On his latest release Proving Grounds (released June 9), John Baumann honors the Mount Rushmore of Texas country songwriters within the first few lines of album-opener "Here I Come." In the song, Baumann names The Flatlanders - Joe Ely, Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore - and Terry Allen among the Texas troubadours who lead the Amarillo-born Baumann to songwriting.
"I'm really inspired by the forefathers of Texas songwriting: Guy Clark, Robert Earl Keen, James McMurtry, Adam Carroll," Baumann tells Wide Open Country. "A lot of those guys kind of shaped what I do now and what I hope my career looks like in the next 10 years or so."