Lawyer by day and musician by night , Al Staehely is the only person on the planet who has played Carnegie Hall and provided legal services for Stevie Ray Vaughan. The Austin-born singer-songwriter got his start in LA when he and his brother John were asked to join the critically acclaimed band Spirit. After that, he and his brother went on to form their own band, Staehely Brothers, before Staehely returned to Texas and dusted off his law degree in 1980. Back in Texas, he continued music, performing with the likes of Roy Orbison, Jefferson Starship, Emmylou Harris -- two European tours with John Cipollina and Nick Gravenites (of Quicksilver Messenger Service and The Electric Flag, respectively) and even did a show with Rodney Dangerfield. Just as he was beginning to build his law practice, Polydor Records came calling, and in 1982, he released the solo record Staehely's Comet in Europe. In 2011, Steady Boy Records oversaw the first US release of the album, with the new title, Al Staehely and 10k Hours . In 2013, Cadillac Cowboys , an EP by Al Staehely & The Explosives, was also released on Steady Boy Records. Staehely 's latest album, Somewhere in West Texas, released earlier this year, is an Americana album where his Texas roots really shine through. He stopped by the LifeMinute Studios to tell us all about it and perform a few songs from the new record.
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00:00 I'm Alistair Haley and you're watching Life Minute TV.
00:10 Lawyer by day, musician by night, Al Staley is the only person on the planet who has both
00:15 played Carnegie Hall and provided legal services for Stevie Ray Vaughan.
00:19 The Austin-born singer-songwriter got his start in L.A. when he and his brother John
00:24 were asked to join the critically acclaimed band Spirit.
00:27 After that, he and his brother went on to form their own band, the Staley Brothers,
00:31 before Staley returned to Texas and dusted off his law degree in 1980.
00:37 Back in Texas, he still continued music performing with the likes of Roy Orbison, Jefferson Starship,
00:42 Emmylou Harris, and two European tours with John Cipollina and Nick Gravinitis of Quicksilver
00:48 Messenger Service and Electric Flag, respectively.
00:51 He even did a show with Rodney Dangerfield.
00:54 And just as he was beginning to build his law practice, the record companies came calling,
00:59 and in 1982, he released his first solo record, Staley's Common.
01:03 And the rest is history.
01:06 Staley's latest, Somewhere in West Texas, is an Americana album where his Texas roots
01:10 really shine.
01:12 He stopped by the Life Minute Studios to tell us all about it and perform a few songs from
01:16 the new record.
01:17 This is a Life Minute with Al Staley.
01:20 Ah, the new album, Somewhere in West Texas.
01:25 This all came about sort of by accident.
01:28 I kind of refer to it as my accidental album because even though I live most of the time
01:33 in Houston, we have a place out by Big Bend National Park.
01:36 So we're out there for a month, kind of during the pandemic era.
01:39 I was thinking, you know, I have all these songs that I keep saying I'm going to record
01:44 and I haven't done them.
01:46 And I've heard there's one studio in Marfa, and I know two really good musicians there.
01:52 Fran Christina, the drummer from the Fabulous Thunderbirds, who lives there with his wife
01:58 Julie Speed, she's a real successful painter.
02:01 And then the guitar player named Scrappy Judd Newcomb, he plays with Ian McCloughan's Bump
02:08 Band, he's played with and produced Slade Cleaves, who you may know of, who works up
02:14 in this area a lot.
02:16 And at any rate, he's been around Austin a long time.
02:20 So I called him up and said, "Hey, I want to get some songs down."
02:24 And I've heard there's a studio there.
02:27 He said, "Yeah, we'll hook you up."
02:28 We're doing a session in a couple of days.
02:31 Chris Marish is coming in from Austin to play bass.
02:34 I know Chris and how great he is.
02:36 He used to play with Eric Johnson and has played with Michael McDonnell.
02:42 He's played with all kinds of people.
02:44 I said, "Well, look, ask Chris if he wants to play bass."
02:48 Because even though I'm sort of known as a singing bass player from the spirit, I don't
02:55 want to play bass because I wrote these songs on acoustic guitar.
02:58 So Chris came to town.
02:59 We had one rehearsal at Fran's, ran through some songs, went in the studio the next day,
03:06 recorded six basic tracks in one day.
03:08 It was really the musicians who talked me into doing an album.
03:13 They said, "Look, you've got some really good songs here.
03:16 Come back with five or six more and you'll have an album."
03:18 Okay, so I went back six or eight weeks later, five or six more songs, and we did some more.
03:26 And then of course there were some overdubs after that.
03:28 But it was pretty, if you've listened to any of it, it's pretty direct and certainly not
03:36 overproduced.
03:37 Scrappy was so involved in it that I made him producer.
03:42 He's the credited producer.
03:44 You know, if we would have said we're going in to do an album, probably wouldn't have
03:50 turned out as, sound as much fun as it does, you know, because then it would have been
03:56 serious.
03:57 You know, songs have come about in every way imaginable.
04:03 Like that second song on the album, "What's Wrong With You For Loving Me," it was with
04:09 my girlfriend at the time and I thought I was in love with her and I told her so and
04:14 she turned to me and said, "What's wrong with you?"
04:17 And she was smiling but I wasn't sure what - at any rate, suffice it to say that didn't
04:24 work out long term but I thought, "Wow, what a good song title, 'What's Wrong With You
04:28 For Loving Me.'"
04:30 And so that's where that one came from.
04:33 This was some time ago.
04:34 This was like, I don't know, 20 years ago but I'd never recorded this song.
04:39 "Something Good Is Gonna Happen," the first song on the record.
04:42 I wrote probably 1978 or - it's just been sitting around because I wasn't doing that
04:47 kind of music at that time and I - it was a nice little song but I brought it out and
04:52 everybody loved it and I'm still loving it.
04:54 It seems to be getting some of the most radio play and the most love.
04:59 That's the story of my accidental album.
05:02 I work two ways.
05:03 I'm comfortable working acoustically.
05:06 I did several acoustic solo shows on this little jaunt on the East Coast and then just
05:13 two days ago I did a show with a band in Rhode Island.
05:18 They're a great response.
05:19 I come from a rock background so even though this is more of an Americana style album,
05:26 there's plenty of rocking going on too.
05:29 I want to get out and play more to promote this album.
05:32 I'm really enjoying taking this music to the people.
05:36 It's been very satisfying to see it be embraced by people who've never heard it and many people
05:44 didn't know who I was and I'm just having fun doing it and want to keep doing it.
05:50 Maybe I can be like Tony Bennett.
05:51 Maybe I can be doing it for another 20 years or something.
05:55 I grew up in Austin and played baseball, played golf as a kid, caddied.
06:02 I was out in the sun and apparently got a dehydrated kidney and the doctor said you
06:07 can't go out for football.
06:08 I was kind of, can't do any strenuous sports until next summer.
06:13 I said okay.
06:14 My cousin had an acoustic guitar and he came over and he taught me a Ricky Nelson song
06:20 called "Poor Little Fool."
06:22 And I took some guitar lessons and then going forward in high school I had a band.
06:28 In undergraduate school I had a band.
06:31 I was in a band with two law students.
06:33 I was undergraduate.
06:35 I was supposed to go to med school.
06:37 It was time for me to graduate and they said no, you can't go to med school yet because
06:44 you'll have to leave Austin.
06:46 And we got one more year of law school and we were making good money playing on weekends
06:50 and they already were married and had a kid.
06:53 They said go to law school with us just one year and then you can do whatever you want
06:59 but just until we graduate.
07:02 And Vietnam was going on so if I didn't stay in school I'd get drafted.
07:07 After the first year I realized I'd been tricked because if you finish the first year of law
07:12 school you might as well finish because that's a killer year.
07:15 So that's how I got in music and then after law school I took the bar, passed the bar,
07:23 but promised myself I'd do music full time and give it a try.
07:27 So I went to L.A., got lucky at first and joined that band Spirit when two guys left.
07:34 I joined as lead singer and bass player and wrote seven of the songs on an album called
07:41 Feedback that came out in '72 and we headlined Carnegie Hall right down the street from here.
07:50 And it's been a long and winding road.
07:54 Well I got two granddaughters and a wonderful son.
07:59 That's why I took about 20 years off from performing when I became a father and concentrated
08:05 on the law.
08:06 And then once he went off to college, he went to Princeton, I'll go ahead and brag a little
08:11 bit, and played baseball and then got drafted by the Mariners and was also a great musician
08:17 and songwriter.
08:18 But right now he's a full time dad and gave me a couple granddaughters.
08:23 They take up a little time.
08:25 And I like going out to west Texas, our places out there, that big bend area.
08:32 And if you or your friends and fans have never been out that way, you really should.
08:38 You don't really get it until you go out there.
08:41 Oh, best life advice?
08:43 If I have someone, a young singer, songwriter, musician come to me and they say, "Well, you
08:50 know I've done this CD or I've done this and I'm not sure if I should continue in this
08:58 or maybe go in another direction that's not music related."
09:03 I'll say, "Look, if you can do something else besides the music or acting or whatever it
09:11 is you're interested in and know that you're not ever going to regret it, then go do that
09:19 other thing.
09:20 Because this is hard.
09:22 You got to love it and you got to feel you have no choice."
09:27 I felt I had no choice.
09:29 When I got out of law school, if I didn't go try it full time, I would have started
09:35 some real bad band when I was 45 years old and embarrassed myself.
09:40 So I got to go for it.
09:43 And if it doesn't work out, then I'll do something else.
09:45 So I never had a midlife crisis.
09:48 That's what I tell people to do.
09:50 Okay, this is the first song on the album, "Somewhere in West Texas" called "Something
09:54 Good is Gonna Happen."
10:05 Something good is gonna happen.
10:10 I can feel it in the air.
10:16 Something good is gonna happen.
10:21 When it does, I'm gonna be there.
10:26 'Cause I can feel my luck a-changin'.
10:31 Even though it ain't changed yet.
10:36 My heart is like that wheel of fortune.
10:42 Step right up, I'll take all bets.
10:47 I hope that I find a girl who loves me.
10:52 We can't stand to be apart.
10:58 We're gonna fly away together.
11:03 Wing to wing and heart to heart.
11:09 Something good is gonna happen.
11:14 I can feel it in the air.
11:19 Something good is gonna happen.
11:24 When it does, I'm gonna be there.
11:40 Well I bet I'll find a girl who loves me.
11:46 We can't stand to be apart.
11:51 We're gonna fly away together.
11:56 Wing to wing and heart to heart.
12:02 Something good is gonna happen.
12:07 I can feel it in the air.
12:12 Something good is gonna happen.
12:17 When it does, I'm gonna be there.
12:23 Something good is gonna happen.
12:28 When it does, I'm gonna be there.
12:33 I can feel it in the air.
12:42 Oh, thank you ladies.
12:44 Okay.
12:53 I'm at the mercy of the moon.
13:01 She can take me where she will.
13:09 Run me ragged, stand me still.
13:14 Turn me cold and make me swoon.
13:18 I'm at the mercy of the moon.
13:26 And tonight I see the light.
13:35 Pouring down all over you.
13:42 And as the dew begins to fall.
13:47 And your lips begin to call.
13:51 I'm going too deep now to refuse.
13:59 You say you love me and I know.
14:08 That tonight you really, really do.
14:16 But tomorrow comes too soon.
14:21 And you'll sing another tune.
14:25 And you'll find somebody new.
14:32 But tonight we're at the mercy of the moon.
14:43 She can take us where she will.
14:51 Run us ragged, stand us still.
14:56 Turn us cold and make us swoon.
15:00 We're at the mercy of the moon.
15:29 [Guitar playing]
15:41 And if I could freeze this frame.
15:50 This shows your body close to mine.
15:58 I would give up this fight for fame.
16:07 And forget that your last name.
16:15 Is his instead of mine.
16:25 I'm at the mercy of the moon.
16:33 You're at the mercy of the moon.
16:41 We're at the mercy of the moon.
16:55 To hear more of this interview, visit our podcast,
16:58 Life Minute TV on iTunes and all streaming podcast platforms.
17:03 [Music]
17:05 (thud)