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Chanteur
Country US originaire de San Antonio (Texas).
San Antonio-born
Walt Wilkins has been called a genius, more than once, and a writer the caliber
of John Steinbeck and his voice as comfortable as a pair of old blue jeans, and
he is, and has, all of that. His crafting of story-songs, hard-edged Vocals to
sing them and a plaintive guitar have made him a fixture of the Texas music
scene (and Nashville before that). He’s put his magical touch on recordings by
new and veteran artists, too many to count.
Is he near done? Hasn’t he done it all? Double hell no.
With The Mystiqueros, Wilkins has created something of a “Texas Hill Country
super-group” that features five great singers and four great songwriters from
the heart of the Lone Star State, all of whom have made their own records and
are flush with recording credits.
Onstage and in the studio, Wilkins is joined by Bill Small (bass, percussion,
acoustic guitar), John M. Greenberg (electric guitars), Ramon Rodriguez (drums,
percussion) and Marcus Eldridge (electric guitars). Live performances around
Texas are being likened to both outlaw country and classic rock bands, and
they’re captured on Diamonds In The Sun on Tex-centric label Palo Duro Records.
Wilkins says this is the most fun he’s ever had playing music in a band in 30
years. He describes the music of The Mystiqueros (nicknamed mq5) as highly
reminiscent of ’70s country rock from Texas and the West Coast and blues and
soul that members grew up listening to and features high-quality songwriting and
musicianship, rhythm, and Vocals arrangements.
Small, who wrote and sings the new album’s title track, “Diamonds in the Sun,”
was born and raised in New Jersey, and lived and worked in New York City, Boston
and Nashville before Austin. He had played with both Eldridge and Greenberg and
had done a gig with Wilkins. “So we all knew each other,” he says, “and once we
all got on stage together, it became obvious that it was the thing to do.”
Greenberg, a busy first-call guitarist, singer and producer around the Hill
Country with four solo records, was born and raised in Oklahoma. He contributed
the song “Red River Blues” to the album and describes The Mystiqueros as “the
band every kid wanted to be in” back in the ’70s music world of rock ’n’ roll,
country & R&B: “You were generally partial to one, and I was a rocker. But
that’s the coolest part of being a Mystiquero! There are all three elements on
this record, and that’s why it was plausible to put a rockin’ song like ‘Red
River Blues’ on the same album next to a great country song about
Hank Williams.”
Eldridge, a well-respected guitarist in Texas born in Tomball who’s made two
soulful solo records, put his clear tenor voice to Wilkins’ “All These Memories”
for Diamonds. He believes playing in The Mystiqueros is a rare opportunity.
“There are no more bands like this left on the planet. … We all do what we do,
bring it and blend it with the other talents in the band,” he says. “This kind
of a thing is not planned, it just happens.”
Rodriguez, who grew up in Brownfield and has worked with several young Texas
bands and artists, sang back-up on “Big Shiny Cars” and a small part on “Honky
Tonk Road” on the album. He calls the band “a powerhouse” and the record a
timeless thing, modern but with a vintage feeling. As the youngest member of the
band, he jokes that he can still cut his own meat and that he pushes the others
with his grooves and his beat to stay up late. “We have fun on the road,” he
says. “It shows in our shows.”
For Wilkins — from his first musical influences as an Air Force brat, to his
first band at age 15 to writing his first song (homesick while studying in the
seminary) to playing own songs and writing in Nashville to his first album and
producing others’ — The Mystiqueros might just be about coming home, at last.
http://www.myspace.com/mystiqueros
Talents : Singer, Guitar
Style musical : Contemporary Country
Years in activity :
| 1910 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 2000 | 10 | 20 |
DISCOGRAPHY
Albums
| 1994 | CD PWT PWT-29 (US) |
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Bull Creek Souvenir - Talk Around It / Ruby's 2 Sad Daughters / When The Falling Is Through / Rain In Lafayette / I Will Not Forget You / Back In Love & Blue / Thinkin' 'bout Drinkin' / Into The Gray / Blue Dreams / As Beautiful As Now / Danced In The Kitchen / Adios, Friends / I Still Miss Someone |
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| 03/2000 | CD GROOVETONE.COM 752001 (US) |
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FIRE, HONEY AND ANGELS - Mechanicsville / Our Lady Of The Avenue / Moan And Whine / Ruby's 2 Sad Daughters / Salinda / Don't Make Me Do It / Sandy Loam / Lessons Never Learned / My 1st Night In Denver / I Would Not Make It Through / Big Hopes / A Little Farther West | ||
| 08/2002 | CD WESTERN BEAT WB0018 (US) |
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RIVERTOWN - Poetry / Spacewalk / Genevieve / Walnut Street / Waltz On The White Sands / One Of Those Moments / Night Rain City / Seven Hillsides / Some Men Fall / Velvet Sky / Hey Tomorrow | ||
| 11/2004 | CD Highway 29 HWY 29-0 (US) |
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MUSTANG ISLAND - I Chose This Road / Grand Ennui / We've All Got Our Reasons / Someone Somewhere Tonight / Wrapped / Long Winter / When There's No Money Comin' In / If It Weren't For You / Privileges Of Youth / One Way Rider / Tonight I Might | ||
| 02/2006 | CD Highway 29 HWY 29-3 (US) (US) |
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HOPEWELL - Going Up To Fort Worth / Standing By The Rambler / The Angels Share / Some Days A Dollar / 18 Days Of Rain / Up And On My Way / Blanco River Meditation / Above These Wheels / Absolüt Crazy / Walk Through This World With Me / Down The Track | ||
| 07/2007 | CD PALO DURO 1501 (US) |
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DIAMONDS IN THE SUN - Walt WILKINS & The MYSTIQUEROS - Trains I Missed / Honky-Tonk Road / You Can't Outdrink The Truth / Diamonds In The Sun / Get Me Gone / Just Like Hank / Red River Blues / Quiet Moon / All These Memories / The Shape I'm In / Big Shiny Cars / Stand Up Seven | ||
| 08/2009 | CD Walt WILKINS ? (US) |
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Vigil - Be Home Soon / This Is All I Know / Dear God / Grace Is Sleeping / Kingdom Come / Healing Waters / Gypsy Line / I'll See You / Trains I Missed / You're Always Safe With Me / More Like The River / Someone Somewhere Tonight / The Songs I've Sung / First Light; |
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| 2012 | CD Ride RIDE 005 (US) |
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Plenty - Just Be / Hang On To Your Soul / Ain't It Just Like Love / Soft September Night / Something Like Heaven / Rain All Night / A Farm To Market Romance / Maybe Everybody Quit Cheatin' / Like Strother Martin / Gray Hawk / Under This Cottonwood Tree / Between Midnight & Day |
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| 2015 | 2 CD Highway 29 825479936328 (US) |
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A Good Ramble : 20 Years :
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© Rocky Productions 10/06/2020
