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The latest album by RC Hall and Dawg House Studio, “Wood, Wire and Whiskey” has just been released. Listen to the album’s title track below.

Read the Review:

Wood, Wire and Whiskey, R.C. Hall's debut album, goes beyond moods and genres. In the process of delivering a complete musical experience across ten songs, his musical partnership with Texas music icon Lloyd Maines has birthed a whole new sound: Texarado. At first glance it's an unassuming dot on the musical map, but a deeper listen plays out like a dusty honky tonk where High Country Americana meets Red Dirt Country while the Blues sweeps the floors at closing time. His songs stir up memories of things that may or may not have happened, but they're so vivid and finely crafted they fit into a myriad of realties. 

"It’s a little weird to be 55 and putting out my first album," he comments. "There was never really any overarching plan, and suddenly there's fruit, so it’s kind of strange. This record is very much about not giving up and finding what's right. I'd been casting about, looking for my lot in life since I left home as a teenager. I played guitar back then, but wanderlust and adventure took prominence and I stopped making music for almost 20 years. When I finally found my way back to the guitar, and committed to it, particularly to songwriting; it was as if everything crystallized. A few years later, I decided to contact Lloyd Maines to see if he would produce an album for me. My crappy demos were enough to get his attention and, a year and-a-half later (and with the help of recording engineer Brett Neuman), we now have my first offering, Wood, Wire and Whiskey. I owe a huge debt to Lloyd, he respected my art and encouraged it. I feel fulfilled, as an artist, for the first time in my life." "These are great songs. All of them," Maines says. "They're a breathe of fresh Telluride air." 

Reflecting on decades spent literally criss-crossing most of the planet, Hall's creative process is organic in a way that's almost spiritual. His stories and music conjure up a listening experience that borders on transformative. "For me, songwriting is a sort of call and response between my heart and the Universe. Listening is so key to the process. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like I’m writing a song, so much as just writing a song down. If you listen carefully, you find that the Universe is out there already singing all of these songs. It probably sounds cliché or cheesy, but in Hinduism they have a saying, 'Nada brahma,' which means 'The World is Sound.' Sometimes I feel like that is a mistranslation and it should be 'The World is Music.' It’s wild where you can end up, when you’re always wondering what's just over the horizon."

Listen to more tracks from the album, find out how it got its name and read the stories behind the songs:

Growing up in Back Country Missouri

A profile on RC Hall, from Americana Music Magazine.

When asked about his introduction to music, RC Hall recalls, “my old man bellowing out Hank Snow tunes in the old Galaxie 500 on family road trips when I was a kid.” He adds, “I grew up in back country Missouri listening to The Beatles, Skynyrd, Iron Maiden and Zeppelin, alongside ’80s and ’90s country.”

RC has lived what to some would seem like many lives. At 55, he’s been a wrangler, ski bum, mountain guide, and even a National Geographic photographer and writer, which literally led him to the ends of the Earth, including Antarctica, Patagonia and Mozambique on once-in-a-lifetime assignments. But after suffering burnout, RC put his camera away for the first time in years, and reacquainted himself with an old friend: the guitar.