Justin,
Kevin is an artist. He's kind of flirting around the skirts of it. But he has done two albums. He's from Quanah, Texas. I'm actually casual friends with Aaron. He's from Abilene and played a local festival we had along with Kevin Fowler, Zach Edwards (who is a very dear friend) and so forth. I'm also good friends with Carl Gabrielson from College Station (Bryan). I'm very aware of Granger. I like his music. I would say Kevin Fowler is probably the biggest if not one of the biggest influences on my writing style. Not to knock anybody else. On what you and MAB have been discussing regarding the Texas music scene, I'm kind of up in the air in some ways on both opinions. On one hand, I've been to so many festivals and shows from Texas artists and I've heard how they address the crowd and their thoughts on Nashville. Plus, I have tons of friends who are all pro Texas music and very anti Nashville. I've been criticized by some of them for the fact that I tend to write more for the idea of Nashville. Not to say that it will ever make it there. I just do. But Texas is a different breed of music. I don't know the ends and outs of the politics between Nashville and Texas music labels. I have no idea about any of that. And in some aspects, I do see where MAB is coming from. The Outlaw movement i.e. Jerry Jeff Walker, DAC, Willie, Waylon, etc.really made for a hot music scene in Texas in the 70's that kind of cooled down in the 80's and early 90's but then with Great Divide, Pat Green, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Kevin Fowler, and others, it came storming back and really brought in a whole new generation to the Texas music scene. Over the last decade give or take, that has tapered off. Granted, their are some great artists out there and I love their music. But for me, it feels like what I would call the "pause between". Something is right around the corner that is going to take Texas music fans by storm again. There is just too much of a following for it not to.
I know I'm nobody and my opinion doesn't matter much but if I were to give a good guess, I'd say that once "bro country" peters out in Nashville, you're going to see a lot more similar music start popping up in the Texas/Red Dirt scenes with it leaning towards a classic southern rock sound. Seems like at more of these festivals, the artists are putting on more of a display of fast music playing that showcases their playing talents. And I'm not saying I'm right, I just have a feeling that something is coming right around the corner. It may be the death of Texas music as we know it like MAB mentioned or it may be a new era that revives it. It's kind of hard to gauge. I know 90% of my friends would say it is on the verge of a cultural phenomenon. But I don't think I'd go that far. Not to get into a debate over it or anything. Just my 2 cents worth from a fans chair.
And with Kevin recording that song of mine, that's exactly what I told him. I'm just glad he's doing it and as long my name is in the credits, I could care less about all of the other stuff. I just want to make music. Plain and simple.
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