It just goes to show you can never underestimate the power of song.

When Chris Gougler was just a boy, maybe 7 or 8, his grandfather scooped him up, sat him down in a pickup truck and popped a cassette in the tape deck.

As they gazed across the flatness of Lubbock, Texas, toward Oklahoma, his grandfather told him, “‘I’m gonna show you something that you need to know for life.’ He put on ‘Okie From Muskogee.’” Gougler still vividly remembers what happened next. “I asked, ‘What is that?’ He said it was Merle Haggard. I said, ‘Turn it up!’”

From that moment on, Gougler and his grandpa spent countless hours together, the elder dragging suitcases of cassettes on his visits so he could educate his grandson about what constitutes authentic country music. As far as Pops was concerned, it all started and ended with Haggard, George Jones and Hank Sr.

Of course, those lessons had an effect.

“I literally wake up every day and listen to Merle Haggard,” says Gougler, now an Austin resident. “I always thought if I make a record, I’m gonna make a country record the way I know country music.”

And that’s exactly what he’s done with his self-titled debut EP. Produced by Ken Tondre (who drummed with the Kevin Fowler band for years) at Tondre’s Compound Recording Studio in Austin, the EP reflects not only Gougler’s passion for tried-and-true country, but vocal talents that prove him worthy of shouldering its traditions.

In fact, he lays it all out on the very first track, “On a Mission from Hank.” Written by David C. and Bradley Banning and Kyle Level, it’s practically a manifesto. When Gougler declares, in his rich baritone, “I’m on a mission from Hank/here to take our country back” — the kind of country that pulls couples across boot-worn hardwood floors in out-of-the-way honky-tonks, complete with “swingin’ doors” — you know he means every word.

His subject matter may lean toward the Friday-night revelry side of country, and drinking is certainly on his mind (one track is titled “Thinkin’ About Drinkin’”), but Gougler also includes the tune, “Lotta God in Them Little Towns.” Written by Erin Enderlin, Shane McAnally, Craig Morgan and Phil O’Donnell, it’s really about looking out for one another. It still happens; you just need to know where to look. And Gougler offers a map.

Though it took him a while to find his own direction, career-wise — he wavered between baseball and music — Gougler has never doubted his musical values. He got his first guitar at 14, and played in a couple of high-school bands, even winning a talent contest that led to recording a three-song demo in Nashville.

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Chris Gougler Bio                                                                                              Page Two

He got more music-biz exposure while selling merchandise for some Texas country artists. When he decided he was ready, he reached out to songwriters whose work he admired (Monty Holmes and Thom Shepherd are also among the record’s contributors).

He also had specific players in mind, and secured several of Austin’s A-listers, including bassist Glenn Fukunaga, electric guitarist Redd Volkaert, Hammond player Michael Ramos and fiddler Haydn Vitera.

Gougler had actually performed with Vitera while still in high school, sitting in at the Cotton Club in Granger, Texas (a friend’s relatives own the place). He’s been awaiting an opportunity to record with the virtuoso player ever since.

Another friend has given him a different kind of connection to his musical heroes. Her grandfather, Big Bill Lister, played with Hank, and her aunt, Leona Williams, was married to Haggard. He’s had a few chances to meet Haggard — and he got to hear, directly from Lister, the story of how “There’s a Tear in My Beer” became a hit “duet” for Hank Williams Jr. and his late father. (Thirty-some years after Hank Sr. recorded the demo, Lister found the only copy in his San Antonio attic.)

“On a Mission from Hank” is a tribute to those men, as well as his own grandfather, who worshipped Williams.

As for baseball, well, turns out that fell to his twin brother, Justin, who coaches at a high school in West Texas. A pair of preemies born months early, they share what Gougler calls “a freaky twin thing” — a bond so strong, he doesn’t think even married people could be as close.

Sounds like fodder for his next record. Which, no doubt, will be just as true to his country heart as this one.

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Media contact: Jill McGuckin, 512.217.9404; [email protected]