In Conversation With Colin: Texas Headhunters

Texas Headhunters is the dynamic new supergroup uniting three of the Lone Star State’s most respected guitar slingers: Jesse Dayton, Ian Moore and Johnny Moeller. While each brings a distinct musical identity, they share deep roots in Texas blues drawing on decades of hard earned credibility, and a relentless drive to push the boundaries of American roots music into new realms.

The three amigos are among the last musicians to be personally mentored by the late Clifford Antone in Austin, Texas, who nurtured and heralded many blues legends throughout his colourful career. Each band member is a masterful musician, but as a trio, they’re singularly unique with their debut album recorded in just five days at Willie Nelson’s Pedernales Studio. The band has also recently toured with Samantha Fish and released a couple of official videos to accompany the album.

Between them, they’ve shared stages with legends, earned Grammy nominations, and left their mark on everything from Antone’s club to the world’s biggest stages.

Colin Palmer has been a regular visitor to Austin, Texas for over three decades and was there at the beginning when our three gunslingers were starting out at Clifford Antone’s club on Guadalupe near the University Of Texas campus. It was a period in time when both Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, alongside Kim Wilson & The Fabulous Thunderbirds exploded across America during Antone’s golden Guadalupe era before moving downtown to 6^th Street.

‘The Rock Vault’ recently caught up with each of the three music legends and chatted about Texas blues, the legacy of Clifford Antone and their new collaboration; Texas Headhunters.

In Conversation With Colin: Jesse Dayton

 Jesse Dayton has carved out one of the most unconventional careers in roots music. A native of Beaumont, Texas, he cut his teeth backing country icons like Waylon Jennings before veering into punk, film, and horror soundtracks with Rob Zombie. In recent years, he’s become a stalwart of modern blues rock, touring extensively with Samantha Fish and co-writing their Grammy nominated Death Wish Blues album, followed by his acclaimed 2024 solo album The Hard Way Blues. 

Let’s rewind back to 1995, what were you doing three decades ago?

I was making a record that went to number one on the Americana charts that year with Doug Sahm, and Johnny Gimble was playing fiddle. I actually did a blues track for Clifford Antone, I went out to LA and recorded a version of ‘Give Me Back My Wig’ for an album called The Young Guns Of Texas and I did that with Pete Anderson from Dwight’s band.

Did you and Ian Moore know each other at that time?

Yes, we all knew each other, in fact we both knew each other before we even got record deals. Johnny was around then too, and the Moeller brothers were playing around town so we all three knew each other and we were all discovered by Clifford. He walked into a bar in Beaumont, a real rough biker bar place that I was playing, Clifford came in and I was fifteen years old and he gave me some records and that’s how I met him.

Clifford Antone really nurtured young blues musicians.

He loved young guitar players. If he saw anyone with any talent he would be like “ok, you need to listen to this Magic Sam record”. I would be a very different person if I hadn’t met Clifford. He put blues back on the map, because if he hadn’t given The Thunderbirds a place to cultivate their sound then Mark Proct would never had managed them, Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds wouldn’t have found out about them, Clifford was really like ground zero. I’m a huge fan of Dave Edmunds, I’m actually a bigger fan of Dave than I am of Nick or Elvis Costello. I love his production, I love his song writing and the stuff he did with Rockpile is unbelievable, cool as it gets.

Did you see Stevie Ray Vaughan playing live?

I saw Stevie Ray a bunch, I saw him play when I was a little kid with Paul Ray & the Cobras and Lou Ann Barton was the singer. I remember I left because I was such a Zeppelin fan and Cream fan you know all the usual suspects from Britain, and I just left thinking Pete Townshend is really cool but I don’t think he could hold a candle to this guy as far as the blues is concerned. I mean that in a non-judgemental way I love The Who, I love Jimmy Page but when I saw Stevie, and this guy was from my home State, and he’s just annihilating every guitar player that comes around. But I never met him, I was just a kid out in the crowd watching him but he was mind blowing.

How did the logistics work for The Texas Headhunters album?

We went to Willie Nelson’s studio and knocked it out in five days, we just all brought a bunch of songs. I told them I was going to bring a couple of 70’s instrumental Jeff Beck kind of things because I don’t hear anyone doing that any more, and I loved all those records when I was a kid. So then I said let’s just make sure we’ve got some real cool Texas blues shuffles. ‘Maggie Went Back To Mineola’ is like early ZZ Top, an east Texas kind of thing. We didn’t really write together we just went in there and played on all of our tracks, I think we all sing two or three songs apiece and then we got the two instrumentals, but it went really quick and we did it old school with very few overdubs.

In Conversation With Colin: Ian Moore

Texas native Ian Moore first made a name for himself in Austin’s vibrant roots-rock scene during the early ‘90s opening for legends like the Rolling Stones, ZZ Top, and Bob Dylan. Taking a more adventurous road than most, he has built a rich, diverse body of work that blends blues, soul and psychedelia. He has spent much of the last three decades traveling the world through his music, the stage has given him a unique perspective on the human condition. Ian now lives on Vashon Island, nestled between Seattle and Tacoma. He is the President and co-founder of SMASH (Seattle Musician’s Access to Sustainable Healthcare) and is a Grammy Governor.

Tell me about the inspiration for Texas Headhunters.

We recorded three songs about a year ago, and they were good but we weren’t sure what we wanted to do. It’s funny because you probably hadn’t heard of me for a while but I’m playing all the time and I’m busy and I didn’t know if I was ready to take on another project. One of the bands I’m thinking of a lot has three of my favourite musicians, I’m not saying that I’m on the level that they are it’s just a reference, it’s Rockpile – Dave Edmunds, Billy Bremner and Nick Lowe.

Our record is a little bit bluesier and a little bit less 50’s but really when I take a step back and extricate myself from being in it, Headhunters has that feel and it reminds me a lot of Rockpile. We set out to make a blues record but we really made a roots record that has some blues, my tunes are more sort of psychedelic blues. Johnny’s songs remind me the most of Rockpile, it’s a vein of music that’s still under-explored.

Were the songs that you contributed to Texas Headhunters specifically written for the band?

I wrote them for this album yes, take ‘Kathleen’ for example, the funny bit is I called it ‘Joleen’ which is my wife’s name, and then I played her the song and she basically said if I released the tune that way I would have to find another home (laughs).

I write from different angles and ‘Pocket’ is about my family and where I come from and I’m a lifer in music, I play for and from the heart and that’s what it’s about. The reference to rock & roll is obviously a sexual reference to the original meaning.

Do you have a strategy regarding your vocal medical condition spasmodic dysphonia?

It’s neurological, it’s not my singing voice that’s affected so it’s not a burden and to be honest it feels like a calling to me, I’m fulfilling a mission. Spoken words mean very little right now, we have de-valued truth but music will always be a different thing. I’m not a religious person but I think there’s a reason, and to me this would be a big story if I was releasing my own record but I don’t want to overtake the narrative of the three of us in The Headhunters.  

I do want to support it, I started a non-profit years ago for musician’s health care and it’s now a huge thing and I’m grateful for it. Part of that was that when you’re an artist you’re selling yourself and so my friends and I’m talking about the best musicians in the world, they’re going out on the road with bad shoulders and bad knees when they come off the road and don’t get typical health care and so even though my speaking voice is a hassle and I wouldn’t choose it but I want people to come to my show and see the badass that musicians are, and that I am, by standing on a stage with this thing and still killing it.

I’ve just done three huge shows, and I guarantee you unless somebody already knew that I had a thing with my voice, not only did they not know but they’ve walked away and been like ‘wow that was intense’. That’s the thing I hope to share, it’s that we all are broken, and we all are whole, and when we are braver with who we really are and we show our true face then the world benefits. I’m totally cool with sharing this stuff, my only request is that it’s never pitched as a bad thing, it’s a challenge.

We all need healing, and music is meant to heal and I’ve been on a mission my whole life, and I’m still on a mission. My fan base is so loving to me, which is wonderful and I notice when I’m playing these shows that the crowd is really worried about me and I don’t want that because then I can’t do what I do. So I’m trying to find a way to get the message out, my desire is to empower people so they walk away thinking whatever that thing is they are dealing with – they can do it!

In Conversation With Colin: Johnny Moeller

Johnny Moeller, longtime guitarist for The Fabulous Thunderbirds, is a pillar of the Antone’s music scene in Austin and one of the most respected blues players of his generation. Known for his impeccable tone, deep groove, and tasteful restraint, Moeller has backed up legends while influencing a new raft of players.

Back in the mid 90’s when I was in Austin I would regularly meet up with Stephen Bruton, Kim Wilson, Jimmie Vaughan, Lou Ann Barton, Doug Sahm, Sue Foley and a whole raft of Austin players. What were you doing back in those days with regard to Antone’s club?

Oh I was running all around you when you were there in Austin, that’s like a flashback to the scene, I remember Sue getting a deal just a few years before and seeing Stephen Bruton all the time. I was playing with Lou Ann quite a bit I would sub for Derek O’Brien as her guitar player and I’ve been playing with her ever since.

My Dad lived in Austin when I was a kid and me and my brother would drive down there when we turned sixteen from Dallas and Fort Worth areas to see our Dad. I was all into blues by then, I got the bug, I bought a Lightning Hopkins album and I remember him going ‘wow’.

My Dad was a big blues fan and we would go to Antone’s when we went down there and it’s a Tuesday night probably in 1986, and we’re hanging out with my Dad at the bar and Clifford was there. Little Charlie & The Night Cats were playing that night and there’s about eight people in the club, the one on Guadalupe you were talking about earlier, my Dad strikes up a conversation with Clifford and tells him “my boys are all into blues you should hear them, that’s all they talk about”.

Next thing I know it’s the end of the night and Clifford gets on stage and he goes “let’s get the band to do one more and let’s get this kid up here and play guitar”. I’m in shock, bit I’ll never forget Little Charlie gives me his guitar and then he picks up the harmonica and plays like Little Walter. I just tried to keep up and play and Clifford gave me his card and I remember he wrote on the back ‘CJ Chenier admit any time’ and he says to me any time you’re here give the door guy this and you’re in. Then when I was out of high school I moved down to Austin permanently.

What was the catalyst for Texas Headhunters?

I would have to say Jesse spearheaded the thing, and it’s funny that you mentioned Austin way back because the three of us were all running around the same clubs, we may have been playing when you were there or at least one of us. We grew up around each other, we all shared different drummers and bass players but we never really played together, maybe a jam or something as a one-off here and there.

For the new album we set a date and we went to Pedernales Studio, Willie Nelson’s studio back in February for five days and just went in and did it. When you get three guitar players together you never know, it could be a real mess but with this everything just fell into place. I really like this record too because it’s more about the songs first, I know that’s cliché sounding but it’s a great guitar record but it’s not just all about that.

Excerpts of these interviews appeared on ‘The Rock Vault’ broadcast August 26^th 2025.

Written by Colin Palmer

Photos by: Daniel Sanda