Songs. Songwriting.

The basis for all music. Without them, there would be nothing.

Finding a song that you truly connect and identify with is rare.

I’m not talking about hearing a song and liking it because you think the lyrics are good and the guitar riff gets stuck in your head. I’m talking about something that jars your consciousness and makes you think long and hard.

It’s been an extremely long time since I had that happen to me. I’m pretty sure it’s only happened one time truly and completely.

That time and song would be “My Hometown” by Charlie Robison.

Cliché, trite and simple some people may think of the Robison piece now. But, at the time it was revolutionary. At that very moment Texas Music was being rediscovered on a large scale. There was a vast influx of young energy from college age kids powering the steam engine of Pat Green, Cory Morrow and Jack Ingram. This song managed to snag the moment in time better than a Polaroid ever could.

It was a song about a guy and his life. But, it was my life and your life. Everyone who’d grown up in a small town in Texas and moved off to college…it was their life.

I remember the first time I heard Charlie Robison. Well, not really hear as much as see on a 32” state of the art television that had the VCR combo attached. I was sitting in a small, dingy dorm room in San Marcos, Texas that hadn’t been updated since LBJ matriculated on the good ol’ SWT campus. At least it appeared that way. And although, I was living with the guy who’d been one of my best friends since the second grade, many of my closest friends were still stuck back in Waco. Some were going to the local JUCO in hopes of transferring to SWT, UT or A&M; some were chasing their lifelong goal of diesel mechanic greatness and others had already joined the workforce chasing the almighty dollar.

The video was mesmerizing in it’s simplicity. Snapshots of the mundane small-town life I was accustomed to. Turned out this was showcasing his own Bandera. Black and white football film displaying the Friday night glory that even a musician in his 30’s can’t ever fully let go of. And live shots of the current Charlie in action, sweating it out onstage at Gruene Hall.

I was intrigued, but not yet hooked. Then, out of the tiny speakers at the bottom of that dorm room tv sprang:

“I went to college like they asked me to, but they didn’t ask my friends…”

It hit me. It moved me. All of a sudden I felt the power of music coursing through my veins. The strength of identifiable lyrics grabbed the pit of my soul and shook it violently. It snapped me out of the utopian idyllic world that being a college student/know-it-all creates. Charlie Robison had experienced the exact same phenomenon I was currently undergoing. The reality of this was astonishing. The only other videos to have that great of an impact in our dorm that year were Faith Hill’s “Breathe” and anything by Britney Spears for albeit less spiritually engaging and more carnally obvious reasons.

These were heady times for a kid who wasn’t yet 21 and had been listening to Bob Keen and Pat Green ad nauseum. While I had become a huge fan of their music, neither had captured my life in song to that point. I had a Bruce Robison record, and knew he had a brother that made music, yet never expected to hear something so grand.

The moment “My Hometown” gave way to a Shania showing, I grabbed my car keys and headed straight for Sundance Music. Had we already been blessed with the greatest invention of all time, DVR, I probably would’ve watched/listened forty times prior to making the trek to Sundance. But, I had to have this cd…immediately.

This was pre-Napster. So, if you wanted music you had to actually go to the store and buy a bulky cd that sometimes still had a big plastic hanger thing on it. I grabbed my loose change jar and hoped that I also had enough in my car ashtray to pay for this piece of art I had to have.

The notoriously long San Marcos lights seemed even longer than normal as I screeched to a halt in the parking lot of indie music heaven. Striding through the doors and past the blast of incense while ignoring the bad jam band music in the background, I replayed “My Hometown” over and over again in my head. Finally, I reached my destination.

The first thing I noticed past the razor thin white plastic place holder that said “CHARLIE ROBISON” was a black and white album photo of a mullet-clad Charlie with the title “BANDERA” emblazoned across the front of it. I thought to myself…”This is not the same guy I just saw on TV.” Flipping past this mild disturbance, I saw it. Life of the Party. Gone was the mullet and flannel. Instead, there was a modern troubadour who had the look of “I’ll come kick your ass if you don’t listen to my music…but only after I finish this cigarette.”

You could tell, just from the album cover, that this was going to be an amazing album from a guy who’s probably been the coolest dude in the room since junior high.

After rushing to the counter and handing over some of my Ramen Noodle/Lone Star Beer budget, and getting my frequent customer card stamped with a blue skull and cross-bones, I was back out the door. I was so eager to open the cd and get it in my player that I broke the edge of the hard plastic case as I was breaking open all the stickers and plastic wrap. I went straight to track 4. I must’ve listened to that tune a 100 times that night. I made all the people in my dorm come listen.

During these repeated playings, I came to realize the song was chock full of lines that were as brilliant as the one about leaving your buddies behind for college. I drove my roommate crazy with it as I had it blaring while we participated in a Playstation ONE tournament. And I just knew I had to get back home and play it for my buddies that didn’t get invited to the college party.

It turned out that the entire album was a true gem, full of brilliant lyrics and the finest Lloyd Maines production available. One of the best to ever come out of Texas, and a true classic. The record still holds up today. Despite years of bad covers by bad bar bands and limited hacks like me, the song “My Hometown” endures. You put on Life of the Party and that track will still come in the number four slot, bat clean-up and hit it out of the yard.

Charlie’s career is refreshing. Save for a momentary lapse where he hired Rascal Flatts' stylist and sang about wanting us bad, his track record of never wavering and sticking to his guns is just about peerless. He does what he wants. He says what he wants. He plays blistering live shows with a tight band when and where he wants. He continues to put out great music and apologizes to nobody.

This is what it used to be about and I hope it can be about again. Great songs written from a first-hand perspective. Whether autobiographical or witnessed. Original artists being themselves onstage, off-stage, with fans and with other artists. No airs. No pretension. No b.s. Everything for the music.

This one song changed my life. Music, and more specifically the early stages of the latest Texas Music movement, was now real to me. Whereas, Pat Green had me absolutely against the ropes with his live shows of the day, Charlie Robison was the first artist to pen a song that knocked me out.

I’ve only had the sensation of truly relating to a song in every way a couple times since then. I would go on to become friends with, and work for in one capacity or another, most of the biggest artists we cherish. Randy Rogers would put out Rollercoaster, which I consider the best album of the latest Texas Music boom. “Can’t Slow Down” was an autobiographical personal demon exorcizer for Randy; as well as, being the life story of so many of us involved in the scene then. Road-tripping from town to town, hoping the whiskey would be enough to get us there. Thankfully, we have all finally started slowing down.

And as amazing as the ride’s been the past few years, nothing compares to the way “My Hometown” comforted a homesick boy in his college dorm room circa 1999. And, I don’t know that any song will again.

…but I optimistically hope and wait for the moment it does.




MINOR CHORDS:

-Lots of drama over last month's column. I knew when we published it that a lot of folks would react to it because it really hit a nerve of what's going on around our favorite music lately. Thanks for reading...even the folks who posted anonymous comments that slammed the column. Sorry it hit home so hard, it had to be said. I promised rainbows and bunnies this month and nostalgia is the best I could do. Once again, I'm sorry.

-Looking forward to the big weekend in New Braunfels coming up with the RFT float and the RRB Festival. Going to be one for the blurred memory books.

-Mark your calendars now for 7/7/07...big Galleywinter throwdown on Lake Waco at the Slippery Minnow featuring Drew Kennedy, Josh Grider and Special Guests...surprises and good times.

-I’ve been telling everyone to go see Rusty Wier for years. Now, he’s finally got a MySpace up. If you’ve never listened to him, go check it out at:

www.myspace.com/rustywiermusic

It features some of his classic hits. He’s still making new music and playing over 100 shows a year. Go to MySpace and add him…go to the bar and listen to him.

-Time for another plug for the best rock band working in Texas...go see Echo's Orbit Room and look them up on MySpace.

-I’m having my 10 year reunion this month. Most of us have stayed in contact over the years and one of us is even getting married that weekend. Should make for one helluva raucous party. We recently just lost our first class member. Tragically, it was to a lightning strike. It really reinforces that desire to live each day like it’s your last. If a vibrant, young, beautiful woman can be struck down in a matter of seconds, anyone can. You always know it’s possible, but it doesn’t always hit home and stay there. So, I’m getting older, but I’m going down swinging. Sometimes it’s hard to believe it’s been ten years and sometimes it’s not. I’ll be interested to see what the next ten years brings.


-Paris Hilton going to jail is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. Unless you count Jack Ingram having to sit behind Kenny Chesney at the ACM's and having to act respectable. High comedy.

-Good thing DFW got the Super Bowl game in a couple years. The Texas weather is so unpredictable...it will either be snowing or 90 degrees. There will be no in between.

-June is a very busy month for me...taking in a ton of shows, going gambling a couple times, floating the river, going to the coast...I'm hoping all my trips to the library don't get in the way.


-This month's recommended movie is: Just Friends. While on the cover it's just a chick flick, it's actually rather enjoyable. Ryan Reynolds bka Van Wilder stars with 2 hot chicks: Amy Smart and Anna Farris. Good renter.

-This month's recommended album is: Max Stalling-Topaz City. My favorite Stalling album has always been Wide Afternoon and this one's at least that good, if not better. If you enjoy intelligent songwriting with a few quirks and cold slaps of reality...this is your record.


-"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most."-Mark Twain