Landman: Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Hamm, Ali Larter, and Demi Moore Go Full Texas
Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan teams with Boomtown podcaster Christian Wallace for a drama set in the broiling, bug-infested Texas oil fields. “This was probably the hardest thing I ever did,” Thornton says.
Members of the Texas Institute of Letters have overwhelmingly approved twenty-six new writers to the TIL, a distinguished honor society established in 1936 to celebrate Texas literature and recognize distinctive literary achievement.
The TIL’s elected membership consists of the state’s most recognized and serious writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, journalism, and scholarship. The membership includes winners of the MacArthur Fellowship, Man Booker Prize, Pulitzer Prizes in drama, fiction, and nonfiction, as well as prizes awarded by PEN, and dozens of other regional and national award and grantgiving institutions.
Christian Wallace, 2023 inductee: From the West Texas town of Andrews, he writes for Texas Monthly and was promoted to senior editor in 2020. Wes Ferguson calls him "one of the most exciting nonfiction stylists writing about Texas right now," and Skip Hollandsworth describes his work as following "the muscular, spirited style of West Texas writing personified by Larry L King." His subjects include oilfields, rodeo cowboys, honkytonks, and the Panhandle Plains. His articles have been finalists for several awards including TIL's Edwin “Bud” Shrake Award for Best Short Nonfiction, National Magazine Awards for “The Resurrection of Bass Reeves,” and City and Regional Magazine Awards for “Long Live Honky-Tonks!”
Spoke with KTTZ, Lubbock’s NPR station, about my stories on Boots O’Neal, Bass Reeves, and the mythos of the Texas cowboy. Listen to the conversation here: “Listen in, Lubbock.”
The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) announced the finalists for the 2022 National Magazine Awards. The 57th annual awards honor magazines and websites for editorial excellence in categories ranging from Reporting and Photography to Podcasting and Video. Read full list of finalists here. Read story here.
Deadline announced that Billy Bob Thornton will star in the lead role of Taylor Sheridan’s series ‘Land Man,’ based on the Boomtown podcast series. Read more at Collider.
Boomtown earned an “honoree” distinction at the 25th annual Webby Awards in the Podcasts Documentary category. Other honorees here.
From the Hollywood Reporter: “Sheridan has set a sixth show for ViacomCBS with Land Man, based on Texas Monthly's Boomtown podcast.”
From The Atlantic: “Boomtown begins with a trip to western Texas’s U.S. Route 285, nicknamed “Death Highway” due to its often-fatal accidents involving oil-related semitruck traffic. The highway is just one of the unexpected places the Boomtown host Christian Wallace takes listeners, as he explores the state’s Permian Basin during what was the biggest oil boom in U.S. history—before oil prices dropped dramatically during the pandemic. Wallace grew up in the area and worked on a rig, so his profile of the people living in boomtowns brings the story out of black-and-white politics and into full color. The cast of characters is long and varied—roughnecks, tycoons, grieving families, industry experts, and even Wallace’s own mom and dad. The journalist and former sex worker Susan Elizabeth Shepard guest-hosts for two episodes and offers necessary insight into how the sex industry follows boomtowns. The show is a beautiful ride filled with levity, even as it delivers troubling forecasts for the future.”
From Gizmodo: “The name Boomtown sounds like something out of a Hollywood Western, and its characters may seem ripped from the silver screen. But this is podcast is a true story. Hosted by Texas Monthly’s Christian Wallace, Boomtown takes listeners to a rugged corner of West Texas, home to an oil boom that is reminiscent of the California Gold Rush of the 1800s. This oil boom has reshaped not only our climate, but also our economy and geopolitics. With characters like an executive cutting billion-dollar deals, a pipeline worker risking life and limb, and a traveling exotic dancer following the money, Boomtown is podcast you won’t want to miss.”
Cat Cardenas and I spoke with “Press Play” host Madeleine Brand about our oral history of ‘Wishbone.’ Listen here.
I had a great conversation with Lubbock journalist Thomas Mooney, about everything from the Texas Monthly ranking of every Willie Nelson album to the creation of ‘Boomtown’ and our mutual love of Terry Allen. Listen here.
Spoke with Scott Tong at ‘Marketplace’ about the collapse in oil prices and what it means for the Permian Basin. Listen here.
I spoke with NowThis News about the collapse of oil prices and the Saudi Arabia-Russian price war.
Spoke with Andy Langer on the National Podcast of Texas about the collapse of oil prices and where things are headed with the bust.
Was honored to have two of my articles selected as finalists for the 2019 CRMA awards. My honky-tonk story was nominated in the leisure/lifestyle interests category and my story on the Permian Basin boom was a finalist in civic journalism. Read the full list here.
“Two Podcasts About Big Oil Prove We Have More to Learn: Boomtown and Drilled tackle climate change and oil and gas extraction from different angles.” Read the review here.
Interview with Marfa Public Radio station manager, Elise Pepple, covering ‘Boomtown’ and growing up in West Texas. Listen here.
A write-up on my formative years at Texas State University and how a honky-tonk called Cheatham Street Warehouse helped launch my career as a writer. Read more here.
I spoke with CBS7’s Haley Harrison about the Permian Basin podcast.
See the interview here.