Tommy Spurlock Comes Home to Texas

Producer/Musician plays homecoming concert featuring Garth Hudson (of The Band) at Austin's Saxon Pub on July 5, 2005.

(PRWEB) July 1, 2005 -- Tommy Spurlock moved to Nashville, TN, in 1986, to be closer to the music business.

The Ft. Worth native was already well known as a talented multi-instrumentalist, best known for his steel guitar work. Beginning as a teenager in the 1960s, he had played with Delbert McClinton, Jon Wayne, members of The Call and The Band, etc. Producer Paul Worley suggested that Tommy move to Nashville-to work with Highway 101 and to pursue his dreams of producing.

In typical Spurlock fashion, in other words, completely unorthodox, he set up his Nashville studio in a pair of converted Pullman train-cars near its historic Union Station.

The train car studio, Spurlock insists, was close to Music Row, but it wasn't Music Row!"

Despite some logistical challenges, such as waiting for occasional trains to pass, the studio was a special place for music-making. A place, in the words of songwriter Chip Taylor, where Tommy let the angels in."

In addition to producing demos for the likes of legendary songwriters such as Don Schlitz (On the Other Hand"), Spurlock produced well-received albums by independent artists such as songwriters Dave Olney, Marshall Chapman and Chip Taylor. At the same time, he was working as a top session musician, recording and touring with the cream of Music Row including Shania Twain, Toby Keith, David Ball, Jim Lauderdale, Rodney Crowell and Roseanne Cash.

Through his friendship with Crowell, Spurlock hooked up with Brian Ahern, legendary producer of Emmylou Harris classic 1970s albums. He helped Ahern most notably on George Jones Bradley Barn Sessions" (1994).

In the meantime, Spurlock was assembling a cast of characters--musicians and songwriters--around his train-car studio. These ranged from established writers such as Earl Bud" Lee (Friends in Low Places") to Music Row outsiders such as Vanderbilt-educated university professor Luke Powers.

With his left-of-center studio and eclectic musical tastes, Spurlock began to feel stifled by the Nashville system.

Theyre all these great players in Nashville," he says, but you hear the same half dozen guys on every track."

Its the same with writers," he adds, everythings homogenized."

Especially when he started writing with Dr. Powers, whose tastes run from William Blake to Hank Williams, Spurlock realized these songs are great, but theres no place for them in Nashville."

Rather than fight the oligarchs of Music Row, Spurlock followed the steps of friend and mentor Willie Nelson, and made the move from Nashville to Austin.

In 2004 he bought a piece of property in Spicewood, within sight of Willies windmill, and built a home with a state-of-the-art studio.

With his home and studio completed, he has begun working on a number of projects: a Spurlock solo album, a record with Nelson Ray, (Willie's grandson), a Hymn record featuring Garth Hudson and a Musical/revival on the Kennedy Assassination (including, among guests, vocalist Leon Rausch of Bob Wills fame).

He makes his first official" live appearance on the Austin scene with a July 5th gig at The Saxon Pub. Spurlock" will feature Garth Hudson and other special guests including Elana Fremerman, Ponty Bone and Cindy Cashdollar.

###