So far, in the advent of a very young career, Django Walker has a) co-written songs with Texas country music blockbuster Pat Green, b) played a show at Dallas’ famed Cotton Bowl headlined by the Dixie Chicks, c) released his first solo album and began writing songs for a second album also to be released on his independent label, Lazy Kid Music, and d) extended a long and honorable Texas music legacy into a new era. “Texas On My Mind,” one of the standout tracks of Django’s 2002 debut release, Down The Road, introduced Texas music fans to a young singer-songwriter who is heir to a distinguished Lone Star musical tradition, but whose tastes and tempos evoke a kinship with a younger generation. Django Walker is stepping out of the shadow of inherited celebrity, and into the sunlight of his own musical identity. Django grew up in a house where music was an integral part of everyday life. Citing Coldplay and Tom Petty, along with Lone Star singer-songwriters including his father, Guy Clark, Pat Green and others; Django epitomizes the mix of eclectic musical influences that has always characterized the maverick independence of Texas music. In a brief but hectic tenure on the road, Django has already worked with some of the leading lights of the burgeoning Texas country-rock scene: He opened a number of shows for Pat Green and Cross Canadian Ragweed, getting his sea legs in front of huge audiences, while he’s venturing outside the state, performing in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and Arkansas. Django also joined Jerry Jeff for a stint of solo shows from New Orleans’ House of Blues to the Bottom Line in New York City. In between has been the grind of beer joint Saturday nights and college town clubs that are the bread-and-butter lot of any touring musician. The payoff for the ceaseless work has been inspiration for new songs and a steadily accruing number of loyal fans. “The steady fans will do anything if you ask ‘em,” he marvels gratefully. “You know you can go into a strange place and count on seeing some familiar faces.” Writing late at night, drafting poetry and melodies and letting them find a common meeting place, Django is engrossed in the lonely alchemy of creativity that every songwriter knows intimately. “We want an album full of songs that you can’t hear anywhere else unless you come to one of our shows,” Django says. “We want to progress to the rockier side of country,” said Django, speaking for himself and his quartet of young Austin and Oklahoma-based musicians. “The only way to grow is to push myself outside my original comfort zone. It’s like, keep yourself anchored on the ground floor, but let’s expand. We want to be country, but more country-rock. Think of it as going from fiddles and pedal steel to blues harmonica and B-3 organ.”