Josh Abbott Band

Genre:  Southern Rock

Bio:  Josh Abbott-the founder, lead singer and chief songwriter for the ensemble-evinces a slight Steve Earle character: breathy, fiery, intense.

"The most important idea that I write songs with is that they're autobiographical," Abbott says. "Nearly every song I write is a true story of mine, or of someone I know."

That truthfulness breeds passion for the material. And that passion comes through in the performances, both in the recording studio and on stage. It's why the Josh Abbott Band has quickly become a Texas institution, selling out many of its shows in the region-and why its talents can't be confined for long to the Lonestar State.

Texas has its own sound within country, and acts have been able to make a living inside its borders while the rest of the U.S. looked the other way. But the walls that once separated the state's multi-genre sound from country's mainstream dropped for many of its most important acts in the last decade. After more than 15 years as a live Lonestar mainstay, Jack Ingram won the Academy of Country Music's Top New Male Vocalist award in 2008. The rough-and-tumble Randy Rogers Band claimed a pair of Top 10 country albums, Pat Green picked up a trio of Grammy nominations, and the Eli Young Band broke into country's Top 15 singles chart for the first time in 2009.

"Those guys paid their dues by playing a lot of venues where they probably got paid $500 and a case of beer," Abbott notes. "Texas music wasn't really being played on the radio very much. But now because of the hard work of all those guys, over time, it's become kind of its own genre and now all the stations in Texas and Oklahoma play it, and it's been able to create a whole new environment of music for us."

It was that very environment that bred the Josh Abbott Band in the first place. While studying communications and political science at Texas Tech in Lubbock, Abbott and his Phi Delta Theta comrades frequently partied at the Blue Light Live, a downtown club on Buddy Holly Avenue that's been a linchpin for such hard-scrabble acts as Cross Canadian Ragweed, Wade Bowen and Golden Globe nominee Ryan Bingham.

After doing a few acoustic open-mic nights at the Blue Light, Abbott and three frat buddies formed a complete band and started playing the club, where they were greeted by a full house their first night. Word spread quickly about the Josh Abbott Band, and soon they were opening shows for the acts they were trying to emulate: Cory Morrow, Pat Green and Robert Earl Keen, among them.

Abbott quit his pursuit of a masters degree to devote his time fully to the band. He'd completed his course work and needed only to finish his thesis to wrap up his education. His family and friends thought he was nuts. Abbott, however, needed to commit to the music.

The band quickly evolved. Fiddler Preston Wait-who trained at South Plains College in Levelland, where the alumni include Lee Ann Womack, Natalie Maines, songwriter-guitarist Jedd Hughes and Ricochet's Heath Wright-was hired to play on the band's first demo and soon joined the lineup permanently. When the original rhythm section dropped out, Wait brought in fellow South Plains students Daniel Almodova and Ed Villanueva, and JAB took on a more aggressive sound.

Drew Womack, formerly with Sons Of The Desert, co-produced the vocals for their first complete album, Scapegoat, in Lubbock. A duet from that release, "Good Night For Dancing," featuring Charla Corn, gave them a second hit in the band's homestate and was one of the Top 15 songs of 2009 on the Texas Music Chart.

For She's Like Texas, Abbott enlisted Eli Young Band associate Erik Herbst to co-produce the album in Denton. The difference is noticeable. The songs and arrangements are more focused, the sounds have more clarity, and there's a smart cohesiveness to the project, even when it veers from its central sound: bringing in Kacey Musgraves for a duet on "Oh, Tonight"; employing Roger Creager and Trent Willmon as guests on "End Of A Dirt Road"; or ending the guitar-centric collection with a piano-based ballad, "Let My Tears Be Still." "All Of A Sudden," released in advance of the album, became a Top 10 hit on the Texas Music Chart.

The Band: 

Josh Abbott:  Vocals, Acoustic Guitar

Preston Wait:  Fiddle, Electric Guitar

Edward Villanueva: Drums, Comic Relief

James Hertless:  Bass

Caleb Keeter:  Electric Guitar 

Link for more information on Josh Abbott Band: http://www.joshabbottband.com/

Check out a full list of Corpus Christi Bands here on The Coastal Wave.  Corpus Christi has many great venues with tons of great, live music.  Look for upcoming shows of Josh Abbott Band here on The Coastal Wave, the premier Calendar of Events for Corpus Christi and The Coastal Bend.