By David Bankston
Red Mule Records

The title track is a tribute to his grandfather, O.A. Bankston, a horse and mule team driver whose forbears lived among the Cajuns in East Ascension Parish but never assimilated. To his grandson, the elder Bankston, who died in 1969, was a legendary figure. "He built his first house out of one cypress tree," says Bankston. "He was poor but feisty and he had a generous nature. His house became a way station for relatives who were down on their luck or working their way out of poverty. He had very little formal education and both his children finished college."

Musically, the 10 songs on this disc appear to confirm Bankston's own estimate of his strongest influences. "The artists who had the greatest impact on me were Bob Dylan, Mose Allison and the Beatles," he says. While his style does seem to be built of equal parts folk, rhythm & blues and pop, his vocal delivery has the kind of strength which is essential to opera.

Bankston's parents recognized his innate musical gifts when he was very young and encouraged his wide interest in different styles of music. When he was 12, they took him to see Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress at the Sante Fe Opera. The composer was in attendance and Bankston made sure he shook the great man's hand after the performance. As a youngster he also saw opera immortals Eileen Ferrell and Richard Tucker perform in Bogalusa, La. He went on to study music at Southeastern Louisiana University and sang leading roles at Houston Grand Opera, Washington Opera and New Orleans Opera.

Folk, pop and rock music were Bankston's first loves, however, and he started playing the guitar at 15. He ran away from home when he was 16 and experienced something of a revelation after being released from a night in jail in Fort Smith, where he and some friends ran afoul of the local authorities' antipathy to long hair. "We got in our car after this miserable ordeal, turned on the radio and heard, for the very first time, Bob Dylan wailing '...how does it feel...to be on your own...no direction home...like a rolling stone.' " Bankston recounts the episode in "Dear Mr. Dylan," one of the songs on the CD.

By age 17, Bankston was singing folk songs professionally. In the early 1970s he co-founded the folk-rock group Manchild with Sam Broussard and recorded songs for Capitol Records. Bankston has remained close friends with Broussard, a highly respected professional musician and composer who co-wrote the music for five songs on Galvez Town and played lead guitar on almost every track. A couple of the songs were recorded at Broussard's house in Lafayette, La.

One of the things that Bankston is proudest of about the CD is the caliber of the instrumentalists who accompany him. Byron House, the bassist, has recorded with Sam Bush, Marshall Crenshaw, John Prine and Nickel Creek. Sam Bacco is principal percussionist with the Nashville Symphony and has performed with Neil Diamond, Matchbox 20 and Mark O'Connor. Nashville producer Frosty Horton supervised the production.

Paul Olsen and Andrew Wilson of Coastal's art department designed the cover and program notes.

In addition to his work at Coastalãteaching, coaching vocal students and directing musical productionsãBankston says he hopes to devote more of his energies to songwriting and performing in the vein of Galvez Town.