The country-rock scene in Texas is pulling itself up by its bootstraps with a younger generation. Railroad Remedy, a local country-rock band, is using artist diversification and collaboration to make its genre mainstream.
Railroad Remedy consists of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Cameron Allbright, a digital media innovation junior, bassist Easton Sandefer, an accounting junior, lead guitarist Wesley Hatcher, a management sophomore and drummer Reese Spano, a music alumnus.
The band started in February 2020 when Allbright met Hatcher through mutual friends. Sandefer and Spano were in the same social circle and were trying to find some fellow musicians to form a band. Sandefer chalks their first meetings up to good timing. They almost all met in one day.
“I met [Hatcher] one day through some mutual friends,” Allbright said. “[I] found out he played music and then we kind of became buddies, and he kind of wrote songs as well and I had been writing songs and playing music but I was always too scared to get up in front of people and play live for a long time but I wanted to do it.”
From there, the band began playing at local gigs around April 2020. Their main claim is their residency at Cheatham Street Warehouse, a music venue and bar in San Marcos. Through Sandefer’s work connection, the band secured a spot to play every third Tuesday of the month.
“[Sandefer] started working at Cheatham Street,” Allbright said. “So we got the hookup, like hey, if we get this band together, then his boss that manages and books all the bands and artists in that industry was like, ‘I’ll give you all some shows.'”
A large component of the band’s formation was their wide range of previous musical backgrounds before coming together. Sandefer played the guitar before Railroad Remedy but quickly picked up the bass to play for the band. Hatcher was not entirely versed in the genre that Railroad Remedy plays in either. He mostly played punk and heavy rock before. Since joining, he fills the role of a lead guitarist with ease.
Allbright had a solo career in the singer-songwriter ballpark. His songwriting knowledge helped further the band’s talents. Spano brought his skills as a drummer.
“We kind of all kind of had our own individual talents,” Allbright said. “[Hatcher’s style is] so different than [Sandefer’s] style of music than mine or whatever. So it’s just kind of like, that’s kind of cool how we all came together in a way from different backgrounds. Like [Sandefer] didn’t even pick up the bass, and yet he learned to. It’s like kind of an interesting blend of a band because [Hatcher’s] kind of got some little rock and roll punk thing going on. What I got is songwriting, I like John Mayer and stuff like that.”
Coming all from different perspectives, the four came together on the compromise that they wanted to have fun and play good music. They are inspired by southern rock legends.
“I just grew up on a lot of Texas songwriters, Turnpike, stuff like that,” Hatcher said. “What’s going on with Coe Wetzel in the past like five years, a big departure from the old guys like Randy Rogers.”
Finding shows to play and an audience to play in front of is easy for the band thanks to the close-knit community of musicians in San Marcos. Allbright and Hatcher are confident in the ease and accessibility of playing and finding local music in San Marcos.
“San Marcos is a really good place to have a start,” Hatcher said. “I mean, [Allbright] was saying he goes to the songwriters’ circle thing and you never know what happens. I mean, how many times has [Allbright] been playing at Cheatham Street? Because [Albright] had he had an acoustic residency there.”
Railroad Remedy’s Cheatham Street residency has been on “Boozeday Tuesdays,” every third Tuesday of the month, for the past few months. The band feels that consistency is key to good shows and with consistency, the results that come from a band absolutely knocking it out of the park every show can show through on every song.
“Honestly, just the main thing I’d like to say really is how lucky we are to be playing at Cheatham Street and like … no one knows who we are,” Allbright said. “We’re just a local party. You know, our friends come out and hang out and have a good time. But we got extremely lucky to be playing on that stage. It’s so historic and so it’s just right place, right time and it’s kind of cool it all happened.”
For more information on Railroad Remedy visit its Instagram @railroad_ remedy.