He Gave Music a Shot
Singer-songwriter Chris Wall was tending bar in Corona del Mar when he
heard the sounds that put him on the trail to a country career, hit
song
and his own record label.
JOHN ROOS
* 02/24/99
Los Angeles Times
Copyright 1999 / The Times Mirror Company
It's hard to imagine anyone hearing his calling while tending bar. But
that's exactly what happened to Chris Wall 20 years ago while mixing
cocktails at the Quiet Woman in Corona del Mar.
"That's where I really got interested in music . . . seeing Hollywood
Fats, Steve Wood from Honk and guys from Kenny Loggins' band jam
there--they all played quite a bit back then," said Wall, a country
singer-songwriter now living in Austin, Texas. "That led me to the new
country stuff they were playing down at the Swallow's [Inn in San Juan
Capistrano] . . . like Rosie [Flores] & the Screamers and [Fullerton-bred
steel guitarist and Dobro player] Greg Leisz."
TD
Wall left Orange County after the death of his father on Easter Sunday
1980 and moved to his uncle's ranch in Montana to "play cowboy for a
while." After working as a ranch hand, Wall moved to Jackson Hole, Wyo.,
to work as a bartender at the famous Million-Dollar Cowboy Bar. He began
writing songs, and after some prodding by friends, Wall decided to go
public.
Filling in for a lead singer with laryngitis, Wall joined the Western
band Pinto Bennett & the Famous Motel Cowboys. Oddly enough, his first
paying gig in 1987 brought him back to the Swallow's Inn, where he had
also worked behind the bar for a spell.
Wall, who's lived in Texas since 1988, is excited about coming full
circle with his return to the Swallow's tonight, where he'll play with
guitarist Chris Claridy, bassist Gary Miles and drummer K.W. Turnbow.
"I really enjoyed Southern California," said Wall, 46, who grew up on
Balboa Island, graduated from Corona del Mar High, attended Orange Coast
College and received a master's degree in history from Whittier College.
He taught history and coached football briefly at Corona del Mar High
(1973-74).
The performer got his big break when he met acclaimed Texas
singer-songwriter Guy Clark in 1986 at the Northern Rockies Folk Festival
in Idaho. Later that night, the two swapped songs over dinner.
Clark was soon singing Wall's praises to his buddy, Jerry Jeff Walker,
who eventually caught one of Wall's sets in Jackson Hole, then invited
him to Austin to open some of his shows. Within a month, Wall moved to
the Lone Star State and was being managed by Walker's wife, Susan.
That association lasted three years, yielding two albums ("Honky Tonk
Heart," "No Sweat") and helping Wall build a cult following as he played
mostly in honky-tonks and Texas dance halls. Then tensions surfaced
between the Walkers and Wall over what Wall felt was inadequate promotion
of his music, prompting Wall to strike out on his own.
With no new album or tour in sight, Wall grew anxious. Then a novelty
song he had written years before rode to his rescue.
"Trashy Women," a tongue-in-cheek ditty about females sporting "tight
jeans and too much lipstick and rouge," became a No. 1 country hit for
Confederate Railroad in 1993.
*
Songwriting job offers suddenly came pouring in from Nashville. But
Wall instead used his songwriting royalties to start his own label, Cold
Spring Records. The roots-oriented company has released three of his
albums, including "Cowboy Nation" (1994), the live album "Any Saturday
Night in Texas" (1997) and last year's excellent "Tainted Angel."
Influenced by singer-songwriters from Ray Wylie Hubbard and Merle
Haggard to such contemporaries as Joe Ely, John Prine and Guy Clark, Wall
uses his whiskey-stained baritone to croon timeless tales of longing,
cheatin' hearts, busted dreams and dusty, endless highways.
He sings about how true love can give life purpose ("Better Things to
Do"). Then there's the one about the marginal musician who really just
longs for his wife and kids ("He Lives My Dream"). His stories of
gun-toting rednecks, town drunks and rodeo riders aren't pretty, yet
there's an underlying compassion for his characters.
"I'm just trying to do what all of these great Texans have done before
me . . . that is, write a good story that has a different spin on it.
Songwriters like Butch Hancock, Lucinda Williams and Robert Earl Keen
stand out because they bring people and places to life with vivid imagery
and strong melodies."
*
Cold Spring Records was originally intended only as a way he could
maintain creative control over his music. But Wall and his business
partner have since signed three other Texas-based acts to their roster,
including the Asylum Street Spankers, an acoustic-powered blues and swing
band; Reckless Kelly, young upstarts who backed Wall on "Tainted Angel";
and James Hand, a young country traditionalist (think Hank Williams meets
Wayne Hancock). The label also has released "Bullriders: Chasing the
Dream," a movie soundtrack featuring songs by Wall, the Derailers, Don
Walser, Doug Supernaw, Jack Ingram and Reckless Kelly.
"If you would have told me five years ago that I'd have a business
partner, three full-time employees and four acts, I would have said
you're crazy," Wall said with a laugh. "But actually, I knew from my
experience with Jerry Jeff's [Tried & True] label that there is a little
niche market out there for us. As long as you can keep costs down, and
the artists are really willing to tour and work the record, you can do
OK."
"Honestly, I wondered at the outset if we'd have anywhere to get this
stuff played. What's really come through for us is the Americana radio
format. It has lasted and grown little by little. Plus, because of our
* distribution deal [with Steve Earle's E-Squared/ADA], our artists get
better national and international exposure. Heck, you can even find our
CDs at retail stores.
"I'm not on a crusade," he continued. "I just write the best songs
that I can and get out there and play them. There's a lot of
Nashville-bashing going on, and frankly, it's become kind of boring to
me. It doesn't make much difference to us what the big labels are doing
over there. I mean, Cold Spring is Texas music--that's our market."
Still, Wall realizes that he and his musical comrades can't make music
solely for their own pleasure.
"There has to be an audience in order for us to make a living," Wall
said. "We've got to sell some records somewhere, or we'll go out of
business. Plain and simple.
"You try to be as pure and true to your art as you can, but at some
point, you've got to make a buck. The good news is that in choosing our
talent carefully, and scaling back our expenses, we can turn a little
profit and make music we can all be proud of. That's what keeps you
going."
