#williamdowning

William Downing was my former bandmate, and my friend.  I met him after an Evelate show in 2005, outside a suburban dive bar at 2 in the morning.  He played a couple songs for me in the parking lot, and his producer, Rob Lewis, asked me if I'd like to help him make a record.  I said that William's songs Immediately struck me as brilliant, and I'd love to.  We made three albums together over the next 7 years, and Rob also ended up producing Cold-Hearted Bastard (Huge Sally, 2008), and Searchlights In Mexico (2008) with me as well.  William's third album never got released; he passed away in May 2012 before turning in the final artwork, liner notes, credits, etc.  The recordings, however, were finished and mastered, and the album was to be named "I Ain't So Dumb". William lived his last days in the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas, in the town of Mercedes.  He recorded all of his music up in Portland Oregon with me, flown out and executive-produced by Rob Lewis.  After his 2nd album, "Claire Avenue", experienced some success, William immediately put his success right back into the community.  He helped Huge Sally find our footing: setting up shows, encouraging us, and lighting our fires.  The same with Chris Baron Music.  And, I even brought The Tummybuckles down to Texas one year, and Will embraced that band as if it were his own. His heart was full, and his head was strong.  I remember driving around Texas with him, going between Mercedes, Austin, and Brazoria County, listening to music (I ended up covering "Bandit", from Neil Young's 2006 album Greendale, because it was Will's favorite track), talking about anything and everything, and even handwriting out some of his newer lyrics for me while I took a turn driving. One time, on one drive, we listened to nothing but Claire Avenue the whole time, roughly ten times through, over and over, without a break.  He was so proud of that album, and for good reason: it is INDEED his finest work, through and through, in my opinion.   I was proud to be heading down to perform a brief tribute set in his former hometown of Mercedes TX last Saturday (Feb 21st).  His friends and former neighbors (and some family) set up a music festival at the restaurant La Palapa, where Will used to host open mics and perform regularly, trying to get a scene going.  Huge Sally was there, Bob Coleman was there, Ricky Santori (sp?) was there...and a real sweet local Mercedes band called The Texas Sweethearts (look 'em up!). I have been re-learning all of Will's recorded music, and set up a short tour between Mercedes, Houston, Surfside, and Lake Jackson, where much of his family lives.  Check out https://www.facebook.com/ChrisBaronPlaysWillDowning, a page created by K8npdx to promote this series! More blogging on all of this later...