Wayne Hancock has been called "a roots Rennaissance man," "country singer's  country singer" and "Hank Williams meets Gershwin." But the phrase most  frequently echoed throughout his career is "Wayne Hancock is the real deal." Joe  Ely said it, Hank Williams III said it, Bobby Knoffler from the Texas Playboys  said it, as have countless music writers and fans when referring to Hancock's  original blend of honky tonk, western swing, blues and big band that he calls  "juke joint swing!" Authenticity and sincerity have been the cornerstones of Hancock's writing and  music since the start of his career. His refusal to compromise his vision and  sell out his music has earned him a fiercely loyal underground following.  Hancock's vision, as he puts it, is "t o bring people together and make them feel  good about music. It's a spiritual thing and without spirituality, you've got  nothin'. There ain't much on the radio that strikes me as being original or from  the heart, most of it's from the pocketbook and it shows." Wayne is proud of his rural roots and culture and has thoroughly absorbed the  spirit of country music's forefathers such as Ernest Tubb, Hank Williams and  Jimmie Rodgers. Never an imitator, the cutting-edge style that emerges is all his own. He breathes youth and driving energy into traditional country forms and  adds a dash of big band horns, boogie woogie piano, scorching rockabilly beats,  heavenly hillbilly jazz guitar and some wigged-out hillbilly jazz guitar. Hancock figures he started writing songs around the age of twelve. He did a lot of travelling around Texas, playing juke joints and belting out his originals for  anyone who'd listen. At 18, he won the "Wrangler Country Showdown" but couldn't  claim the prize because he'd already enrolled in the Marines. After a six-year  hitch with Uncle Sam, he moved to Austin, where he reacquainted himself with  music and won a role in the 1994 theatrical production of "Chippy." He performed alongside Terry Allen, Butch Hancock, Joe Ely and Robert Earl Keen and Rolling Stone proclaimed, "The nasal honky-tonk of newcomer Wayne Hancock practically  steals the show." In 1995 Wayne debuted with "Thunderstorms and Neon Signs," a remarkable album produced by steel guitar legend Lloyd Maines (Joe Ely, Wilco and Richard Buckner). The release was met with critical acclaim. Newsweek called it "the most promising debut of the season." Two-hundred-fifty dates throughout the country, including brilliant performances on Austin City Limits and NPR's Prairie Home  Companion, led to well over 22,000 copies sold of his debut release on a tiny independent Texas label. In 1997, Wayne signed with ARK 21, an eclectic and well-anchored label owned by former Police manager Miles Copeland. Miles and his staff were impressed with Wayne's genuine ability for writing and performing and have dubbed him "arguably the hardest-working man in show business" for his willingness to tour solidly and his insistence on efficiency and untainted live energy in the studio. "That's What Daddy Wants," Hancock's sophomore release, was recorded in a startling three days. A brilliant example of his Texas swing and juke joint rockabilly, the album was even a staple on the space shuttle Columbia, the bugle call of its title track used to wake the astronauts each morning. After That's What Daddy Wants generated even more critical success than the first release, ARK 21 decided to reissue  Thunderstorms and Neon Signs on their label. In years past  have been a time of personal evolution and growth in Wayne's  life.  in 1998  he  lost his father to cancer. He has still been gigging solidly and has been self-managed, doing his own driving, tour managing and taking care of business in exactly his own way. It is with this newfound strength and self-knowledge that he approached the recording of a third release, Wild, Free and Reckless. The album was recorded in an unbelievable two days, with Lloyd "the Professor" Maines at the helm once again. Wayne remarks on his recording career, calling his first attempt "a landmark album, it got me my start. The second one was more big band influenced.  I was experimenting with the sounds, firing off shots and trying different things. This new album is truer to me than the rest. It has a fiddle and the  steel guitar sound that I have been searching for, and there were no outside influences from management, just me and my producer." Wild, Free and Reckless lives up to its namesake, as it takes the listener on an  exhilarating joyride, filled with happiness, hope, loneliness, love, brotherhood,  barroom brawls, and more stories of life on the road that know no era. It  barrels full-speed ahead into hardcore Texas country swing and collides with  blues, yodeling, and fired up rockabilly. The generous 15-song album was recorded in a mere 16 hours, and mixed and mastered in another two days. Wayne  penned twelve of the tunes and decided to include three covers. "Blue Suede  Shoes" is a tribute to Carl Perkins, played Pee Wee King style, as only Wayne and  his band can. Bill Mack's "Saturday Night" swings, with the charged up trombone  of Bob "Texaco" Stafford and the lovely Lisa Pankratz on drums. Ernest Tubb's  "Kansas City Blues" is a longtime favorite at Hancock's live shows. "I'm honored just to be standing next to these guys," Wayne says of his knack for  choosing astoundingly good musicians. His cast of gunslingers includes guitar  players Paul Skelton, king of insanity guitar, Sean Mencher of High Noon fame, Jim Stringer and the incomparable Dave "Leroy" Biller. The extraordinary Jeremy Wakefield lends his lush Hawaiian steel guitar to the mix and fiddling wildman  Erik Hokkanen appears on three tracks. As an extra special treat, 19-year-old T  Jarrod Bonta rounds out the sound with his sparkling piano playing genius. Wild, Free and Reckless is Hancock's most honest and direct effort yet, filled  with raw emotion and new twists on strongly rooted forms. He provides the music  scene with some much-needed vitality outside the commercial mainstream, because  as Wayne himself says: "You can't formulate soul, and we got soul, Jack!"

Swing Time is Wayne’s second release for Bloodshot Records, and it was recorded live over a few nights where he is most at home: the stage of Austin’s fabled roadhouse extraordinaire The Continental Club. Produced by Lloyd Maines and Wayne himself, the release also features appearances by Paul Skelton, Dave Biller, Eddie Rivers, Rick Ramirez, Dan Enriquez, Bob "Texaco" Stafford, and Rebecca Snow. A-Town Blues, Wayne's first release with Bloodshot Records. Highlights range from a couple of originals that sound like long-lost Hank Williams classics ("Sands of Time," "Route 23") to revived chestnuts including Jimmie Rodgers's "California Blues," and Fats Waller's "Viper". In Wayne's own words: "If you like music that moves and the trash on the radio can't satisfy your wanderlust then try this CD and burn a thousand miles." Wayne’s latest  effort is , Tulsa - his third for Bloodshot Records and first studio record since 2001, is a testament to the version of America he loves; one decorated with lonesome desert highways, cheap hotels, dancehalls, and lost loves along the way. Wayne Hancock personifies the two great American inventions of jazz and country and creates his own style of uncompromising western swing; as much Gershwin as Hank; equal parts Art Blakey and Bob Wills.

Be sure to visit Wayne The Train's official site by clicking here I would  like to thank Eric Roberts at Hello Booking for the help with this page.