* En anglais uniquement
While they first found an audience as part of the Los Angeles New Wave scene of the late '70s and '80s,
the Textones were a band that were less interested in upending tradition than embracing the glories of America's musical past. Led by vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter
Carla Olson,
the Textones were strongly influenced by vintage folk-rock, classic rock of the '60s, and country rock; their sound anticipated the roots rock and Americana movements that would rise in later decades, and their heartfelt, passionate sound was informed by acts like
Tom Petty,
Bruce Springsteen, and heartland rock artists as much as their peers on the West Coast club circuit.
The Textones' first recordings had a wiry, garage-rock edge to them, particularly their debut single for Chiswick, but the more polished and earnest approach that would be their hallmark was firmly in place when they cut their debut album, 1984's Midnight Mission, while they embraced a more rootsy and personal perspective on 1987's Cedar Creek.
The Textones were formed in Austin, Texas in 1978 by two singer/songwriters and guitarists,
Carla Olson and
Kathy Valentine. The two friends, who had briefly been members of the Austin punk band
the Violators, decided they wanted to start a band of their own, and flipped a coin over whether they should head to New York or Los Angeles to put their plan into motion. Los Angeles won, and the pair soon headed west. Once settled,
Olson and
Valentine recruited a rhythm section -- bassist David Provost, who had played in
Ike & Tina Turner's road band, and Markus Cuff, a drummer who had worked with
Emmylou Harris.
The Textones began gigging regularly on the L.A. club circuit, and they released a pair of 7"s in 1980 -- a three-song EP for the U.K. label Chiswick (a cover of
Tom Petty's "I Can't Fight It" b/w
Valentine's "Vacation" and
Olson's "The Time Is Right"), and a single for Faulty Products (
Valentine's "Some Other Girl" and
Olson's "Reason to Leave"). By the end of 1980,
Valentine left
the Textones and joined
the Go-Go's; their debut album, 1981's
Beauty and the Beat, became a massive success, and
Valentine reworked the song "Vacation" as the title song for their 1982 sophomore LP.
Valentine's departure was just the first in a number of personnel changes for
the Textones. First, the band added a sax player Tom Junior Morgan, and next they brought in a new lead guitarist,
George Callins, whose style was steeped in the blues. And eventually the rhythm section also turned over, with
Joe Read taking over on bass and
Phil Seymour, formerly of
the Dwight Twilley Band, on drums and harmony vocals. It was this edition of
the Textones that landed a deal with the A&M-distributed Gold Mountain label, which released their first album, Midnight Mission, in 1984. The album reflected the more polished sound and politically conscious direction
the Textones had taken since
Valentine's departure, especially on the title track, which became a minor hit thanks to radio and MTV play. The band toured extensively in the United States and Europe, but changes were in store. First
Phil Seymour dropped out of
the Textones following their European tour when he was diagnosed with lymphoma, then Gold Mountain lost their distribution deal with A&M, and
MCA Records, who was now handling the label, didn't put the same promotional push behind the group. After bringing aboard drummer
Rick Hemmert,
the Textones recorded and released a second album, 1987's Cedar Creek, which found
Olson exploring more personal themes in her lyrics and putting a greater emphasis on their roots- music influences.
During the same period when Cedar Creek was written and recorded,
Olson began collaborating with
Gene Clark, the celebrated singer/songwriter who had been a founding member of
the Byrds. Originally, the two were passing songs back and forth at informal get-togethers among musicians, and discovered they were on the same page musically. This led to a handful of live performances with
Olson joining
Clark on-stage, and the two recorded a duo album,
So Rebellious a Lover, which was issued in 1987. The album was a hit with critics and sold well enough to become
Clark's biggest commercial success as a solo artist. With interest in
the Textones fading, the press embracing
Olson's album with
Clark, and
Olson briefly sidelined by health problems related to diabetes,
the Textones went their separate ways, and in 1989,
Olson released her first solo album, simply titled Carla Olson. Two collections of rare and unreleased
Textones material would appear in 1989 in the wake of their layoff, Back in Time and Through the Canyon. From the '90s onward,
Olson divided her time between solo work, collaborations with former
Rolling Stones guitarist
Mick Taylor, and producing sessions for other artists, including former
Manfred Mann vocalist
Paul Jones, ex-
Electric Flag keyboard player
Barry Goldberg, blues guitarist
Joe Louis Walker, and actress turned singer/songwriter
Mare Winningham. A
Textones show recorded for radio broadcast on the Midnight Mission tour received a belated release in 2008 as Detroit '85: Live & Unreleased. However,
Olson always insisted
the Textones had never really broken up, and in the 2010s, she and her bandmates began working together again. In 2018, the same line-up of the band that recorded Cedar Creek reunited for
the Textones' third studio album,
Old Stone Gang. ~ Mark Deming