The best way to learn something is to go ahead and do it. That said, making an album tailor made for honky tonks was an easy task for The Western Express.
With the release of their debut album late last year, the duo, comprised of Stephen Castillo and Phill Brush, capture the sound and sentiments of honky tonk life, which they’ve done through having boots on the ground in those honky tonks and learning about the lives of the folks who are scooting boots or drowning their sorrows with them.
We chatted with Stephen about meeting Phill on Craigslist, the success of their current single, “Flower of the Rio Grande,” new music on the way and more!
Pro Country: You actually met on Craigslist in 2018. Can you take us through that story and how quickly you felt a camaraderie together?
The Western Express: It’s funny, we were just talking about this. We actually didn’t feel an immediate camaraderie. We immediately started a band, then a year later, re-started under the name The Western Express. But it really took about a year and a half to start becoming closer friends and realize how good a combo we would make as true music business partners.
Phill jokes that on Craigslist, he heard song demos from 10-15 different people, and other than mine, he’s not even sure those people listened to country music. When he heard a few of my songs, he thought, “Oh, this guy actually knows something about country,” and I guess that got him interested more than anything.
PC: Who are some of the shared influences you have as a band that laid the blueprint for what The Western Express has become?
TWE: Willie is the North Star. Phill and I had both been big fans of his for many years, and his autobiography, It’s a Long Story, is essentially our Bible and spiritual guide to life. Even our band name has deep Willie roots: when he was a local radio DJ in the 50s, living in Fort Worth and later Vancouver, WA, the name of his radio show was The Western Express.
PC: Your bio mentions that when the pandemic shut down the live music industry, you stayed hard at work with both recording music and developing an aesthetic for the band. As a band who has relied so heavily on live music in your five years together, what was it like for you when the initial shutdown happened, and how quickly did you pivot into the recording and branding aspects of the Band?
TWE: The initial shutdown was eerie and surreal for us, as it was for almost everyone. It didn’t take long to pivot. We immediately started talking about the prospect of recording, and we made that a reality in November of 2020. I (Stephen) have always had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted the brand aesthetic to be. The slowdown of 2020 gave me the time, space and resources to think and plan all that.
PC: It wasn’t until three years after forming the Band that you released your debut single, “Trust Me, You Can’t Trust Me.” How important were those three years of playing live, building a relationship and solidifying a base to you in the leadup to that release?
TWE: We actually released “Trust Me” in July of 2021, believe it or not. And at the time, we had almost nothing in the way of a base. We didn’t send it to radio, we just did a soft release, focusing a lot on learning the process: single art, pictures, press releases, distribution; we knew absolutely nothing about any of that. So the “Trust Me” release and subsequent releases were super important for us in the learning and growing process.
PC: You released six of the songs from your debut album, Lunatics, Lovers & Poets, as singles prior to the album’s release. What did you like about that release strategy and how did it pay dividends for you?
TWE: We love the single strategy. Our mantra is everything is a single. Times have just changed, and people so seldom listen to full albums these days. Releasing six singles ensured that every few months, we had something to talk about. Again, we had virtually no fanbase, no name recognition, and very few shows. We needed more press, more social media, more opportunities to get people’s attention. In fact, I joke that immediately after we released the full record in August 2022, we ran out of things to talk about. It’s a joke with a lot of truth to it. The single strategy has worked really well for us, and we’ll continue using it going forward; until we think of something better.
PC: What went into the decision to have “Flower of the Rio Grande” serve as your current single to Texas radio?
TWE: For whatever reason, I always pictured “Flower” as the first radio single. It’s big and ballady, and it’s got a unique style that a lot of folks don’t hear in Texas Country. We wanted to make a little splash right away, and we felt like “Flower” is the right song to get people’s attention before we hit them with the next few singles.
PC: “Flower of the Rio Grande” is a song that Stephen solo wrote. Stephen, can you take us in your head and into the room and talk about how the song came together?
TWE: I met a woman from the Rio Grande valley in March of 2020, and we ended up spending the next couple of years together in a relationship. When we first met, I was persistent and she was hesitant, so we played this kind of cat and mouse game for a few months before the relationship truly started. In many ways, the song wrote itself. So many of the lines came directly from conversations we’d had, and the ones that didn’t were poetic interpretations of those conversations.
When I initially had the idea for the song in May of 2020, I immediately knew the title. I spent about a week ruminating on it, then wrote the whole thing in a couple of hours one night. I love it when songs come together like that.
PC: “Flower of the Rio Grande” has only been at radio for about a month, and is already approaching the top 40 on the Texas Country Music Chart. In just the few short weeks since it was sent to radio, how encouraging has the response been to the song so far?
TWE: Oh man, we’re thrilled. I (Stephen) grew up in the 80s and 90s, so the idea of a single climbing the charts warms my little FM radio heart so much. We’ve put an incredible amount of heart and craft into these songs, and we believed that people would love to hear them. Getting that confirmation is fuel to our fire.
PC: You have previously mentioned how important honky tonk culture is to you as a band and how you both actively live it. How important has that lifestyle been to you, and how has having boots on the ground in that atmosphere helped grow the Band?
TWE: We can’t stress it enough. The tradition of country music is all about real songs about real issues that working class folks face. Songs about poverty, trucks, mother, love, heartbreak, smoking, drinking, dancing, raising hell, and Amazing Grace. When the art is honest, it resonates with people.
And the honky tonk is where we have all those life experiences. Phill and I are always out dancing. We meet friends and other musicians there, and I’m always falling in and out of love on the dance floor. The truth is, we have deep human experiences in the honky tonks; experiences that are true, raw and authentic. And I believe so much of that is why people identify with our music.
PC: Your bio mentions that you’re working on your sophomore album. What information, if any, can you give about where you are in that process? What can listeners expect to hear?
TWE: Yeah, the next record is basically finished, and we’re really pleased with it. John Evans produced both records, and we’ve loved working with him and Patrick Herzfeld, who owns Signal Hill Recordings in Driftwood. The new one sounds a lot different than the first. The first record was kind of the honky tonk, party-rock record. The second has some different sounds. It’s moodier, a little darker, and less hardcore honky tonk.
I (Stephen) am a highly expressive artist, which means I always need to evolve and grow into new sounds, new lyrics and new feels. I hope to never create a recording that sounds just like something else I’ve made or something I’ve heard someone else make. I can’t stand the derivative. The new record has some disco in it, some very different instrumental sounds, and songs that deal more with the intricacies of heartache, loss and goodbye.
PC: Along with working on your next album, what do you have planned for the rest of 2023?
TWE: 2023 is all about promotion and building an audience for the future. We’re gigging, but not as frequently as we have in the past. The focus is more on high quality shows that we can promote heavily. Learning how to get people to shows, buy merchandise, and actually know and love the music. In Austin, it’s easy to get into the groove of playing joints that have something of a built-in audience. For us, we want to attract our people to the shows and give them a high quality experience from the moment they learn about the event.
Pro Country 
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