OK, it was a tiny bottle of Jim Beam. And, it was in good fun. We'll start there.
That's the beauty of a venue as intimate as Downtown Plano's cozy Courtyard Theater. You're so physically close to acts onstage it seems at times as if they're picking in your own living room. It lends itself to storytelling -- those deeply enriching, special moments you hope to hear from highway troubadours and songwriting poets. One potential complication? Well, sometimes the crowd gets rather comfortable, too.
That's what happened about halfway through Austin-based Texas country band Walt Wilkins and the Mystiqueros' set Thursday. A few chatty folks interrupted stories with funny and bemusing responses -- "No more disco!" -- but, the band kept a strong sense of humor, rolling with it and riffing off of it. A good time was had by all. We think...
But, let's back up to the beginning or at least something closer to it.
Walt Wilkins is a sometimes solo artist, sometimes band leader who has written songs covered by Kenny Rogers, Pam Tillis and Eric Church. But, perhaps his most unsung accomplishments come from a long-term relationship with Pat Green.
Wilkins is listed as a composer on Green's earliest independent efforts, including Dancehall Dreamer, a seminal album recorded around 1995 that, upon its re-release in 2001, became a founding cornerstone of the modern alt-country era. (It was, by no means, groundbreaking or a first in the genre, but its appeal to audiences of a certain generation is undeniable.) Wilkins worked with Green again on 2001's Three Days and 2003's Wave on Wave, studio albums that, for better and worse, catapulted Green to national stardom within the maligned "Nashville establishment."
The Mystiqueros are, for their part, no mere session band, though each member's respective name might be a bit less recognizable than Wilkins.' But, the lineup is a bit flux. Its core includes charismatic multi-instrumentalist Bill Small and drummer Ray Rodriguez, both of whom were in attendance last night, joined by electric guitarist Corby Schaub and special guest fiddle player Marian Brackney. Notably missing was Jimmy "Daddy" Davis, who along with Small, writes and provides lead vocals on a number of the band's songs. We're told he was visiting his mama in Tennessee. Our loss.
With such a deep "bench" filled with songwriters and versatile musicians, the claim that the Mystiqueros is "something of a Texas Hill Country super-group" holds water. That's why it was such a pleasure when Small and Schaub took center stage to tell stories and sing.
Wilkins may be given top billing -- and he's star, no doubt -- but, the Mystiqueros is a constellation.
The band shone brightly at the Courtyard Theater this week during Plano's monthly Texas Music Series. The series itself is a bit of an aberration. Plano Stages founded it in 2011, spurred by patrons' request for more regular arts programming. It's logistically challenging for a small nonprofit to produce frequent theatrical events, but that's when Joshua Jones, General Manager of radio station 95.3 The Range stepped up. He helped jump-start the music series, bringing in huge names recognizable to anyone with tangential knowledge of Texas-tied Americana music.
Want to see Ray Wylie Hubbard, Hayes Carll, Cody Canada or Billy Joe Shaver in a 321-seat renovated auditorium with a "listening room" vibe? Us too, always. There's not a bad seat in the house, and a good rule of thumb is: don't wait to buy tickets. Each of the monthly shows sells out almost immediately, thanks largely to the patrons who helped formulate the series in the first place. They've bought up most of the season tickets, at a steal.
For his part, Wilkins agreed with the value, humbly expressing his appreciation of the series and the venue itself. He praised The Range as a "radio station that actually sounds like the neighborhood it lives in." And, he offered a sentiment similar to that of many North Texans:
"Man, I love that we're in an old building," he said. "Not having been down here in a couple years, I love all the changes here in downtown."
Musically, he and the Mystiqueros took advantage of the theater setting with a mostly laid-back set lead by Wilkins' acoustic guitar and gentle harmonies -- the latter most notable during a segue into Merle Haggard's "Silver Wings" at the end of "When it was Country." They played standards "It's Only Rain" and "Trains I've Missed," and an interesting, edgier track called "Hold Trouble to a Draw" from Wilkins' coming-soon 9th solo album, due in September. Brackney impressed, adding fiddle solos on the fly, even in songs she'd never played before.
One of the night's highlights came in a cover of a 1972 song (if you know the title and original artist, we're curious). Small let loose on vocals and bass, shimmying across the small stage and laying down a funky bass line with the look of a musician playing with pure joy.
It was then that the crowd got a bit, well, confused. He set up the cover with a story about driving through New York City with the windows rolled down during a time the band was not, as it were on the current evening, "deep in the heart of Texas."
"This is Plano!" a voice shouted.
Small obviously knew that. So did everyone else in attendance, but that didn't stop the interrupting clarification from happening again. And, again -- a handful of times. We know Plano's proud and has a good sense of humor, at least most of it. Perhaps a little too proud on occasion.
"I don't wanna fight," Small deadpanned. "I am gonna need another beer..."
Then, it happened again. The very mention of New York elicited a hiss. And, from another corner of the room, "No more disco!" Then, the (joking) insult-of-all-insults, "Freebird!"
"Suddenly, I feel like Plano is so hostile," Small quipped.
"They were so friendly," Wilkins said, with a laugh. "We're gonna need a bucket of beer."
And, so a bucket of beer they got from the front of house, but not before Wilkins headed over to his guitar case and pulled out an airplane bottle of Jim Beam. "I don't even drink this stuff," he said. "It's been in that compartment for at least a couple of years..."
It was a funny moment by a band that doesn't take itself too seriously, even when things get a little awkward. But, that's what you'd expect from a group of heavy-hitters that just hit 10 years together.
Scroll through for more photos of Thursday's show:
(Oh, and -- yes, Walt Wilkins knows he looks like the Big Lebowski. He's more surprised when people mistake him for Walt Wilkins, he joked.)
