Sunday Supper Club: Matt Hillyer, Mark David Manders

Matt Hillyer, also known as “Matt the Cat” and as the leader of Dallas-based and beloved Honky-Tonk band Eleven Hundred Springs is, rather simply, an artist. Few artists stick to a single, narrow path as they wander, viewing things in a philosophically unique way than many non-artist types might.

With the release of Hillyer’s debut solo album, the Lloyd Maines-produced If These Bones Could Talk, we get to see a new side to Hillyer’s country-gold vision, but to be clear, his solo foray isn’t the end of Eleven Hundred Springs, which was formed in 1998, nor is it the death of the rockabilly-flavored Matt the Cat Trio. Hillyer as a solo artist with a fresh group of players, including some buddies from Eleven Hundred Springs, is merely a fascinating, new chapter to a musical life that’s never been conventional, and isn’t going to be anytime soon.

With 11 new songs, all written or co-written by HIllyer except for his rocking, stomping cover of the Everly Brothers’ classic the “Price of Love,” a rare occurrence has taken place. The leader of a popular, established band has branched out to go on a personal, musical vision quest, and has come back with a sound that satisfies on all levels. In some ways, These Old Bones resembles the stone-cold country of his band, but the new collection has increased the sonic value of everything he’s affiliated with, thanks to spreading his tattooed, whiskey-soaked wings a bit.
The notion for a solo record came from a wonderfully personal spot that’s as honest as it is meaningful to Hillyer.

“I was very close with my Grandmother, he says. “She was always pushing me to do it. She loved Eleven Hundred Springs, but she really wanted me to make something with my name on it. So, over the years, it started to seem like a good idea as I did more solo acoustic shows. It also seemed like a good idea for me to have a CD of my own to sell at some of those shows. Then when these songs started to come out in my writing, I really wanted to make this happen.”

While cuts such as “Home is Where the Heartbreak Is” certainly recalls a familiar Buck Owens-esque brightness and “Try Not to Take it So Hard” has the classic Texas Tornadoes playfulness some of Eleven Hundred Springs best tunes boast, one listen to “Dancing With the Moon,” a smooth, soft romancer of a tune, and it’s clear Hillyer’s found another gear of country storytelling that is only the beginning of a new era for him, whether it’s solo, as a trio or leading “Eleven Hondo.” The same can be said for the begging-to-be-two stepped-to “I Still Have a Lot of Falling Left To Go,” as it’s gentle fiddle leads Hillyer through a piano-twinkling sawdust shuffler that doesn’t kick the footlights as hard as some of his other band’s best tunes do.

Hillyer acknowledges the similarities between his past band-related works, but highlights the differences in a manner that’s clear with drama-free simplicity.

“To me it always boils down to the material, he says. “I know there are songs on this album that I would not have put on an Eleven Hundred Springs album. Even the songs that would fit like a glove on an Eleven Hundred Springs album are, for the most part, rooted in very personal places. When the collection of these songs started to really come together it became apparent to me that the majority of them felt like something I was trying to say independent of a group.”


Mark David Manders has been a mainstay in Texas music for over twenty years. His music reflects his life: an intriguing dichotomy of the introspective soul searcher and the beer swilling, drunken poet. His shows are high energy and unapologetic. His songs reek of alcohol with an occasional hint of guilt. Yet there is a tapestry to his lyrics that reflects influences such as Guy Clark and Kris Kristofferson.

Mark David Manders grew up in Plano, Texas, a suburb just north of Dallas. He credits the 1973 Jerry Jeff Walker album, “Viva Terlingua”, for changing his life.

“The first time I heard ‘Little Bird’ I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up. And one day when I grow up I’m gonna do it”, jokes Manders.

After high school Manders enrolled at Texas Tech University where he spent most of the eighties (1981–1989) working on an Engineering degree. He came away with much more than a formal education.

“Lubbock taught me lessons that I carry with me to this day. Every mistake I made seemed to find its way into a song. That’s kind of how I look at life, ‘Don’t dwell on mistakes; turn them into songs.’”

After graduating from Tech Manders found his way back to the Dallas area where he worked for Centex Homes for three years. He was laid off a few days before New Years, 1992, and vowed never to “do that corporate thing again.”

“That spring I began playing open mic’s around Dallas. I even used to cold-call clubs trying to get a booking. I’d walk into a bar, pull out my guitar and start playing. Sometimes I’d get thrown out, but most of the time someone would buy me a beer, and on occasion I would be asked to come back and play for money.”

In April of 1992 Manders won the coveted B.W. Stevenson songwriter contest at Poor David’s Pub in Dallas. One of the prizes was an opening spot for the act of his choice and Manders chose his hero, Guy Clark. Soon he was opening for several Texas music greats such as Joe Ely, Robert Earl Keen, Gary P. Nunn, and the Dixie Chicks.

Later in 1992 Mark David Manders formed the Nuevo Tejas Band with Russ Sherefield on bass and David Bennett on fiddle and mandolin. Two years later former Tech schoolmate, Charlie Kautz, joined the group on drums.

In 1994 the band released their first album, “Headin’ Out West.” According to Manders, “It was a really terrible album with some really great songs on it.” The songs were enough to gain the attention of Grammy award winning producer, Lloyd Maines, who would produce the band’s next three CD’s.

The Nuevo Tejas band split up in 2001 and Manders continued to write, record, and perform. To date he has seven CD’s to his credit with a new project in the works. “The Greenhouse Sessions” is slated for release in late August of this year.
When asked what his favorite memory is after twenty years of playing Texas music Manders replies:

“I got to open up for Waylon Jennings in Austin a few months before he died. Waylon was my hero since I was a kid. But it wasn’t the fact that I got to share a stage with him that made it so cool. It was that I got to hang out with him before the show. He was a true gentleman and he actually took the time to ask me about my music. I’ll never forget what he said:

‘So, Hoss, you enjoy what you’re doing? Don’t ever take it for granted. It’s a gift, son.’

I still enjoy it. And I will never take it for granted.”