The MMC on Making Music in Waylon’s Basement

Lean into the wormhole and gaze back at the bubbling cauldron of Dallas’ music scene in 2001.  The Toadies released their second album and broke up.  The Old 97s put out Satellite Rides and ended their major-label run.  A few rungs down the scene’s ladder, The Mars McClanes were chugging along.

“We played a show every week that year,” recalls frontman Brian Corley.  “There was always some new original thing we were itching to try out live—see which genres we could sneak into alt-country and still get away with it.”  They had an intrepid booking agent, fresh swag on the merch table, and a buzzy web presence—an oddity in the pre-social media days before (shudder) MySpace.  So…what the hell happened?

“We got a jab, followed by a left hook,” nods guitarist Russ Chapman (Shooter Jennings/Stargunn).  “Our drummer Paul Constantine (K. Flay) had a scary—yet hilarious—road mishap on the highway back from a show at The Blue Light in Lubbock.”  The story later resurfaced as a bit in Constantine’s standup routine.  “About the same time, the 9/11 attacks happened, and Russ ran off and joined the military,” says Constantine.

The band reconvened in 2020, their customary love-gone-wrong lyrics now revealing scar tissue from two divorces, war deployments, and life’s assorted curveballs.  On April 15th, The Mars McClanes will release a new track to mark their 21st anniversary.  “We played ‘Riddle’ at our first show ever—Club Dada in Deep Ellum,” smiles Corley.  “I think the song made it onto every setlist after that.”  Recently, the band flew to Nashville and added “Riddle” to the recording sessions.  

The Mars McClanes laid down the new tracks at Southern Comfort, a studio built into the basement of Waylon Jennings’ former Tennessee home.  “Working there gave the sessions an amazing spirit,” notes Chapman.  “We definitely brought our telecasters this time.”