Weeks before its Valentine’s Day release on iTunes, the Josh Abbott Band’s “Touch” was already well on its way toward being one of the most talked-about songs in Texas music of 2012. Granted, the hot-streak momentum of Abbott’s career had a lot to do with that. In the wake of the breakout success of “Oh, Tonight” (which climbed to No. 44 on Billboard’s country chart) and the title track from 2010’s regional smash “She’s Like Texas,” created a stir that reached all the way to music executives in Nashville and New York City. That set up pretty much any track that the 31-year-old singer-songwriter picked to be the lead single from his band’s much-anticipated third album nicely, ensuring it was bound to garner a fair amount of attention. But from the very first time it was played in concert or over the airwaves, it was clear that “Touch” had a lot more going for it than just good timing. From the erotic tension and release of its slow-burning verses and soaring chorus to the dramatic crescendo of fiddle and guitars at the outro, it’s a song that captures every ounce of the passion, talent, and vision that’s propelled the Josh Abbott Band to the forefront of the Texas music scene in record time. And as the rest of Small Town Family Dream proves convincingly, they’re here to stay.
Truth is, that’s been pretty evident for a while now — even though the Josh Abbott Band has only been recording and touring for half a decade. Abbott didn’t even begin writing songs until around 2004, when he was still in grad school at Texas Tech in Lubbock. A diehard Texas country fan, he’d picked up guitar a few years earlier, mainly to strum along to his favorite Pat Green songs. He vividly recalls the epiphany he had at a concert one night at Lubbock’s Blue Light when the notion of writing and playing his own music — maybe even for a living — first took root.