The South Austin Moonlighters Archives - The Bluegrass Situation

Artist: The South Austin Moonlighters
Hometown: Austin, TX
Song: “Box of Memories”
Album: From Here to Home
Release Date: June 30, 2023
Label: The South Austin Moonlighters Records

In Their Words: “It’s tough to get over losing someone you love. For a long time, I carried a ‘memory’ around with me everywhere I went and it affected everything I did – without me really knowing it. There’s a lot of that in us. I’m not really the best communicator (which is why I think I get such satisfaction in writing songs), so it was really difficult for me or anyone around me to really know what was going on inside. One time a good friend told me something to this effect: ‘You know, no one can live up to that memory you’re carrying around with you in your head.’ He was right. There was something about it that I understood well, and I swore I wouldn’t live that way anymore. A few years later, I set out to write this song in retrospect.” – Chris Beall

Photo Credit: Mark Del Castillo

Artist: The South Austin Moonlighters
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Song: “Nowhere Left to Run”
Album: Travel Light
Release Date: May 17, 2019
Label: Station House Records

In Their Words: “I had once heard it said from a well-known songwriter, ‘If you ever have a chance to kill someone off in a song, do it!’ I guess this was running through my mind one pale winter’s morning while strumming on a Fender Stratocaster unplugged. I’m not sure who this poor fellow is, or how he was handed such a bad hand in life, but it paints a picture. I particularly like the line that says, ‘Now he’s staring into his child’s eyes telling thinly veiled lies about mamma and baby and things now in the past.’ Pretty damn dark! But then, you get the shift to a major key for the chorus that makes things seem somewhat brighter.” — Phil Hurley, The South Austin Moonlighters

Photo credit: Valerie Fremin

Tag: The South Austin Moonlighters

LISTEN: The South Austin Moonlighters, “Box of Memories”

LISTEN: The South Austin Moonlighters, “Nowhere Left to Run”