Arcangels
Living In A Dream
Mark I Productions
March 1, 1990 - The Austin Rehearsal Complex opens. Their first customer is Charlie Sexton. Soon many other musicians are rehearsing there, including Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble and Doyle Bramhall II.
One day in the hall, Chris “Whipper” Layton suggests to Sexton that they should get together with Tommy Shannon and Doyle and play some gigs for fun while Stevie is out on the road touring behind the CD he and brother Jimmie are working on.
Tragedy comes in August. Unthinkably Stevie Ray is dead. He helped raise “Little” Charlie. Doyle II was extremely close to Vaughan, too. His dad was Stevie’s songwriting partner. Everyone grieves. What do you do when your heart has been unexpectantly ripped out of you? Chris retreats to his room at the ARC and plays his drums – all day, every day, day after day. When Tommy finally finds the strength to leave his house, he too comes to the ARC, to work on songs with Doyle.
So there they were, all under the roof of the ARC. Doyle came to Charlie – would he help him with a song he had been working on? That song was “Living In A Dream”. Charlie and Doyle both felt Tommy and Chris needed to play. Soon they were jamming together. The chemistry was undeniable.
The jam sessions produced songs and in early October, their first gig was booked. Suddenly, they were a band, but the venue needed to know what they were called. Standing outside the rehearsal complex, Chris looked up and seeing the name on the building said “What about The ARCangels?” Magic was born of tragedy. Healing had begun.
For three years they soared – tours, a phenomenal self-titled CD, national TV appearances. And then, just as suddenly, it burst into flames. That spectacular chemistry went bad. It was 1993, and it was over.
Or was it?
I always had a feeling about the Arcangels. There was unfinished business there. Fast forward to 2004. Friendships had been revived, old issues resolved and the newly formed Austin City Limits Musical Festival came calling – would The Arcangels reform and close the show? Yes. Then came another show. And another. The stars aligned and The Arcangels were a band again. They worked on some new material. They recorded some live shows in Austin. In Denton in April 2009, Charlie responded to my queries of when there would be some new stuff, “Soon. Really soon. We’re working on it everyday, I promise.”
The release date was pushed back several times, but at last I have in my hands what I’ve been waiting for since 1993 for – new Arcangels material, the CD/DVD package Living In A Dream. The project consists of an excellent booklet and a DVD with 3 parts – concert footage from Stubbs’s BBQ in Austin (fleshed out with assorted travel footage), a documentary where the band tells their story in their own words, and a heartwarming tribute to friend and mentor Clifford Antone, showcasing a show at Antone’s.
There are also two CD’s – live versions of songs from the original CD from the Stubb’s show and the second with new Arcangels songs! Sexton brings the poignant “Crave and Wonder,” Bramhall contributes “What I’m Looking For” and the band puts their stamp on Paul McCartney’s “Too Many People”.
Although he’s on this project, in the spring of 2009, for “reasons of health and happiness” Tommy Shannon bowed out of the band. He will be missed. But the band moves on, with Mark Newmark covering the bass duties.
In the documentary, Doyle says “We were really trying to bring a little bit of Texas to the world.” This they do. Only Texas could produce a band as kick-ass as the Arcangels. And Charlie says, “As you get older, you take advantage and savor what the good things are. And one of the good things is the Arcangels.”
Welcome back boys. Your fans have ‘Always Believed In You’. And now we can hold the new package in our hand and know that finally, happily, the Arcangels are back, the wait is over.
But hey, don’t leave us waiting so long for the next one, OK?!!
- Blue Lisa -
Southwest Blues CD Review - December 2009
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