Iowa boy Justin Horesowsky plays Texas tunes in his homemade cabin in the Iowa timber. Texas country music is finding popularity around the world, even on the freezing farms of the Midwest. Photos by Phil & Dawn Houseal

Details:
To listen to one of Justin’s original tunes, click here. His email is horesowskyjustinr@sau.edu.

webmaster: phil@fullhouseproductions.net

Texas music takes Iowa

by Phil Houseal
Dec 1, 2010

You know Texas country music is popular when you hear it played in a hand-built cabin on a freezing moonless night in Iowa.

I was able to get back to my native Iowa over the holidays, but I didn’t manage to escape Texas.

You really can’t go home again, but you can visit the scrapbook of where you grew up. The first night back (after the 1100 mile drive), I cruised down the one-block long Main Street to make a pilgrimage to the site of my first gig. A lot had changed, but the tiny tavern where I first played drums was still there, and still open.

I spent many a wayward evening there, playing drums under the pastel wash of the Pabst Blue Ribbon neon sign, resisting the sirens of drink, smoke, and wayward women. Our little band - The Swingmasters - played classic country songs from the 1950s and 60s - Ray Price, Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Porter Wagoner - for lonely widows and old men.

Now I am the old man, and my 20-something nephews are playing the live music.

I had the chance to spend some time with one of those kids - Justin. He took me to his homemade cabin in the woods, a 10 x 20 foot structure he built himself using scrap materials, from the front porch to the metal roof. Although the outside temperature never rose above freezing for three days, inside it was toasty as a Texas beach thanks to the donated freestanding fireplace. He uses it as a hangout for his friends and cousins, who gather to talk and play music.

So what type of music do you play and listen to, I asked.

His answer: Texas country. He then launched into tunes by Reckless Kelly, Wade Bowen, Jason Boland, and Pat Green.

I was surprised an Iowa farm boy had even heard of Robert Earl Keene. Turns out Justin’s college roommate introduced him to Texas music.

“After listening to one song I knew,” Justin said. “It was like I love this music so much, I’m kind of mad I didn’t get introduced to it earlier. That’s really what I listen to.”

He started listening online, sharing it with his cousins and friends, who like to play that Texas music.

“It’s pure, it’s gruffer - the voices, the style,” he explained. “You can argue that some of Nashville country is influenced by pop. Texas country is different: it’s hardcore, it’s real.”

Seems even Iowa looks towards Texas for musical inspiration.

A similar trend happened in the 1980s, when my brother had a band that played the halls of Iowa. During my northern visits in those years, I was amazed that the hottest music he played was the Texas Two-Step, pulling herds of Iowans onto the dance floors to two-step counter-clockwise to the tunes of Bob Wills, Waylon Jennings and other Texas legends (and my brother made more money than I did playing the same stuff in places like Pat’s Hall and Turner Hall).

If you forget that Texas music is a world-wide phenomenon, you have only to look at Facebook posts from Monte Montgomery in Italy, John Arthur Martinez in Germany, and Rick Star who is syndicating Americana music around the planet, to realize how popular our music has become.

So this holiday season, don’t take for granted the rich musical culture we enjoy in the Hill Country. There are no less than 24 venues in and around Fredericksburg that offer live music three or four nights a week.

They may not be as rustic or romantic as the cabin in the Iowa timber, but they are a lot easier to get to... and warmer.