Bradley Kopp and his wife, Lorrie Singer, have extensive professional pedigrees: He's a guitarist gun-for-hire and a producer and engineer with a long list of credits under all three categories; She's a vocalist, both in her own right, in show bands, and on sessions by other artists.
Walk Tall, their first "official" collaboration, blends soul, pop, folk and country, reflecting the duo's influences while melding them into a seamless whole. The album includes songs by both established Nashville hitmakers (Julie Miller, Gretchen Peters) and "family friends" (Jon Ims, Freddie Krc, Michael Woody, Robert McEntee).
The songs on Walk Tall showcase Kopp's agile guitar workmanship and Singer's elastic, malleable voice. Depending on mood, inclination and tilt of that voice, the individual tracks on the album can tend towards sunny ("Rachel"), introspective ("'67 Pontiac"), rocking ("Backslider"), wistful ("As Far As Your Memory Goes"), pensive ("River Don't Rise") or soulful ("Saving My Sugar"). Listeners coming across Walk Tall for the first time might hear echoes of Mary Chapin Carpenter, Patty Loveless, Karla Bonoff or even Bonnie Raitt in the robust vocals and eclectic, ear-tugging arrangements.
The album features contributions from drummer Tommy Taylor (Eric Johnson), bassist Mark Andes (Spirit, Heart, Stevie Nicks, Firefall), keyboards and pedal steel by Patterson Barrett (Jerry Jeff Walker, Partners In Crime) and other talented Austin-area musicians.
Bradley Kopp hails from West Texas, but he moved to Boulder in 1973 and fell into a fertile Colorado music scene that included musicians from Firefall, Navarro (Carole King's backup band), Poco, the Flying Burrito Bros. and a host of kindred spirits. Moving to Austin in the early eighties, he assembled an impressive list of credits as a guitarist (Alejandro Escovedo, Charlie Robison, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Jimmy LaFave), as a producer (Fairport Convention's Iain Matthews, Jeff Talmadge) and as an engineer (Joe Ely, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Tish Hinojosa).
Lorrie Singer grew up in Houston listening to legendary Bayou City acts like Joe Tex, Roy Head and the 13th Floor Elevators. She got some recording experience under her belt before moving to Boulder, CO, where she met Bradley in 1978. She found steady work in original bands and show bands, as a session singer (including a duet with John Denver) and on television commercials, and met the likes of the Eagles' Joe Walsh, Rick Roberts (of Firefall and the Burrito Bros.), Mark Andes and a host of songwriters, including Jon Ims, Gretchen Peters and Michael Woody (who would all go on to contribute songs to Walk Tall).
They lost touch with one another in the mid-Eighties after he returned to Texas. But in 1996, he says he found a picture of her (that she said she slipped him when he wasn't looking!) and picked up the telephone. A long-distance courtship followed before the pair married a year later in Colorado.
A new production gig in Austin brought the two back to Texas in 1999, where they set up a home in the small town of Buda and studio in nearby Wimberley, an artists' colony a few miles outside of Austin. It was there that they began to assemble the songs and record the tracks that would one day coalesce as Walk Tall.
Thank you Lorrie and Bradley ! For the friendship also, and I must say I love your songs and what you sing about....Keep up the good work :-) All the best....kisses from Demi Evans
It's taking everything I've got to not go load up Andy & the car and drive down to see you guys tomorrow night @ Taco Express...Good luck, though I'm sure you won't need it. And, if you don't mind, stick some of those enchiladas in the mail to me. hehe. Love, T
Hi guys - looks like I'm gonna miss you while you're in CO this time - I'll be at a family wedding back east. Have a ball and I'll catch you the next time through. All the best -Jim M.
