WHO WAS STEVEN FROMHOLZ?

To quote the great Jimmie Dale Gilmore, “There’s giant personalities all over the place, but Steve was one of those “GIANT-ER” personalities.”
One does not use the word “inimitable” very often when describing someone, but in Steven Fromholz’ case, there isn’t a more fitting word to describe this larger-than-life figure.  Time and time again, that is precisely how Steven is described when meeting and interviewing people who had the luxury of knowing him.  
From a young age, Steven learned to adapt to new environments.  Steven’s father worked for Ford Motor Company, so his family lived all throughout the Mid and Southwestern part of the United States. Attending 11 different grade schools, Fromholz learned at an early age how to make friends.  I imagine that helped shape and form his entertaining skills that he would later be known for.  His song, “Where Are They All Now?” from his 1977 “Frolicking in the Myth” album illustrates what it was like for him moving town to town as a young boy.   
Steven was essentially raised by his grandparents, most notably his Granny Hirstine, with his older sister Angela a close second.  From the age of five, Steven began singing with his sister Angie, learning and perfecting their harmonies. The first song that “little Stevie” sang in public was “The Yellow Rose of Texas” at a school program in Kopperl, Texas.  
Shortly after high school, in 1963, Steven married his high school sweetheart Elizabeth, and enrolled at what is now the University of North Texas. Elizabeth bought Steven a banjo for his wedding present, completely unaware of the seed that had just been planted.
While at North Texas, Steven met handful of people that would eventually be beside him leading a whole new musical and cultural movement in the early 70s. People like Michael Martin Murphey, Travis Holland, Eddie Wilson and Stan Alexander, to name a few.
It would be Fromholz, Murphey, Holland and a number of others like B.W. Stevenson, Rusty Wier, Jerry Jeff Walker and Ray Wylie Hubbard that would become the forefathers of a new cultural happening in Austin, Texas known as the “Progressive Country” movement. An attitude and personality created in the 70s that the city still possesses and celebrates today.  
Fromholz received his draft notice in 1965 and off to San Francisco he went to join the Navy. It was in San Francisco, amidst the Summer of Love, where Fromholz began writing and immersing himself in the music of Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, John Stewart, Linda Ronstadt, Steve Miller and Tom Campbell. Three years later in 1968, Fromholz was honorably discharged from the Navy saying, “Fromholz belongs on the outer fringes of society.”
In 1969, Fromholz had his first song, “Yellow Cat” recorded by John Denver on Denver’s debut album “Rhymes & Reasons.” Later that year, Steven and music partner Dan McCrimmon would release their first album “Here to There” as the Folk duo Frummox.
Little did Fromholz know just how influential Frummox would be to the movement he was about to lead in Texas just a few years later.
One day in 1971, while living in Gold Hill, Colorado, Steven received a phone call from Stephen Stills. Little did they know, they were living on the same mountain. Stills had called Fromholz to ask him to join Stills’ new band Manassas. The next day, Fromholz was on a plane for London. This was the beginning and end of Fromholz’ brief tumultuous Rock N’ Roll career.
Coming down the mountain from the Rock ‘n Roll lifestyle, Fromholz moved to Austin from Colorado in the Summer of 1974 because it made the most sense for his budding career in the newly burgeoning scene in Texas. He knew Austin well, having played there since the Mid-60s with the Michael Murphey Trio, and his days in Frummox.
In 1976, two years after the melding of the hippies and rednecks, Willie Nelson recorded Steven’s “I’d Have to be Crazy” on Willie’s “The Sound in Your Mind” album. “Too weird to be #1” the song sat at #2 for months, later giving Steven two platinum records.
Texas music was brought to the world thanks to Austin City Limits in 1976, on which Fromholz performed in the inaugural season, and would appear another four times.
Soon after, Steven made a decision that changed the trajectory of his life. With the push of his then wife Janey, she persuaded Steven to enlist in Outward Bound, a month long experiential program to better his survival and outdoor skills.
After completion, Steven became a river guide with Far Flung Adventures on the Texas/Mexico border in Terlingua, Texas, which he did for 30+ years.
From the late 70s through the 90s, Fromholz appeared on many a stage, be it the silver screen with Peter Fonda in “Outlaw Blues”, or starring as Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof'“, or hosting the first live variety radio show in Austin’s history with Steven’s “LIVE! ON THE AIR.”
In 1993 Fromholz organized a mass mooning of the KKK at the Texas State Capitol with close friend and fellow trailblazer Molly Ivins. In 1996, Steven and Molly teamed up again to protest the homeless camping ban. Soon after, the ban was overturned.
Lyle Lovett, in 1998, who Steven knew since Lyle’s days at Texas A&M, recorded Steven’s “Bears” & “Texas Trilogy” on Lyle’s album “Step Inside This House.” An album that Lyle made as a “Thank You” to the songwriters he revered and looked up to. This really rejuvenated Steven’s career.
On Good Friday of 2003, Fromholz suffered a massive stroke that would end up robbing Steven of his songs and ability to play guitar. He spent the next few years recouping, and relearning to play the guitar but the stroke had severely affected his timing.
Four years to the day after his stroke, in 2007, Fromholz was named the Poet Laureate of Texas.
After his stroke, Steven’s performing dwindled as he found a new joy in being a rancher in west Texas, where most said they observed Steven to being the happiest they had seen him.
On a cold winter day in January of 2014, Fromholz was taking care of a wild hog problem when he exited his truck, grabbed his gun case, but unbeknownst to Fromholz, it was partially unzipped. The gun fell loose from the case, and that’s when Fromholz had his accident that tragically ended his life.
Over the years, Fromholz had his songs recorded by John Denver, Michael Martin Murphey, Hoyt Axton, Jerry Jeff Walker, Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, & a number of others.