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(Paul Koonsman, Tarleton Alumni J-TAC,
Summer 2000)
Motor homes, camper trailers, tents, trucks, buses, cars, vendor
booths, flags, grandpas, grandmas, grandkids, teenagers, cowboys,
bikers, frat-rats, co-eds, doctors, lawyers, professors, campfires,
chili, beans, Bar-B-Q and music...music...music all thrown together
in a boiling Texacana burgoo. Everything from pearly white "never
seen the sun" necks to sun-scorched, tank-topped, "my
mama calls me ‘Sonny’ but you can call me ‘Bubba’"
brew-blooded rednecks. Nawww.....this is not a modern day Grapes
of Wrath reunion; it’s Larry Joe Taylor’s Texas Music
Festival and Chili Cook-off. Eight thousand people, 25 acts and
28 hours of music thrown together in a three-day happening down
in the Bosque bottoms at Meridian, Texas.
What is this "Texas Music"??? Is it country?...well, kinda,
how about rock...a little, blues...yeah, some of that, and some
folk too. Oh, and I nearly forgot, a little calypso and reggae and
some that you’ll just have to call coastal. Written by Texans,
about Texas places, Texas people, Texas happenings, Texas thinking,
Texas food, Texas hospitality, Texas pride, Texas history and anything
else Texas. Does this happen anywhere else? Nope...just in Texas.
You won’t find it in Texas Stadium, the Astrodome, the Alamo
Dome or the major indoor arenas with all the fireworks, special
effects and all the glitz. You will find it in the better beer joints,
the worst beer joints, hamburger joints, dance halls, river bottoms,
on flatbed trailers, around campfires and in someone’s living
room...and you will always find it live.
There seems to be a camaraderie and a family atmosphere among the
Texas musicians that exist both on and off stage. If you go to a
Texas music show, you are likely to see several artists on stage
at the same time. There doesn’t seem to be a pecking order
or a problem with who’s opening the show and who’s closing.
They sing and record each other’s songs, and often collaborate
on the writing of songs. Probably the one thing that endears them
to their fans the most is how they relate to their fans and their
accessibility. It is not unusual to see the artists walking through
the audience visiting with fans. The man who has been most instrumental
in promoting the whole Texas music scene during the 90’s is
the man from Huckabay, Texas, Larry Joe Taylor.
Twelve years ago when LJT started his festival in Mingus, Texas
with Ray Wiley Hubbard, Joe Pat Hennen and Larry Joe’s drummer,
eleven-year-old son Zack, he was only looking for a place to play.
His attempts at getting booked into some of Texas’s more recognized
musical venues, and some not so well recognized, had met with little
success. He readily admits that the 2000 festival had more people
working behind stage than were present in the audience for the initial
offering in Mingus. Now, in addition to his April bash in Meridian
and his July 4th Island Time Festival in Port Aransas, Taylor regularly
plays some of Texas’s more popular dance halls and clubs along
with several concerts and festivals. He will play over 150 dates
this year, including Gruene Hall, Billy Bob’s Texas, Cowboys,
White Elephant Saloon, several private parties and an occasional
campfire or lumberyard. Always remembering the difficulty that he
had in finding a place to play, Taylor agonizes over selecting 25
acts from the 80-100 that ask to play at his April festival. He
vividly remembers getting a boost years ago from Gary P. Nunn, the
first man to tell him that his songs were good. (Gary P. Nunn has
recorded 22 songs that LJT has penned.)
You have to meet the man to understand why it is so difficult for
Larry Joe to make those decisions, which might have a profound effect
on a young artist’s career. Interviewing Larry Joe Taylor,
however, is like giving a short answer quiz, answers are brief and
calculated as if he is putting together the lyrics of another song.
He seems to be almost embarrassed that he has become such a recognizable
figure in the Texas music business. When asked how he felt when
he was on stage and the audience was singing every word of his songs
with him, he admits that he is flattered but has often thought "Hey
folks, this is just Larry Joe Taylor." The words to Larry Joe’s
songs probably express the way he feels and the way he thinks much
better than he can convey in a one-on-one conversation. Thus, his
poignant summation of the average man’s American dream:
I got a brand new Chevrolet out in the drive.
I got a thirty-year fixed-rate mortgage that I live inside.
I don’t think I like what I got,
Cause I think it’s got me.
I guess I just woke up from my American dream.
I guess my wife she’ll work for the state
for the rest of her life
When all she ever wanted to be was a mom and a wife
She tells me I don’t look like the guys in Cosmopolitan magazine
I guess she just woke up from her American dream.
John he loved to teach the kids in the public school
Said it’s seems a whole lot harder
since they changed the rules
Gunshots echo through the halls
Another one falls
The last bell rings
And it woke him up from his American dream.
--American Dream—
Larry Joe Taylor grew up in Brownwood, Texas, the son of a father
who worked for the Highway Department for 27 years and a mother
who worked in a sewing factory. Larry Joe started playing guitar
when he was about seven years old on a guitar that his brother,
Norice, had received as a Christmas gift. He played with a band
called the Nomad 5 while in high school and came to Tarleton in
the fall of 1970 with his musical roots firmly established in rock
music. The music of the Doors, CCR and the Loving Spoonful was what
he primarily played in high school but he developed an interest
in country music after coming to Tarleton. He recalls going to the
old Lakeside Club in Proctor to see Johnny Bush and down to Austin
to see Jerry Jeff Walker, B.W. Stevenson and Steve Fromholtz. Taylor
did not play in an organized band while he was in college but played
at a number of parties and jam sessions. There was very little live
music being performed at Tarleton during the early 70’s
Although Larry did not find many places to play his music in his
time at Tarleton, he did get involved in campus activities. He was
a member of the Purple Poo, Lords and Commoners, sophomore class
president and was selected class favorite his freshman year. Sherry
Woods, a young lady from Midland, entered in the fall of 1971 and
she and Larry Joe began a relationship that has now lasted more
than 26 years. They were married in December of 1973 just a few
months after he had taken a job with Continental Grain, and for
the next six years Taylor put his musical interests on hold. They
spent several years in Hutchinson, Kansas, with Continental, which
was a complete musical drought for Taylor, not even owning guitar
during this period. In 1979 the Taylors returend to Texas with a
little extra luggage. Their son, Zack, was born on Sherry’s
birthday in April of 1978.
Taylor worked in auto parts sales after returning to Texas but his
musical interest quickly began to rekindle, both playing and songwriting.
He struggled for many years developing as a singer-songwriter but
in 1998, he finally felt secure enough in the entertainment business
to quit his "day job." Thus, Larry Joe Taylor, singer-songwriter,
festival promoter, record producer, entertainer and auto engine
salesman dropped the auto engine salesman tag and finally began
living his life-long dream.
In the last dozen years, LJT has become one of the most respected
men in the Texas music business. In addtional to being one of the
top songwriters in the state, Taylor is highly respected for his
fairness and his tireless promotion of Texas singer-songwriters.
He is always generous with his time and his support of young artists
trying to get into the business or of performers whose careers have
stagnated. After singing on LJT’s last CD, the legendary Rusty
Weir says, "Larry Joe Taylor has helped me a whole lot and
I appreciate it from my heart, and I am proud to sing on any CD
he ever has."
In spite of these generous accolades, Taylor still seems completely
amazed that all of this has happened to him. However, success has
not come easy for LJT. Larry Joe confesses that songwriting requires
a great deal of hard work; he states, "I have to make an appointment
with myself to write." He readily admits that singing is his
weakness, but that seems to be a common thread that runs through
the more accomplished songwriters. You don’t have to be able
to hold a note very long though if your lyrics really have something
to say. He is highly respected as a songwriter and his songs have
been recorded by other noted Texas artists, Jerry Jeff Walker, Gary
P. Nunn, the Lost Gonzo Band, Rusty Weir, Tommy Alverson and Joe
Pat Hennen. Taylor seems to find his greatest inspiration for song
ideas down on the Texas coast and many of his songs have a coastal
theme with a familiar calypso beat.
When asked where he wants to be 10 years from now, Taylor says,
"I would like to be performing more acoustic music and touring
more nationwide." (Taylor and cohort Davin James just recently
returned from a three-week tour of the East coast.) Quizzed about
the effect that his singing career has had on family life, he states,
"I have been fortunate to have Zack with me most of the time,
and Sherry and I stay pretty focused." Sherry Taylor is one
of the more gracious and likable ladies you will ever meet and should
share generously in the credit for Larry Joe’s success. You
get the impression with LJT that he is never really away from the
family, only away from home. Zack is scheduled to graduate from
Tarleton next year and when asked about breaking in a new drummer
if Zack decides to leave the band, he says, "Zack is the best
drummer I’ve ever had, I’m not sure I want anyone else;
I might just start that acoustical career a little earlier."
Larry Joe Taylor is still the quiet, accommodating, good-old Texas
boy that he was over 15 years ago when I first met him. He will
probably be unchanged 15 years from now. He says, "The only
time I had this much fun was when I was in college." I hope
that doesn’t change. There are too many people having fun right
along with him.
By DAVE THOMAS
News Editor
1/20/00
Take a guy who grew up in Brownwood, has traveled across the globe
and is living near Stephenville and ask him ``Where do you wish
you were right now?''
And if that guy is Larry Joe Taylor, he'll have an answer for you
pretty quickly.
``If I could be anywhere, I'd probably be down in Port Aransas
right now, maybe sitting on the back deck at Shorty's,'' he said
in a telephone interview on Tuesday. ``It's pretty nice weather.''
Taylor, who will be performing his ``Coastal & Western'' style
of music at Blaine's Pub on Friday and Saturday, said growing up
in Brownwood was ``pretty typical West Texas.''
``There was a lot of football and, uh, that's about it,'' he said.
But the Texas coast is different.
``Well, the coast is kinda like the mountains... there's something
kinda magical and scary about both of them,'' he said. ``I like
going to the ocean. It's huge, you know, there's just a magic there.''
A couple of Taylor's songs about magical days on the coast are
the Gary P. Nunn hits ``Why Don't You Meet Me Down in Corpus'' and
``My Kind of Day on Padre.'' (In fact he wrote or co-wrote another
three songs - ``Roadtrip,'' ``Corona Con Lima'' and ``Terlingua
Sky'' - that also appeared on Nunn's greatest hits album.)
After hearing Taylor's odes to the ocean life, you might think
he hasn't ever had a bad day on the coast. And you'd be right.
``The worst day on the coast is the day you gotta leave,'' he laughed.
``I don't think I've ever really had a bad day down there.''
To balance out the coastal living, Taylor takes to the mountains
as well. It could be the sheer size and beauty of the Rockies, or
the desolation of the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend.
``We used to go out and do the world championship chili cookoff
(in Terlingua) in November and play around the campfires late at
night and camp out there,'' he said. ``I don't know if you've been
out there, but in the Big Bend area there's probably more stars
in the sky than anywhere else.''
The splendor of the big Big Bend sky was behind the ballad ``Terlingua
Sky'' but the song became an ode to something more fleeting.
``I started out writing about the stars but it ended up being about
having good friends and enjoying it while you got it,'' he said.
Taylor counts Guy Clark, Billy Joe Shaver and Townes Van Zandt
as his major influences and says his secret to good songwriting
is ``having good experiences to write from.''
The song he says he's most proud of is ``Third Coast,'' from his
fourth album, ``First Row, Third Coast.''
``But I said if I ain't sinking well I must be swimming/
If I ain't dead I must be living/
And living is the thing that scares me the most/
And if I ain't sleeping well I better be fishing/
If I ain't ancored I will be drifting/
But all in all I'm doing pretty good/
Since I hit my third coast.''
Taylor will release his fifth album, ``Heart of the Matter,'' on
Feb. 25. The Lloyd Maines-produced effort took Taylor about two
years to write and features friends Rusty Weir and Terri Hendrix.
``This is kinda the one I've always wanted to do,'' Taylor said.
``The flavor is pretty well the same - a lot of songs with some
coastal flavor and some reggae stuff. ``I'm excited about it, I
think it's the best one we've ever done.''
And he's excited about getting back on the road and playing in
San Angelo this weekend.
``We took about two weeks off and the band, everybody's going crazy,''
he said. ``I don't know, maybe we've (been playing) so long it's
all we can do.''
Contact Dave Thomas at dthomas@texaswest.com or 659-8381.
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