Adventure is in your soul when you're a genuine Texas-bred music man.
That's why when you pluck a singer like Willie Mack out of the lone star state and throw him in Nashville, he's still gotta ramble.
It's that restless spirit that Mack channels so perfectly on his second album, Headlights
And Tailpipes, his first release for Open Road Recordings. The album is all lonely highways, fast cars, open skies and racing back to get to the ones you love.
"It seems like I'm just happiest when I'm moving," says Mack. "Traveling, being in a hurry to get somewhere, off to see something new. That's just the way I am. I really got into writing songs where you’re saying goodbye to someone you're leaving, or you're on your way to somebody."
The album's title track, Headlights and Tailpipes, is about exactly that. "Back when I was engaged to my wife, she was still in Texas and I was writing songs in Nashville and going to school," says Mack, recounting his early days as a performer and songwriter "It was a 12 hour drive and sometimes I would skip class on Fridays, hop in the car, and drive all night just to see her. I guess that’s the energy you have when you're young and in love."
That same energy rocks off every song in Headlights And Tailpipes, his dynamic new record that recalls Dwight Yoakam and Steve Earle.
Mack traveled from one end of North America to the other to record.it, first doing time in Toronto, Ontario with Jason McCoy of The Road Hammers producing. From there it was off to Nashville and recording sessions at The Groove Room. Finally he traveled back to Texas to stomp and shuffle some songs out with his live touring band mates.
But buzzing first single "Gotta Get Me a Cadillac" was more the result of misadventure than adventure. "McCoy and I were in Nashville," says Mack. "We went to lunch and McCoy's driving his big white pickup truck and I'm along with him and this green Cadillac pulls right in front of us on 17th Avenue. McCoy slams on the breaks and says, 'Dang, I almost had me a Cadillac.' He looked at me, and I looked at him and by the time we got two more blocks to the office we had the song half-finished."
Considering Mack has written for the likes of Sara Evans, George Canyon, the Oak Ridge Boys, Collin Raye, Mark Wills, Sons of the Desert and Adam Gregory, it's no surprise he can effortlessly turn such moments into song. The sweet number "Golden Years" came from a wild family meal at the Cracker Barrel.
"My wife and I have two kids, a seven year old son and a four year old daughter. So, we're here at the Cracker Barrel and my daughter's got food in her hair and on her face and my son is being ornery. As a parent, you just want to get the check and slip out with your tail between your legs feeling awful. Then right before we leave, this older gentleman comes over and goes, 'I just want to tell you, these kids you have.' And we're scared to death of what he’s gonna say. But he says, 'These kids you have, they're beautiful children. I just want to tell you it's these years when they're growin', these are the golden years.' As a parent, of course, I was moved by this statement. "But I was also thinking, hey, that sounds like a great song! The moment we left I was desperate for a pen."
It's these adventures great and small that make Headlights And Tailpipes. And it's also why a Texan in Nashville travels up to Canada to record part of his record. Mack's travels to the great white north didn't happen by accident either.
"I started to get a few Canadian artists recording my cuts. I was wondering how they were they finding out about me up there. So I started looking into it and meeting a lot of these artists and making friends and writing partners. It's so much more alive and interesting in Canada than what we're doing in Nashville," he continues. "Up there, everyone's doing their own thing — like Corb Lund, The Road Hammers or Johnny Reid — they all have their own voice. I really want to be involved in something like that. So I'm experimenting to see how the Canadian industry will receive me."
It'll be with open arms, no doubt. Mack may have developed his adventurous nature in the heart of Texas, but traveling the open roads and great distances are universal. It's that energy that defines Headlights And Tailpipes.
"To me there's just an exciting energy about the album. It's raw, edgy, exciting fun. I didn't want it to sound too slick. I wanted it to sound fun and moving, all the things I grew up loving. And I think it accomplished that."
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