Back Down Home - Beyond the Liner Notes Tony Kamel

In the mid 70's, my grandad bought a piece of land in the Texas Hill Country, built a place on it with his buddies, and called it Red Rock Ranch. Nearly 50 years later, it's still there and a big part of my family. It relates to this record because it's the place I go to isolate and work on music, especially when it comes time to buckle down, finish songs, and really think about what's working. In this episode, I sat down with my great Uncle George while we were there in the Spring of 2021 to work on the place. He's 90 years old now, and has been through all of the phases of the Ranch and talks about some of the significant things that have happened over the years. He's also hilarious, and has some killer stories - including some about all things Texan like like Gary P. Nunn, The Terlingua Chili Cookoff, and Shiner Bock Beer. Enjoy!

This is the first episode where we get into the nitty gritty of a specific song from the record (in this case, "Slow on the Gulf") and get into more details of the writing process, the recording process, but still get into where we come from. I talk with legendary Texas songwriter Bruce Robison, the record's producer and the owner of The Next Waltz (the record label that released the record) about the song "Slow on the Gulf" and why its feel and groove made it one of the most important tunes to get right. Then I talk to Bill Whitbeck, a friend, co-writer of the song, bass player on the record, and longtime bass player with Robert Earl Keen. We talk about writing the song, recording the record, and a lot about growing up on the gulf coast - in his case in LaPorte, TX. There's a video releasing at the same time as this episode that shows us recording the take we kept for the record on my socials below.

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This episode continues to tell the story of The Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe in Galveston via its new owners Joel and Angela Mora, and local songwriter Gabe Wooten. Joel and Angela bought the venue in January 2017 with the intention of continuing its legacy. We get into how they came to own it, how they run it with an artist first model, keeping it the way it is, and its importance to the community. Parts of my conversation with Wrecks from the previous day are in this episode as well. Gabe Wooten is walked in while we were talking and added some nice color to the conversation. We had this chat backstage at The Old Quarter before my show and, as is seems to go around there, the conversation turns into some weird places like hurricanes and ghost stories.

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In the first episode here I sat down with Wrecks Bell, longtime friend and bass player for Townes Van Zandt and resident of Galveston, TX. Wrecks started The Old Quarter in Houston in the mid 60's then re- opened it in Galveston in the Mid 90's. He's got some fantastic stories about the venue, ZZ Top, heroin deals gone bad, and of course Townes Van Zandt. He's a great guy and has been really good to me over the years. In my search for stories about interesting people down on the Gulf Coast, it was obvious for me to start with him.



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A podcast that accompanies Tony Kamel's debut solo record "Back Down Home" out now via The Next Waltz featuring interviews with the cast and crew about the production of the record, the tunes and writing process, analog recording, and all kinds of other things. As well as other artists and characters who dive into some of the deeper facets of the album's subject matter —the Gulf Coast especially, but also going back to day jobs, overcoming sudden changes, loss, and more. Tony calls it "a thank you to the people and places that inspired the record."

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