Sunday Supper Club: Walt Wilkins and Bobby Duncan

San Antonio-born Walt Wilkins has been called a genius, more than once, and a writer the caliber of John Steinbeck and his voice as comfortable as a pair of old blue jeans, and he is, and has, all of that. His crafting of story-songs, hard-edged vocals to sing them and a plaintive guitar have made him a fixture of the Texas music scene (and Nashville before that). He's put his magical touch on recordings by new and veteran artists, too many to count.

Is he near done? Hasn't he done it all? Double hell no.

With The Mystiqueros, Wilkins has created something of a "Texas Hill Country super-group" that features five great singers and four great songwriters from the heart of the Lone Star State, all of whom have made their own records and are flush with recording credits.

Onstage and in the studio, Wilkins is joined by Bill Small (bass, percussion, acoustic guitar), John M. Greenberg (electric guitars), Ramon Rodriguez (drums, percussion) and Marcus Eldridge (electric guitars). Live performances around Texas are being likened to both outlaw country and classic rock bands, and they're captured on DIAMONDS IN THE SUN on Tex-centric label Palo Duro Records.

Wilkins says this is the most fun he's ever had playing music in a band in 30 years. He describes the music of The Mystiqueros (nicknamed mq5) as highly reminiscent of '70s country rock from Texas and the West Coast and blues and soul that members grew up listening to and features high-quality songwriting and musicianship, rhythm, and vocal arrangements.

Small, who wrote and sings the new album's title track, "Diamonds in the Sun," was born and raised in New Jersey, and lived and worked in New York City, Boston and Nashville before Austin. He had played with both Eldridge and Greenberg and had done a gig with Wilkins. "So we all knew each other," he says, "and once we all got on stage together, it became obvious that it was the thing to do."

Greenberg, a busy first-call guitarist, singer and producer around the Hill Country with four solo records, was born and raised in Oklahoma. He contributed the song "Red River Blues" to the album and describes The Mystiqueros as "the band every kid wanted to be in" back in the '70s music world of rock 'n' roll, country & R&B: "You were generally partial to one, and I was a rocker. But that's the coolest part of being a Mystiquero! There are all three elements on this record, and that's why it was plausible to put a rockin' song like 'Red River Blues' on the same album next to a great country song about Hank Williams."

Eldridge, a well-respected guitarist in Texas born in Tomball who's made two soulful solo records, put his clear tenor voice to Wilkins' "All These Memories" for DIAMONDS. He believes playing in The Mystiqueros is a rare opportunity. "There are no more bands like this left on the planet. … We all do what we do, bring it and blend it with the other talents in the band," he says. "This kind of a thing is not planned, it just happens."

Rodriguez, who grew up in Brownfield and has worked with several young Texas bands and artists, sang back-up on "Big Shiny Cars" and a small part on "Honky Tonk Road" on the album. He calls the band "a powerhouse" and the record a timeless thing, modern but with a vintage feeling. As the youngest member of the band, he jokes that he can still cut his own meat and that he pushes the others with his grooves and his beat to stay up late. "We have fun on the road," he says. "It shows in our shows."

For Wilkins — from his first musical influences as an Air Force brat, to his first band at age 15 to writing his first song (homesick while studying in the seminary) to playing own songs and writing in Nashville to his first album and producing others' — The Mystiqueros might just be about coming home, at last.

A career in music is a long process to achieve. It takes years of grueling patience. Years of long nights, in empty rooms, just hoping the handful of by chance attendees are giving you at least half of their undivided attention. As a songwriter, every song is a personal journey. From the instant a melody is born, to the last line of the final verse, a writer gives every part of every moment to the in between.

Bobby Duncan has been living these moments for nearly a decade. With three records produced to date, (2006 “Lonesome Town”, 2009 “Faith, Hope & Everything Else”, 2012 “Forever From Here”) Bobby has sacrificed the possibility of greater life achievements at the altar of the “out-of-the-way” corner stage in countless bars.

Beginning his journey in 2005, with a handful of youthful songs, Duncan began performing at open mic nights around the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. The very green artist he was, Bobby honed his public performances in three song sets, on any given weeknight. It was through these open mic nights, and some patrons who saw potential in young Bobby, that he was introduced to veteran singer/songwriter Walt Wilkins. After a meeting at Wilkins’ Austin area home, Walt, and then producing partner Tim Lorsch, agreed to produce Duncan’s first full-length album, “Lonesome Town”. To say the wheels began turning at a rapid pace would be an understatement. Duncan graduated high school in May of 2005, and production began at the Austin studio of Ray Benson, of Asleep at the Wheel fame, in late September of the same year.

Even with a polished product light years beyond the live recorded acoustic performances Bobby had gathered from many of the open mics, Duncan was still very new to the business of music making. It wasn’t until June of 2006 that, “Lonesome Town”, was released. A few months after the release of his first album, Duncan began to receive airplay on local Dallas/Fort Worth radio stations with his songs, “My Brew and Me”, as well as, “Back Out on the Town”, the latter gained traction throughout the region, and saw much airplay around Texas.

Over the years following his first release, Duncan and Wilkins had developed a much closer relationship, and the two reunited in January of 2009 to produce Bobby’s second studio effort, “Faith, Hope & Everything Else”. While all of the songs from the first release were penned solely by Duncan, the majority of the credits from, “Faith, Hope & Everything Else”, were created by Duncan and new songwriting partner Donovan Dodd. With Duncan’s fresh melodies, and Dodd’s background as an english professor, the two wrote the tracks to Duncan’s most successful record. Three singles were released to Texas radio from the record Duncan and Dodd lovingly call, “F.H.E.”, beginning with, “These Days”. The first single would be the most successful from the album while the following two singles, “Should I Give Anymore of Me”, and “Waiting to Hurt”, would provide solid follow-up airplay that extended the record’s life far beyond that of its predecessor.

Along with his band, Duncan began to see crowds growing all across the state. Nowhere more than his home base of Fort Worth, TX was the success more prevalent. As the crowds began to grow, Bobby drew interest from famed Fort Worth honky tonk Billy Bob’s Texas. Duncan achieved one of his childhood dreams of headlining the World’s Largest Honky Tonk in June of 2009. The success of the first show was unprecedented to Bobby and his band as they drew over 1,500 people. They truly had reached new heights in just a short amount of time since the May 5th release of, “F.H.E.”

As often is the case with songwriters, they begin writing for their next project immediately upon finishing their previous, and the partnership of Duncan and Dodd, was no different. However, they could feel the direction of the songs evolving melodically. When you age in such a public way as songwriting, everyone has the opportunity to pull back the curtains of a young life. Duncan quickly realized that the first sample of songs for his next project would call for a shift in the mindset of how to produce the new record. Searching for a new avenue, and in an attempt to improve as an artist, Duncan parted ways with his band of four years to focus on re-energizing his passion for creating music.

Shortly after switching back to performing acoustically, Duncan met with producer Justin Tockett from Nashville, TN. Tockett had worked with acclaimed songwriter Radney Foster on several of the albums Foster had produced, as well as producing his own records for artists such as Marc Broussard. Tockett and Duncan agreed to a trial production of two songs from the group that would become Duncan’s third studio album. After the first song was tracked, Duncan knew the path he should take, and the pair teamed up to make, “Forever from Here” over 2011 and 2012.

Duncan’s third effort is a much more polished, almost poppy, release. It shines on songs such as the title track, as well as, “Nowhere Left to Run”, and hints at Duncan’s love for artists such as John Mayer, Amos Lee, and Sara Bareilles on the tracks, “Apart We Fall”, and “It’s Hard to be Around You”.

As music has become a profitable business for many non-artists, Duncan released his new product in a much less public fashion. Relying on grass-roots and social media, instead of radio promoters and magazine ads, “Forever from Here”, didn’t generate the critical buzz that his second album did, but it has found a large share of loyal listeners that find the change from a more standard Texas singer/songwriter style, to a much larger sound, refreshing.

2012 and 2013 were big years personally for Bobby as he bought a house in his longtime home base of Fort Worth, TX with his longtime girlfriend, and they eventually married in December of 2013. (The marriage was presided over, in part, by longtime friend Walt Wilkins).

Whatever the future holds in music for Bobby Duncan, we have yet to see. The arduous process of grinding out a musical career continues. But, it is the path less chosen that often reaps the greatest rewards, and one faithful journeyman on that path is Bobby Duncan.