Scottish Catholic Observer

It is 23 years this month since Texas released their debut single I Don’t Want A Lover in January 1989. The European hit song with its distinctive bottle-neck guitar sound made the band an instant success but popularity soon waned in the UK until the release of 1997’s White On Blonde. The album produced a run of Motown and Americana flavoured hit singles including Say What You Want, Black Eyed Boy, Halo and Put Your Arms Around Me. Singer Sharleen Spiteri’s star quality ensured expansive television and press coverage while her looks and sultry image became an essential ingredient appearing on record sleeves and news-stands across Europe.

Behind the scenes Ally McErlaine is the quiet, cool guitarist often sporting a leather jacket and a feather cut while picking out the band’s essential riffs and licks. In September 2009,  he was admitted to hospital with a brain aneurysm and entered a coma for nine weeks. During six months in hospital his wife was called to his bedside numerous times fearing the worst. Band mate Eddie Campbell told the press: “It’s heartbreaking; I just want everyone to say a prayer for him.” Miraculously the guitarist made a full recovery.

In 2011, the musician joined Texas on tour as well as taking new trio Red Sky July on the road. Despite surgeons telling the guitarist he would be left mentally and physically impaired, today he looks the picture of health.

“I’m actually fully recovered; at least I keep thinking I’m fully recovered,” Mr McErlaine said.  “It’s hard to tell because I’m getting older now and you have to differentiate between what’s just age and what’s part of my recovery. It was a massive deal, I was dead for three months, my wife was told to make funeral arrangements; it was pretty bad. I wasn’t aware of anything, I never suffered. It was only in the recovery process that I suffered because it was so painful.”

During recovery, Mr McErlaine made friends with a priest from the hospital chapel and they have remained in contact. Doctors also told the guitarist that they have only treated one other patient that also recovered from a grade five aneurysm. Those close to Mr McErlaine including his wife Shelly Poole—who alongside American singer Charity Hair fronts Red Sky July—turned to faith and prayer in their time of need and view the recovery as something of a miracle. Ms Poole is also about to release a book about the experience, aptly named, The Miracle.

“I’m not religious at all, my wife gets quite annoyed with me, she believes in God,” Mr McErlaine said. “I annoy her when I say I know what it’s like to die-but don’t remember anything about having the aneurysm. After three months it was like waking from a dream. I had that semi-awake feeling that you have when you wake up; I had that for about a month. I didn’t know what a guitar was or anything else.”

Watching Mr McErlaine on stage, he has lost none of his previous skill but admits to having to ‘re-learn’ everything

including picking up a guitar like it was the first

time again.

“I had to rebuild the motor skills and relearn how to walk down stairs,” he said. “I was really stiff because I was in the same position for three months; all your muscles waste, I was really weak. I could walk down stairs but not up. When you walk down stairs you do a controlled fall; I was too scared to do that and I did have a few falls. I fell on holiday, ripped my side open and gave everyone another fright.

“I started jogging, at first really slow and just pushing myself through the pain. It got better and I gradually became more loose and mobile. It was the same with playing the guitar. I couldn’t play at all then it started to come back mentally; I remembered everything. We had written all the songs for the Red Sky July album, I think because the studio was booked I didn’t want to let anyone down. My playing is a bit stiff on the record but I’m glad I did it.”

From Frankie Miller to Primal Scream, Glasgow musicians have retained a strong bond with American roots and culture in various forms. Mr McErlaine’s blues and country influenced style began pre-teens with his parents. The Americana country tinged sound goes even deeper with Red Sky July.

“My dad was mad on Bob Dylan; my mum was really into The Beach Boys,” he said. “My aunties and uncles were into country music which I’d hear a lot at New Year. Then I started listening to David Bowie and then The Clash. Significantly it was a friendship with Atlanta rockers The Black Crowes at the end of the 1980s and early 1990s that brought about another significant influence.

“I got quite into country because we knew The Black Crowes, they were label mates. We’d meet up with them if we were playing Atlanta and we’d do the same thing when they played Glasgow. We took them out to the Queen Margaret Union; people were looking at these six-foot tall, longhaired Southern hippies wondering what was going on. They played me a lot of country stuff and introduced me to Gram Parsons; at the time it was the best thing I’d ever heard. I ended up going through a real Gram phase and driving out to Joshua Tree in California where he died.

This year will see a new album from Texas while Mr McErlaine continues to tour with Red Sky July.

“To me Texas is still about having fun,” Mr McErlaine said. “With Red Sky July it’s like starting again. I’m quite driven to try and break this band. We don’t have a pop hit or anything like that at the moment.”

After fielding interviews about his illness and new band, is Mr McErlaine happy to resume his role in the background?

“Oh yeah; when we first started Texas they used to make me do the interviews with Sharleen because we didn’t want this female sex symbol kind of thing but I think singers should do the interviews and front the band,” he said. “We used to finish the gig and go out but Sharleen would be stuck doing an interview; I was never comfortable with that. People know her everywhere she goes but I think she’s fine with that; I never was.”

Thankfully the dark skies have cleared to reveal another promising new chapter for the Texas guitar-slinger.