The McKay Brothers

Central Texas Duo Plays Borski’s this Weekend

Mark Williams
Music Editor

It's always a good sign when guys who use "brothers" in their name are actually brothers. Noel and Hollis McKay are fifth-generation Texans who revel in the best things the state has to offer: food, a frosty beverage and an honest twang — all things that can be found at Borski’s Tavern (I-45 at Shepard Hill Rd., Willis) when the duo plays there Friday night (11/17).

Their impressive sophomore effort, “Cold Beer and Hot Tamales,” was produced by Lloyd Maines and features a couple of bilingual efforts that understand the emotions and history behind a song such as Butch Hancock's "She Never Spoke Spanish to Me." Never straying too far from their influences — Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, Robert Earle Keen — The McKay Brothers are still capable of producing songs of heartfelt reflection, as in “Warmer Place to Sleep.”

Noel and Hollis make music that celebrates Texas without succumbing to dimwitted clichés or pandering to the lowest hayseed denominator like so many slick, Nashville hustlers who erroneously claim a link to authentic country music. Nope, the McKays are all about capturing the elusive essence of Texas, and it's something that a few other artists have done, too, such as Willie and Waylon, Bob Wills, Jerry Jeff Walker, Joe Ely and Terry Allen, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Delbert McClinton.

But the McKays hold their own as a group with something to say and their own musical way to say it. "The Disappearing Texas" is a song that will appeal to loyal Texans who cherish the Texas I always knew and treasured and now see vanishing. And the McKays obviously see it disappearing, as they sing, "There's a disappearing Texas/Vanishing but not completely gone/Yeah, there's a disappearing Texas/So let's leave what there is left of it alone."

As long as there are faithful souls like the McKay Brothers, Texas will always populate a vivid musical world...

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