Steve Spurgin
Tumbleweed Town
Tricopolis Records

by William Michael Smith

Hey, Mister, aren't those Texas plates?
I hope you're headed home
Can I jump inside, I sure need a ride
I'm goin' back to San Antone

Originally from McKinney, Texas, Steve Spurgin headed for California in the late '60s and fell in with some hard fellows. It wasn't long before the multi-talented youngster was playing with a series of top-flight acts: Freddy Fender, Mason Williams, the Limelighters, Byron Berline, Dan Crary, the young Vince Gill. He played in such groundbreaking bluegrass outfits as B-C-H (Berline-Crary-Hickman), California, and Sundance. When he wasn't in a tour bus or a recording studio over the course of the next three decades, he was writing songs for Nashville folks like Gene Watson and Reba McEntire under the Polygram/Universal Songs banner. After cutting his ties to the commercial powers in Nashville, in the '90s Spurgin decided to try a solo act and was named Best New Folk Artist at the 1994 Kerrville festival.

Tumbleweed Town is Spurgin's second solo release and it reveals that, despite all the years of commercial country association and bluegrass picking, underneath he never lost the feel for the barrooms and song stylings of his home state. Tumbleweed Town will be a major surprise for most listeners who think they are on top of the Texas singer-songwriter scene. Spurgin isn't just good, he's stellar. Solid as a bois d'arc stump.

Of course, when you want to make a solo Texas singer-songwriter album, it never hurts to be able to call on some of your old musical compadres. Spurgin's album features an amazing cast that includes Berline, who is often mentioned as the world's greatest fiddler; multi-instrumentalist Dennis "Cannonball" Caplinger, who can burn the strings off any number of wooden instruments; steel guitarist Jay Dee Maness, whose unlistable credits include Beck, Desert Rose Band, The Carpenters, The Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo, and about 150 other albums; bassist Bill Bryson (Desert Rose Band, Country Gazette, Ry Cooder, The Dillards); mandolin-for-hire extraordinaire John Moore (Bluegrass Etc., California, The Neville Brothers, Chris Thile); and San Diego accordionist Sharon Whyte (Eve Selis Band, The Warriors). If that's not enough of an arsenal to make a country record, Chris Hillman (Flying Burrito Brothers, Desert Rose Band, Byrds) and Herb Pedersen (The Dillards, Desert Rose Band, Country Gazette and a zillion more) provide the backup vocals. If there was ever an unknown "band" with more ringers in it, I haven't heard of it.

From the opening riffs of "Going Back To San Antone," Spurgin and his band of old pros play country songs with great hooks and primo picking that would be the envy of anyone in the Texas country singer-songwriter music scene. Where most of our current crop are about as subtle as a drunk carpenter driving a nail with a 12-lb. sledgehammer, Steve Spurgin shows all the finesse and class we'd expect of a thirty year veteran who has entertained audiences all over the world. Where our current crop hammers us relentlessly with their crude references to gringo honeymoons and mindless drunken hellraising, Spurgin caresses his Texas references with all the care and savvy of a true son of the Lone Star state. With a pitch-perfect voice somewhere between Vern Gosdin and Gordon Lightfoot, Spurgin comes across as entirely authentic when he sings, "We could live in a house of logs/An old boy from Texas and his scrawny dogs/We could get fat as a couple of hogs/I'm tired of bein' lean."

No Texas record would be complete without an outlaw song, and Spurgin's "Bullet Bob" is not only entirely believable, the chorus is absolutely unforgettable. The country and Americana disc jockeys who aren't playing this one simply haven't heard it.

Bullet Bob's in the Rose Cantina, all tanked up on cheap tequila
It's best to stay away when he's around
Because he's here to earn an outlaw's pay, there'll be a funeral any day
Don't even smile when Bullet Bob's in town

Another song the "Texas music" stations ought to be playing is "San Jacinto Farewell." This is a beautiful country-folk ballad about a Texan parting ways with his Mexican wife to go fight at the battle of San Jacinto. As with all his songs, Spurgin handles the subject with delicacy, reverence, and a realism that is beyond all but our very best songwriters. His version of "Carmen," which was a Top 20 hit for Gene Watson in the '80s, handles the gringo honeymoon situation with tact and class. The track features another one of Spurgin's irresistible hooks. Grab a beer and give this one a spin and I'll bet you are singing along when the second chorus comes around. It's as Texan as it comes.

Dusty old Juarez on the old Rio Grande
It sure is handy if you need a friend
But I don't belong here your dark eyes keep warning
I'll leave in the morning, but for now please let me in

O-o-o-oh Carmen, I've had too much tequila
Between you and this Mexican moon, I'm gonna fall
El Paso lady, you're driving me crazy
In a language I don't understand, you said it all

While most of the record is straight country that features Berline's fiddle, Caplinger's dobro, and lots of tasty acoustic guitar, Spurgin recalls John Hartford's quirky bluegrass humor with "Grandma's Remedy." Grandma's remedies are a thing of the past. They won't be writing songs like this in a few years.

Now not long ago she said to me, boy, here's the family recipe
'Cause this old world's about through with me, I'm gonna hand it down to you
It's been around about a hun'erd years, kept us well through joy and tears
If you lose this, boy, I'll box your ears, now here's just what you do

Blackstrap molasses, turpentine, black pepper, elderberry wine
Two quarts of grandpa's Rebel Yell and be sure to hold your nose
Then bury it in a jug out back, wait until it's good and black
And then strain it through a flour sack and don't you get none on your clothes

Spurgin demonstrates why he was the top artist at Kerrville in 1994 with the quiet, folky "If L.A. Was A Lady." You have to have been there and done that to write this. There's no thinking this one up between fraternity parties. Spurgin's dry, unpretentious harmonizing with Hillman and Pedersen is unbeatable.

If L.A. was a lady, there'd be no paint and powder
There wouldn't be one thing about her to lead your heart astray
If L.A. was a lady she wouldn't take your gift and hock it
But she just picks your pocket and steals your soul away

Steve Spurgin lives in Nevada these days, and his modern country tune "It's a Great Place To Be (If You're Lonesome)" brings his shrewd Texas eye to the Nevadan desert. The singer's girl has left him for "a dealer named Ray back in Vegas" and he's "sailing on Nevada 95 listening to those hot wheels whine," driving through the desert. This one has Gene Watson written all over it.

It's a great place to be if you're lonesome
It's a great place to be when your heart breaks in two
It's a great place to be if you're lonely like me
And you need a new place to call home from
It's a great place to be if you're lonesome

Spurgin's family goes back four generations in Collin County, Texas. His great-grandfather hauled lumber in a wagon across the prairies from the sawmill at Jefferson to McKinney back in the day, and a number of the older historic homes in McKinney were built by the elder Spurgin. Steve Spurgin is like one of those fishing stories we Texans like to tell. He's a big one that got away. We need to do something about that. After hearing "Tumbleweed Town" (which he wrote after driving through Orla in far West Texas), I'd bet you agree.

Come on home, Mr. Spurgin. There's a thing or two you could show some folks around here.

* Steve Spurgin's Tumbleweed Town is available at www.tricopolisrecords.com His previous solo release with guitar giant Al Perkins, Distant Faces, comes highly recommended too. There's a rumor going around that Steve Spurgin might be at the Rockzillaworld Music Awards in February. We're "negotiating" with the fella.

 
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