Kross Kountry Band enjoys resurgence with release of ‘Poor Ol’ Willie’

One of Shiner’s blasts from the past is seeing something of resurgence locally with the release of their latest single that songwriter Waldo Boehm of Shiner dubbed “Poor Ol’ Willie.”

Loaded with catchy melodies and lyrics that are bound to leave you smiling, they are some of the latest tunes out by the Kross Kountry Band. Known for their eclectic fusion of country and rock music, the band built a devoted following across South Texas as early as the mid-1970s.

As will often happen, though, life got in the way. There were kids to raise, mouths to feed, businesses to run It was fun while it lasted, but… In fact, by 1984, most in the band agreed it was about time for them to hang it up. A few tried to keep her going, but it was just never quite the same.

A big part of it, Boehm shared, came with a change in times, really.

“There was a time when every weekend, people would head to a dance someplace,” he said. “But around the time that Kross Kountry went its different ways, people just stopped going. They started doing other things instead. Same’s true today still. Oh, you might go to a dance at a wedding or some event someplace, but it’s still nowhere near how it used to be.”

Boehm says he still remembers fondly their trips to and from different places, and all the great conversations they’d get into on those rides.

“We’d talk about everything under the sun,” he said. “Politics, religion, you name it—things that get people a bit riled up over nowadays. But we never did, just had some great talks, is all. And we stayed close ever since.”

They even had the occasional get-togethers when they’d break out their instruments once again, like in 2015, when they played a reunion gig and close to 1,000 people showed up to see them play.

Still, just because you may stop playing together as regularly, doesn’t mean that the rest of it—the songwriting, the melodies you think up, the lyric writing—simply shuts down. Sure, you may not get together like you used to quite as much, but the rest of it still happens, like it or otherwise.

Which is how Boehm came up with “Poor Ol’ Willie,” which takes a rather snarky view of—well, most anyone you know, to be quite honest—provided they don’t have 20 pump jacks bobbing up and down in their Back 40.

And even if they do, the song will still likely strike a chord with most anyone who has ever looked to the goings-on at places, like our nation’s capital, Austin, or some similarly clad political preponderance, and had to turn away, shaking his or her head, wondering, “What on earth were they on when they thought that up?”

With the basic melody and lyrics pretty much worked out, Boehm got on the phone to see if he couldn’t get a few of his bandmates back together again, just to see what his new piece might sound like.

Lo and behold if they didn’t all turn out, and before you knew it, they were making sweet music together once again. They even added their own signature licks to the mix, giving it that good ol’ Kross Kountry feel.

Of course, much has changed in the music world since last they got together. Eight-tracks were just beginning to disappear then, and cassette tapes were the hot items back in 1984. If you were really into stereo components, you might even have a reel-to-reel player, while the real tech junkies were running around with satchels that had phones in them talking about some new-fangled gadgets they called “see-dees,’ or some such thing.

Nowadays, folks amass small fortunes by selling just bits of their songs in five-second clips, so that people can use them as ringtones on their smart phones.

Even as Waldo and crew turned to local music producer/promoter Mark Hybner to try and collect up some of the existing tunes that were still around from the old days so that their kids and grandkids might have something to remember them by, he was posting to something he called Spotify.

Hearing the band had gotten back together again, Hybner made just one suggestion: “Y’all should make a video.”

And after talking it over with the guys, that’s precisely what they did, meeting up at Waldo’s camp house for the big shoot. Each picked his place out on the porch, and within a few times playing the song through—that, and them all gathering up to act out a scene or two—they pretty well had it taken care of.

The video went live on YouTube in September 2023, and already it has more than 7,000 views, and that was without a lick of promotion of any kind.

Waldo recently put together a news release to try and build it up just a bit more: “Poor Ol’ Willie” is a breath of fresh air, a harmonious blend of nostalgia and contemporary humor by a country rock band that needs no introduction, Kross Kountry,” the release began.

What they had, they soon discovered, was their very own visual anthem.

“It’s more than just a song,” Hybner said. “ ‘Poor Ol’ Willie’ has worked its magic reuniting the members of Kross Kountry who once shared the stage in their heyday.”

Bass player Brian Beran’s smooth vocal performance delivers raw emotion that draws the listeners’ attention to its clever lyrics. Nick Shimek adds harmonies and puts the rhythm guitar track right into the groove laid down by drummer Bobby Kallus. On top of it all, Howard Gloor, their lead guitarist, adds melody lines and solos that create a sort of magic between this group of friends.

Or, as Boehm put it, “We’re just a bunch of crazy old men, having fun.”

Not only does the new release highlight the band’s enduring musical prowess, it reignited a camaraderie among the band of seasoned musicians. In fact, they’re already planning their next video project together, which is set to drop sometime in June of this year.

So, a band once scattered by time and distance finds itself right back where it left off, four decades ago. Brought together by an enduring friendship and, of course, Poor Ol’ Willie’s magic, all with good ol’ Waldo to blame for it, no less.

As Kross Kountry embarks on its newest chapter, Boehm invites everyone to go check their collections on YouTube and Spotify.

You can check out the new video directly at t.ly/AXNVF or find it along with one of Hybner’s other video creations at www.youtube.com/@farmtomarketentertainment3225. You can find Kross Kountry’s Spotify collection at t.ly/xsGIP.

Bobby Horecka is a longtime storyteller who serves as managing editor of five South Texas weeklies, The Hallettsville Tribune-Herald, Luling Newsboy & Signal, The Moulton Eagle, The Shiner Gazette and Yoakum Herald-Times.