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Texas Music is filled with sub-genres, from Red Dirt to swing to Americana to Texas Shuffle, and most artists find their niche within one of those groups and stick with it. Rarely, an artist will come along whose talents can’t be shoe-horned into one thing. Paul Eason, singer, songwriter and lead guitarist, defies convention.
Paul smashed onto the scene with "One More Dance." The up-tempo two-stepper shot to number 3 on the Texas Music Chart, a feat incredibly rare for the debut single of an unsigned artist. He followed up with title track "Keepin' It 'Tween the Lines," a Texas swing tune about the joys of living in and being from Texas, which made it to number 13. Throughout the debut album, he demonstrated his above-average guitar chops and intricate arrangements across a broad range of styles to set himself apart in the crowded genre.
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Often, when a new artist finds success immediately, the instinct is to throw together and release whatever he or she can in order to capitalize on the publicity, so long as it’s new, a tendency which leads to the dreaded “sophomore slump.” However, with the bigger picture in mind, Paul felt he needed time to mature as a songwriter and person before moving on, though listening to “‘Til the Movin’ Buries Me” will show you that process had already begun.
Admittedly, country was not his first Love. "You know, my parents listened to George Strait and Garth Brooks when I was a kid, so it was around, but when I first started playing guitar in junior high, it was all about rock, ska, and punk. Then I was pretty much trying to be Dave Matthews whenever I picked up a guitar."
Later, while studying jazz performance on upright bass at Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, a magnet school whose list of graduates includes New York jazz pianist Jason Moran and pop sensation Beyonce Knowles, Paul began teaching himself country guitar and finding Robert Earl Keen, Lyle Lovett and Pat Green. Rather than following some of his classmates to Julliard or Berklee after graduation, Paul chose instead to follow his heart to Texas State, on a jazz scholarship, where he could saturate himself in the heart of Texas Country and become an authentic country artist, even going so far as getting a job running sound at Cheatham Street Warehouse, the club where George Strait was discovered.
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As he began trying to incorporate Brad Paisley and Brent Mason into his guitar-playing, Paul worked to hone his songwriting. Out of this he was able to put together an album of original material which he self-produced, using a slew of great Austin musicians, such as Jason Roberts, Haydn Vitera, Roscoe Beck and Lloyd Maines.
The next step in building an unconventional style is to put together an unconventional band. He started with a rhythm section made up of classical and jazz pianist Taylor Davis and fellow members of the Texas State jazz department, bassist Daniel Rhodes and drummer Luke Richards, and began touring Texas, occasionally branching out to other states and even into Mexico. Ultimately, he added steel guitarist Glenn Shankle, formerly of Neal McCoy and Cory Morrow, and fiddle player Paul Brunner to the group to broaden the sound.
After the experience of being on the road as a frontman and occasional working as lead-guitarist for other acts, Paul and the rest of the band began work on their current album, The Mountains of Nuevo León. The versatility of styles and topics is prevalent throughout, from the rockin' "Maybe Tonight" and "Small Town Blues," the somber "Just Time" and "If You Were Really Here," to the swinging "Peanut Butter" and Latin-tinged "Tonight We Ride." The title track, written while he was living in Monterrey, speaks to the mixture of the beauty and at times unseemliness ever-present there. "Live It Up" is a classic partying tune, and "Smolder" contemplates the return of an old flame.
On his motivation in songwriting, Paul says, "I like to write songs that are closer to reality. Robert Earl Keen and Lyle Lovett write about characters that are somewhat unsavory, sometimes to the point of being completely unsavory. Sometimes, in order to be real you need to write about things that aren't very nice. But, at the same time, you want to have fun, too."
Paul and the guys are currently on the road to promote "The Mountains of Nuevo León" as the new single, adding France and the UK to their performance resumes. He continues to establish a solid foundation of who he is as a writer and player, throwing convention aside, and growing into not just a singer, but an artist.
-Luke Richards
Band bios:
Taylor Davis - Keyboards
Daniel Rhodes - Bass
Luke Richards - Drums
Paul Brunner - Fiddle
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