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My first memory of Rich O’Toole is a faint one. As blurry as the memories are, I remember Rich and his boys tearing up the stage that night that I drunkenly stumbled upon opening up for Roger Creager at Gilley’s in Dallas. The next morning I woke up with hazy memories of Marijuana and Jalapenos and started looking up some of Rich’s other music.

Over the years, my connection to music in general deepened, as well as O’Toole’s music. The first songs in my collection were party tunes such as “Marijuana and Jalapenos”, “Kelly Comes to Town” and “Robert E. Lee”. When the “Kiss of a Liar” album debuted, I discovered much deeper songs including the album’s namesake, “I Wanna Be With You”, “Doin’ the Same” as well as the majority of the album. This is when I realized that Rich O’Toole was going to be one of the biggest names in Red Dirt music,

About a month ago, Rich O’Toole released “Brightwork” and impressed me even more than before. Before the release, I had jammed to “Drunk Girl” and “Red Wine on Your Lipstick” more than a couple of times. The first three songs on the album are heartfelt and deep. They prove that Rich knows what he is doing in this industry and can write truly emotional music that is felt by everyone who listens to it. The next song steps up the game and proves that Rich is still a fun loving guy and still knows how to write a good old fashioned song about partying. Rich O’Toole loves tacos, big booty women, having a damn good time, and his song “Drunk Girl” epitomizes the phrase “Times we’ll never remember with the people we’ll never forget.” A tale of a wild spring break in South Padre, the party mecca of the south, brings back memories of the people that we have all spent a few great days, hours, or minutes with people that at the time, made the whole world feel perfect. However long or short the memory, this song is a tribute to people that we have had a great time with and may never see again. As cliché as it may seem, my favorite song on the album is “Red Wine on Your Lipstick.” This is a song that makes you want to grab that special someone and spin them around the dance floor. Raw and gritty desire is expressed in this song. My wife and I have danced to this song countless times and every time makes me feel just like I did on the day we met.

“Brightwork” is filled with great songs and even greater emotions. This is Rich’s best album to date and I can’t wait for the next one. Hats off to you brother and I can’t wait to make it back to Texas and make it out to a show. Hell, I’ll probably even buy him some tacos.

Written by Chris Michael