From Off the Record by Austin Powell, Austin Chronicle, 10/7/2011.
God’s Own Yodeler:
In September 2003, late C&W yodeler Don Walser retired from the stage as the swelling and numbness in his hands made it increasingly difficult to perform. His dear friend Mark Rubin made arrangements for a field recording that became Walser’s final recordings. The resulting digital-only album, Just Me and My Old Guitar, is the closest local equivalent to Johnny Cash‘s American series, a lasting testament to the simple grace and plaintive songcraft of Austin’s “Pavarotti of the Plains.” “Don lived inside of his songs and they became real to him every time he sang them,” Rubin wrote of the sessions, which were mastered by longtime admirer Gurf Morlix, “and we felt it was important to document the man and his stories in as natural and unvarnished a manner.”
