Trevor McSpadden grew up in Texas Hill Country, where he was fed a steady diet of two-step and dance hall music as a child, with his dad bringing him to see some of the big acts coming through town and attending dances in the clubs with his friends, where teenagers were welcome to come “join the party.”
Once the musician bug bit him, he left Austin for Chicago, where he fronted the country act “the Hoyle Brothers.” Stepping out as a solo artist, he now has Grammy-winning producer Pete Anderson working with him and has just released his latest album “ The Only Way.”
McSpadden brings his act to Sonoma Valley on Sunday, June 17, for a late afternoon show at Rossi’s 1906 Roadhouse, kicking off at 5 p.m. We told us about his honky tonk influences, his first guitar and the “magic” of Kris Kristofferson’s “Help Me Make It Through the Night.”
Many musicians in our generation cite the Beatles on Ed Sullivan as that moment when they knew music was what they wanted to do. When did you realize you wanted to be a musician?
Well, I’m only in my 30s so I missed most of all that, but it was my dad taking me to see music with him growing up in Austin, acts like Junior Brown and Dale Watson, but the act that really did it for me was the Derailers. They had a West Coast, Buck Owens kind of sound going and I thought I’d really love to be able to play songs like that.
That first instrument you owned. What was it and do you still have it?
Oh it was a cheap Japanese copy of a Gibson called a Conqueror. It was a big guitar, a Hummingbird knock off. It was my grandpa’s and, no, we don’t own it any longer. He donated it to a local music school in Austin for kids that didn’t have instruments to play. It really didn’t bother me at the time, but now I kind of wish I still had it. I just hope some kid is playing it out there somewhere.
Who are you’re influences?
The Central Texas dance scene. My folks would get all us kids into a Suburban and drop us off at the dance halls. But it was Nick Lowe that truly spoke to me in music.
The way he captures a phrase and really has a classic sound, not retro, but classic. There’s a big difference between those two.
What CD is in your car right now?
Well, I’m driving my car now so let’s see. I like to go to the local library and just borrow CDs and have a variety of music to listen to. Looks like the two I have now are Loretta Lynn and Porter Wagoner.
Who are you playing with these days?
I’m kind of new to California so I don’t really have a band, but a roster of musicians that play with me depending on the venue. I usually like just a duo or trio but can have a big band available if the venue is right for it. This weekend I have Dave Gleason on guitar and Tim Sarter on bass. Gleason is a real honky-tonk picker with a Bakersfield feel. He gets a real Buck Owens vibe out of his Telecaster.
If you could have written one song, which one would it be and why?
Oh boy, I’d have to say “Help me Make it through the Night” by Kris Kristofferson. We play that song at about every show we do, and the simplicity of it is the magic of country western songwriting, to me anyways.
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