_{Michael and Susan Gibson - Granada Theatre}

^{Above Photo by Bill Ellison}  

 Richard Bowden, Cary Swinney & MOC - Cary Swinney Trio(Above)

Monk Wilson, Dan Bern, Cary Swinney & MOC

Just The Facts

Texans are fond of several adages. One, a perennial favorite, goes like this: "If you don’t like the weather, just wait awhile. It'll change."

The same adage could easily apply to Texas music. The singer you hear delivering a Patsy Cline country tune might well turn around and belt out the blues. The guitar player able to roar through hot rock ‘n' roll licks is liable to, five minutes later, serve up the kind of big, fat chords that would make T-Bone Walker grin.

Michael O'Connor is the sort of Texas musician who can, and will, change musical gears as quickly as Texas weather changes from driving rain to bright sunshine.

O'Connor is a guitar player, a singer, a songwriter, a bandleader and a first-call sideman. There is nothing calculated about that, nothing confused, nothing confusing. That’s just the way the man is.

On a bandstand working for someone else, O'Connor is a player who is hard to fool. Whether he's asked to take electric lead on a 12-bar blues song or use his acoustic guitar to punctuate a complex, who-knows-what-form narrative tune, O'Connor puts his guitar notes exactly where they belong. Part of O'Connor’s range comes from being a musician since he was a kid. Part comes from the simple fact he's just that good.

O'Connor, who first caught ears as a hot-handed blues and blues/rock player in the Corpus Christi area, has been spending most of his time doing the sideman trip with Slaid Cleaves, Adam Carroll, Susan Gibson , Cary Swinney, and others.

O'Connor revisits his Corpus Christi roots for his new CD – “Giants from a Sleepy Town” – which includes original songs such as "Devil's Lullaby" and "Getaway Car" (both covered by Cleaves' on his "Unsung" CD which was released in May 2006 on Rounder Records). His songs are populated by rakes, rounders, outlaws and even rock and rollers, but they all show some kind of spirit. The CD was produced and engineered by Jack Saunders at White Cat Recording Studio in Houston , TX .

O'Connor’s first release "Green and Blue" comes equipped with a large load of good sense. Released in 2000 and produced by storied singing songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard (with whom O'Connor has played plenty of gigs), it also features a cadre of well-traveled players.

Jim Beal, Music Columnist

San Antonio Express-News