Quality Americana

Fans of the traditional western ballad have waited a decade for a new release from the Lockhart, Texas based Deadman. Six Milagros comes after Steven Collins spent years refining his writing and producing skills, and features a beautifully subtle arrangement that puts you back in an old cantina on the border. 

An Interactive Experience

Six Milagros is an interactive experience that features audio, video and a tequila pairing to transport the listener into a different world.

Collins partnered with Campo Bravo’s Blue Agave and created a signature cocktail for the release, featuring their product in the videos to create the atmosphere of a cantina. 

“I wanted to pair the record with something like tequila that’s tangible and physical that you could put on and sort of have an experience with,” Collins said. “They were kind enough to join up with me.” 

High Atop the Historic Square

For the first single release, Collins filmed a wonderful live performance of “Mexico Lindo” in a loft above the historic town square in his hometown. 

Collins described the song as a woman purchasing a bus ticket from a restaurant in Waco, Texas. Mexico Lindo was a Tex-Mex restaurant that also offered travel services to Mexico.

“The sign was kind of iconic,” Collins said. “You could go into that place and buy a mexican lunch and a ticket directly to Mexico City. Something about that sparked my imagination and I wanted to write about the subtlety of someone being separated by the border and saying ‘I have to go home. I’m going to catch the bus at this restaurant.’”

Collins arranged a dimly lit set in the third story of a century old building to capture the narrative.

“The room has a character,” Collins said, “and I wanted it shown because it had just a good feel… Nocturnal kind of feel. Kind of a modern campfire.” 

In the end we find a desperate, aging cowboy searching for lost love.

“I’ve got nothing to lose, I’m a lonely old gringo,” Collins sings. “I’ll be catching that ride in Mexico Lindo.”

Filming in the Lajitas, Texas Desert

“Hacia La Noche” is the first studio single that was released along with a cinematic music video. We see a cowboy standing in front of an old chapel as a beautiful rumba starts to flow. The video was shot in desert ruins and immerses the listener into the song like a film soundtrack. 

“Things used to be so good, they’re getting better still, it’s a lie every cowboy tells” Collins sings, “but im bound to an endless road with no rest and a million miles to go.” 

The cinematic video features Collins and Bill Davidson as the characters and was filmed by Aaron Strey and Jess Farr in Lajitas, Texas at the Far West borderlands. 

“I’ve always loved that romantic sound,” Collins said. “It’s subtle. We don’t live in a subtle world but we desperately need it because it’s beautiful. The older cowboy you see, that’s Padre Miguel.”

Miguel is a character first created in the imagination of Deadman over a decade ago. Collins described it as Miguel searching for faith and facing immense guilt. 

“He’s grappling with that,” Collins said. “It’s a song about endurance, perseverance… These stories kind of let the listener decide what happens in between. It’s a continuation of sorts of music that I had been working on when I first formed Deadman. Music inspired by the west.”

Deadman’s Inspiration

Collins also found inspiration from Tim Gibbons, who recorded a session at the famous Teatro Theater in Oxnard, California.

“They made Willie Nelson’s Teatro record out there,” Collins said. “They made the Sling Blade soundtrack… All these things had this kind of mysterious Mexican vibe, you know, and I was enchanted with being a Texan.”

Deadman’s first album Paramour that was recorded by Mark Howard in Silver Lake, California was the realization of these themes. 

“When I first started Deadman I wanted to live in that world,” Collins said. 

Throughout the years, Deadman has explored other traditional styles with their gospel themed Our Eternal Ghosts and Severe Mercy, and roots rock and roll with The Sound and the Fury.

As the live music scene took a pause during the pandemic, Collins purchased a nylon string guitar for his daughter, and while musing on the tones it unlocked those early feelings that inspired Deadman.

“When you’re writing songs it can kind of haunt you,” Collins said, “kind of lead you to another place that you didn’t think about.” 

The feel of the record has a healing quality and is designed to let the listener spend time reflecting on their own memories.

“There’s several characters that represent little stories of everyday life,” Collins said. 

Curious Release

The album is being released on Curious, a new distribution platform designed to give total album sales directly to the artist. Platforms that have become the standard practice for artist releases like Spotify are akin to “exposure” gigs where artists receive no compensation for their work. It’s a model that cannot sustain the creators of the world and could have a lasting impact on artists as they seek other work for basic necessities.

“They’re dealing with intellectual property,” Collins said of the major platforms, “that’s what music is. They’re not paying a fair wage. I wanted to work with a company that’s not going to do that.”

Curious was started by Russ Curry, who noticed how much of a struggle it was for even well known artists to sustain themselves with the royalty scale available on Spotify. 

“They’re Texans and they’re from Austin,” Collins said about Curious. Spotify’s royalties average only $0.003 per stream. It would take an independent artist over 3300 streams to result in the same compensation as one album sale on a platform like Curious, the same cost as a normal Starbucks drive thru order. “I don’t want these companies to devalue my property.” 

The 78644 Podcast

Collins is also the host of the 78644 Podcast, a twice monthly long-form interview platform that highlights local songwriters. 

“I’m enjoying it because I get to work with my wife and it’s something creative we do together,” Collins said, “trying to tell poignant stories mixed in with some humor about the authentic art that’s happening out here because of people migrating from the cities to places like Lockhart. It’s pretty deep. It’s surprising how much thoughtful work and talent is out here.” 

Live performances for South By Southwest will be held at the Continental Club and Utopia Sessions at Zilker Brewing. 

More information on Deadman can be found here.