Lisa Hayes: Making a fresh start ‘Somewhere Deep in Texas’ and with a little help from her friends

BY TERRY MATHEWS | News-Telegram Arts Editor

Sept 20, 2007 - At the end of 2003, after a painful divorce and the break-up of the band she had toured with for 13 years, singer/songwriter Lisa Hayes needed a new start. 

Lisa Hayes

Based in Los Angeles, Hayes was battered by the city’s competitive music scene. She was weary from the mind-numbing life of a touring musician. Her record label folded. 

So, in the spirit of a good country song, she decided to make a clean break, leave her heartaches and disappointments behind and begin anew in Austin. Three years later, with a new CD and a little help from some talented new friends, Hayes is once again ready to take on the world. 

With the release of “Somewhere Deep in Texas” next week, Hayes has opened up and laid her life bare. She’s worked through the sadness and loss of love, the brutality of the music business and now it’s her turn to call the shots. The CD is not an over-produced, over-orchestrated piece of fluff. Hayes is stronger than anything coming out of Nashville and country music these days. No lip-syncing for this girl. Just stand her up in front a crowd with a few solid musicians to back her up and watch her work some magic. It’s been a long time since a girl singer had this much power and this much talent. She is the real thing.

“‘Somewhere Deep in Texas’ is (about) my move from Los Angels to Austin,” Hayes said in a recent telephone interview with the News-Telegram. “I got a divorce and because my husband was in my band, I left the band, too. I left everything.”

Hayes, 41, chose Austin because she liked the city’s atmosphere.

“I love the live music scene here,” she said. “In other places when you say you’re play music for a living, everyone asks, ‘Does your mama know?’ In Austin, it’s okay to be a musician.”

Hayes said that Michael Thompson, a fellow musician who has most recently toured with The Eagles, took her under his wing and introduced her to a lot of new people.

“The musicians in Austin are kind,” she said. “They don’t have the same sense of competitiveness that LA musicians do. That got really old. It’s okay for you to exist here.”

The move to Austin was good for more than Hayes’ battered heart. Once the word got out that she was working on a new CD, some pretty impressive talent lined up to help her out.

After a gig at Threadgill’s, one of Austin’s most famous musical Meccas and home to the best chicken fried steak I’ve ever wrapped my lips around, Chet Himes introduced himself. Himes, a Grammy-nominated engineer, was there to record Hayes’ performance for the live XM radio show “Threadgill’s World HQ Armadillo Radio Hour,” and was obviously impressed.

“He walked up to me and said, ‘I can’t believe that I just heard  what I just heard,’” she said. “When he found out we were putting a CD together, he volunteered to engineer and mix the sessions for me.”

Drummer Billy Block from Nashville flew in on the weekends to lay down his tracks. Local bass player Jamison Toomey, Grammy-winning guitarist and dobro artist Cindy Cashdollar and Thompson also signed up to play.

Then, Stephen Bruton signed on. Bruton’s songs have been recorded by Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Little Feat and Jimmy Buffett. He’s toured with Raitt, Elvis Costello, Carly Simon and Ray Wylie Hubbard, among others. 

“When Stephen offered to help out any way he could, I knew the CD was going to turn out perfect,” Hayes said. “I had him play lead on the title track and then add mandolin to a few songs. Beautiful.”

Burton’s haunting mandolin work and Hayes’ plaintive harmonies on the track “I Never Meant to Tell You” are really in a league of their own. “His mandolin part of that just slays me,” Hays said. “I had wanted him to play on the title track and he asked me if I wanted him to do anything else. That is literally the second take you hear on the CD. It still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.”

The song is a four minutes and thirty-four second look at the aftermath of a breakup. Bruton’s mandolin and the tight harmonies Hayes laid down over her incredibly moving lead vocals will strike a chord with anyone who has loved, lost and lived with regret.   

Though Hayes had help on the CD, she is no slouch when it comes to musicianship. 

“I did my first demo in my early 20s. I was signed to my first major record label at 26,” Hayes said. “I’ve never done anything else. I’ve never held another job.”

Growing up in Oregon prepared her for the life of a traveling musician. 

“Oregon has a lot of honky tonks,” she said. “When I met Ray Benson (from Asleep at the Wheel) and he found out I was from Oregon, he said, ‘I spend more time in Oregon than I do in Texas. They know about good music up there.’”

Hayes opens the new CD with “A Fierce Love,” a tune that has heavy Zydeco overtones. I can hear this one being played at Tipitina’s in New Orleans or at the Delta Downs racetrack in Vinton.   Maybe the Louisiana stations will give it some air time. It sure makes you want to get up and dance. 

“Little Black Cloud” should also play well to the dance hall set, once they’re ready to do a slow two-step across boards.

The lyrics for “Get Yourself Home” were hatched one night when Hayes was at Pooty’s in Spicewood. She saw a boy and girl arguing  outside the little honky tonk near Austin. Hopefully, country radio will pick this one up. 

The CD’s title cut will probably get the most play on radio. It showcases Hayes’ softer side and its message will certainly hit home.

It’s a story of love. It’s a story of loss.
You tell it too much. But never enough.
And how I carried my heart to where the green grass grows.
Somewhere Deep in Texas, I’m going to let her go. 

I took a deep breath. I took a good look around.
I closed all the doors. I never made a sound.
I took a piece of my heart and laid her on the ground.
She’s buried out west where she was found.

And I moved on, but I haven’t let go. 
I’m getting some faith. I’m hoping that it shows.
I carried my heart to where the green grass grows.
Somewhere deep in Texas, I’m going to let her go.

“She Was a Beauty” is the cut getting the most reaction, Hays said. She’s received a ton of e-mails about the unique way she pronounces “bu-tay” in the song.

“It’s a strange song, bizarre even,” Hayes admitted. “It’s not what it seems to be. It’s really a song about the music industry.”

It may be a strange song, but Hayes has laid down some incredible vocals on the track. Think Janis Joplin and k.d. lang meet in a small, smoky bar and then decide to belt out a few tunes. 

Hayes’  raw power should never be reined in or varnished over with orchestras and dubbing.  I just hope country radio is brave enough to embrace her. If they do, my money says their switchboards will light up with requests for more from this talented girl singer who has lived every heartbreak in her musical stories.