Texas Platters

Marshall Styler

The Twilight Concertos (ESM)

Chances are, Marshall Styler's name doesn't ring any bells, unless you were a habitué of Donn's Depot in the early Nineties or spend time at the Hilton downtown, where he plays weekly. You might spy his Christmas album for sale at the Famous Christmas Store up on I-35 or hear him on the digital-cable music channels. Neither does Styler fit conveniently into any of the local categories of popular music, as his neoclassical compositions are often shunted into the New Age file. That's not the worst place to be – Eric Johnson is classified there, too – but for a full-service musician like Styler who writes, performs, and produces his work, it's limiting. The Twilight Concertos is the latest in a long string of lushly composed albums that mark his oeuvre with calm, atmospheric soundtracks to life. Ten instrumentals composed in groups over a two-year period evoke peace, solitude, joy, and even comfort, a close reminder that music does indeed hath powers to soothe.