b. 1950, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. David Halley is one of the new generation of Texas singer-songwriters and Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Joe Ely have recorded his songs (‘Rain Just Falls’ on Gilmore’s Fair & Square album and ‘Hard Livin’’ on Ely’s Musta Notta). Growing up in Texas, Halley met artists such as Gilmore, Ely and Butch Hancock, and was soon performing in bands in Denver and Austin. His breakthrough came in 1987 when Keith Whitley enjoyed a Top 10 hit with Halley’s song ‘Hard Livin’’. After that he teamed up with Gilmore as his band leader. Other commissions followed, including spells with Nanci Griffith, Ray Wylie Hubbard and Darden Smith (playing guitar on his ‘Two Dollar Novels’). He also played with Syd Straw, who played on Halley’s Stray Dog Talk. Mainly rooted in the country tradition, this was a strong album of simple, direct compositions. Less linear and more abstract was the belated follow-up, Broken Spell, with influences drawn from rock and jazz.