From the opening flourishes of Ross’s fiddle and Doyle’s lap steel, I want to put you, the listener, in Texas. Cornbread is the song that best describes my 40 years living there, a Massachusetts Yankee transplanted to Dallas/Fort Worth to work in the news business. When I say, “I spent the day with Willie Nelson,” I really mean it. I was a producer with ABC News and in 1984 we put Willie’s Fourth of July Picnic live on Nightline from Austin. I’ve been everywhere in Texas. I’ve seen the West Texas sunset in Waylon and Me. I’ve covered tornados, droughts, hail storms, floods, and hurricanes on the Texas gulf coast. Fishin’ on the Guff captures the gulf at its gentle best, sunshine, fishing, enjoying new love, hanging out with good friends, both Anglo and Mexican. Jeff’s accordion and Ross’s fiddle take us somewhere between Cajun and Flaco Jimẽnez of the Texas Tornados. I wanted to pay homage to different Texas musical styles. Me and You is Bob Wills and Western swing. Spending Time is a line dance in a Texas dancehall. Hold Me Close is a slow two step, one last spin around the dance floor for soon to be ex’s. Texas to Tennessee reflects the “valor and swagger” that Carl Sandburg wrote to describe Texas. Marie and Slow Road point to the Celtic and bluegrass influences that the Scots and the Irish brought from the old country down through the hills of Virginia and Tennessee to Texas. Red, White and the Blues is a folk blues song featuring Bryan’s plaintive cornet, about my friend who survived the Vietnam War but not the peace. Love in a Sleeping Bag is a duet with award-winning singer/songwriter, Carly Zimmerman, from Texas, who Kimberly and I met when we first arrived in Nashville in May 2022. The song is a folksy celebration of our love while camping in the Big Bend, and around the country. We visited every one of the lower 48 states over a 2 year period, camping in many of them. Recording with some of Nashville’s best musicians has been a joyful learning experience. Bryan Cumming, an amazing engineer and musician, plays woodwinds, brass, and anything with strings. He leads the Bryan Cumming Swing Quartet, played guitar with ShaNaNa, and The WannaBeatles. Ross Holmes plays fiddle and mandolin with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. I’ve known Ross since he was 9 years old, taking fiddle lessons at Valerie’s Music Studio south of Fort Worth, as I was learning guitar. Doyle Grisham, also from Texas, plays peddle steel with the Coral Reefer Band. Doyle recorded and played with the late Jimmy Buffett beginning in the 1970’s. Jeff Taylor played keyboards and accordion for the Grammy-winning Western swing band, The Time Jumpers and conducted hundreds of shows at Opryland USA. I must acknowledge Les Kerr, leader of the Bayou Band, who introduced me to Bryan, Jeff, Doyle, and Tracy Ratliff, who created the art for the album. We recorded at Bryan’s Studio 23 and I wrote all the songs, except Waylon and Me, which was written by Kaysie P Young, Mark Young, Eric Smith, and myself. I recorded Waylon and Me in the UK at Shabbey Road Studios in Wales, with Al Steele and our friend, Trevor Valentine. We first met Trevor in Nashville, and last year, Kimberly and I toured Ireland and the UK, spending a fantastic week with Trevor and his lovely wife, Claire, playing English folk clubs. Al Steele of The Korgis is a musical director extraordinaire who puts on shows at places like the Royal Albert Hall. All these songs were inspired by my life in Texas, where I raised my family, learned to play guitar, and fell in love with Kimberly. This album is my musical postcard from Texas, signed with Love, Texas.
Don Wall
