Artist:     Uncle Walt’s Band

Album:     Recorded Live at Waterloo Ice House

Label:     Omnivore Recordings

Release Date:     2.5.2021

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Synchronicity. Walter Hyatt and I shared it in buckets during the decade we knew each other, and it still gently turns up a quarter of a century after he “left the building.” After living with this CD for a week, I thought I’d give it another spin as I wrote about it. Just as “Uncle Walt,” Champ Hood and David Ball start grooving away on the opening track, “If I Don’t Stop Crying (I know I’m gonna bring down rain),” it starts coming down like cats and dogs outside, and I smile. ‘Cause here’s the rub—the tune is an upbeat toe-tapper blues about water getting thrown on a once-sizzling relationship. Metaphysical? That’s how Walter rolled with many of us.

By the time they finish this outing of 21 tracks with a dazzling Brazilian jazz vocal, you’ve gone on a musical trip that touches on most everything that has been stuffed into the bag marketeers like to call “Americana.” These live recordings from an iconic Austin venue were made long before that term existed.

This remastered and enlarged time capsule with some unreleased sides, demonstrates why Uncle Walt’s Band had a cult like following before Austin City Limits started broadcasting. Formed in Spartanburg, South Carolina, they were encouraged in the early ’70s to leave Nashville, where they were struggling to get traction and go further west by Willis Allan Ramsey, a troubadour who was then the toast of Austin. They found a warm reception in Austin that was strongly bolstered by both listeners and other around-town musical artists like Jerry Jeff Walker, who has often repeated this, “ I would go see Uncle Walt’s Band at the Waterloo Ice House, drink scotch and soda, listen to Walter sing “Ruby” and everything would be OK.” Walker would record Uncle Walt’s songs, as would many other artists like Junior Brown, Shawn Colvin and Lyle Lovett, who was inspired by them as a listener to pursue the career he has.

Lovett has been a steadfast friend and supporter ever since. Recording UWB songs and singing about them in his own songs with lines like “Those boys from Carolina, they sure enough could sing.” Their a cappella kickoff to “Stagger Lee” in this set bears that out. They sure could swing too, with Ball’s growling bass, Hood’s hot licks on guitar and fiddle, and Walter Hyatt’s rhythm guitar that knew every chord Mel Bay did. He used them sagely, whether writing songs for thinkers or drinkers.

As for wider commercial success, Warner Brothers did come calling, but that’s another story. I know that frustration and the toll it can take. In the early ’80s they went their separate ways, continuing to make music until the untimely deaths of Hyatt and Hood. Ball, the band’s sole/soul survivor, did have major-label country hits in the ‘90s. As major league players, UWB always did swing for the fences.

—Ken Spooner

Full Disclosure: Post Uncle Walt’s Band era, I had a close friendship and songwriting relationship with Walter Hyatt, and still miss him 25 years on. I’m grateful that Omnivore has put out not only this recording but also the anthology Those Boys From Carolina.