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In an era of American Idols, Nashville Stars and other instant music celebrities catapulted to overnight success by MySpace hits, blog buzz and Grey’s Anatomy exposure, Michael O’Connor is a true anomaly. Not, mind you, because he found fame “the old fashioned way”; after 25 years in the music business, the 43-year-old South Texan is still a long, long way from being famous. No, what makes O’Connor stand out is his innate sense of humble integrity, his passion for playing music “for the sake of the song” and, well, simply the fact that in his mind, success has nothing to do with stardom and everything to do with getting to do what you love for a living — and best of all, doing it with friends. |
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Photos by: Amanda Thompson |
Now, there’s a difference between having a sincere disinterest in fame, and sulking in obscurity while nursing a jaded ego or inferiority complex. But O’Connor is no woulda-coulda-shoulda-been martyr. On the Texas songwriter scene, he’s held his own alongside some of the best of the best from the last quarter century — from Slaid Cleaves to Ray Wylie Hubbard to Adam Carroll to Susan Gibson to Terri Hendrix. Ask them to vouch for O’Connor’s merits as a songwriter or guitarist, and you’ll be answered with a chorus of praise and admiration. Cleaves, who recorded two of O’Connor’s songs on his excellent 2006 covers album, Unsung, says that O’Connor “is the first call I make when I need a true professional to take on the road to bring my songs to their full potential … He can do four sets a day without flagging or losing that lightning-quick Irish wit.” Hubbard, who not only gave O’Connor his first steady sideman gig but produced his debut album, 2000’s Green and Blue, approvingly notes that the Corpus Christi native “has the big four: tone, taste, groove and grit. He’s cool.” And Carroll, a songwriter’s songwriter who’s drawn favorable comparisons to such luminaries as John Prine and Butch Hancock, respects O’Connor so much, he just co-wrote and recorded an entire album with him, 2010’s Hard Times. The record, a scrappy, scruffy and endlessly charming salute to “Gulf Coast Losers,” “Bernadine” (patron saint of addicts and gamblers) and, well, “Billy Gibbons’ Beard,” is credited to both artists, who take turns singing lead vocals.
Although O’Connor, who honed his chops playing blues, jazz and rock ’n’ roll in the rough and tumble biker and shrimper bars of the Gulf Coast, has played on literally dozens of albums by the aforementioned notables of the Texas Americana scene, Hard Times is only the third to feature his own name on the cover. After Green and Blue, he waited seven years before recording his second, 2007’s Giants From a Sleepy Town. Much like Hard Times, both of his previous records were born more out of the prodding of friends than any personal desire to claim the spotlight.
“Ray [Wylie] was the one who encouraged me to write my songs and start recording,” O’Connor says.
I’m really glad I did it. It got played on the radio, I’m proud of the work I did, and I think the lessons I learned on that record showed up on my next one.”
Indeed. For all the promise shown on Green and Blue, it was Giants From a Sleepy Town, produced by Jack Saunders, that truly marked O’Connor’s arrival as a solo artist to be reckoned with, his soulful voice and strikingly detailed, true-to-life songs now every bit as impressive as the jack-of-all-genres guitar chops that have been his bread and butter for his entire adult life.
Now, with three fine records (counting the new Hard Times) under his belt and plans for a fourth one later this year, O’Connor could certainly opt to devote all of his time, talent and energy to promoting his own songwriting career. But it’s clear that he has no intention of giving up the opportunity to continue doing what he’s always loved best: playing guitar onstage with his own favorite artists. He admits that playing the instrument has always come natural to him, ever since he got his first guitar at age 12 after years of strumming a tennis racket along to AM radio and his favorite 45s as a kid. But it’s a gift he’s never taken for granted, just as he’s never given anything but 100 percent of himself at every sideman gig he’s ever played.
“I take it from a real blue collar approach,” he continues with a proud smile. “Like, this is what I do, I’m good at it, I’ve got my tools and I can go to work with these people I really respect. And if I can get a little sideline going with my own songs, get a little money in the mailbox and express myself artistically, I’m happy. And I’m really, really lucky.”
Richard Skanse |
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"O'Connor's raspy voice outlines the often simultaneous desire for pleasure and salvation."
- Jeff Giddens, NoDepression, Sounds Country |
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"O'Connor may be yet another hidden gem from Texas. ...soulful vocals...and his songwriting is top notch"
- Eli Petersen, Twangville |
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"...a collection of songs that take unvarnished looks at not-so-beautiful losers who populate the margins: the has-beens, the never-will-bes...With the line "a bar tab twice as long as Billy Gibbons' beard," even losers win."
- Jim Beal Jr., San Antonio Express-News |
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"Michael O'Connor's guitar chops and heartstring-tugging tenor vocals bring the musicality up to the level of the storytelling."
- Michael Ethan Messik, Texas Music Magazine
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