The Panhandlers

Thu Jan 16 2025 at 08:00 pm UTC-06:00

1310 N. FM 1788, Midland, TX, United States, Texas 79707 | Midland

Wagner No\u00ebl Performing Arts Center
Publisher/HostWagner Noël Performing Arts Center
The Panhandlers
Advertisement
It’s easy to dismiss West Texas as just a vast, barren wasteland void of nuance or life. Those West Texans born and bred, they often daydream of escaping the endless miles of mesquite bush pastures, cotton field patches, and iron orchard oil wells. Still, something draws them back time and again. For millennia, its inhabitants have etched out corners and dugouts to break from the wind and fight off the sun. And through it all, they attempt to capture the brazen beauty of the land and the spirit of its people in song and story. It ain’t for the faint of heart. It’s a tough, bold country.
The Panhandlers are four native sons from the outskirts of Texas society, having spent much of their lives in the high desert and southern prairie. Individually, Josh Abbott, John Baumann, William Clark Green, and Flatland Cavalry’s Cleto Cordero have long pursued that Far West Texas mythos and Panhandle lore. Scattered throughout their solo catalogs, the four frontmen have delivered earnest anthems and endearing balladry that embodies a Flatland life and South Plains dreams.
Still, that hasn’t ever been quite enough for Abbott, Baumann, Cordero, and Green, who in early 2020 released The Panhandlers. Built around a collection of organic and visceral rural reflections, hardscrabbled character sketches, and a wide open spaces state of mind, The Panhandlers thrived under the guidance of songwriting scholar and album producer Bruce Robison. With a Who’s Who of musicians in tow and recorded on analog two-inch tape at Robison’s The Bunker Studio, the pairings fit hand-in-glove for the set of windswept vignettes and honky-tonk mosaics.
Now, some three years later, they pick right up where The Panhandlers left off. Tough Country finds the four songwriters diving further into rough West Texas caliche and rich Panhandle soil, unearthing campfire compositions, forlorn ballads, romantic rendezvous, and charming singalongs. Like their previous efforts, Tough Country finds the four working with Robison together once again at The Bunker for a desert-swept sonic punch that offers hints of Western Swing, Flatland folk, and rollicking country ambiance.
Much like the plainspoken poets, dancehall desperados, iconoclast artists, and the cowboy wordsmiths they call heroes, The Panhandlers walk the fine line between romanticizing the rugged land and its hearty inhabitants with gentle acknowledgments and sincere homages, all the while blazing their own trails and reveling in the satisfaction of unveiling their own fresh spin on old traditions.
Advertisement

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

1310 N. FM 1788, Midland, TX, United States, Texas 79707

Tickets

Sharing is Caring:

More Events in Midland

Yndio in Midland
Fri Jan 17 2025 at 07:00 pm Yndio in Midland

The Hacienda Event Center

Grupo Yndio, Angeles Negros, Terricolas y Pasteles Verdes
Sat Jan 18 2025 at 07:00 pm Grupo Yndio, Angeles Negros, Terricolas y Pasteles Verdes

12610 State Highway 191, Frnt , Midland, TX, United States, Texas 79707

Midland Job Fair - Midland Career Fair
Wed Jan 22 2025 at 11:00 am Midland Job Fair - Midland Career Fair

Midland

Clint Black - 35th Anniversary of Killin' Time Tour
Fri Jan 24 2025 at 07:30 pm Clint Black - 35th Anniversary of Killin' Time Tour

1310 N. FM 1788, Midland, TX, United States, Texas 79707

Clint Black at Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center
Fri Jan 24 2025 at 07:30 pm Clint Black at Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center

Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center

Midland: 21 Day- Free Kundalini Inner Energy Awakening Meditation
Sat Jan 25 2025 at 07:45 pm Midland: 21 Day- Free Kundalini Inner Energy Awakening Meditation

Online - Zoom

Midland is Happening!

Never miss your favorite happenings again!

Explore Midland Events