MUSIC
Calculated move WHISKEY MYERS GOES IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS ON THEIR NEW RECORD, BUT THEY’VE MAPPED OUT EVERY STEP FOR THEMSELVES. By Alan Sculley
From the first notes of the song “Tornillo,” which opens the new album of the same name that Whiskey Myers will release on July 29, it’s apparent that some new musical twists are in store from the veteran band. Horn parts straight out of a spaghetti western open the song, before it segues into “John Wayne” and the kind of crunchy mix of rock and country that has come to define the Whiskey Myers sound. And on several of the other songs — most notably on the aforementioned “John Wayne,” “Antioch,” “Feet’s” and “Mission To Mars” — robust horn lines and female backing vocals bring new dimensions to the band’s sound without altering the core sound of the band. But don’t assume that the additional instrumentation and vocals were some big calculated move. All Whiskey Myers main songwriter Cody Cannon and the rest of the band were thinking going into the “Tornillo” project was that they wanted to do something different this time around. “We never really do that much thinking about it. Usually we just go in and make a record,” Cannon said. “This time, it was a little bit different. We’d been wanting to do horns for awhile. I guess during the writing process, I was hearing, like, horns and stuff behind certain sounds. It was in the back of my mind. So I guess that was different this time. We try not to put that much thought into it, trying to find the perfect sound. But I knew on this record I didn’t want to do the same thing. I wanted to do something different.” That rather spontaneous approach to making music has served Whiskey Myers well throughout a career that now stretches back 15 years and six albums. Formed in 2007 in Palestine, Texas, the band -- singer/guitarist Cannon, guitarist John Jeffers, guitarist Cody Tate, drummer Jeff Hogg and bassist Gary Brown (replaced in 2017 by Jamey Gleaves) – wasted little time getting their career started. In 2008, Whiskey Myers released their debut album, Road of Life, and began playing shows in Dallas and on the Texas red dirt country scene. As subsequent albums were released — “Firewater” in 2011, “Early Morning Shakes” in 2014 and “Mud”
in 2016 — the band expanded their tours beyond Texas, playing shows across the United States as their grass roots following grew and the band racked up positive reviews for their brawny mix of rock and country. Then in 2018, Whiskey Myers’ career took a significant upturn when several of the band’s songs were used in the first season of the hit television series Whiskey Myers Photo by Khris Poage, provided. “Yellowstone” and the band did a cameo in the fourth episode azine’s all-genre Billboard 200 album of season one. chart. The band went into the panThe show’s co-creater and writer demic-forced break from activity Taylor Sheridan approached more popular than ever. Whiskey Myers about participating Now comes “Tornillo,” and the in Yellowstone well before the band is poised to reach an even larger public knew anything about the audience. Like the self-titled album, show – and before the band knew “Tornillo” was self-produced by the much about Sheridan. band. After working with Dave Cobb, “Taylor Sheridan called me on the one of the most in-demand producers phone,” Cannon said. “I guess he got on the Americana/country scene, on my number from management and “Mud” and “Early Morning Shakes,” called me and we just talked about, he Cannon and his bandmates felt they said he wanted to have us on and have were ready to produce themselves. a little cameo, too and told me about “We learned a lot from him,” the show and stuff like that. I talked Cannon said of Cobb. “We probably to the guys and we said let’s do it. couldn’t have done the last two “The show wasn’t even out yet or records without doing those two anything. We were on one of the first before that with him.” episodes,” Cannon said. “I don’t even That Whiskey Myers wanted to think there were trailers and shit out. take control of producing their He was telling us about the cast and albums fits perfectly with the group’s kind of the premise of the whole thing.” overall approach to their career. At the time, Cannon said, he and Nearly everything that’s been his bandmates didn’t think a whole achieved so far has been done on the lot about their involvement in band’s own terms as a completely inYellowstone but he now realizes what dependent act. That includes releasa major moment it was. ing the albums on Whiskey Myers’ “Just us being an independent own label, Wiggy Thump, and hiring band and never really trying to write out other functions such as distriburadio songs or take them to radio in tion and promotion. any certain way, we had never had a Cannon said going the do-it-yourplatform to reach millions of people self route seemed like the only viable like that at once, just like hey, in your option for Whiskey Myers, and having face, here we are,” Cannon said. turned down overtures from labels “That was the first time we ever had in the past, he doesn’t foresee a scethat happen, a platform like that to nario where the band would benefit reach those people.” from signing a label deal. Almost immediately, album sales, “Honestly I don’t want a fucking streams and crowd sizes at Whisky boss. It’s like why wouldn’t you do it Myers concerts took a jump. When yourself and own it?” he said. “I think the band’s self-titled fifth album us, as a whole, we always wanted to arrived in September 2019, it topped have this freedom of the creation of Billboard magazine’s country album stuff, and that can get lost (with a chart and hit number six on the maglabel). And as far as me personally, I
don’t know, I just like the music and writing the songs. I never gave a shit about being famous or anything like that. So doing that kind of stuff, it never really appealed to me as much as just playing the shows and trying to do a good job and make some music. Now we’re so far into it, like, hell, why would I want to do that now? I don’t want a boss. That’s what you’re essentially doing, you’re working for somebody. It’s kind of a partnership, but not really. They’re telling you what to do and giving you deadlines to make stuff. I’m not interested in that stuff at all.” With “Tornillo” ready for release, Whiskey Myers is doing what the band usually spends a big chunk of any given year doing — touring. Cannon said the group will be cautious about adding songs from the new album to the set, especially considering many of the shows will precede the release of the album. “We’ve kind of learned that process by trial and error,” he said. “You know, back in the day maybe you were excited to show people new material and stuff and you put four to six in the set and people just kind of stand there and look at you with a blank look because they don’t really know what’s going on. But we’ll be playing some new stuff on the tour coming up, I’m sure.” Whiskey Myers plays the Zoo Amphitheater on May 13. Tickets are $35-65. Visit thezooamphitheatre.com
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