Copyright by Craig Dwight Hillis 2011
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Copyright by Craig Dwight Hillis 2011 The Dissertation Committee for Craig Dwight Hillis Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: The Austin Music Scene in the 1970s: Songs and Songwriters Committee: __________________________________ Mark C. Smith, Supervisor __________________________________ Douglas E. Foley __________________________________ Karl H. Miller __________________________________ Kevin Mooney __________________________________ Jeffery L. Meikle __________________________________ William M. Stott The Austin Music Scene in the 1970s: Songs and Songwriters by Craig Dwight Hillis, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas At Austin August, 2011 Dedication In memory of David Norman Hillis ~ Brother Valerie Ann Hillis ~ Mother Dwight Norman Hillis ~ Father Acknowledgements This project began roughly twenty years ago when I visited the American Studies Department to inquire about their graduate program. I'd been rooting around the History Department where, at age forty-one and only twenty years behind schedule, I'd finished my undergraduate degree. I had the academic bug and I wanted to move on to graduate school. Professor David Montejano was kind enough to let me sit in on one of his graduate courses to allow me to get a feel for what graduate work involved. As the seminar wound down, he suggested that I check out the AMS program on the third floor of Garrison Hall. I looked through the courses the department had been offering over the last few semesters and after noticing subjects like film history, jazz, a large collection of topics in popular culture, and seminars dealing with drugs, alcohol, and the beat generation, I knew I'd found a new home. My third floor adventure led me to Mark Smith, we hit it off, and he's been with me every step of the way for the last two decades. In selecting a doctoral committee I was able to assemble the mentor mix I needed to address my somewhat unconventional approach to telling the story of the Austin music scene during the 1970s. Anthropologist Doug Foley set me on a productive path of ethnography and fieldwork. He taught me how to properly participate in my own rambling observations, he taught me how to bring home a relevant narrative and I patterned a great deal of this work after his books and field techniques. Jeff Meikle's solid scholarship checked my tendency for flippant tangents. His reflective analysis set a scholastic standard that I tried to keep in sight, and when he said that he enjoyed reading this dissertation, I felt a true sense of accomplishment. Kevin Mooney, or more accurately, the very good jazz-guitar-playing musicologist Kevin Mooney, was my link to the world of adult musical competency, and his encyclopedic knowledge of Texas music history filled in many gaps in this narrative. Karl Hagstrom Miller provided an invaluable contribution to this effort. Karl shares my enthusiasm for storytelling from the crossroads of scholarship, street experience, and scene studies and has been very helpful in organizing this dissertation around that triumvirate. I've never preached to a more interesting, intelligent and engaging choir and I'm sincerely pleased that Karl is willing to work with me as I continue to expand this account of Austin music history. v Aspiring writers have no better friend than Bill Stott. Bill has helped me transfer thought to word since 1992, he has provided me with a background in American literature and a set of writing tools that have served me well throughout this extended project. Bill's guidance is an energy source: His experience and patience builds skills, knowledge and confidence. I value his opinions and insights as highly as I value his friendship. Beyond any doubt, Mark Smith has been the driving force behind this dissertation and I extend to him my very sincere thanks. He exemplifies the essence of "above and beyond," he's a world-class scholar and a tremendous academic drill instructor. To Mark and to this exceptional committee, I offer my profound respect and gratitude. A special thanks to Ella Schwartz for her steady support and my very best wishes to Cynthia Freese and the faculty and staff of the department of American Studies. Thanks to Jan Reid who blazed the trail and thanks to my friend and fellow historian of the Austin scene, Jason Mellard whose insights exceptional dissertation have been invaluable signposts on this long path. To the musicians and songwriters of this very unique city I extend my heartfelt appreciation for their willingness to share their memories but most of all I thank them for the magic of their music. I'm immensely proud to call all of you friends. Thank you Bob Livingston, Gary P. Nunn, John Inmon, Ernie Gammage, Herb Steiner, Leonard Arnold, Andy Salmon, Layton DePenning, David Moerbe, Bill Browder, Michael Christian, Freddy Fletcher, Jimmie LaFave, Monte Montgomery, Mike Rieman, Larry Nye, David Fore, Travis Holland, Richard Mullen, Eric Johnson, Jamie Oldaker, Eddie Cantu, Bruce Spelman, Melvin "Buddy Lee" Dobberteen, Neil Pederson, Patterson Barrett, Brian Watkins, Mike Barnes, Tommy Taylor, Van Wilks, Mickey Raphael, Ray Benson, Vince Mariani, John Fannin, Tommy Elskes, Ben Cocke, Stephen Doster, Jay Podolnick, Allen Damron, Michael Martin Murphey, Jerry Jeff Walker, Willie Nelson, Keith Sykes, Alex Harvey, Willis Alan Ramsey, B.W. Stevenson, Rusty Wier, Vince Bell, Guy Clark, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Charles John Quarto, Lyle Lovett, Townes, and my long-time pal, Steven Fromholz. I'll be knocking on your doors soon to continue this story. And to my music-business buddies and personal friends—Joe Priesnitz, Bill McNeal, Bruce Barrett, Gary Hartman, Casey Monahan, Tom White, Vicky Moerbe, Joe Gracey, Tim O'Connor, Danna Strait, vi Joe Ables, David Cotton, Dan & Irene Strait, Earl Dolifka, Craig Clifford, Aaron Brown, Charlie Gallagher, Jeff Bader & Patti Patton-Bader, Toby Nunn, Tim Neece, Laura Martin, Paul & Susie Fagan, Clifford & Susan Antone, Charlie Hatchett, Al Staehely, Paul Roston, John Staelely, Georgia Xydes, Charlie & Janet Cobb, Rod Kennedy, Chet Himes, Kathleen & Gigi, Wink Tyler, Malcolm Harper, Dalis Allen, Bill Arhos, and my sister, Cynthia Whitaker—thank you for your kindness. Finally, my deepest thanks and love to my lovely wife, Cathy Hillis, more commonly known as "Peanut." Peanut and our children, Derek and Carmen, have been strong and steady throughout and I love them dearly. vii The Austin Music Scene in the 1970s: Songs and Songwriters Publication No: ___________ Craig Dwight Hillis, Ph. D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2011 Supervisor: Mark C. Smith Abstract: In the early 1970s a collection of singer-songwriters, musicians, and music business operatives captured the imagination of a national audience and launched Austin's reputation as a powerful and prolific international music scene. At the beginning of this seminal decade, the songs, the sounds, and the identities that took shape in Austin's music venues, studios, and back rooms gained traction in the national marketplace by cultivating a cross-cultural, cross-generational musical hybrid that came to be known as "progressive country." This dissertation tells the story of this music scene and explains why it's a story worth recounting in the course of American popular culture. The story begins by focusing on the meaning and utility of a music scene. To this end, I review a series of scholarly scene studies in an attempt to identify common currents of "sceneness" that I contrast with my findings as a participant observer in the Austin musical scene from 1967 to the present. The study then surveys the extant sources on Austin's music history, a commonly accepted history that I'm calling the "creation myth." This "myth" is expanded by introducing new voices, new interpretations, and new developments that have been under emphasized or overlooked in previous accounts. This analysis establishes the foundation for the unifying theme of this study, a theme based on viii the seminal significance, power, and durability of the song in the Austin music scene. The song was the driving force behind Austin's remarkable climate of musical creativity. The study then focuses on the local scene of the late 1960s as a precursor to the decade of the singer-songwriters. This was a highly productive era in Austin's creative history and although overshadowed by the popular splash of the 1970s, this period provided the underpinnings for music making in Austin for years to come. In the next section, the song is revisited by examining its history and its role in Western culture. Stated simply, songs are important—songs matter. They may mean different things to different people and play different roles in different societies, but they are an essential component of civilization. The discussion then expands from the efficacy of the popular song to the essence of their creators by examining the early professional careers of three prominent Austin-based songwriters—Steven Fromholz, Michael Martin Murphey and Jerry Jeff Walker. Weighing the differences in their respective styles and considering their commonalities help illuminate the process by which the song permeated the creative fabric of the period. The dissertation then explores the creative output of the Austin music scene by focusing on what I'm calling "cultural products." Certainly the songs of the era are prime examples of cultural products and are addressed throughout the dissertation. In this final segment however, I single out four examples of cultural products that are rooted in the 1970s that have either played a notable role in the historical current of Austin music or that continue to contribute to American popular culture in the 21st century.