I had the pleasure of conducting an interview with another nominee of the Texas Music Awards. Chip Murrey and the Texas Underground have been nominated for the category of «Rising Star». It is an honor to have talked with Chip Murrey and Texas Underground.

1. How did you start in the music business?  I started playing guitar when I was 15.  I was in my first band shortly after and gigging.  I spent years playing rock and roll, and playing small gigs more for a hobby than anything.  About 3 or four years ago I was introduced to the Texas country/alt music scene and immediately fell in love with its sound and its mix of country, outlaw country, and rock and roll.  It was then that I started writing my mix of Texas Country and Texas Alt music that has become the sound of Texas Underground.  I loved the openness to the scene where there was not a canned cookie cutter progression, style, or sound you had to affix to any song.  It was freedom for a songwriter like me.  I wound up entering a singer songwriter contest, and through that I met a DJ from an area radio station who began to follow us and wound up encouraging me to record our first CD “Paydirt”.  
 
2. What were your musical inspirations and how were you able to form your own style of music?  I worked in my family’s auto shop at an early age.  The mechanics always had the old Texas country music playing on the radio, and I used to know all the words and sing all the songs played by Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, George Jones, and others.  Growing up my father and uncle had a deer lease in Llano, Texas.  We spent many years enjoying the hill country and we used to listen to Willie and Waylon on our trips back and forth from Dallas to Llano.  I also grew up in the era of what we now call classic rock, and the many years of covering bands from Aerosmith to ZZ-top to Lynyrd Skynyrd to Pearl Jam and Pink Floyd.  When my friend introduced me to Texas music, he got me to listen to “Magnolia” by Davin James and I was hooked.  I started listening to every Texas artist I could find and began to learn many of their songs.  My writing style was also influenced by my fellow band member and good friend Paul Sisson, whose excellent pedal steel sound I began to introduce into my writing style including some very interesting sounds.  A listen through “Paydirt” and you can hear all these different influences coming together.  The Country, the rock, the current Texas artists along with Texas Underground’s big powerful sound.  You can hear for instance the influence of Pink Floyd in the final steel lead of the waltz “Summer’s Gone”.
 
3. How was Texas Underground formed?  Texas Underground started on the back porch of a good friend and drummer.  Jim introduced me to the Texas Country I play today, but it was just a couple of buddies sittin’ on the back porch writing and singing songs.  We almost instantly added our good friend and steel player Paul Sisson and recruited a local bass player just so we could take what we were doing and start gigging.  Over time we replaced the bass player and went through a bunch of musicians before finding our current bass player, Mike Ray.  Just about the time we were starting to get the gigs really lined up, Jim Bownds had to leave the band for personal reasons.  That was a tough time, but we all stuck with it, and we finally found a replacement in drummer Mike “Mad Dog” Madden. 
 
4. What was the inspiration behind ‘Pay Dirt»?  Paydirt is an accumulation of work reflecting life in a small part of east Texas.  Its ancestry, life experiences, its relationships, and very much its feelings and emotions.  “Texas Heat” is a song of long distance passion that culminates in a mid day rendezvous on a hot Texas day.  “Waitin’ on a Train” is a song of burned bridges and new beginnings.  “Manaba” is a female Navajo Indian name that means “return to war” and is a song about revenge and history.  “Who Dat Der” is a song about an east Texan’s trip across the border into the bayous of Louisiana.  “Granddaddy” reminisces about a grandparent’s love and a long lost relationship. 
 
5. What was your reaction when you found about being nominated for the TMA?  Honored… I had the feeling that the project we have worked so hard for is being recognized for being not so ordinary.  People are appreciating what we have done.  We always felt that our work was something a little different and the sound and songs we developed were something extra-ordinary, and it was quite an affirmation to have others recognize that. 
 
6. Have you done concerts in other parts of the country?  We have yet to travel out of Texas, but we’re sure not above it! 
 
7. What is the style of Texas Underground?  Chip Murrey & Texas Underground is diverse musically, yet grounded in the origins of its influences.  The TUG sound is big and bold with a little raunchy side.  Not ordinary. 
 
8. What is your advice for those who want a career in the music business?  Our number one bit of advice for making it in the music business is don’t quit.  Keep honing your musical skills, keep writing your songs, find others with the same passion for your band and to befriend, and keep showing up and putting it out there.  The music business is rough and you have to sell it even when you feel you’ve taken two steps back, and you WILL have days like that, but you have to keep pushing ahead and seeking others who can help separate you from all the other bands out there. 
 
9. What would you like to say to your fans?  I cannot praise our fans enough!!! They have really come out in support of Chip Murrey & Texas Underground.  It is because of yall that we have pushed on and are experiencing a mark of success in many different facets!  Thank you so much.  Your love is not unheeded. 
 
Thanks again for taking the time to be in this interview. Best Wishes.  Its my pleasure, Roberto, and thank you for asking me.