Of course I am Irish, I dont have the name O’Toole because I wanted it.
Rich O’Toole
Rich O’Toole battled the West Winds and stormed through the dust in Midland Texas tonight to bring not one but two performances to the Permian Basin. Along with a few friends, I caught up with him at the Mule Barn and we brought in St. Patrick’s Day with O’Toole’s music.
“Of course I am Irish, I don’t have the name O’Toole because I wanted it,” announced O’Toole.
I have been listening to Rich for a long time and have always been fascinated by the way he spins his lyrics into magical pieces of poetry. His large catalog of songs could fit into any genre of music or any social setting. O’Toole’s original brand of music is Texas Country, Texas Rock and Texas Soul. I was overjoyed tonight to have the chance to see the man behind the music take the stage and perform in his own style. I truly expected just an acoustic set, but was pleasantly surprised to see that Rich brought a whole band of talented musicians along for the show. I spent a few moments visiting with him both before and after the show and he is as nice a guy in person as he has been on the interweb to the many fans who follow him on his social media accounts.
During tonight’s set Rich O’Toole performed many of his original scores, including “God and George Strait,” “17 Wild Horses,” and his newest single release, “Low Hanging Fruit.” He had many couples on the dance floor when he blasted out some timeless country classics.
Rich totally surprised me and had the whole crowd singing along when he covered ZZ Top and then pulled off a perfect rendition of the Guns-N-Roses song, “Knocking on Heaven’s Door.” These songs painted a vivid picture of this man’s musical talents and that of his backing band.
An old favorite of anyone who listens to Rich, “Marijuana and Jalapeños” was the last song of the night as the crowd rushed close to the stage to belt out the lyrics and dance and sing a long….
“Marijuana Jalapeños are my two favorite things they both make things better, both drive you insane…..”
On a side note, the video for this song is probably one of my very favorite videos out there today. I was just telling my coworkers about this one today.
I am super excited that live music is back and appears to be going strong again. I encourage anyone who loves music to catch Rich O’Toole in action. He gave a wonderful performance that was worth watching.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Be sure to check out https://www.richotoole.com/ for upcoming shows and information. Buy his merch and stream his stuff, support the music.
Pancho.