Author: dwfiddle

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Hard-swingin’ honky-tonk is a descriptor many country artists might shy away from in the current music landscape, but with its sophomore release, “Driven Man,” Cowboy Dave Wilson and his group of Rocky Mountain all-stars embrace the term with an exclamation mark.

The six-song EP (available here), which was released on Slackjaw Records earlier this year, is a raw display of pure swinging grit that begins to bridge the gap between Wilson’s more traditional debut release, “Saddle Up, Pal,” and the debauchery that he previously cranked out as the frontman for cowpunk group FortyTwenty. The new record spent 28 weeks on the Americana Music Chart, and has received extensive play on Sirius XM’s “Outlaw Country,” among other stations across the country.

A true walking-bass honky-tonker, “Dive of Dives,” kicks off the new recording with a line that sets the tone for the whole album: “Stale cigarettes and day old beer // Lord, tell me what I’m doing here.”

“We were actually finishing up the arrangement for this one as we were setting up in the studio,” Wilson said, “but I really think it gave the album that pure honky-tonk country song that it needed. It’s really about pondering why we have this unshakeable attraction to playing music all over the place.”

The first verse speaks to heading south to play music in Texas, a state that has become a regular tour stop for the Colorado group, including multiple recent shows at the famed Continental Club in Austin, where the group has had the opportunity to fill in for the legendary Dale Watson on his regular night.

In an effort to produce a “live and non-manufactured” feel, Wilson brought the touring band to Silo Sound Studios in Denver, recording the bulk of the album in one day with Emmy-nominated producer Greg Kincheloe and engineer Todd Divel.

Musicians on the album include Denver veterans Glenn Taylor (pedal steel), Scott Johnson (upright bass and vocals), Adam Stern (electric and acoustic guitars) and Andy Walters (drums), as well as additional Nebraskans Sam Packard (fiddle) and Tony Robertson (electric guitar).

“Ragged but Right” is a tip of the hat to the late George Jones, who recorded the traditional song in 1957. The group’s arrangement gives the classic tune somewhat of a western swing feel, featuring sweeping fiddle and pedal steel solos.

The album’s title track, “Driven Man,” is held together by a classic truck-driving beat, and discusses a person’s need to keep on moving on. Penned by Wilson in 2011, the song has become a staple at the group’s live shows. “Honky-Tonk Me” was originally recorded by Wilson on FortyTwenty’s “Lowdown and Dirty” album in 2003. Eleven years later, Wilson’s solo group has helped evolve the song into a more upbeat, harder-swingin’ honky-tonk piece, breathing new life into this old favorite.

Drawing on the true life story of his mother-in-law’s desire for Wilson to move the family to Western Nebraska, “Maggie’s Mom” features heavy fiddle over a train beat, as Wilson somewhat ironically confirms that he’s “not cut out to be a railroad man.” The album’s final track, “What A Shame,” was written by Johnson and boasts a driving rock-a-billy feel, led by Johnson on the slapping upright bass.

The group will support the six-song EP with extensive touring in 2014, primarily throughout the Midwest and South.

It was at a truckstop along I-80 at about three in the morning when I realized that I had officially found myself stuck in the middle ground of a musical lifetime.

See, you start out practicing every week in a garage, burning with passion and anticipation as you work your day job and try to write truck-driving songs that will one day save the world. That’s the first step. Then comes the middle ground. It’s that nearly unavoidable step between having a steady day job and paying your bills by playing music. This is the three-step process.

The middle ground is where you find yourself in the back of a John Deere green shuttle bus, parked between two semis, trying to sleep on a flat air mattress at three in the morning. Big trucks make weird noises all night, and when you combine that with coming down from the high of playing a street dance in Hartington, Neb., and building up excitement for your first-ever show in Chicago, it’s hard to sleep. But when you’re driving to Chicago for little to no money, a flat air mattress in the back of a shuttle bus is a pretty good option for sleeping accommodations. Just don’t accidentally leave your doghouse bass player at said truckstop. That’s another story for a different time.

Anyway, so as far as I can tell, there’s no way to skip this middle step (short of winning the lottery or signing a major label deal). The middle step is where you break out of your hometown, hit the pavement and scream your existence to the world. Unfortunately, I haven’t found it to be a very lucrative step. It’s the step where you drive 1,768 miles roundtrip to Houston to play one show for $200. It’s this continuous step of leaving your comfort zone to play venues in other states over and over and over again, until slowly, you work your way to being the headliner, and eventually (hopefully), you find yourself making enough money to pay for your trips, and theoretically, one day, your bills.

You can’t skip this step.

There was a Thursday where we played on a sidewalk on East Campus, and then drove straight through to Jackson Hole, Wyo., for a show with BR5-49, the single greatest band of all time. We got paid $0.00 for that show in Wyoming. But it was a good show. And I would do it again. Actually, that was eight years ago, and I’m still making insane band-routing decisions of this nature. I’m not saying I’ve been fully committed to the middle step for eight years, but I’m definitely stuck. Not sure what my problem is, but I believe it to be an addiction of some sort.

Speaking of hitting the road, you can catch me amid this middle step on Friday, Sept. 21, at the Zoo Bar in downtown Lincoln, Neb. I’ll be bringing my now-Denver-based group of honky-tonk pickers to Nebraska for the first time. Let me know if we can sleep on your couch. We’ll also be playing Uncle Ron’s with Jason Boland and the Stragglers on Thursday, Sept. 20.

Boland, I might add, is a phenomenal example of a self-made success. I’m pretty sure he busted out of that middle step in less than eight years. I remember him telling me about how he started by lining up shows opening for the Great Divide throughout Oklahoma and beyond until he was headlining those same venues.

That makes me feel a little better about chasing down shows throughout the Midwest and South with musicians I look up to.  Maybe one day I can pay the favor forward (and start paying the bills). Until then, I’ll keep sleeping at truckstops. Even though big trucks make weird noises at night.

A purveyor of honky-tonk music, Nebraska native David Wilson fronts the Denver-based Cowboy Dave Band, and works endlessly to put the western back in country and western. Connect with him via Twitter and Facebook and at CowboyDaveBand.com.