A plain-spoken country singer who first built a reputation as a professional songwriter -- his best-known song is "Gulf Moon," which Kenny Chesney cut in 2018 -- John Baumann occupies an interesting place in Texas' Red Dirt country scene. Influenced by such iconic Texans as Guy Clark and Robert Earl Keen, Baumann's lyrics have a literary bent, but his music is textured, alternating between spare, dusty troubadour balladeering and the shifting colors of his 2020 album Country Shade. A native of San Antonio, John Baumann wandered through the Lone Star state in the earliest days of his career, eventually settling in Austin. He self-released his debut, High Plains Alchemy, in 2014. Proving Grounds followed in 2017, and it helped raise his profile throughout Texas thanks in part to the single "The Trouble with Drinkin'," which was a cover of an Aaron Lee Tasjan tune. After the release of Proving Grounds, Baumann signed with The Next Waltz, an indie label helmed by singer/songwriter Bruce Robison. Around that time, he became part of the Red Dirt supergroup the Panhandlers, which also featured Josh Abbott, Cleto Cordero, and William Clark Green. Initially planned as a covers album, the Panhandlers' eponymous debut of original material appeared in March 2020. Not long afterward, Baumann released Country Shade, his third album. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine