Kimberly and I got married and are now officially Don and Kimberly Wall. It was a simple but beautiful ceremony in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, attended by family and friends. You are also looking at the front cover of my new CD, called Love, Texas. It makes sense to me that these two significant events are happening at the same time. Over the past five years, Kimberly has been the focus of my life and music has been the focus of my work. Many of the songs on the album are about her. All the songs were inspired by my life in Texas, where I lived and worked for nearly 40 years, raised my family, learned to play guitar, and fell in love with Kimberly.
You can download and listen to all 11 tracks for free on my website, http://www.donwall.net I encourage you to explore the new website, learn a little about my musical journey, and support my vagabonding spirit.
This is my first blog on the new website, powered by Bandzoogle. It has all the features a singer/songwriter needs, and is easy to update. I can actually do most of it myself, which frees up more time for Kimberly to focus on her fiction writing.
Mostly I hope you will listen to the music and want to hear more of it. That's why I'm giving you the songs for free. If you feel generous, you can actually buy a CD, a poster, or a vinyl record - YES, VINYL. You will help me pay for gas, strings, and new recordings. That's why I've added a Tip Jar on the website. Anything you contribute will support my efforts and show the IRS that this is my job, and not a hobby. I do make some money playing Music for Seniors, and book occasional paying gigs, which are prized opportunities in Nashville. Mostly we play for free, happy to share our songs, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. The days of Dean Dillon sitting on a porch on Music Row, when a guy leans his head out the car window and says, “You got any songs? We got a kid in here from Texas, named George Strait, pretty good." have been over for 30 years. These days, we are trying to write our way into better writing rooms, where recording artists work with people they know and trust to come up with a cut.
These are the artists who contributed to my album, Love, Texas. My co-producer is Bryan Cumming, an amazing engineer and musician, who plays woodwinds, brass, and anything with strings. He leads the Bryan Cumming Swing Quartet, played guitar with ShaNaNa, and The WannaBeatles. We recorded in Bryan's Studio 23 in Nashville. 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 now plays with Riders in the Sky at the Grand Ole Opry. Carly Zimmerman is an award-winning singer/songwriter from Texas, who we met when we first moved to Nashville in 2022. I want to 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. I wrote all the songs, except Waylon and Me, which was written by Kaysie P Young, Mark Lynn 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. Trevor introduced us to his producer, Al Steele of The Korgis, a musical director extraordinaire who puts on shows at places like the Royal Albert Hall. Al did the final mastering on the entire album.
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 just about 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 the late Flaco Jimẽnez of the Texas Tornados. I want 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, a duet with Carly Zimmerman, is a folksy celebration of my love for Kimberly, while camping in the Big Bend, and around the country, as we visited every one of the lower 48 states over a two year period. The whole album is my musical postcard from Texas, signed with Love, Texas.
I'm working with Bill Wence Promotions to get airplay on Americana, Folk, Independent, and college radio stations. Bill is a terrific songwriter and piano player, who toured with Tom T. Hall back in the day. Bill got me a spot on Americanafest, coming up in Nashville. I'll be playing during Americana On The Row, at Bobby's Idle Hour on Friday, September 12, 2025 1:00 PM - 6:00 PM.
Kimberly and I honeymooned in Santa Fe and New Orleans, and are getting settled in our Tree House condo in Bellevue, in the hills of west Nashville.
