Austin, Texas singer-songwriter Chris Beall is the son of a motorcycle racer from a small town in west Texas, but doesn’t regard his own craft as a test of speed. Beall considers himself an equal-opportunity song “catcher”. “I’ll take them any way they come” he laughs. “Some songs are fun to write, some are hard and take years to complete. Some songs are agreeable, and some want to fight me all the way. I’ll take them all.”
‘Nothing Good Ever Came Around‘ is similarly a slow burner of a song – leisurely taking the measure of a small town 150 miles from anywhere. The dust of decades of neglect blow through it, as the young folk move to the city to get the prospect of something instead of living through a lifetime of nothing to do. Chris Beall told us about the song: “Traveling as much as I do (or DID, anyway) I see all sorts of places with all kinds of people; towns that embody the community and vice-versa. There’s evidence of hope, peace, and love in some of these towns…and there’s hopeless forfeit in others. You can tell a lot about a people by their town. I later realized that I wrote this song as an effort to express depression—in a way that can be seen; describing the area around it. For those of us familiar with that, you know what I’m talking about.”
‘Nothing Good Ever Came Around‘ is taken from Chris Beall’s new album ‘Abilene‘, which was recorded at Jumping Dog Studio (Ron Flynt’s from the band ‘2020’ place), Jayme Ivison’s Rockpile Recording, and his own studio Beallstreet Studio. In addition to Beall, ‘Abilene’ features drummers Fred Mandujano (The BoDeans, Hayes Carll), Pat Manske (Alejandro Escovedo, Ray Wylie Hubbard) and Jim Echels (Bellesounds, Emily Shirly). Harmoni Kelley (James McMurtry, Kenny Chesney) is the electric bassist on the album. Geoff Queen (Bruce Robison, Reckless Kelly) played steel guitar. Piano and organ duties were handled by Lewis Stevens (Freddie King, Delbert McClinton) and Ron Flynt (2020). Walt Wilkins (Pat Green, Ricky Skaggs) and Tina Wilkins sang background vocals. Creative guru Jayme Ivison engineered half of the tracking sessions for the album, and co-produced. “He is a force of nature” declares Beall. “He’s a multi-instrumentalist that doesn’t play anything on the album; and a good, good friend.”
Alway been a wonderful talent and deep soul.