The Music Man

If you’ve lived in Bryan-College Station long enough, there’s a good chance you’ve seen one of Aggieland’s favorite sons, Lyle Lovett ’79, perform at Texas A&M University. As a child, College Station native and music lover Brendon Anthony ’99 enjoyed attending Lovett’s performances with his parents. Watching Lovett onstage, he said, “was like seeing one of the presidents from Mount Rushmore walk down off the mountain and come hang around for a minute, then go back up.”

At the time, Anthony couldn’t have dreamed that years later, he would be working not only in the same industry as Lovett, but often in the same proximity.

“It has been such a joy to get to know him better, not as a peer of his, but as an adult in this industry,” Anthony said. And he can say the same about hundreds of other Texas musicians and songwriters he’s gotten to know over the years—heroes who have become friends.

For three decades, Anthony has been either onstage as a fiddler backing up some of Texas music’s most well-known country singers, advancing the careers of Texas performers in the recording and promotion side of the business, or advocating for the state’s music industry as the Texas Music Office director. In each of these very different roles, he has shared his contagious passion and excitement about both the artistic and economic importance of the Texas music industry and the possibilities yet to come.