Tales from other people’s lives about everything from spiritual relationships to romantic ones are just some of the many things featured in country singer-songwriter Hayes Carll’s most recent album “You Get it All.”
Carll has spent over 20 years having a conversation about what it is everyone is doing on this planet with anyone who will listen.
He’ll get a chance to share that with Odessans next week when he stops by on his upcoming tour at 7 p.m. March 9 at the Ector Theatre.
“I’m at a point in my life where I’m trying to figure out some of those things and take stock of where I am and where I’m headed,” Carll said. “That was the inspiration of where that (album) came from and trying to grow and evolve and not stay where I was as an artist or as a person. It feels like it’d be a waste of time and gifts that I’ve been given. With that record, I think there was a lot of taking stock of what’s worked and what hasn’t in life and telling those stories.”
“You Get It All” was released back in October, 2021. It is his eighth album.
His upcoming tour will begin next week with a show at the Paramount Theatre in Abilene.
Odessa will be just the second stop in the 28-show tour that will go until July.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Carll said. “I’ve been playing music and touring around for 20-plus years but I think this is only my second time touring around Odessa so I’m excited to get out there and bring the band and perform. I think it’ll be a great night.”
Carll hails from The Woodlands.
After releasing his debut album “Flowers and Liquor” in 2002, he was voted Best New Act by the Houston Press.
Since then, he’s been compared to other Texas songwriters including Townes Van Zandt.
“You Get it All” was produced by his wife Allison Moorer and guitar legend Kenny Greenberg.
Carll credits Moorer with helping him find the words needed for his songs in his recent album.
“She’s a very accomplished artist in her own right,” Carll said. “She’s made 10 records and written two books and done countless creative projects. … She’s been a co-producer on the last two of my records. She’s just someone that I really admire, creatively and she’s also my first listener. We have a short hand when it comes to talking about music and what I want it to sound like and what I want to get across in my lyrics. It’s just nice for me to have someone that I can trust and respect in the studio helping me guide the process.”
As a child, Carll always loved listening to country music. For him, it was his escape, saying that it helped form his identity.
“Like most kids, you find some level of identity by the things you listen to,” Carll said. “Discovering certain songwriters just made me feel seen and that ability for Willie Nelson to articulate what I felt but didn’t have the words for was really powerful. It seemed like the coolest job there was. I got my first guitar at 15. I knew I loved it. I didn’t know I would do this for a living until I was around 27 or 28. I knew I wanted to try and I got a high off it like nothing else. I just thought if I could be around that in some way, it would be worth taking a shot.”
It’s paid off since then.
In 2016, Carll was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Country Song for “Chances Are.”
In 2019, he released his sixth album “What is” on Dualtone Records.
He re-recorded many of his songs including duets with Ray Wylie Hubbard and Moorer for 2020’s “Alone Together Sessions.”
When talking about his songwriting process, Carll says it’s different at times.
“When I started out, I wrote everything by myself on a notepad with my pen,” Carll said. “As time has gone on, I’ve tried different things.”
He’s done a lot of co-writing and even took lessons from Monahans legend, the late Guy Clark.
“I found that there was a lot to be gained by learning from other people,” Carll said. “I’ve done records where I’ve been in the studios and we recorded the music first and then wrote to that. I’ve done records where I wrote the songs first and then got a band together and experimented to see what it would sound like. I’ve tried all different things in my life.”
When it came time to writing his last record with Moorer, he said it was about getting as deep and emotional as he could.
“I’m trying to go deeper as a writer,” Carll said. “I used to write through a stream of conscious and if it rhymed and sounded halfway cool. I was good with it.”
However, as he’s gotten older, he’s taken the writing more seriously.
“I try not to be complacent and try not to be ok with just being ok,” Carll said.
He said he owes a lot to Clark.
“Guy Clark was not far from Odessa and early on, I was able to write with him and I had some that I thought were dumb but he came by with some suggestions and some changes and they were all minor,” Carll said. “I didn’t appreciate at the time how important small details matter. … I think about Guy and how he wrote those small details now matter to me.”
Tickets for next week’s show can be purchased online at tinyurl.com/ya42yhh7.
