Chuck Hawthorne

“He bent minors out of majors with a ball-peen revelator. Lord, how he could make that hammer sing!” An Amarillo, Texas native, Chuck Hawthorne has been writing and performing for over 20 years amassing a catalog of unique, well-crafted and starkly honest songs. They’re sometimes deadly serious; sometimes raucous, and always passionately written and delivered. As fellow musician Shawn T. Pabst once remarked, “…A man with the courage of a warrior, the heart of a poet, and a soul as old as time.” “Halos roll down the creases of your cowboy hat. Souvenirs hang from mirrors that don’t look back…” Growing up around cowboys and ranchers of the Texas Panhandle, his music is heavily influenced by the culture of the west. Drawing from the same well as his Panhandle music forbearers Terry Allen, Joe Ely, Butch Hancock, and Jimmy Dale Gilmore et al, his compositions strike universal heartstrings from a singularly vast and barren landscape. His sister taught him to sing and play a 1950’s-era Magnus organ as a child and his passion for music began to be fueled by the popular country and folk artists of the era. “Sometimes you live for what you’re doing. Sometimes you do just what you can….Living your life like a rodeo man.” Joining the Marines immediately after high school, Chuck set about on a series of adventures that took him all over the world. His music went with him. Learning to play guitar on a Navy ship in the Mediterranean Sea, he soon found himself entertaining bands of sailors, Marines, and locals at home and abroad. Chuck attended the University of Texas and it was there that his songwriting began in earnest. Discovering a wealth of music best personified by Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark and finding mentorship in his fellow musicians, he honed his stagecraft and songwriting skills around campfires, living rooms, recording studios, and in many of the live music venues of Austin. Then he left… “Breathing in his world was huffing gasoline and searching for the wind to gently curse.” That was over a decade ago. Now, in the tradition of Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Chuck has wandered back to Austin to tell us where he’s been. A debut album is in the works that promises to do just that…and be an instant Texas Music classic. Until then, catch him if you can. Americana Singer-Songwriter based out of Austin, Texas. www.chuckhawthorne.com