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 Between albums, Charlie Robison will typically lose himself in 12-hour days on the Bandera, Texas, ranch that his family has owned since Texas was a country, raising cattle and training quarter horses with his wife Emily (of the Dixie Chicks). But between his 2004 album, Good Times, and its 2009 longtime-coming follow-up, Beautiful Day, Robison instead spent much of his time holed up in nearby San Antonio as he and Emily divorced.
Robison, whose brother Bruce is also a singer/songwriter, was born in Houston and raised on the ranch, but the local honky tonks and the musical tug of Austin ignited a passion that complemented his cowboy ways. The budding songwriter found inspiration in Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne and Gram Parsons, but fellow Texans Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark informed Robison’s songs the most.
He played in a few area bands and sang on Alejandro Escovedo’s debut album before making his music career official in 1996 with Bandera. Robison jumped to the big leagues with 1998’s Life of the Party, with Texas legend Lloyd Maines co-producing the Sony release; Life represented Robison’s lone foray onto the mainstream country album charts as 2000’s Unleashed Live (recorded with his brother Bruce and Jack Ingram), 2001’s Step Right Up and Good Times were embraced more by the No Depression contingent. He’s used acoustic guitars, fiddles, and Dobros to play honky tonk, blues, Texas border songs and rock and roll, while vigorously embracing his role as a storyteller (his tales, ranging from raunchy to wry to reflective, are dotted with images of drugs and drinking, murder and mayhem, and love and infidelity).
The self-produced Beautiful Day was predominantly written during the maelstrom that accompanies a crumbling marriage. It had actually been done for about two years, but shelved until the dust settled.
Provenance: Houston, Texas
Latest Release: Beautiful Day (2009)
© 2009 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
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