Steven Fromholz...

Steven Fromholz epitomizes all that is the Lone Star State.  A native Texan, the 63-year-old entertainer, singer, guitarist, poet, author, playright, unexcelled wordsmith, actor, story teller, narrator, business man, white water river guide and humorist extraordinaire is often heralded as one of the last real Texas Troubadours -- and of course, a cowboy.

Having attended North Texas University in Denton, Texas, he began entertaining professionally during a stint in the U.S. Navy and wrote and performed his much heralded Texas Trilogy for the first time on the West Coast. Following discharge he migrated to Arizona for a time, writing Man With the Big Hat along the way.  Teaming up with Dan McCrimmon - they became the folk duo Frummox, and recorded a first album Frummox: Here to There on ABC Probe in 1969. When the duo went separate ways, Fromholz was invited to join Stephen Stills' second American Tour with the group that became Manassas. At tour's end Fromholz gathered up his guitars and went home to Texas, settling in Austin, where a new music scene was emerging - Texas Outlaw Music - and became a charter member.

In the next 35 years he bacame known as "the songwriter's songwriter" and his tunes were recorded by John Denver, Hoyt Axton, Michael Martin Murphy, Willie Nelson and Lyle Lovett, among others. Willie Nelson recorded Fromholz' I'd Have To Be Crazy which went to No. 2 on the National Charts garnering the songwriter two double-platinum records.

April 18, 2003, at the age of 58, Fromholz suffered a massive stroke, leaving him unable to walk, talk and erasing from his mind all the music he'd written and the ability to play guitar. Proclaimed totally disabled, the medical community said his career was over and there was little hope of improvement. Never giving up, Fromholz spent the next four years learning to walk, talk, play guitar and even wrote some new tunes. April 18, 2007 - four years to the day after the stroke - he stood in the Texas State Capitol and was named Poet Laureate of Texas.

Steven lives in Clifton, Bosque County, Texas and has two daughters, Darcie and Felicity, and a grandson, Zoe Esteban Fromholz.  Bosque County, Texas is Fromholz' childhood home and the locale upon which his epic song Texas Trilogy is based -- proving that indeed, one can go home again.

When asked about his amazing "come back" Fromholz says: "There is no 'coming back'; a stroke is a thief and you never get back what it takes. It's all about going on and adjusting to what is now. You know, there's good times and there's bad times but there's still time!" 

2007 Poet Laureate of Texas * 2003 Inductee into Texas Music Hall of Fame * 2006 Terry 25 Year Award * Native Texas with career spanning over 40 years * Numerous awards for charitable work in arts, education and music * One of 12 musicians on Texas Governor's Promotion of Texas Music Worldwide * 124 recordings of 75 published songs from 200+ song catalog * American Society of Composers, Authors, Publishers Award Winning Writer * Thousands of club, concert, benefit and special events appearanes world wide * Recognized as charter member of "Outlaw Music" genre in Texas * Member of "Texas Flatliners" with Vince Bell and Eric Taylor * Five separate appearances on Austin City Limits * Author of award-winning book, Texas Trilogy (Esteban Publishing, 2007) * Author of award-winning Steven Fromholz: New and Selected Works (TCU Press Poet Laureate Series, 2008) * Skilled raconteur, story-teller, Texas humorist * Extensive stage and screen credits * Singing Cowboy Host for Lajitas Stables * River Guide honored in 2005 by Paddler Magazine as one of 10 best river guides in U.S. * White Water Expert, Emergency Medical Technician, First Responder * Honored by Texas Horse Talk Magazine as an "overcomer" in 2008.

Discography:

• Frummox: Here to There (Probe/ABC Records/1969)
• Steven Fromholz: A Rumor In My Own Time (Capitol Records, 1976)
• Steven Fromholz: Frolicking In The Myth (Capitol Records, 1977)
• Steven Fromholz: Jus' Playin Along (Lone Star Records/Polygram, 1978)
• Fromholz Live! (Felicity Records, 1979)
• The Austin Christmas Collection - The Christmas Song (Felicity Records, 1981)
• Frummox II (Felicity Records, 1982)
• Untitled Single with Willie Nelson (Felicity Records, 1983) Hondo's Song and Come On Down to Texas
• Love Songs (Felicity Records, 1986)
• Everybody's Goin' On The Road, Steven Fromholz & The Almost Brothers (Felicity Records, 1991)
• Steven Fromholz: The Old Fart In The Mirror (Tried & True Music, 1995)
• Steven Fromholz: Guest In Your Heart (Felicity Records, 2001)
• The Anthology 1969-1991: Come On Down to Texas For Awhile (Raven Records, 2001)
• Steven Fromholz: Live at Anderson Fair (Felicity Records, 2001)

Steven Fromholz: Cowjazz (Felicity Records, 2003)

Songs Written by Steven Fromholz/Recorded by Other Artists:

Willie Nelson - I'd Have To Be Crazy

Lyle Lovett - Texas Trilogy, Bears

Jerry Jeff Walker - Man With the Big Hat, Dinosaur Blues, Rockin' On the River

Michael Martin Murphy - Song for Stephen Stills (aka High Country Caravan)

Hoyt Axton - Everybody's Goin' On the Road

John Denver - Yellow Cat

Rusty Wier - Sophia

Mark Weigle - Bears

Mikel Miller - Dinosaur Blues

Grady Lee - Man With the Big Hat

Geezinslaws - I Gave Her A Ring

Pat Green - I'd Have to Be Crazy

Buck Jones - Late Nite Neon Shadows

Terri Hendrix - Rockin' On the River

Stage Credits

Tevye - Fiddler On the Roof

Balladeer - Bosque County Romance

Ebeneezer Scrooge - A Christmas Carol

Gus Gilbert - The Night Hank Williams Died

Woody Guthrie - Woody Guthrie's American Song

Judge Turpin - Sweeney Todd

Frederick Egerman - A Little Night Music

Milton Perry - The Immigrant

Will Glass - Bobby Bridger's Seeker of the Fleece

Production Stage Manager - You Can't Take It With You

Screen Credits

Positive ID - co-starring role

Dungeons & Dragons

Outlaw Blues

Literary/Books

Texas Trilogy - author - Esteban Publishing/2007

Steven Fromholz: New & Selected Works - TCU Press/2008 Poet Laureate Series

Borderlands Poetry Review - Contributing Poet

The Texas Rangers - Narrator - by Walter Prescott Webb (UT Press)

2007 International Gathering of Poets Laureate - Attendee, Indianapolis, IN, June, 2007

Bosque County Texas- co-author w/Don Toner - based on Fromholz song Texas Trilogy

A Student's Treasury of Poetry - Contributing Poet - (TCU Press/2007)

Literary Works Recognizing Steven Fromholz

• Life In A Small Texas Town - Craig Hillis & Bruce Jordan (UT Press) based Fromholz' song  Texas Trilogy.
• Legendary Texas Storytellers - Jim Gramon, Author
• Book of Texas Best - Kirk Dooley, Author (Taylor Publishing)
• The Incredible Rise of Redneck Rock - Jan Reid, Author
• Texas Singer-Songwriters - Gary Goldberg, Author/Photographer
• 10,000 Godamned Cattle - author unknown

Handbook of Texas - Official Publication, State of Texas

Texas Poet Laureate Words & Music Program

Upon beginning his tenure as 2007 Poet Laureate of Texas, Steven Fromholz designed and put into action his Texas Words & Music Program for Texas school children and Texas libraries. He visited middle/high schools and libraries in Texas, presenting an interactive program encouraging children and adults to enjoy the many facets of the arts, including literature, poetry and music. The Texas Commission on the Arts joined Fromholz in funding the program which was gratis to all participating Texas schools and libraries.