not doing a lot so I started playing
the guitar six to eight hours a day. My wife would leave and go to the gym and
run some errands and when she returned home, I would still be in the same spot playing.
I felt like I had a newfound voice and a renewed sense of what I wanted to say
and do. I was feeling this gritty, bluesy, folky, country stuff that I had
grown up with, start to come out of me.
AM:I love that.
RW:A few months
after that interview, my wife came in and I was writing, I had started to write
again, and she said she thought I needed to do this and give it a shot.
AM:Did that give you
a boost of confidence?
RW: Oh, tremendously, it’s always a risk. This business is
tough. The thing is, I know who I am. I knew what this meant for me. It’s
something that I believed in. Her giving me the nod let me say let’s go for it.
South Texas didn’t shut down as much as the whole country did during covid, so
I found myself a little gig on South Padre Island once every other Friday.
There were tourists coming in every weekend, and I really started to sharpen
up. I was working out some of the new songs I was writing. I started getting
some popularity out there and developed a bit of a following and some
excitement.
AM:Why did you
decide to move to West Texas?
RW:We wanted to be
closer to family, but also so I could pursue this career in music. I fell in
love with West Texas. I love the solitude out there. I grew up in central Oklahoma.
AM: For being sparsely
populated, the area sure does produce a lot of talented people.
RW:It’s not easy to
live under the harsh conditions out there, but the people are resilient.It’s a great place to be.
AM:When did you
start releasing songs?
RW:I started releasing
songs in 2021. I was just recording in my bathroom. I had a crappy little mic.
I didn’t really know where to go because it was the middle of covid. I couldn’t
find a studio that fit what I wanted to do so I decided to do it myself. I’d
been around enough producers to know how it works and the engineering aspect of
it. I started putting songs out on my own and got into a music community on
Twitter. I came across some great artists and I thought why don’t we collab on
some songs.
AM:You do have some
nice collaborations.
RW:Yeah, I would
send them a demo and say let’s do this. They would do the work in the studio
wherever they were at, and I would do my work at home. In a round about way, we
put together this project from distances apart. I found all these new avenues
to get music out.
AM:What made you experiment
with different musical genres?
RW:I did that on
purpose because I know where I come from. I grew up listening to a lot of Soul music
and add to that a lot of Blues and old time Country and Bluegrass music. That
comes from my grandparents. I was pushing myself into different spots.
AM:It all sounds natural,
never contrived.
RW:No, it all felt
true. I just wanted to see what stuck.
AM:Which genres have
stuck?
RW:I would say it’s
Americana, but I bring a little bit of a different twist to it. I feel like a
lot of my Soul and Blues background pushes into the stuff I do. Although it’s
labeled Americana and a lot of my writing is geared that way, I always find
Soul and Blues rolling into what I’m doing.
AM:I love your cover
of the Bill Withers classic ‘Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone’.
RW:I recorded that
one live in my family room.
AM:It’s the same as
your video.
RW:Yes, I just took
the audio from the video and mastered it. I thought it was raw and it’s what I
did during covid just to get it out there.
AM:You probably aren’t
real big on doing covers since you write such good music.
RW:No, you are
exactly right. I’m glad you noticed that. A lot of people who don’t know my
music only want to hear covers. They don’t understand the extensive background
and how hard I’ve worked at writing my own songs. When they do sit down and
listen and hear my stories they start to understand.
AM:You also covered
the old chestnut, ‘Fly Me To The Moon’ and you do a great job with that one
too.
RW:I’ve always been a
Frank Sinatra fan. Willie Nelson kind of came from that background. There’s
just something about Frank Sinatra and his voice and demeanor that I’ve always
admired. When I play live, I like to do cover songs as tributes to artists that
I’ve pulled a lot from. I just started messing around with it and I realized I
really love that song. My daughter was singing it with me as well. I felt like
if I could sing the song my way, I would do it justice.
AM: Those covers let me know you could interpret other songwriters’
music.
RW:I did a jazz
collaboration with a great piano player out of New York titled ‘Cinnamon Morning’.
Her name is Charu Suri.
AM:I love that song.
It’s so beautiful.
RW:I wrote the song
with her in mind. I had this soulful music, and it is about when I spent some
time in Albuquerque. I knew she would be perfect for this song. It’s not really
the genre I’m known for, but I thought we could make something special.
AM:I hope you
continue to record some unexpected gems because they really shine.
RW:That’s the beauty
of being an independent artist. People ask me if I want to be signed to a
label, but to be honest with you, I really like making my own music. I like
having the control. I’m producing everything.
AM:I know you have a
new album out now. ‘Randall County Reverb’ just came out. Do you have plans for
recording anything else right now?
RW:I want to do a
live acoustic album. I’m going to take some of my old songs and record them
live acoustically. I also have quite a few new songs that I’m going to put together.
I want to keep it real simple. It’s something I’ve never done, but I think it
would give folks a different perspective about the stuff I do.
AM:You are in an
enviable position as an artist.
RW:I’m a true
believer that life imitates art. Art is a direct reflection of how you live.
The focus is never about what music I’m going to put out, it’s about the way I’m
going to live. The question is, am I living right?
Photo taken at the Downtown Cowtown Isis Theater in Fort Worth by Alan Mercer
Will Carter is a country singer and songwriter from Katy,
Texas whose talent and commitment have earned him over a dozen singles on the
Texas music charts. Three of these songs have crossed successfully over to Nashville’s
Music Row Chart, extending his fanbase nationwide. For the last three
consecutive years, Carter has been nominated Male Vocalist of the Year and
awarded Songwriter of the Year at the Texas Country Music Association Awards.
Texas born and bred, Will Carter was raised on his family’s
farm with a day-and- night work regimen. It’s where he learned to respect hard
work and traditional values. This environment provided Will a gateway to
country music.
Carter’s love and passion for storytelling infuses his
songwriting with compelling narratives. An even more intimate relationship with
music developed when Carter was a teenager. When his father became severely
ill, Carter created a playlist of his father’s favorite songs to share with his
dad, providing both with renewed comfort and joy. Carter sold the same playlist
on CD to help raise money for his family which, in turn, landed him on the
Debra Duncan television show when he was just 13. These songs were played for
his father every day until he passed. The peace, comfort, and inspiration made
possible thru heartfelt lyrics and simple melody continue to guide Carter’s
songwriting, consistently landing Top 20 singles on the Texas charts.
Carter has been actively touring with his band, performing
over 150 shows a year. Will Carter’s high-energy performances offer a country
music tour de force that appeals to music fans of all ages. He currently boasts
over 17,000 social media followers, has opened for Cody Johnson, Randy Rogers,
Bart Crow, Jack Ingram, Larry Gatlin, Saints Eleven, Josh Ward, Cody Canada and
others, and has been featured on podcasts such as The Troubadour, The Sports
Guys, and Scenes Live. His catalogue of music can be heard on radio stations
nationally with particularly heavy airplay in Texas and surrounding states. Be
sure to catch the next Will Carter show when it comes to town!
Photo taken at the Downtown Cowtown Isis Theater in Fort Worth by Alan Mercer
Alan Mercer:Will,
you have had such great success the last couple of years. Why do you think this
is happening for you?
Will Carter: I’ve
been writing a long time and I’ve had the pleasure of writing with some
fantastic songwriters. Clay Mills and I wrote ‘Started With A Whiskey’
together. He’s had hits with tons of great artists like Diamond Rio and Darius
Rucker. Shane Stevens is a very close friend of mine and also one of my
favorite writers. He had his first hit with Lady A called ‘American Honey’. He
has enjoyed a lot of success. We started writing together and we click real
well so we write together a lot.
AM:So, you credit
your songwriting partners?
WC:Also, I didn’t
grow up like a lot of my peers. I grew up on a self-sustaining farm in a very
small town. We were a very poor family. I milked goats every morning and
gathered eggs and had a three-acre garden. My dad was diagnosed with cancer
when I was very young and as part of that, we had to get all of the alcohol out
of the house. You would be amazed by everything that has alcohol in it. We made
our own soaps and toothpaste. It was crazy. I grew up almost Amish. We still
have the property but I don’t live out there anymore. We do go out there a
couple times a month to shoot skeet or ride dirt bikes.
AM:Don’t you live in
Katy, Texas now?
WC:Yes, We moved to
Katy, and I graduated from Katy high school and then I went to Texas A&M. I
have my own construction company now. I live a very different life than I did
back then. I would say I have a ton of different perspectives.
AM:It’s a broader
perspective.
WC:Sure, as a writer
you write what you know. The more things you’ve seen just gives you that much
more material.
AM: Do you write a
lot of the melodies?
WC:I do write the
melodies and I co-write the lyrics.
AM:When I hear your
melodies it’s an instantaneous like.
WC:I like hearing
that. When I was growing up, we used to say that my dad was country, and my mom
was country club. My mother was born in Pasadena, Texas, but her father was in
sales, so they moved around a lot. They moved to Ohio and California and then
back to Texas. My dad had only been here, and he was always so country. I grew
up listening to every Chris LeDoux album with my dad. My dad didn’t care for
Chris LeDoux’s double live album because he said it had too much guitar. He
liked the more traditional stripped-down style. My mom was more into rock &
roll. We had a little bronco four-wheel drive that we used on the farm. My mom
took it to town one day and when she came back, my dad and I get in the car and
the radio was blasting Aerosmith. I like both styles of music.
AM:You can hear that
in your albums.
WC:If you look at
the three albums that I have put out, you will hear everything from very
traditional, almost Johnny Cash style music like ‘Laredo’ and ‘Wishful
Drinking’ and then you’ve got your more contemporary nineties-two thousand kind
of country like ‘Undeniable’ and ‘House of Cards’ and then we have ‘Siesta,
Fiesta, Tequila, Repeat’.
AM:I love that song!
WC:It’s crazy but
the best feedback I get about that song is from kids. They can’t sit still when
they hear it. Some people hate that song but then they like the other styles. I
have something in there for everybody. I’m not married to any one style or
genre. I grew up listening to a diverse selection of music.
AM: I like the fact
that much of your music is upbeat and fun. It’s good time music.
WC:I grew up
listening to Garth Brooks because of his high energy live show. I was picked up
by a dancehall band called the Emotions, that have been around since the late
1970’s. I got hired on as one of their lead singers right out of high school.
We had wireless mics; ear monitors and guitar pickups and we were all over bar
and the dance floor getting the crowd engaged. I learned how to put on a high
energy, interactive live show. If you go to see a concert you are going there
to be entertained and you want to have fun. I place a lot of focus on that.
AM:I think it’s
obvious for anyone who has been to one of your shows.
WC:Tom Jackson is
arguably the most famous live show producer in the world and we flew his team
down three times to work with us one on one for forty hours a week, taking the
songs and stripping them down to understand what song fits in to what place in
the set and how to get the most out of it. What we are doing on stage is not an
accident. We have a lot of thought, time and practice to get there.
AM:Yet it looks like
you are just casually having a great time.
WC:He has a book
called ‘All Roads Lead To The Stage’ and the theory behind it is to create
moments. You want to take the audience on a journey by bringing them way up and
then bringing them down. You create a moment when you bring the lights down and
sit on a stool and sing a ballad. People remember that. It’s not so much
scripted or choreographed as it is giving you the parameters while allowing you
to the freedom to let the audience kind of guide you a little bit. You have a homebase,
but you are allowed some flexibility to be spontaneous in the moment.No two shows are the same, even though the
general outline has been premeditated.
AM:What made you
decide to dedicate a song to the first responders?
WC:The song is
called ‘What About Love’. Back in March 2020 when all the craziness was going
down with covid. My wife is a doctor, and she was in the thick of it. She said
we would come out of this but there would be all this hate and division and she
was right. People either went real far right or real far left and we see all
this bickering and hate. At the end of the day, it’s ok to think differently
and feel differently, but it’s not OK to be unkind to one another. The purpose
behind the song is to remind everybody to choose love over hate and be kind to
each other regardless of what your personal thoughts and beliefs are. It’s also
a thank you to the heroes that sacrifice so much so the rest of us can enjoy
the freedom and liberties that we do.
AM:You have lots of
good quality videos. Is that something you enjoy making?
WC:Videos are an
absolute blast. I like to write in a way that leaves the song open to
interpretation. I want the listener to be able to make it their own and relate
to it in their own way. However different we may all be, we are also very
similar at the core. I like to make videos that show my take on the song
because it can be interpreted differently.
AM:Do you have a favorite
video?
WC:The current
single, ‘Had It All Wrong’ is my favorite to date because it was my chance to
somewhat capture the unique way I grew up. To be able to capture that and tell
my story as well as have my band and some friends in it, all filmed on the
property where I grew up. It’s special and personal to me.
AM:How much time are
you able to put into your construction business?
WC:Monday through
Friday, 8 to 5 and then music is Monday through Friday 6 to 10 and on weekends
all day.
AM: That’s a lot. Do
you enjoy working this much?
WC: Absolutely! I
lost my father when I was 13. I was the oldest of four. My mom had only ever
been a mom. She had 4 kids, with one being autistic, so she had her hands full
and no work experience. We were very poor. I’m the one in charge and I have to
provide for everybody.
AM:Does your family
help you now?
WC:My mom works for
my company and my sister works for both jobs, like I do. She handles all the
marketing and social media. I’m very blessed to have a very strong team so I don’t
have to be in the weeds all the time. It’s the same with my music. I have a
fully staffed label. I have management and booking, I have social media teams,
radio promoters and publicists.
AM:Looks like
everything is going good for you. What are your goals for 2023? Is there a new
album coming?
WC: The first two
albums I put out; I did like everybody else. You write the songs and go into
the studio, you hire a producer and they use session musicians to build the
tracks and then your live band goes and performs them. I’m also blessed that
the guys in my band are all studio musicians as well. When you come to see my
show live, I want it to sound like the record, so we are halfway through
recording the new album and we are going to finish it in February and March.
And release it this Summer. This will be the first full length album with “the
band” going into the studio the old school way and press record and do what we
do on stage live. That all kind of started with the song ‘Wrong Side Of Town’
that I’ve been playing for nine years. I’ve had it produced several times
because when people hear it live, they ask for it. Everybody asks for that song,
and I’ve tried to have it produced but it just wasn’t right. It wasn’t what we
do in a show. So, I thought, let’s just bring the band into the studio and do
it the way we do. That’s the song everybody likes and asks for. So, we did and
I absolutely love the way the track sounded. I knew that going forward this is
what we were doing. The guys are unbelievably talented, and I knew I would be
happier. I love every track we have recorded. I’m super excited because when
you go to a show you will be seeing the exact same guys who recorded the album
playing live.
AM: You are in the Texas Hall of Fame, the West Texas Walk of Fame and you’re the Musical Ambassador for Texas. What does this mean to you?
GPN: Being Ambassador means a lot to me because actually, I have gone out of my way in order to promote Texas music, Texas artists and the Texas music industry. That’s why I started a publishing company, so we wouldn’t have to go to Nashville. We can do it ourselves. We started out slow and let it build to set an example for others. This tells them, “You can do this too.” You can start your own publishing company and you can make your own records here in Texas. We’re not going to be superstars but we’ll lay the foundation for others.
Paul Val is one of the most exciting Blues Rock revival
guitarists emerging on the music scene. His style is groove oriented and roots
inspired. He demonstrates a high level of proficiency in the traditional Blues
genre and renews it by breathing new life into the music.
Growing up in Riverside, California, Paul always had a
strong connection to Texas music, so it’s no surprise he ended up in Austin,
where he befriended Memphis Blues Singer, Soul Man Sam, who put him in front of
live audiences.
Paul Val started listening to punk rock music as a five year
old, but shifted to heavy rock & roll and ended up in the blues by the time
he was fifteen. Still, his early bands and recordings are more rock influenced.
Paul's first EP album, 'Steady Rock and Roller' was released in 2020 and spawned two singles, 'Gone Too Far' and "Cheap Tequila'.
Paul's unique sound personifies the future of the blues in
America.
Alan Mercer: So, Paul,
you grew up in Riverside, California. Did you grow up in a musical house?
Paul Val: Yes, but it
was punk rock music. My father, Mark Hernandez was a punk rock musician. He also
did live sound for the Southern California scene. He also toured as a bass
player.
AM: Wow! You really
did grow up in a music world!
PV: My first concert
was Gwar and Misfits when I was four years old.
AM: You write the
best songs. They are all killer!
PV: Thank you.
AM: Tell me about
your latest song, ‘Dreaming Of A Woman’.
PV: I like to write
from personal experience. Whether it’s autobiographical or I see it happen to
someone else in the world of life, I will write a song about it. For instance,
if I am driving my car and someone cuts me off, I want to write a song about
it. Something like that.
AM: “Dreaming Of A Woman’
is pretty straight forward blues, isn’t it?
PV: Yes, that’s what I
want to do.
AM:: Can you tell me about another song you wrote, ‘Miss
Influencer’?
PV: Yes, that song is
about the state of the world we are in. It’s about how people’s online presence
can dictate who they are as a person. We are all equal, social media is not
real, it’s what we see on a screen. That’s why the pre chorus says, “If you
live that perfect life, you’ll never know what’s wrong or right.” The chorus
goes on to say you can have all the followers but when we are dead and gone it
won’t mean a thing. Social media is always changing, so all these people who
are considered famous online won’t mean anything when it changes.
AM: One of my favorite
songs in ‘There’s Something You Should Know.’ That song is so amazing. I love
the production. Isn’t that a different kind of song than your others?
PV: Yes, of course,
there are songwriter blues and straight forward blues and straight rock &
roll.
AM: Your first album
is more rock & roll oriented and I do love it too, but I do enjoy hearing
the growth in your music.
PV: I recorded that album
when I was 24. I was already playing the blues, but I didn’t feel like I had
mastered it yet. Not that I’ve mastered it now, but I do have more of a grasp
of it. What I play now is more mature than that album.
AM: What about a new
album anytime soon?
PV: We are working on
it right now. ‘Dreaming Of A Woman’ is the first single off this debut full
length album. We are going to release it on vinyl too.
AM: Are you going to
put the other two songs on the album too?
PV: I’m not sure, but
we probably will.
AM: Who influences
you musically?
PV: Everybody since I’ve
been born. It took along chain of people. Where do I even begin? The list would start
with The Misfits, the Ramones, Slash and Stevie Ray Vaughn. I discovered B.B.
King and Gary Moore was a huge influence. Like every other guitar player, I
started copying people but now I find my own sound. I don’t want to sound like
anybody else.
AM: You have
definitely found your sound.
PV: That was my goal.
AM: Do you like Southern
Rock?
PV: You know, I never
got into it. Maybe I will in the future. I’ve said that about a lot of other
music and then five years later I’m listening to it and loving it. For some
reason, I don’t know why, I never got into Eric Clapton growing up, but literally
the last five years of my life, as I started getting older, I am a huge Eric
Clapton fan and now he is a huge influence on me.
AM: So, is your new
goal to release the album and tour to support it?
PV: The goal is whatever
the outside forces have in mind for me. My goal has always been to keep blues
alive and guitar-based music alive and to be the next big thing. I want to be
as big as possible, but I only have so much control over that. I’ve learned to
let things go. It will all depend on how much support I get. If I get a team
that helps financially to come in and throw a bunch of money to make me great.
AM: That is honestly
what it takes.
PV: I like to say
what is the difference between a good artist and a bad artist? Money. Chris Cain
is the best blues guitarist in the world, and nobody knows about it.
AM: You are a music
star in Austin.
PV: Yes, that’s because
I keep playing in front of people. No one can stop you if you’re in front of
people. That’s what I figured out. I have been playing literally 7 times a week
when I first moved to Austin. Now I can headline Antone’s and sell it out. Now,
how do we get beyond that.
AM: I think everyone
likes your kind of music.
PV: I agree. The
funny thing is I’m playing contemporary “old people blues” and I have people in
their 20’s in my audience. When you go in to record for a label, they want you
to record whatever is popular, but I strongly believe that this will work.
AM: Do not give in.
PV: People fall into
that trap and that is why so much music sounds the same.
Three contemporary photos taken by Alan Mercer in Los Angeles in February 2011
George Jones began his career by performing on the street to help earn money for his large and impoverished family, and after a brief stint in the military began to pursue his musical ambitions in earnest. In 1955 Jones landed in the country Top Ten with "Why Baby Why," and for the rest of his career was very rarely far from the charts, releasing hit single after hit single as a solo artist and as a duet partner with some of country’s biggest stars, most notably Tammy Wynette, who was also his third wife. Battling his personal demons along the way, Jones amassed an impressive musical legacy that earned him a 2012 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, among many other honors.
George Glenn Jones was born in Saratoga, Texas, on September 12, 1931. One of eight children in a poor family, his father was an alcoholic who sometimes grew violent. "We were our daddy's loved ones when he was sober, his prisoners when he was drunk," Jones later wrote in his autobiography, I Lived to Tell It All. But despite these hardships, Jones and his family members shared a love of music, often singing hymns together and listening to records by the likes of the Carter Family. They also enjoyed listening to the radio, tuning into programs from the Grand Ole Opry.
With his songs about heartbreak, by the early 1960s, Jones had established himself as one of country music’s top singer as he continued to find chart success with singles such as "Window Up Above" (1960; No. 2) and the No. 1 hit "Tender Years" (1961). In 1962 the balladeer again returned to the top of the charts with what is regarded as one of his trademark tunes, "She Thinks I Still Care," and the following year teamed up with Melba Montgomery for the first of several albums, What’s in Our Heart, which reached No. 3 on the charts and proved to be their most successful collaboration.
But Jones maintained a presence on the charts on his own as well, scoring Top 10 hits with the 1964 single "The Race Is On" (No. 3) and 1965’s “Love Bug” (No. 6). The latter half of the 1960s was much the same for Jones, with both his solo efforts and his collaborations meeting enthusiastic reception. Among his notable tracks from this period are the singles “I’m a People” (1966) and “As Long As I Live” (1968), as well as the 1969 duet album with Gene Pitney, I’ll Share My World with You, featuring the No. 2 charting song of the same name.
Jones died on April 26, 2013, at Vanderbilt University Medical
Center in Nashville, Tennessee, where the 81-year-old had reportedly been
hospitalized with irregular blood pressure and a fever just a week earlier.
With a career spanning more than 50 years, Jones is regarded
as one of country music’s all-time greatest stars. His clear, strong voice and
ability to convey so many emotions won over thousands of fans, as well as
earning him the envy of his peers. As fellow country star Waylon Jennings once
said, "If we could sound the way we wanted, we'd all sound like George
Jones."
Portraits of Johnny Bush taken by Alan Mercer in Weatherford, TX on October 14, 2017
Johnny Bush was a country music singer-songwriter whose song “Whiskey River” became a signature song for outlaw country legend Willie Nelson.
Singer/songwriter/drummer Johnny Bush, born John Bush Shinn
III in Houston, began his country career as a vocalist and guitar player in
1952 at the Texas Star Inn in San Antonio. Eventually he switched to drums and
in the early '60s began working in Willie Nelson's band, the Record Men. A year
later, he joined Ray Price's Cherokee Cowboys. During his three years with the
band, Bush tried to cut a record deal, but the labels felt he sounded too much
like Price to be marketable. Nelson stepped in and paid for Bush to cut his
first album, Sound of a Heartache. After strong local response, he first hit
the charts in 1967 with the minor hit "You Oughta Hear Me Cry." The
next year he had three hits, including the Top Ten "Undo the Right."
In 1972, Bush had a Top 20 hit with "I'll Be
There," which led to a deal with RCA and a Top Ten hit with his song
"Whiskey River," which later became Willie Nelson's signature song.
Just as Bush reached the brink of stardom, he started to lose his vocal range.
Doctors were not able to diagnose the reason until 1978, when they found he had
a rare neurological disorder, spastic dysphonia. This did not prevent his
recording, but his career soon took a downturn. Working with "voice
builder" Gary Catona in 1985, Bush was able to bring back about 70 percent
of his original voice. The following year he and Darrell McCall teamed up to
record the successful honky tonk album Hot Texas Country. He then assembled a
large country band and began performing around San Antonio.
In 1994, he and the band released Time Changes Everything
and launched a major tour; the 1998 follow-up, Talk to My Heart, was regarded
as one of his finest recordings in many years. Bush continued a prolific
release schedule into and during the new millennium, on occasion even releasing
two albums in a single year. His recordings during this period included Lost
Highway Saloon and Sings Bob Wills (both 2000), Green Snakes (2001), Honkytonic
(2004), Texas State of Mind and Devil's Disciple (both 2006), and Texas on a
Saturday Night (co-billed to Justin Trevino) and Kashmere Gardens Mud: A
Tribute to Houston's Country Soul (both 2007).
Johnny Bush passed away at the age of 85 on October 16, 2020
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