Texas State University’s record-breaking enrollment isn’t the only thing growing in San Marcos. Alongside the surge of new students is a rising wave of opportunity, especially for young musicians trying to carve out space in the Texas country music scene.
Every night of the week, live music can be heard from venues across the city, and each chord strummed is another stepping stone for these musicians. For Texas State University students Ashton Naylor and Hank Weaver, balancing class schedules with late-night sets has become a dedicated routine. With support from their manager, recent Texas State graduate Elic Goicoechea, they are proving that San Marcos is more than just a college town, but a launchpad for the next generation of Texas musicians.
Hank Weaver, 22, a public relations major with a minor in music, grew up in Bells, a small North Texas town, where his father’s love of music rubbed off early. He started out playing FFA and church events, and by 18, he was writing his own songs. When it came time to choose a college, the music scene mattered almost as much as the major to Weaver.
“I knew if I was going to college, I was going to San Marcos,” Weaver said.
Ashton Naylor, 24, an integrated studies major with a minor in mass communication, took a less direct path to country music. The San Marcos native didn’t fall hard for country until high school, after a move to Wimberley, where classmates introduced him to Red Dirt country artists like Willie Nelson and Robert Earl Keen. This sparked something in Naylor. He began teaching himself guitar and singing, and on his high school graduation day, his uncle handed him a guitar with a sticky note that read, “not to be used as a career tool.” The gift, meant as a joke, ironically became the very thing that pushed Naylor to start writing songs and stepping onto a stage. Looking back on those early tracks, he laughed and said being an artist is “ a game of trying to be authentically yourself without embarrassing yourself”.
Both artists say that San Marcos is the perfect place to explore this career. The city is filled with live music and opportunities to perform. The location also puts artists between two major cities, San Antonio and Austin, the self-proclaimed “Live Music Capital of the World.” But more than that, San Marcos has deep roots in country music. From historic stages like Cheatham Street Warehouse to university programs that celebrate Texas music history, the city is intertwined with Texas country music.
Behind the scenes is Elic Goicoechea, 22, a recent Texas State graduate who majored in integrated studies with a minor in computer science, english, and international studies. He first met Weaver as a freshman in Chautauqua Hall, a dorm on the Texas State campus. Hearing a guitar solo fill the halls, Goicoechea walked into the dorm’s music room to investigate. That chance encounter started their friendship and their professional journey together. Goicoechea confessed that he had always been drawn to the music industry, just not as a performer. He saw management as a way to break into the industry, making connections while helping his friends’ dreams become their realities.
“My favorite part of the job is watching everything fall into place,” Goicoechea said. “When I start with somebody new and things start to happen.”
Weaver and Goicoechea later met Naylor at Kent Finlay’s Songwriter Circle at Cheatham Street Warehouse, the famed San Marcos venue where George Strait and Stevie Ray Vaughan, among others, got their initial performing experience, and the trio instantly connected. They began to attend as many events as they could, spending most of their free time at Cheatham.
“I think it was really what kind of grew us closer to the scene,” Weaver said when reflecting back on their early days together.
What started as a group of friends hustling for any stage time became a business. Goicoechea is now the cofounder of Dreamer Management, guiding artists on booking, development, and branding. He currently represents six musicians and founded the company with Randy Rogers, a former Texas State student who also got his start at Cheatham Street and has become a prominent name in the Texas country music scene.
“I’ve kind of put all my cards on the table for doing music,” Goicoechea said. “I don’t mind staying up all night editing videos or planning out stuff. It’s fun to me, and I can see myself doing this for the rest of my life.”
Much of their success, Goicoechea explained, can be attributed to constant dedication and sacrifice. Goicoechea says he spends anywhere between 40 to 70 hours a week working for his artists.
“I wake up and do it all day, sometimes very late into the night,” Goicoechea said.
The same can be said for Weaver and Naylor, who are both current Texas State students. They constantly juggle their coursework while trying to grow their careers. For Goicoechea, the challenge looks a little different, but all three agree that the hardest part is time management. Naylor shares that on any given week, he dedicates 10 to 12 hours to his music, either writing, practicing, or performing. Although this schedule is taxing, it is also rewarding.
“Every show we get to play is a blessing, and it’s a reflection of hard work.” Naylor said.
Despite the stress, all three say San Marcos has given them valuable opportunities. Not only is the city’s location ideal, but the live music scene in San Marcos is thriving and accessible to young artists, with venues like Cheatham Street Warehouse hosting weekly showcases and a steady flow of Texas State students filling the stage. Weaver spoke about San Marcos, boasting about the city’s strong “band culture” and extremely “creative environment”. Both artists emphasized how easy it is to find live music any night of the week.
For Texas State students, these opportunities go even further. The university offers many programs, classes, and equipment for students to use. In fact, one of Weaver’s first music demos was recorded in Alkek Library’s YouStar sound studios on the library’s bottom floor. On the seventh floor, The Wittliff Collections became a regular stop for Weaver and Naylor as freshmen. The Texas Music History exhibit drew them in between classes.
“I probably spent like 12 hours on the 7th floor at the Wittliff Collections, in the first few weeks I was here,” Naylor said.
Weaver added that they would even “eat lunch up there together”. Both artists appreciate how adamant Texas State is about sharing and preserving that history.
Looking forward, all three want to stay located in San Marcos. Naylor and Weaver plan to dive fully into their music careers after graduation, while Goicoechea will stay focused on growing his company and artists.
Behind every statistic about Texas State’s growth are students like Naylor, Weaver, and Goicoechea. Students with passion and drive who are building their futures one opportunity at a time. They remind us that San Marcos is more than just a college town. It’s a place where students turn passions into careers, and where the next generation of Texas country music is already taking shape.
