 Courtesy: Omnivore Walter Hyatt, David Ball, and Champ Hood – Uncle Walt’s Band – were mainstays on the Texas music scene in the late 1970’s with their inspired style of acoustic musicianship and three-part harmonies. While they filled listening rooms and gained fans in Lyle Lovett and Willis Alan Ramsey, among others, Uncle Walt’s Band was unable to gain national traction. In 1983, the band called it quits and each member went onto pursue solo careers. While Ball resides in Nashville and still plays music, Hyatt died in the ValuJest crash of 1996 and Hood passed from cancer in 2001. While the band may be no more, they, and the music, are certainly not forgotten. On March 9, 2018, Omnivore Recordings will release an Uncle Walt’s Band career compilation titled Anthology: Those Boys From Carolina, They Sure Enough Could Sing. This anthology will be the first to chronicle the trio’s [who have been dubbed the Bluegrass Beatles] history, with twenty-one songs, including five previously unissued, that are sure to please longtime fans as well as welcome new listeners. Ahead of the release, David Ball graciously took the time to speak about Uncle Walt’s Band, the compilation, playing in Texas, and more. Omnivore will be releasing the Uncle Walt’s Band 'Anthology: Those Boys From Carolina, They Sure Enough Could Sing' on March 9th. How did the project come about? It’s kind of an odd story how this all came together, I was watching this movie about Big Star, a band who had such great promise but never broke through, and in the middle of the movie, I recognized a song Champ wrote. Heidi (Hyatt’s widow) and her partner contacted the company who was in charge of the movie and lo and behold, it was Omnivore. They struck up a conversation about Uncle Walt’s Band and here we are. Heidi was a big supporter of everything Walt did and was instrumental in getting this out. She had everything organized, so I didn’t have to lift a finger (laughing). Did you have a hand in choosing which songs made the compilation? You know, I let them pick and I’m planning on waiting until it comes out to listen to it. I do think it’s a pretty good selection of what we did though, and I’m especially glad they included “Sittin' on Top of the World” because it was such a big live show number. It was an old Bob Wills' song, but we did our own thing with it, which was something Walter and Champ were really good at.  David Ball. Courtesy: Conqueroo In the beginning, how did the three of you come together to form Uncle Walt’s Band?
I had seen Champ and Walter play as a duet for about a year and I thought they were fantastic. It was the best music I ever heard and I knew that I wanted to be around it, so I followed them around and bugged them until finally, they let me get up to sing a song. The first few times were funny because Champ would say “And here’s little David Ball to sing ‘My Shoes Keep Walking Back To You” and I’d get up and sing it. (laughing) It was a lot of fun. Uncle Walt’s Band was originally from Spartanburg, S.C., then you moved to Nashville in 1972 where Willis Alan Ramsey encouraged you to relocate to Texas, where you found a welcoming audience. We were up here in Nashville starving to death and he invited us down to check it out and play a few places; so that’s what we did, and it turned out that Texas was a wonderful environment for our music. We were different from everyone else, and I think that’s what helped us. Walter wrote a lot of great standards, melodic ballads, that had a lot of harmonies and were very pretty to listen to. But then we did other things, like hopped-up swing with Champ playing some pretty hot licks on the guitar. Walt, too, had a huge repertoire of crazy stuff that he did on the guitar; you didn’t know what you were going to hear next and Texans really embraced that. Two of the special places in Texas you played were the Waterloo Ice House and the Armadillo. The Waterloo was really our comfortable home base. We could go in there, play anything, and have a good time. We didn’t play the Armadillo a lot, but we got to open for the Pointer Sisters and Taj Mahal there. In fact, every time after the first one, Taj Mahal would request that we open up for him. He was pretty cool. The great thing about Austin is that it had so many different places to play, including a lot of listening rooms. We never did play the big dance halls, but when we were done playing our shows, we’d go and listen to those bands, who had drums and steel guitar, and did things differently than we did. These places in Texas knew what was happening in music in the larger scene, but they also showcased local acts like Willie Nelson and Jerry Jeff Walker. It was a great mix. There was really nothing like it. You’ve put out solo records and had a successful career after UWB. Do you still play out? It took me about five years to get going, but I had a good long run in Nashville. I got to make a record with a major label [Thinkin’ Problem], which was pretty exciting, and play all over the place. Then, it got to the point where I was able to do it all myself, so I put out a record on an independent label and that's still what I'm doing today. I have a small band and although we play some of Uncle Walt’s Band material, it’s more on the Ray Price side of country. Will this be the band that you will be with when you play supporting this record? That’s another band I have with Warren and Marshall Hood [Champ's son and nephew respectively]. We have played about ten to fifteen shows in Texas over the past six months and we’re going to go out together to promote this Omnivore release. I especially like playing when it’s all acoustic and am so comfortable with these people. It’s going to be very enjoyable. So lastly, when you have the time, what is it that you like to listen to? I don’t like to have too many influences, but if I’m going to put something on and really listen to it, it’ll be something like Louis Armstrong’s “La Vie En Rose.” I like listening to horn players. DAVID BALL & THAT CAROLINA SOUND pay tribute to UNCLE WALT’S BAND CD release show for Omnivore Recordings release of Uncle Walt’s Band Anthology. An astounding array of special guests to be announced including Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Marcia Ball, and Walter & Heidi Hyatt’s children. WHEN: Friday, March 9th WHERE: Saxon Pub 1320 S. Lamar Blvd. SHOWTIME: 9 p.m. Tickets: $25-$35 Uncle Walt's Band on Facebook David Ball Website David Ball Facebook
2 Comments
Jody Wendinger
2/28/2018 04:57:37 am
David Ball PLEASE come and Perform in MINNESOTA!!!!!
Travis Bosley
3/1/2018 11:34:09 pm
Let me promote you in Oklahoma. Leave a Reply. |