Jay Hooks - Tequila & Bullets (2025)

Born and raised in Houston, Jay Hooks cut his teeth on Gulf Coast blues, mixing Texas grit with rock-and-roll swagger. Hooks toured extensively with Antone’s Recording Artist Lavelle White earning his stripes night after night. By the late ’90s, he was fronting his own band, recording his 1998 debut “Hooked Up” on Sunburst Records. In 1999, Hooks signed with the Dutch blues powerhouse Provogue Records and released his self-titled album Jay Hooks produced by Ben Elliot, and followed-up with 2002’s “Red Line” produced by Hadden Sayers. His fiery performances brought him to international stages before stepping away from music to focus on family. Hooks returned to the road in 2018 at the call of Gulf Coast Records to support Gulf Coast Recording artist Mark May.

The ensemble includes Hooks, guitar and vocals; Jorge Castillo rhythm guitar; Barry Seelen, Hammond B-3 organ; Myron “Big Jack” Jackson, trumpet; Brock Proctor, bass guitar; and producer/drummer Matthew R. Johnson. The album was co-produced by co-writer Dennis Chenault and recorded, mixed and mastered by Brian Baker at Sound Arts Recording in Houston.

The lead-off track “Evinrude Boat Motor” was written by Hooks as he sings “Evinrude boat motor…take me down the river and out to sea”. On the title track “Tequila And Bullets” co-written by Hooks and Chenault, Hooks chimes “they’ll come the guilt…some days the worries they’ll never arrive…”.

“A Woman Like You” was co-written by Chenault, Jack Hibbard, Castillo, and Jason Youngblood as Hooks chants “a woman like you, just say my name…back of my mind…won’t you be comin’ home with me…too much time on my hands, if it weren’t for whiskey…a woman like you, and a man like me”. On “Lonesome” written by Hooks, he cries “I woke up this morning, feelin’ bad, worse feelin’ I ever had…I’m so lonesome I don’t know what to do”.

“Your Touch” written by Hooks and Elizabeth Waller features the lyric “when the train left the station…I be waitin’ for you…I set a table for you…I’m waitin’ on your touch”, with some great slide guitar from Hooks. “Left Me Cold” also from Hooks and Waller, with some great bass from Proctor, features Hooks as he belts out “there is a trouble deep within my window, there is a nightmare that left me cold…yea, she left me, she left me cold”.

“Mind Full” was written by Hooks “woke up this morning…walkin’ down the street shadows on my back every step I’d take you back my mind full of trouble…voices in my head, I’m looking for a fight, mind full of trouble, I’m taking it slow”. On “Mississippi Sheiks”, a cover of a Rory Gallagher song recorded in 1978, Hooks bursts “I saw the Mississippi Sheiks on the corner of the street, Oh, was it just a dream like I’ve been traveling in a time machine…”. On “Red Neck Shit” written by Hooks and Chenault, Hooks shouts “baby left for Galveston Bay…that’s the way we do it to this red neck shit”. “I Was Wrong” was co-written by Hooks and one of his guitar techs Catherine Wotipka as Hooks chirps “I said it again and again, I was wrong…maybe your right, I was wrong…when I said I ain’t comin’ back, I was wrong”.

“My Kinda Free” is another song that’s all Hooks “well, your mine, my kinda fine…well your fine, your my kinda fine, well you look like a queen, your my kinda fine, well your mine, my kinda fine”. On the lowdown closer “Mexican Larry” written by Hooks and Chenault, Hooks croons “if I ever hated…can’t run away…there’s no comin’ back, you reap what you sow, that’s why they call me Mexican Larry”.