In 2018, William Clark Green threw a festival at Cook’s Garage. The main goal in mind was to raise money for the High Cotton Relief Fund, Green’s charity benefitting panhandle farmers in need. Now in its 4th year, the festival is still going strong and even before the music started on Friday, Green had raised over $100,000 for his charity. The festival also included a BBQ cook-off, a salsa contest, cornhole, goat roping, and mechanical bull riding tournaments, and multiple games of Chicken Sh*t Bingo (it’s exactly what it sounds like).
The festival’s 2022 lineup continued the trend of booking local favorite artists along with up and comers in the Texas Country scene. This year’s headliners were Randall King on Friday night and, fittingly, William Clark Green on Saturday night. The festival also included performances from Roger Creager, Giovannie & the Hired Guns, Austin Meade, Josh Weathers, Slade Coulter, Ox Martin, Ross Cooper, and Big Joe Walker across the weekend. I was lucky to be on the grounds for both days and compiled below are some of the highs (and unfortunate lows) of the two days.
The Good: Ox Martin and Big Joe Walker
Tasked with kicking the festival off on Friday, Big Joe Walker and Ox Martin both did their best to entertain crowds that seemed more concerned with finding places to set their chairs and coolers. Walker was first and while the crowd was small and sparse, he made sure everyone within earshot was participating. During one song (I think it was called Do You Want A Shot?), he asked the crowd to repeat the title back to him and he got a few people to say it back but he told his band to stop, crossed his arms, and said, “Texas…is this mic on? I said, repeat after me!” It was a funny moment and it did indeed get a lot more participation. Martin, on the other hand, was all business on stage. I did enjoy his set but I also can’t lie, it didn’t really leave a huge impression on me. I figure with a little more time and a more attentive audience it would be a good time but his set was plagued by…
The Bad: The Weather
I know that this is something that no one could control and it just happened to be unfortunate timing but the weather on Friday was absolutely abysmal. I’ve been to shows in rain and in mud but Friday’s mix of dust and wind was easily the worst environment for any show I have ever attended. Leaving Cook’s Garage on Friday night to walk to my car in the middle of a dust storm was equally as bad and I have been stuck in traffic in their parking lot for an hour before. Actually leaving the venue wasn’t bad but having dust blown in your face at 40 miles per hour is. Anyways, that’s my weather rant, back to positives.
The Great: Josh Weathers
Coming into the festival, I knew Josh Weathers’ name and was pretty sure I knew one of his songs. However, I was not expecting the incredible hour of music he played nor did I expect to come out a huge fan of him. Weathers is a Fort Worth native who has been around for way longer than I expected (his first album came out in 2006) and he had way more songs I recognized than I expected. In sampling some of his music, I expected something a bit more chill and relaxed from his set but instead, it was three guys on stage playing loud rock music. Weathers handled guitar duties and was accompanied by Paul Jenkins on bass and Blaine Crews on drums. It honestly reminded me of the shows Sturgill Simpson was playing after Sailor’s Guide but before he decided to go full-on bluegrass. He would just go on stage with the core members of his band and shred for an hour and a half or two hours every night. And if his own set wasn’t great enough already, he also covered I Will Always Love You by Dolly Parton and it was incredible. If Josh Weathers is ever in your city, I can’t recommend seeing him enough.
I almost wanted to say that he was the best set of Friday but that quickly changed because…
Friday’s Best Set: Roger Creager
I might be biased in choosing this set at #1 for a few reasons. The first is that Roger Creager, like myself, call Corpus Christi, Texas home. He even took time before he performed Gulf Coast Time to set the scene for the audience, talking about the drive you’ll take on SPID to cross the JFK Causeway to get to North Padre Island where you can then turn left and go to Mustang Island or Port Aransas. I’m also biased because if I wouldn’t have gotten a photo pass, Creager would’ve been the main reason I bought a ticket. I can’t stress this enough, Roger Creager has been the most consistently fun artist I’ve seen live in the Texas Country circuit in my time going to shows. The energy he has on stage, the amount of bangers he plays, the band he has behind him, the fact that he brings his dad on stage to sing Rancho Grande by Freddy Fender. There are so many reasons to love Creager’s live show. There’s also been a long-standing tradition at another festival in the state, Larry Joe Taylor Fest, where during Creager’s song Love, people will spray beer all over the place. (Just watch this video if this is confusing you.) Unfortunately, Creager didn’t play that song Friday night but there was still a massive beer shower for what might be his biggest song, The Everclear Song. It also helps that the song sounds way better live than it does in the studio. The fiddle solo after the chorus almost feels like a breakdown rather than just a solo and Creager gets way more enthusiastic and animated on stage than he sounds on record. Regardless, Creager’s set was easily the best of Friday and if you’re a fan of this scene and haven’t seen him yet, do it soon.
Saturday’s Best Set: Giovannie & The Hired Guns
I’ve been hearing the name “Giovannie & the Hired Guns” for about a year now as an artist to watch or someone to check out in the Texas music scene. I remember hearing Rooster Tattoo on the radio at one point and just being confused by it. Why, of all genres, would you mix grunge rock and texas country? Even coming into the show, I knew they would be a big draw but I was still just confused by what made them so good and/or how they had gotten so big. Over the weekend I was taking notes on my phone so I wouldn’t forget little things to include in this recap. All I have written down for Giovannie’s set is, “Oh my god.” I don’t know if I have enough good things to say about this set because it’s easily one of the best shows I’ve seen so far this year. Songs like Can’t Answer Why, Ramon Ayala, and Rooster Tattoo that I came into the show confused about clicked when I saw this show. These songs are all incredible live and don’t get it twisted, Giovannie & the Hired Guns are a rock band. The guitars are super heavy and loud live, Giovannie Yanez is a fantastic frontman, and as a whole, the band is just fantastic. Allegedly drawing the biggest crowd in the festival’s history, I don’t think one person left their set dissatisfied. Along with being the best set of Saturday, I think I can also confidently say they were the best set of the weekend.
Most Improved: Slade Coulter
Look, I don’t know how, but Cotton Fest was my 3rd time seeing Slade Coulter. I’ve never streamed his music and I’ve never intentionally seen him yet he might be the artist I see the most times this year. However, I do have to say, this show was different. The first two times I saw him, he played to crowds that honestly just did not care about him but at Cotton Fest, I actually heard people singing along to his songs and getting into the music. And who knows, maybe it’s because I got to be closer to him this time around but I enjoyed his performance way more at this show than I have the two times previous. In the course of about 6 months, I’ve been watching Coulter just keep getting better and better and who knows, maybe next time I will go out of my way to see him.
Set I Wish I Would’ve Enjoyed More: Randall King
Look, I won’t lie to you guys. I’m not a big Randall King fan. Even though I’m not crazy over his music, I still enjoyed his show a decent amount but I have my issues with it too. For starters, again, the weather was awful. As the last notes of the show rang out, a giant gust of wind and dust blew across the venue leading me to walk to my car in the middle of a dust storm. The wind and the dust led to low attendance and a lot of people taking off for the exits early. I can’t blame Randall for that, it’s not something he can control but out of the things he could control, I still have issues. For starters, Randall played for nearly if not a little bit over 2 hours and the pacing of those two hours was pretty rough. In the middle of his show, Randall did a medley of some 90s country hits, songs like Check Yes or No by George Strait, John Deere Green by Joe Diffie, and Strawberry Wine by Deana Carter. This section of the show lasted for about 25-30 minutes and was capped off by William Clark Green and Roger Creager coming on stage to sing Garth Brooks’ Friends in Low Places. It was super fun and would’ve been a great way to end the show…but it kept on going for another 30 or so minutes.
I won’t go too hard on Randall though because I still have a lot of positive things to say about him. For starters, he was really hard to take my eyes off of. He’s super confident and super charismatic on stage and he knows how to keep an audience engaged. And while I did complain about the setlist, the bangers he threw in hit a little harder. The song Heartstrings stands out just because of how much fun that song was live. The chorus on that song is just fantastic and catchy and I still catch myself humming it every now and then. If this was any other venue or any other night, I’d have probably enjoyed his set way more but he just got stuck in a bad situation with the dust.
Best Party Thrower: William Clark Green
The host and founder of Cotton Fest, William Clark Green closed the fest off on Sunday night with a set full of hits, stories, and energy. I’ve seen Green twice before and each time was great before. Once again, he and his band were firing on all cylinders and he delivered another fantastic performance. I can’t put my finger down on what makes him and his band so great live but I have a few suspicions. First is the powerhouse of lead guitarists Josh Serrato and Steven Marcus. Both of them are fantastic guitarists in their own right and could probably carry the guitar duties on their own but when you put them together, they feed off each other well and it just makes them even more fun to watch and hear. The second is just William himself. He has great stage presence, he’s an awesome singer and songwriter, and he’s just fun. I don’t know a better or fancier word to describe it, he’s just super fun on stage. Touring on the back of his latest album, Baker Hotel, the setlist was still full of the hits everyone loves. Songs like Creek Don’t Rise, Old Fashioned, and my personal favorite song, Sympathy. All of which are great songs and sound so good live. However, the highlights of the night for me came closer to the end of the show starting with his performance of the song Next Big Thing which, I love the studio version of, but the song is just a whole nother beast live. Then came what was the biggest piece of crowd participation of the night, Ringling Road. One of Green’s biggest songs about, of all things, the circus and the dark underbelly of it. The song’s outro has this big “DUN DUN DUNUNUNUH” refrain and it has always been so much fun to sing along to. And of course, to close the show, a huge sing-a-long to the only song bigger than Ringling Road, She Likes the Beatles. It’s a silly song about Green falling in love and marrying a girl just to find out they’re complete polar opposites. The chorus of the song goes “She likes The Beatles / I like the Stones / She likes romantic movies / I like Indiana Jones.” Still, to hear thousands of people singing along to it is magic every time and it tied a pretty perfect bow on the weekend.
There are two artists I didn’t point out from the weekend, those being Ross Cooper and Austin Meade. Not that I have anything against them or their sets, I just couldn’t think of a creative way to title them. Cooper was solid, I loved the swing and rockabilly influence a lot of his songs had. I get to see him again in a week opening for the Randy Rogers Band and I look forward to seeing him again. Meade was also fun but he pretty much got lost in the jumble for me in between Slade Coulter and Giovannie. Still, I enjoyed his set, I enjoyed him finding a way to fit Don’t Start Now by Dua Lipa in the middle of his song Happier Alone. The best photos of the two of them are linked below.
Overall, my experience at my first Cotton Fest was mainly positive. Once again, I have to thank the staff at Cook’s Garage and William Clark Green’s team for letting me run all over the place over both days. I also got the chance to say hi and give fist bumps to a handful of artists over the weekend, namely Ross Cooper (who later dmed me on Instagram to tell me he liked the pictures I took) and Giovannie Yanez and all of them were extremely nice as well. The only things that sort of detracted from me having a completely positive experience were things that the artists and the venue just couldn’t control. Regardless, I will definitely be back next year and I can’t wait to see the lineup that Green can pull together.
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