We're From Texas

This week, the song “We’re From Texas”, by my band Eleven Hundred Springs, debuts on the Texas Regional Radio Report. Along with the debut on this radio chart comes the designation of “most adds” and “highest debut”. For those not familiar with the band Eleven Hundred Springs, the current music scene in Texas, or songwriter Matt Hillyer; the following is an explanation of the song “We’re From Texas” (originally written & recorded in 1994, re-recorded and re-released in 2011).

When Matt first wrote and began performing “We’re From Texas”, Gas was $1.12 per gallon. The “Texas Singer Songwriter” movement, and the Monica Lewinski scandal wouldn’t be happening for another 4 years. What is now known as the “Red Dirt Music Scene” was over a decade away. The year was 1994, and with Matt’s “head start” years out of the way, his foray into the world of music was in full swing.

I will keep the history lesson and yarns of the “good old days” to a minimum, but here is a little background. Matt & Myself (Steve B., co-founder and bass player in both Lone Star Trio and Eleven Hundred Springs) have been playing music together since 1992. In 1993, while Matt was still in high school, we were already working hard with our band Lone Star Trio. In fact, our first tour to California started while Matt was technically still in high school, with me (& tattoo artist Sam C.) getting a head start in the van and Matt flying to San Francisco after leaving his last day of class at Arts Magnet in Dallas. By 1994, Lone Star Trio was doing very well in Texas and California. We rode the wave through most of 1995, but by 1996, things with Lone Star Trio managed to unravel. Perhaps a case of “too much too soon”, but it really doesn’t matter because it only took about 2.5 years for us to begin working on our (now) longtime project, Eleven Hundred Springs. (Side note, in the downtime between Lone Star Trio & Eleven Hundred Springs, Matt would write 2 mainstays of the Eleven Hundred Springs set list, “Thunderbird Will Do Just Fine” and “See You In The Next Life”.)

Ok, so now you have some idea of where Matt was coming from at the time he penned “We’re From Texas”. When first written, the lyrics were a true statement about Matt's (and my) life at the time. Collectively, we didn’t give a shit. This was a time when “normal” people weren’t (what was then considered to be) heavily tattooed. This was before cable television shows made everyone an expert on fabricating and building old cars. This was before a time where the mere participation in a talent show would ensure stardom. This was a time when a Guitar Hero was a person, not a video game. This was a time when month long tours happened without cell phones, GPS, internet, or even pagers (remember pagers?). In short, this song came about long before mainstream America co-opted (and watered down) many of the edgy elements of Me and Matt's lifestyles at the time. Does this mean that we own the copyright to everything that is (or was) edgy, cool, and earned (rather than Google searched)? Of course it doesn’t. The basic theme of this song rings true today. Enjoy doing things your own way. Enjoy and cherish the good times that you create during your youth. Embrace the things that make you unique. Be proud of where you are from. We’re from Texas, and damn sure proud of it.