In 1981 and 1982, tapping into the Urban Cowboy craze, J.W. released two 45 single records that achieved airplay from Texas to Arizona. The four originals contained in these singles were: Texas, Texas, All Night Long, Never Love the Same Way Twice, Beer and Setups and Walker Was the First One Down.
Also in 1982, J.W. was a featured songwriter at the Kerrville Folk Festival. Chosen to play in the "New Folk" songwriter competition, JW followed that up in 1983 when JW was also chosen to host a Ballad tree session.
The rest of the 80s saw J.W. in his honky-tonk band period. "J. W. Weir and the Walkers"(later known as the "Dive Bombers), were playing, raising hell, and generally making a musical living around the Gulf Coast region. The Divebombers also performed 4 years at the Houston International festival from 1989 to 1992.
In the early 1990s, J.W. tired of the music grind and semi-retired from the biz. Jumping head on into the world of saltwater fishing, J.W. became so obsessed with fishing it just inspired him to pickup his Martin guitar again and crank out new tune's. The songs written during these years became the foundation of his new "Trop-Rock" attitude towards music.
Returning from a fishing trip one day in 1992, J.W. saw a billboard that had gone up advertising the beach road as the Bluewater Highway. Although the water is usually muddy along this stretch, J.W. managed to turn it into a thing of beauty. As J.W. tells it, "I just couldnt believe they would call this the Bluewater Highway. Hell that name hit me right between the eyes and I pulled over and wrote the title song in like 10 minutes. It was easy to write because that song was all about my life up to that point".
The Bluewater Highway album has been J.W.s biggest success story to date. Its been played in the Netherlands, Holland, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. It's also played on Internet Radio stations like Coverunner Radio, PVR (Permanent Vacation Radio), and others. Originally released as a cassette album, Bluewater Highway now comes in a CD with 4 acoustic originals added in 2002.
Heres a few of the artists J.W. has opened or done shows with: Lyle Lovett, Clint Black, Lightning Hopkins, Townes Van Zandt, Lucinda Williams, Bellamy Brothers, Steve Fromholz, Steve Young, David Rodriguez, Shake Russell, Roy Head, John Grimaudo, Nancy Griffith, Richard Dobson, Trish Murphy, Sisters Morales, Issac Peyton Sweat, Joey Long, Steve Downing, and Mickey Cates.
J.W. is a lifetime member of the TMO (Texas Music Organization) or go to their website: http://www.governor.state.tx.us/music/
For booking information or to order albums:http://jwweir.com,[email protected]FYI For 2009, JW is recording his new CD for a Labor day release(fangers crossed)...Stay Tuna!
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