BILLY AUSTIN

La canción con la que se inició mi relación musical con Steve Earle. Fue escucharla y saber inmediatamente que la música del ceñudo tejano se iba a quedar conmigo para siempre. Pura intensidad emocional, pasión dramática en la interpretación y una letra magnífica para narrar la historia del muchacho de Oklahoma. Luego Copperhead Road, The Hard Way, Guitar Town, Exit O, BBC Radio 1 / Live In Concert (uno de los mejores directos que un servidor ha escuchado) o Shut Up And Die Like An Aviator fueron banda sonora de muchos momentos de mi vida. Y, como no, la resurrección artística tras los años de desintoxicación y talego con Train A Comin', El Corazón, I Feel Alright, The Mountain (el disco que grabó junto a la Del McCoury Band) o Jerusalem. Ahora la vida le sonrie, está felizmente enamorado de esa preciosidad que es Allison Moorer en el que es su séptimo matrimonio, llegó a casarse dos veces con la misma mujer, y es un artista respetado y reconocido. Quizá esta sobredosis de felicidad sea la causante de la bajada de tensión en sus últimos discos. A las canciones de Earle les sientan mejor el cabreo, la rabia y las emociones fuertes. Pero nunca hay que perder la esperanza en un artista de su calibre.

My name is Billy Austin

I'm Twenty-Nine years old

I was born in Oklahoma

Quarter Cherokee I'm told

Don't remember Oklahoma

Been so long since I left home

Seems like I've always been in prison

Like I've always been alone

Didn't mean to hurt nobody

Never thought I'd cross that line

I held up a filling station

Like I'd done a hundred times

The kid done like I told him

He lay face down on the floor

Guess I'll never know what made me

Turn and walk back through that door

The shot rang out like thunder

My ears rang like a bell

No one came runnin'

So I called the cops myself

Took their time to get there

And I guess I could'a run

I knew I should be feeling something

But I never shed tear one

I didn't even make the papers

'Cause I only killed one man

But my trial was over quickly

And then the long hard wait began

Court appointed lawyer

Couldn't look me in the eye

He just stood up and closed his briefcase

When they sentenced me to die

Now my waitin's over

As the final hour drags by

I ain't about to tell you

That I don't deserve to die

But there's twenty-seven men here

Mostly black, brown and poor

Most of em are guilty

Who are you to say for sure?

So when the preacher comes to get me

And they shave off all my hair

Could you take that long walk with me

Knowing hell is waitin' there

Could you pull that switch yourself sir

With a sure and steady hand

Could you still tell youself

That you're better than I am

My name is Billy Austin

I'm twenty-nine years old

I was born in Oklahoma

Quarter Cherokee I'm told