It’s fitting that the first full-length album by the West Texas Exiles is titled 8000 Days. The title song, written by band member Marco Gutierrez, is about leaving his home in El Paso and eventually ending up in Austin, an experience that resonated with the remaining band members — all West Texas natives who’ve since moved to the Live Music Capital of the World.
The five musicians who comprise the Exiles hail from El Paso, Amarillo and Lubbock, including Colin Gilmore, son of Flatlander Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Colin was the last member to join the band after sitting in at a number of shows.
“It was organic,” Gilmore, a Lubbock native, says of joining the Exiles. He’d first played with the band at a Buddy Holly tribute, and soon felt an undeniable connection.
“My background matched theirs — we shared a sensibility, and we were connected musically as well,” Gilmore says. “In fact, Trinidad [Leal, the band’s drummer] and my mom were in the same Tex Mex rockabilly band in two different decades. It was wild to discover how many people Trinidad and I had in common without ever knowing each other.”
After joining the group for shows in Terlingua and Marathon, he was invited to become an official member. “I was thinking, ‘Do they really want a fifth member?’” Gilmore says, chuckling. “That’s like the fifth wheel. But it ended up working out well. We discovered we all liked each other, and we were able to bounce ideas off each other. At first, we brought songs to the group we’d written on our own. But now it’s more collaborative.”
For Gilmore, who’s had a lengthy and impressive solo career, the decision was a no-brainer. “COVID had stalled my career,” he allows, “and I was trying to figure out what to do next. When they first reached out to me, I was like, ‘Oh my god, there’s a bunch of guys in South Austin who are all from west Texas.’”
The mix of band members — there’s a span of roughly 20 years between the oldest, Leal, and the youngest, Gutierrez — means tapping into a variety of experiences. “I have connections and inroads doing things with my dad,” Gilmore explains, “so I’m able to introduce them to crowds and people they haven’t been it front of before. And, vice versa, they’ve opened me up to the younger crowd of the Texas and Americana scene.”
They’ve also embraced a mix of styles. While the band tends to describe its sound as Southwestern rock ’n’ roll, you’ll also hear influences of Tejano and Conjunto, the Pogues, the British Invasion, and even New Age — capturing the breadth of music in the Lone Star State.
“Americana rock ’n’ roll might be the best descriptor for what we do,” Gilmore says. “That term — Americana — has changed over the years and become a lot more inclusive, drawing upon more American traditions. Whereas at one time it seemed to refer to Red Dirt country or singer-songwriter stuff, now it incorporates the blues, folk, bluegrass, indie. It’s more a community than a style of music.”
And now, the band prepares for its second appearance at Viva Big Bend, an annual festival that takes place across the Big Bend region of west Texas, and comprises more than a dozen venues in Alpine, Marfa, Marathon, Terlingua, Presidio and Fort Davis.
“It’s like a homecoming for us,” Gilmore says, “except that it’s a more exciting version of home. Viva provides what’s needed out there — not just a place to play, but a crowd for it. And that’s the essence of West Texas. When you’ve got the right group of people, out in the middle of nowhere, a certain energy happens.”
