“It’s American music, rooted in the culture of the West,” Wall says. “Call it what you like.”
All of the songs on the album were penned by Wall, except for “Hello, I’m An Old Country Song,” which he co-wrote with fellow Austin honky-tonker Dale Watson. Describing himself as a devotee of the “stone-cold country” old school (Hag, Jones, Willie & Waylon), Wall says he’s also a fan of Hemingway and Faulkner, whose craftsmanship and storytelling show up in the bones of Wall’s own songs.
The album also features a big assist from Cody Braun, one of the co-founders of Reckless Kelly, who lends big dollops of fiddle, mandolin and harmony vocals. “Cody showed up (at the sessions) to see how things are going, and we added him to the band,” Wall says. There is a nice bit of symmetry there, since it was Wall’s encouragement and mentorship that in part accounted for Reckless’ move to Austin in the late 1990s.
Montana and the Rocky Mountain region form what might be called Wall’s West of the imagination. It’s his inspiration and his refuge. “(The song) ‘So Long, I Love You,’ is about a guy leaving and heading west,” Wall says. “And that’s what I do — point the truck to Montana. It was a great escape to me as a kid, and still is in the back of my mind — even though that Montana doesn’t exist anymore.”
 “I’m always looking at horizons and space,” says Wall, who cut his musical teeth in Jackson Hole and Montana. “There’s always going to be highways, ranchers and old cowboys in there. It’s a little different from the Nashville/Eastern perspective.”
Released on his own Cold Springs Records, EL WESTERN MOTEL is co-produced by Wall, Merle Bregante and acclaimed producer Lloyd Maines (Dixie Chicks, Robert Earl Keen). Together, the trio crafted an intimate, mostly acoustic suite of songs built around Wall’s hand-crafted, big-sky lyrics.
Heretofore, Wall’s calling card has been the tongue-in-cheek “Trashy Women,” which the band Confederate Railroad turned into a platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated hit in the early 90s. Wall penned the tune when he was signed to Jerry Jeff Walker’s Tried & True Music record label. Walker cut several of Wall’s songs on his best-selling LIVE AT GRUENE HALL album.
It’s been too long since listeners have been treated to Chris Wall’s patented brand of smart, melodic, insightful and highly listenable brand of country music. Happily, that drought has ended with the release of EL WESTERN MOTEL, the Austin-based artist’s first release in nearly a decade.