From the heart of Texas songwriter, Rob Moorman, comes Tulsa
By Alan Shipston for Country Music News International Magazine
Double barrel distorted guitars blaze through the intro of Tulsa, a rambling up-tempo tune that you might hear while traveling down the road of life. “Tulsa is about being a professional musician away from home for an extended period of time. Even though you’re living the dream, the travelling can get to you,” states Rob. “It seems like I’m the only one, going to Houston, I’m the only one I can see, I hope that woman is waiting there still, waiting like she said she’d be,” growls Moorman as a harp moans in the background.
The song employs the rangy chord progression of a 1–b3–4 giving the feeling of wide open space in the arrangement. A blues based bass line and a driving drum pattern keep the composition moving, while electric guitars fill in the holes trading off with the harmonica. “Tulsa took my dreams and left me broken,” is the common theme throughout as the singer laments about how “All this travel can drive a man insane.”
Although Rob Moorman is a Texas fixture in dancehalls and outlaw festivals, this production was a father son project, bringing in Jason Moorman to co-produce with his Dad. Recorded at Hai Tex Studios in Brenham, Texas, the mixing and mastering duties were handled by Andy Chiles.
Moorman began playing music professionally in high school and after graduating from Southern Methodist University in 1974, he formed the Silver City Saddle Tramps and moved to Austin. The band quickly found success performing at Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnic in College Station. They toured southern US stages with Willie, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, George Jones and more. The band even made a movie appearance in Outlaw Blues starring Peter Fonda and Susan St. James.
During an Iconix Music Lounge interview, Moorman revealed that he wrote the song late one night, while travelling between Houston and Tulsa. Playing roughly 300 nights a year, with 200 of them on the road can make for some hard, but true stories. After playing at the Nine of Cups in Tulsa, he headed towards Houston hoping for a rendezvous with a lady he was seeing. In the course of a lull in traffic, Rob penned Tulsa, creating a real life road story.