Cooder Graw retires from road, heads back to Llano Estacado
By Dru Willis / Special to the Reporter-News
December 7, 2006
When country band Cooder Graw takes the stage tonight in Stephenville, it will be one step closer to the end of a Texas music era. The band is breaking up.
''We have just been going at it for a long time and it's time to kind of switch things up and have a new approach on everything,'' singer Matt Martindale said in a recent telephone interview. ''It's been a long hard journey and none of us are really getting any younger and it is time for me to spend a lot more time at home really.''
Cooder Graw, known across Texas for songs such as ''Llano Estacado'' and ''Better Days,'' play tonight at Bostock's in Stephenville.
Martindale and the rest of the band have toured across the region for almost a decade playing nearly 200 shows a year. For him, it was time to put his family first and start a solo career.
''I can't be a road dog anymore. I want to put out CDs and be on the radio and let people listen to them, but I can't be playing in bars every night of my life,'' he said. ''I want to be at home with my family.''
Martindale also will go back to practicing law as a defense attorney in Amarillo, something he has been doing since June.
''I am excited to get to stay home more and get to practicing law again. I have got probably 30 criminals I am representing right now,'' he said. '' x85 It is getting busy, busier every day it seems like. It is going really well.''
Guitarist Kelly Turner will go back to working at the same business he was employed at before becoming a full-time musician. Drummer Jon Hunt will play drums in Martindale's new band and start his own solo band, while bassist Paul Baker's future is still uncertain, Martindale said.
The decision to break up was not easy, but there are no hard feelings between the guys.
''We get along great,'' Martindale said. ''There is not any bad blood between us or anything. There was not a violent exchange or anything. We all sat down and kind of decided that it was just time to do it.''
December 7, 2006
When country band Cooder Graw takes the stage tonight in Stephenville, it will be one step closer to the end of a Texas music era. The band is breaking up.
''We have just been going at it for a long time and it's time to kind of switch things up and have a new approach on everything,'' singer Matt Martindale said in a recent telephone interview. ''It's been a long hard journey and none of us are really getting any younger and it is time for me to spend a lot more time at home really.''
Cooder Graw, known across Texas for songs such as ''Llano Estacado'' and ''Better Days,'' play tonight at Bostock's in Stephenville.
Martindale and the rest of the band have toured across the region for almost a decade playing nearly 200 shows a year. For him, it was time to put his family first and start a solo career.
''I can't be a road dog anymore. I want to put out CDs and be on the radio and let people listen to them, but I can't be playing in bars every night of my life,'' he said. ''I want to be at home with my family.''
Martindale also will go back to practicing law as a defense attorney in Amarillo, something he has been doing since June.
''I am excited to get to stay home more and get to practicing law again. I have got probably 30 criminals I am representing right now,'' he said. '' x85 It is getting busy, busier every day it seems like. It is going really well.''
Guitarist Kelly Turner will go back to working at the same business he was employed at before becoming a full-time musician. Drummer Jon Hunt will play drums in Martindale's new band and start his own solo band, while bassist Paul Baker's future is still uncertain, Martindale said.
The decision to break up was not easy, but there are no hard feelings between the guys.
''We get along great,'' Martindale said. ''There is not any bad blood between us or anything. There was not a violent exchange or anything. We all sat down and kind of decided that it was just time to do it.''
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