“When I started, I moved down to this place called Crystal Beach, Texas where you need to take a ferry from Galveston across the bay to get to this little peninsula on the Gulf of Mexico,” recalls Carll. “It’s this isolated coastal community with a wild assortment of people either hiding out, hanging on or getting lost– a lot of drugs and drinking, a fair amount of violence, but at the same time a lot of really interesting people with great stories to tell. Folks in the bars there weren’t necessarily interested in what I had to say as a songwriter– they wanted to hear David Allan Coe and Merle Haggard, and other stuff they knew. So that’s what I did six nights a week for four years. I haven’t run into tougher crowds since. It was an initiation into becoming a performer.” — Hayes Carll

Over the weekend my good friend Mullins shared with me Hayes Carll’s Trouble In Mind, and I’m thankful. A Texan, equal parts country and troubadour, a wonderful discovery that’s lead to repeated listens. He’s paid his dues and earned himself a Lost Highway record deal.

Hayes Carll - “It’s a Shame”

Hayes Carll plays Cafe Montmartre in Madison on Sunday, November 2nd. Tickets are $10 and worth every cent.

Myspace: Hayes Carll

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