Musicians team up for UT sports anthem
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Texas has long been known for its music and its dominant sports teams. It's only natural, then, that the two worlds be officially unified in a first-of-its-kind recording project.
Earlier this year, the University of Texas men's and women's basketball teams joined forces with local music notables — including Asleep at the Wheel, Jerry Jeff Walker, Gary P. Nunn and the UT's own Longhorn Band — to begin work on a series of studio recordings and courtside songs designed to get the crowd roaring and the horns flashing.
'Rock the Drum' competition
If you want to create your own version of 'Rock the Drum,' the theme song inspired by the Erwin Center, you have until Oct. 31. Musicians are being asked to put their own spin on the song. All songs must be completed with music and submitted to marketing director Merrick MyCue at Merrick.MyCue@athletics.utexas.edu by 5 p.m. Oct. 31. More information at texassports.com.
First among these is the basketball program's new theme song, "Rock the Drum," a roof-shaking reference to the team's home court — the circular Frank Erwin Center. The tune was written by John Mills, a UT music professor and staple of the Austin jazz scene who has also worked with Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Los Lonely Boys, and was produced by Erwin Center sound engineer Curtis Meyers, who has also worked at Nelson's Pedernales Studio. The song will be sung by local star Carolyn Wonderland.
"Carolyn has sat in with the (Longhorn) band several times during ballgames," says project coordinator Gavin Garcia, liaison for UT Athletics and School of Music.
In addition to being played at "The Drum" during games, "Rock the Drum" is also being broadcast on local radio stations as well as on the Longhorn Radio Network.
Though this might be the first song to be recorded for the team, area musicians have been jamming with the band for the past three years, contributing their artistry and talent to time-outs, halftime breaks, and a series of postgame concerts featuring artists such as Elana James and Bob Schneider. Among the most notable of these, Garcia says, have been Asleep at the Wheel's performance of "Miles of Texas," 13th Floor Elevators' Roky Erickson doing "Starry Eyes" and Jerry Jeff Walker making the Drum roll with a rendition of "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother."
"They have all had the songs arranged by the band to accompany them," Garcia says, noting that many fans who come for the hoops are delighted to discover the bonus of good music.
The basketball teams play home exhibition games — the women face Trinity on Nov. 1 and the men face Xavier on Nov. 2 — before opening the regular season.
