Arts Alive San Antonio

By SUZI CASTELLAW, Contributor

Max Stalling has this great song about the end of a passionate romance between a cowboy and his fiery mistress.  To cool off and gather his thoughts, he jumps into a “pila.”   For those unfamiliar with the term, a pila is a large cement reservoir built next to a windmill that holds water pumped from the ground. It is only after the cowboy has stripped down and submerged himself in the “deep” water of this stone cistern, that he realizes he has made a fateful mistake.

The melding of rich, Texas red-dirt-prose and the festive border sound of a Spanish guitar in “The Pila Song” is proof positive of Max Stalling’s South Texas heritage. 

Stalling was born and raised in the sparsely populated Texas towns of Crystal City, the spinach capital of the world, and Carrizo Springs, just a day’s horseback ride to the Mexican border.

So, it is to be expected that the lyrics to many of his songs draw heavily on growing up in the middle of nowhere surrounded by mesquite brush, prickly pear and the rich personalities seemingly ripped from episodes of Gunsmoke and Larry McMurtry novels.

For instance, the chorus in his “Bass Run” song takes you back to days spent fishing on Lake Amistad and nights drinking and dancing at Ma Crosby’s.  Other fan favorites are ““6×9 Speakers” and “I Ain’t Drinking Alone,” both Texas good old boy coming-of-age songs albeit one pre- and the other post-matrimony. But the songs “I-35” and “Running Buddy” most concisely illustrate the Max Stalling charm. The lyrics express the need of a country boy to get out of the city for a while, layered onto the familiar melodies of a country swing band playing at the open pavilion during starry summer nights at old Garner Park. 

So, how would he describe his music?

Stallings hesitates a moment, “Hmm…. that’s a tough one. It’s got a lot of country influence and I’m from Texas so, I guess that makes it “Texas Country.”  But it also has elements of pop, singer/songwriter, western swing and other stuff mixed in.  And I’m an American so, I guess “Americana” is the best description.”

Stalling grew up listening to all kinds of music.  “I’ve always loved music, all kinds, pop, country, rock, folk and I was a big consumer of it in my early years.  I still love all kinds of music.  I listen to lots of classic country, particularly Merle and Willie and that crowd.  I love the singer/songwriters—John Prine, Guy Clark and those guys. I still like pop music—Beatles, The Cars, 50’s doo-wop stuff. And I like to keep classical music on in the background if I’m working in the office, and I like to listen to jazz with my wife when we can.”

He first picked up a guitar while earning his master’s degree in food science at Texas A&M.  But it was the culture shock of moving to North Texas to work for Frito Lay – where he felt like a fish out of water – that sent him searching for musical consolation. 

“When I got to Dallas, I didn’t really know anybody and was really homesick,” recalls the artist. “I ran across a community radio station, KNON, that had a show each weekday from 5 to 7 that played Texas and Americana music.  It just really struck a chord with me and I decided I didn’t want to just be a consumer of music anymore. I wanted to create something.” 

Asked about his creative process, Stalling responds with great enthusiasm. “I love this topic—the creative process.  I could talk for hours about it, but best I can tell it goes like this for me.  There’s a flash of inspiration—a lyric, a chord progression on a guitar, a melody in my head– that I try to capture on paper or get a quick recording of on my phone.  Then, a period of mulling it over and dabbling with it in my mind, maybe sitting down with a guitar for a few minutes.  Then, somewhere along the way I need complete immersion for hours on end to really drill down into the idea and flesh it out and get it close to finished. Then, there is the fine tuning of it where I play it over and over and over and make sure it all fits together. Finally, there is the step where I show it to other living human beings. That decides if it’s going to live or die. “

Stalling is accustomed to playing roughly 150 shows a year in and around Texas and occasionally surrounding states, so when the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year he and his wife Heather, who is also his musical partner, had to figure things out.  “My wife and I have taken our shows online and done weekly livestreams on Facebook”  We call it ‘We Ain’t Drinking Alone Wednesdays.’  That’s been a real godsend for us.” 

For a welcome change, this Friday, March 5, Max and Heather will be performing live and in-person at Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson, not far from the Pearl.

  “I like playing San Antonio because it’s the closest major city to my old hometown of Crystal City,” noted Stalling. “I have lots of friends and family in S.A.  So, it’s always good to get down there and see them. And Sam’s has some of the best sound in the State of Texas.”

Excited to perform on stage again at Sam’s Burger Joint, Stalling will be celebrating the 20^th Anniversary of his second album “Wide Afternoon” originally released in the year 2000.  “We’ve re-released a special anniversary vinyl edition. It’s been fun to look back at all those old songs.”

Still, it’s more exciting to perform his new creations, he admits.
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Friday, March 5; Sam’s Burger Joint. Doors open at 7:30pm show starts 8:30pm.  Tickets on sale at the Sam’s Burger Joint website.