Hill Country musician Matt Kirk made his Amarillo debut in a solo show just a month ago, but he’ll be back for a 9 p.m. Saturday show with his full band, The Güeyfarers, at the Golden Light Cantina, 2906 S.W. Sixth Ave.
He’s already making waves here, as you’ll see in our interview. And he also gave me the scoop on the band’s name: It’s a riff on “Wayfarers,” like the sunglasses and the folk song “The Wayfaring Stranger,” with a nod to his Hispanic ancestry. (This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)
Chip Chandler: You’ve been around music kind of all your life, huh?
Matt Kirk: I have, yeah. My mom (Sylvia Kirk) started as a musician before she even really graduated high school. And my dad was a big music fan. It’s the one constant that has been in my life.
CC: Talk about your mom and her career. What did she do?
MK: She sings and plays guitar. She’s been known in the Hill Country and has been for, I guess, the last 40-plus years. As a kid, me and my siblings got toted around to her gigs throughout this area, and I kind of took it for granted. And then I got a little older, and I had a different appreciation for music, and I understood how my mom was kind of a bad you-know-what. She was good enough to go anywhere, and she chose to be a mother.
CC: So what was it like when you told her you wanted to start pursuing this?
MK: It’s funny you ask. She was not thrilled at all. I thought she was going to be proud and excited, because I started playing when I was 10 or 11 with my buddies. When I was 15, I guess is when I told her that I really, really wanted to focus on this and go this direction. I was expecting her to be like, “Oh, son, I’m so happy.” And it was the complete opposite. She just stared at me. She said, “Well, I just want you to know right now that it’s a blessing and a curse.” I’m 40 now, so that was a lifetime ago that she told me that. And when she told me that I wanted to have some choice words with her. But it wasn’t until I was in my early- to mid-20s when what she said kind of made sense, specifically with the lifestyle that comes along with being a musician.
CC: Do you understand better now why she walked away?
MK: Absolutely. I guess she never completely walked away because she’s always been playing. But she had an opportunity to go to Nashville. And her mom said absolutely not. Then she started a family, I would say, pretty young. She always sang throughout those years professionally and had some gigs better than the others, some worse than others, but that’s just the way of a musician. Every single one of my siblings—I’m one of one of four—all play, but I was the only one foolish enough to go all in.
CC: In a few years when your son says, “Hey Dad, I want to go into music.” What are you going to say?
MK: Oh man, I think he’s already there. I know he’s only 2, but I did a gig here in Gruene with my mom last week at this little outdoor place we play kind of often. And he doesn’t want to sing, but my mom, when we’re doing our duo gig, she’ll play percussion. So she has like a tambourine and a wooden block and shakers and stuff, and he will sit there with her until we have to pry him off stage. So I think he’s going to be a drummer. It won’t be long before he has 10 drum sets. But to be kind of serious, if he wants to pursue music at all, of course I’ll be super supportive. But I think I will—and I’m sure his mother would agree—make a rule that if he were to have some sort of degree or education first, then he can do whatever the hell he wants.
CC: “Without the Dark” topped out on Texas 95.7’s Top 25 Countdown back in February. Have you been playing up here much?
MK: No, not until after. It just blew my mind. It was a good feeling because I’m physically and mentally stuck in this little bubble here in the Hill Country, which it’s a great bubble, but it’s awesome to know that our music is reaching somewhere outside of this 50-mile radius. It was only through that that we were able to get in touch with the Golden Light.
American artists Ed Ruscha and Ron Cooper will be paired in a new exhibition at Amarillo Museum of Art, 2200 S. Van Buren St.
An opening reception for Ed Ruscha + Ron Cooper: Stations Words | Bars Cars is set for 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the museum, 2200 S. Van Buren St. Admission is free for members and $15 for nonmembers.
Ruscha’s paintings, prints and photographs of a Standard Station in Amarillo is, as the museum points out in a news release, one of the most “iconic” in American art, existing “at a literal and figural intersection of an American crossroad.”
The exhibition will feature Ruscha’s prints of signs and words, as well as Cooper’s plexiglass works tinted with automotive pigments—all timed smartly to the ongoing centennial celebration of Route 66.
For information, call 806-371-5050.
This week’s other can’t-miss options:
Bryan Robertson: 6 p.m. Tuesday; Western Horseman Club, 2501 E. Interstate 40; 806-379-6555, Ext. 2999
Wibby Wednesday with Hank Vincent: 7 p.m. Wednesday; Six Car Pub & Brewery, 625 S. Polk St.; 806-576-3396
Music at Wellington Square Courtyard featuring Esquire Jazz: 7 p.m. Wednesday; 1619 S. Kentucky St.; $15 cash or Venmo at the door; kids ages 10 and younger free; 806-584-9571
The Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs: 9 p.m. Thursday; The 806 Coffee + Café, 2812 S.W. Sixth Ave.; no cover, donations accepted; 806-322-1806
May Metal Thrash Attack: 7 p.m. Friday; Rockwell Event Center, 16307 Interstate 27; tickets $10; 806-683-2156
Tom Buechi: 7 p.m. Friday; Mickey’s Place, 1512 Fifth Ave., Suite 103 in Canyon; 806-452-7320
Touching Voodoo: 7 p.m. Friday; Shark Beach Burgers, 1505 E. Farm-to-Market Road 1151; free; 806-335-5644
The Josh Abbott Band: 8 p.m. Friday; The Lumberyard, 850 N. 23rd St. in Canyon; tickets $46 to $66; 806-804-3000
Tristan Graves with Savannah Wright: 9 p.m. Friday; Western Horseman Club, 2501 E. Interstate 40; cover; 806-379-6555, Ext. 2999
Ty Blackburn: 9 p.m. Friday; Blind Pig, 609 S. Independence St.; no cover; 806-412-4251
24 Hours in the Canyon: 10 a.m. Saturday to 1 p.m. Sunday; Palo Duro Canyon State Park; info@24hoursinthecanyon.org
Off the Rails featuring Jerrod Sterrett & The Hired Guns: 6:30 p.m. Saturday; Armstrong County Museum, 120 Trice St. in Claude; $30 in advance, $40 at gate; 806-310-9044
The Solano Project: 7 p.m. Saturday; Shark Beach Burgers, 1505 E. Farm-to-Market Road 1151; free; 806-335-5644
Double Shot Duo: 8 p.m. Saturday; Zombiez Bar & Grill, 711 S. 10th Ave.; cover; 806-331-7305
Little Mazarn with Cowboy Cold: 8 p.m. Saturday; Caliche, 2311 S.W. Seventh Ave.; cover $10; 806-398-1008
Comedian Mario “Superstar” Salazar: 9 p.m. Saturday; Jorge’s Tacos Garcia, 1619 S. Kentucky St.; tickets $21 to $31; 806-371-0411
Marvin Davis & Friends: 9 p.m. Saturday; Western Horseman Club, 2501 E. Interstate 40; cover; 806-379-6555, Ext. 2999
Next to Kin: 9 p.m. Saturday; Blind Pig, 609 S. Independence St.; no cover; 806-412-4251
Reborn Country: 9 p.m. Saturday; Broken Spoke Lounge, 3101 S.W. Sixth Ave.; no cover; 806-373-9149
Alamo Park Live: 3 p.m. Sunday; El Alamo Park, 16th Avenue and Roberts Street; free; 806-676-5160
Jim Laughlin June Jazz Series featuring The Martinis: 7:30 p.m. June 2; after party at 9 p.m.; Amarillo College Experimental Theatre Porch; free; 806-371-5340
Starlight Theater with Jackie Haney & The Geezers Gone Wild and Arieon Keller: 6:30 p.m. June 2; Sam Houston Park, 4101 Line Ave.; free; 806-378-3036
Email submissions to info@brickandelm.com.
Movie options:
Opening Thursday: horror film Backrooms; family comedy The Breadwinner; historical drama Pressure (Cinemark Hollywood 16, 9100 Canyon Drive, and Cinergy, 9201 Cinergy Square)
Special engagements: family animated film Over the Hedge (through Thursday, Cinergy); Legally Blonde 25th anniversary (Wednesday, Hollywood 16); historical faith-based documentary Revolutionary America (Sunday through June 2, Hollywood 16); Dog Man (Monday to June 4, Cinergy); Paddington (Monday, June 3 and 4, Hollywood 16); Secret Movie Club (Monday, Hollywood 16)
