Carll has toured relentlessly in North America and abroad (performing over two hundred shows a year), founded a successful singer-songwriter music festival on the Gulf Coast of Texas, secured a record deal with Lost Highway Records, and has even seen his album Little Rock become the first self-released album to reach #1 on the Americana Music Chart.
"When I started, I moved down to this place called Crystal Beach, Texas where you need to take a ferry from Galveston across the bay to get to this little peninsula on the Gulf of Mexico," recalls Carll, who grew up just outside Houston. "It's this isolated coastal community with a wild assortment of people either hiding out, hanging on or getting lost-- a lot of drugs and drinking, a fair amount of violence, but at the same time a lot of really interesting people with great stories to tell. Folks in the bars there weren't necessarily interested in what I had to say as a songwriter-- they wanted to hear David Allan Coe and Merle Haggard, and other stuff they knew. So that's what I did six nights a week for four years. I haven't run into tougher crowds since. It was an initiation into becoming a performer."
Those experiences not only gave Carll a thick skin, they gave him plenty of material to spin into songs like the low-slung, finger-picked blues "I Got a Gig" -- populated by characters like the "barefoot shrimper with a pistol up his sleeve" -- and the tear-in-your-beer waltz "Beaumont," in which a suitor bearing a single white rose makes a fruitless trip to try to win over a lady love. Carll says of the latter tune. "I like to try to tackle a heavy topic but do it with a light touch. The more personal, weightier stuff doesn't come as easy, even though that's what I like to think about the most."
Carll has developed that touch over a long stretch that began when he was still in his teens, a stretch he spent writing poems, short stories and songs by the notebook-full. He eventually discovered that the last of those three flowed from him most easily, and while he dutifully headed off to college, he spent more time strumming and singing. To hear him tell it, "I sort of sabotaged my career options to the point where, by the time I was out of school, I was pretty much unemployable and had no choice but to be a musician."
After moving to the Gulf Coast, Carll honed his craft in the area bars and beer-joints as well as more serious folk clubs like the venerable Old Quarter in Galveston, where he opened for a wide array of respected songwriters such as Ray Wylie Hubbard, Willis Alan Ramsay and many others. By 2002, he was ready to unleash his recorded indie debut, Flowers and Liquor, which, while not widely distributed, garnered plenty of critical praise, including American Songwriter's claim that the disc "suggests the young Texan might be the next great songwriter from a state full of maestros."
He lived up to that praise on his next outing, Little Rock, an offering on which Carll showed off his stylistic breadth by steering his band from searing rock to jazz-tinged balladry -- a scope that earned praise both at home and across the pond, where the Irish Times raved "This is the first mighty country record of the year, a bruised, bedraggled affair full of jagged memories and wry observations."
On his 2008 album Trouble In Mind, there's a much sharper focus to the material, thanks in part, to more time in the studio and some great players sure to be familiar to roots-rock aficionados, including, Dan Baird, Darrell Scott, Will Kimbrough and former Flying Burrito Brother Al Perkins.
“My first record I did in five days, and my second one we did in twelve," Carll explains. "This time around I had a solid month, so it was really a luxury. It was amazing to get all these talented people in the room and have them listen to me describe my vision and then go out and try to realize that and capture it on tape. My strength isn't that I have the world's most amazing voice or that I'm this incredible player -- hopefully it's that there's some aspect of my personality and my lyrics that people can relate to."
Carll’s personality, emotional but never too sentimental, mischievous, funny, world-weary and sardonic, imbues every track of Trouble in Mind. He’s never afraid to be vulnerable and direct, as on one of the standout tracks, “Willing to Love Again” - “I feel too much, I protect too much, most times I probably expect too much. I spend my life on this broken crutch, and you believe I can fly.”
Carll's 2011 album KMAG YOYO (& Other American Stories) was The album includes "Another Like You," a duet with Cary Ann Hearst The L.A. Times described the album as "Carll is every bit as expressive a singer as he is a writer, drawling his trenchant observations with deceptive ease."
Carll’s live performances continue to win over fans everywhere. His clever, irreverent lyrics and sharp observations combined with his warm Texas drawl make his stories and anecdotes as compelling and entertaining as his songs. There’s that sweet taste of honey followed with the sharp sting of a wisecrack. Never is that tongue-in-cheek humor more obvious than on the red neck rant “She Left Me For Jesus”, where a clueless lover is upset and suspicious over the changes in his girlfriend. “Now she’s acting funny and I don’t understand. I think that she’s found her some other man. She’s left me for Jesus, and that just ain’t fair. She says that he’s perfect, how can I compare?” “You know I’m always a little nervous when I sing that song. Like Ray Wiley Hubbard says, the problem with irony is that people don’t always get it.”
Bye Bye Baby
Hayes Carll Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
For having you around
Then you stepped up to the bar and started swayin'
The crowd all sang, Ophelia
As we drank another round
Oh, bye, bye, bye, bye baby
Rain feel on the window
You kissed my hand and said, you were beside me
I held onto the moment
When I thought there was a chance
Oh, bye, bye, bye, bye baby
I'd read you the letters
That had blown in from the west
And we'd whisper of the dreams we'd been savin'
You said, you'd have it all
Nothing more and nothing less
Oh, bye, bye, bye, bye baby
Now there's an emptiness standin' at the door
Tryin' to take me back to the way I was before
I used to feel alone here but it's not that way no more
Oh, bye, bye, bye, bye baby
Now the drunks have turned to strangers
And the stars are out of tune
As I think about the one who might've saved me
I know you're out there somewhere
Between the highway and the moon
Oh, bye, bye, bye, bye baby
Oh, bye, bye, bye, bye baby
The lyrics to Hayes Carll's "Bye Bye Baby" tell the story of a past lover who has left the singer. In the first verse, the singer reflects on a moment they shared at the bar, where the lover had called him lucky to have been with her. As the crowd sang the chorus to The Band's song "Ophelia," the singer knew it was time to say goodbye. In the second verse, the singer looks back on a time when it seemed like there was still hope in their relationship. They are watching the sailors dance in the rain and the lover kisses his hand, telling him they are beside him. The singer holds onto this moment, hoping for a chance at a future together. In the third verse, the singer reminisces about reading letters from the west together and dreaming of their future. The lover insists that she wants it all, nothing less, and nothing more.
The final verse brings the song back to the present, where the singer faces an emptiness at his door, tempting him to go back to the way he used to feel before the relationship. He reflects on the changes in his community, now that the lover is gone. The drunk patrons are no longer familiar faces, and even the stars seem out of place. Despite this emptiness, the singer still believes in the love they shared, and he knows she is out there somewhere on her own journey.
Line by Line Meaning
You laughed and called me lucky
You found my company enjoyable and expressed happiness about being around me, making me feel fortunate to have you in my life.
For having you around
I was happy being around you and appreciated your presence in my life.
Then you stepped up to the bar and started swayin'
You went to the bar and began dancing, presumably enjoying your time there without much regard for me.
The crowd all sang, Ophelia
The people around us were singing together while we were present, perhaps demonstrating the unity and sociability of our environment in contrast to our personal disconnectedness.
As we drank another round
We continued drinking and enjoying ourselves but did not seem to be connecting romantically or emotionally.
Oh, bye, bye, bye, bye baby
I am saying goodbye to a former lover, marking the end of our relationship.
Rain fall on the window
It was raining outside and we were inside, perhaps overlooking a window and looking out into the weather.
As we watched the sailors dance
We were observing the sailors dance, enjoying their performance without necessarily feeling connected to each other.
You kissed my hand and said you were beside me
You gave me a kiss on the hand and claimed to be there for me, but it felt insincere or like we were not truly together in the moment.
I held onto the moment when I thought there was a chance
I was cherishing a fleeting moment wherein I believed we could be truly connected and intimate, but the feeling quickly dissipated.
I'd read you the letters that had blown in from the west
We read letters together that had been sent to us, conveying messages from distant friends or lovers.
And we'd whisper of the dreams we'd been savin'
We discussed our hopes and aspirations in hushed tones, keeping our innermost desires close to our hearts.
You said, you'd have it all, nothing more and nothing less
You expressed contentment with your life as it was, without feeling the need for more than what you already had.
Now there's an emptiness standin' at the door
I feel a deep void in my life and a sense of loneliness that I am unable to escape.
Tryin' to take me back to the way I was before
I am struggling to revert back to an earlier version of myself, before I met you and before the emotional pain of our failed relationship.
I used to feel alone here but it's not that way no more
I used to be consumed by loneliness and solitude, but the memory of you has filled that void in a way that persists even after our relationship has ended.
Now the drunks have turned to strangers
The people around me no longer feel like familiar company, but instead seem like strangers or outsiders.
And the stars are out of tune
Even the natural world, represented here by the stars, feels as though it is no longer providing harmony or a sense of belonging in my life.
As I think about the one who might've saved me
I am reflecting on the possibility of finding someone else who could have saved me from my loneliness or emotional pain, but acknowledging that it was ultimately impossible for anyone else to do so.
I know you're out there somewhere between the highway and the moon
Despite our failed relationship, I continue to feel a connection to you that transcends physical space, symbolized here by the vast distance between the highway and the moon.
Oh, bye, bye, bye, bye baby
I am saying goodbye to a former lover, marking the end of our relationship.
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: HAYES CARLL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Catahoula Brown
Hayes is one of my favorite songwriters!
UsafRich08
That banjo brings it out! Love my Texas Country
Ranch Hand Randy
Obviously I don't know him personally, and I'm usually not one for the mush, but I get the feeling someone hurt him bad. He always looks so sad and it sounds like genuine sadness when he sings.
trey3216
If you've ever driven the roads in Texas and Oklahoma, red dirt is everywhere. Red Clay. That's the roads these guys roll. That's where their music and soul comes from. Travel them, it's beautiful, depressing, and invigorating all at once. That's all I have
Sam
@manhuntruler2 Thats the beauty of it! I love all of these bands, they're so pure, untouched by labels and mainstream cooperations.
CR
this is awesome
Matas Vaskis
his guitar playing pop out so suddenly and unexpected, its good song.
Linda ben
SWEET! THANKS!
Winston Tucker
Nashville just don't get it anymore. You don't have to have American Idol looks or voice to be good. Someone described Hayes nice as ragged and that's not a bad thing. It's real and honest. His music is cool, I'm glad the Northwest "gets" his music.
TheTater72510
I'd compare him to anything that has came out of Nashville presently or for the last 10 years... The Country has left Nashville.