The Texas quintet Treaty Oak Revival has leapfrogged from small clubs in their native Odessa to headlining Dickies Arena in what seems like a blink of the eye.<\/p>\n
But the size of the venue barely matters: It\u2019s bacchanalia everywhere they go.<\/p>\n
Treaty Oak shows are packed with blurry-eyed fans singing along to songs about dudes who are just as messed up as they are. Each night during \u201cBoomtown,\u201d the band takes part in a ritualistic \u201cbeer shower,\u201d with fans and musicians flinging suds at each other. They didn\u2019t title their third and latest album West Texas Degenerate for nothing.<\/p>\n
But wait a minute. Aren\u2019t several band members on the wagon?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an interesting dichotomy, isn\u2019t it?\u201d says rhythm guitarist Lance Vanley, one of the members who still imbibes from time to time. Lead singer\/songwriter Sam Canty and drummer Cody Holloway are sober.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor 90 minutes, we\u2019re there to put on that party for our fans. But for us, onstage, it\u2019s better that we don\u2019t need substances to facilitate putting on a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The band \u2013 which also includes Dakota Hernandez (bass) and Lance\u2019s uncle Jeremiah Vanley (lead guitar) \u2013 formed in 2018 as an Odessa cover band, named after the historic live oak tree in Austin.<\/p>\n
Its influences range from Cross Canadian Ragweed to Van Halen to Blink-182. But over the course of two independently released albums, its sound coalesced into what Vanley calls \u201cSouthern rock and country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some pundits have dubbed it \u201ccountry grunge,\u201d but Vanley isn\u2019t keen on that label. He says the grunge-y guitar sound on West Texas Degenerate is the result of working with London-based engineer Adrian Bushby, who won a Grammy for his work with Foo Fighters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know grunge. But I’m not, like, a huge fan where I could pop off a whole bunch of trivia about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lyrically, the band\u2019s songs are filled with rebels without a clue who drink and drug themselves into a \u201cBad State of Mind,\u201d to quote a new song title.<\/p>\n
But the defining song on West Texas Degenerate may be \u201cWithdrawals,\u201d which Canty, the main songwriter, wrote about his experience with alcohol withdrawal delirium after years of heavy drinking.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he first stopped, it was crazy. He had hallucinations for three or four days where he\u2019d see a tiger walk through the living room,\u201d Vanley says.<\/p>\n
Several songs on the new album reflect the \u201cgrowth and accountability\u201d of the band, whose members range in age from mid-20s to early 40s. Most of the guys are married with kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest misconception is that we’re a bunch of wild, crazy partiers. People tend to be very surprised when they come back to the green room and it’s, like, wives and babies. Treaty Oak is basically a big family for us,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The clan has scattered from Odessa in recent years. Several live in D-FW \u2013 Vanley in South Arlington, Hernandez in a town south of Dallas \u2013 while others live in Oklahoma and the Texas Hill Country.<\/p>\n
Not that they make it home very often. After they close out 2025 with a big New Year\u2019s Eve show at the Toyota Center in Houston, the group heads out on a 25-city U.S. tour in February.<\/p>\n
Already this year, Treaty Oak Revival has toured Australia, made its late-night TV debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and been nominated as best new group by the Academy of Country Music. But Vanley says the biggest thrill was playing the Grand Ole Opry.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing from small towns in West Texas, the Grand Ole Opry was always on our bucket list,\u201d Vanley says. \u201cWalking on that stage is a memory we\u2019re gonna hold for the rest of our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the future, Treaty Oak Revival may delve deeper into the acoustic style it explored on The Talco Tapes, its May album featuring folky versions of its older songs and a cover of the Goo Goo Dolls\u2019 hit \u201cName.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Vanley says the band isn\u2019t actively planning its time ahead. It\u2019s too busy savoring the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid. So the fact that I get to do it, for real, is crazy,\u201d he says. \u201cIf this is a pipe dream, don\u2019t wake me up.\u201d<\/p>\n
DETAILS<\/p>\n
With opening acts Slade Coulter and Austin Upchurch, 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 20, Dickies Arena, 1911 Montgomery St., Fort Worth, $50 and up, Ticketmaster.com<\/p>\n
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.<\/p>\n
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, Communities Foundation of Texas, The University of Texas at Dallas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access\u2019 journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texas quintet Treaty Oak Revival has leapfrogged from small clubs in their native Odessa to headlining Dickies…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":437720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,7371,7372,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-437719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fort-worth","10":"tag-fortworth","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-tx","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115695051476680933","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}