STARS ALIGNED FOR COODER GRAW REUNION
By John Goodspeed

Members of Cooder Graw were living some of their songs, with the toll of nine years on the road and upward of 200 shows annually leading to families drifting apart, divorces and other bad things.

In their heyday, they won legions of fans with their distinctive, hard-charging mix of country and rock — with nary a ballad — that led Robert Earl Keen Band guitarist Rich Brotherton to dub their sound “loud country.”

Their songs from six CDs, which found favor on Americana and Texas Music radio stations, included “Willie's Guitar,” “18 Wheels of Lovin',” “Dirty Little Hometown Girl,” “My Give a Damn is Broken” and “Llano Estacado,” which was featured on Dodge Truck commercials and probably doubled their crowds.

The band broke up six years ago, and the question continued from promoters and almost-daily Facebook messages: What would it take to get Cooder Graw back together for one more show?

Time, timing and a more relaxed schedule, said frontman and songwriter Matt Martindale, who opened a law practice in Amarillo and toured some with his own band in the interim.

With only about a dozen dates on the Unfinished Business Tour, which began in April and will end in December, the reunited Cooder Graw will perform Saturday at Gruene Hall.

Opening will be Charlie Shafter, younger brother of Matt's wife, Erin Martindale, an Americana singer/songwriter touring in support of his self-titled debut CD produced by Ray Wylie Hubbard that was released Tuesday.

“It really is working out well,” Martindale said. “The music sounds good and the crowds are great. We have a lot of fun when we get together talking about old times and creating new ones.”

The tour would not have happened if lead guitarist Kelly Turner, who hung up his ax and returned to his day job as a manufacturing engineer in the Panhandle, had not agreed.

“He is an amazing guitar player. He has a unique, particular style and he defines our sound in a lot of ways,” Martindale said. “He had to be part of it or it wouldn't work. Either Kelly was in or nobody was in.”

He called Turner and asked him about it. A month later, he said yes.

“Within 30 minutes after that, everybody was in,” Martindale said.

Also returning are original member Paul Baker on bass and longtime band mates Kelly Test on drums; Jon “Fish” Hunt on guitar, mandolin and backing vocals; and Jim “Haystack” Novak on pedal steel guitar. Nick Worley, fiddle and mandolin, will play some shows when he is not touring with Jason Boland & The Stragglers.

Coming back as the sound man is Jerry “Gyro” Wardlow, who was road manager and bus driver and one of the main advocates of the reunion.

“We're spread out to all four corners of the great state of Texas, and to get everybody together is a logistical nightmare sometimes,” Martindale said.

The group was a cover band based in Amarillo before Martindale began writing original material, some of which was based on cases he handled as an assistant district attorney in Gray County.

Originally called Coupe de Grace — only to find few in the state could pronounce the French term for a death blow or decisive stroke, much less define it — they quickly turned to a more Texas-friendly spelling.

Once success looked promising, the band members, then ranging in age from early 30s to early 50s, quit their day jobs and released their debut album, “Home at the Golden Light,” with actor Matthew McConaughey — Martindale's fraternity brother — serving as executive producer.

“He's been to a lot of shows and is a great guy to drink a beer with and have a barbecue in the back yard,” Martindale said of the Austin resident. “If he's not out filming, he may come to Gruene Hall.”

They have been trying to cram all the old favorites into the shows, which have been topping two hours, plus a few choice covers, such as Waylon Jennings' “Ain't Livin' Long Like This” from the “Texas Outlaws” compilation or “Angry Cockroaches,” from their “Live at Billy Bob's Texas” CD. The Tito and the Tarantulas version was featured during the vampire stripper scene in the film “From Dusk Till Dawn.”

“The reception has been fantastic,” Martindale said. “People are coming early and staying late, bringing kids who couldn't go to shows when they were younger, saying they have dogs named Cooder, showing up with worn-out T-shirts and buying new ones.

“We're a few years older and a little grayer and thinner on top, but we're still in your face, loud and high energy from the first note till we walk off stage. I don't think we could play anything differently.”

One of the highlights still is when Martindale straps on a washboard that looks like part of a suit of armor that he bangs with spoons attached to leather gloves.

“I beat the living tar out of that thing,” he said. “Jason Boland calls me Edward Spoonhands.”

John Goodspeed is a freelance writer. Email [email protected].