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.”
Hey Baby Where You Been
Hayes Carll Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Well I wear big britches and I walk real tallI'm eatin' sweet potatoes, if I'm eatin' much at allWake up in the mornin' just a talkin' to the wallHey baby where you been
Chorus 1:
And all my life I tried so hard to findBut you just kept runnin' round and round my mindBuild me a rainbow, tall and highSit me in the clouds eatin' moonbean pieWalk across the valley just to hear you sighHey baby where you been
Well long tall billy with his blue suede shoesHe's walkin' round the corner with the fort worth bluesWoulda bet a dollar but he mighta had to loseHey baby where you been
And I can't go north cause I can't stand snowI start drinkin' heavy when the cold winds blowBetter stick around for just one last showSayin' hey baby where you been
Chorus 2:
I walked until my heart was black and blueSearchin' for a trace or sight of youBuild me a rainbow, tall and highSit me in the clouds eatin' moonbean pieWalk across the valley just to hear you sighHey baby where you beenHey baby where you been
In Hayes Carll's song "Hey Baby Where You Been," the singer describes being robbed and exposed to crude jokes, but remarking that it would have been alright if his lover had been there to share it with him. He then goes on to describe himself as wearing big clothes and eating very little, speaking to the rough and tumble nature of his lifestyle. Throughout the song, he repeats the phrase "Hey baby where you been" as if asking his lover where she has been hiding from him.
The lyrics show a sense of longing and yearning for something or someone that is missing. The singer can't stop thinking about their lover and searching for them, walking until their heart is black and blue in hopes of finding a trace of them. The chorus repeats the desire to build a rainbow and sit in the clouds eating moonbean pie just to hear their lover sigh.
The song's lyrics evoke a feeling of loneliness and emptiness, with the singer desperately searching for someone or something to fill the void in their life. The repeated phrase "Hey baby where you been" adds a sense of urgency and desperation to the song, as if the singer will never stop searching until they find their lover.
Line by Line Meaning
Well they took all my clothes and they took all my money
Someone stripped me of all my possessions and funds.
Told me dirty jokes, not a damn one funny
They made crude remarks but failed to be amusing.
Been alright if they'd of seen my honey
Perhaps if my sweetheart was there, it would have made things better.
Well I wear big britches and I walk real tall
I exhibit pride and confidence in my attire and stature.
I'm eatin' sweet potatoes, if I'm eatin' much at all
I consume very little, mainly sweet potatoes.
Wake up in the mornin' just a talkin' to the wall
Upon awakening in the morning, I have no one to speak with.
And all my life I tried so hard to find
Throughout my life, I've made an effort to search for something.
But you just kept runnin' round and round my mind
Your constant presence in my thoughts has impeded my search.
Build me a rainbow, tall and high
Construct an elaborate, grand rainbow for me.
Sit me in the clouds eatin' moonbean pie
Place me amongst the clouds with celestial cuisine.
Walk across the valley just to hear you sigh
Travel a great distance to hear your contented exhalation.
Well long tall billy with his blue suede shoes
Billy, who is tall and wears blue suede shoes,
He's walkin' round the corner with the fort worth blues
is casually strolling nearby with feelings of melancholy associated with Fort Worth.
Woulda bet a dollar but he mighta had to lose
If I had gambled, Billy may not have won.
And I can't go north cause I can't stand snow
I am unable to travel up north due to my aversion to snow.
I start drinkin' heavy when the cold winds blow
When the chilly wind begins blowing, I indulge in copious amounts of alcohol.
Better stick around for just one last show
I ought to be present for the upcoming event before potentially leaving.
I walked until my heart was black and blue
I walked an incredible amount, leaving my heart bruised and hurting.
Searchin' for a trace or sight of you
I relentlessly searched for any indication of your existence.
Hey baby where you been
I ask, my love, where have you been?
Contributed by Mackenzie T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.