Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine marks a stunning literary debut from Callie Collins, who crafts a raw, atmospheric portrait of 1970s Austin that resonates like the last note of a perfect blues riff. This novel isn’t just about music—it’s written like music, with a rhythm and cadence that pulls you through its harmonies and dissonances with equal force.
The Honky-Tonk Symphony
Collins masterfully structures her novel around three distinct voices that create a powerful chord progression of narrative perspectives:
Doug Moser: A talented but troubled guitarist straddling the line between promise and self-destruction, reaching for stardom while battling addiction and family obligations
Deanna Teague: The complex co-owner of Rush Creek Saloon, navigating a crumbling marriage and unexpected desires
Steven Francis: A young, searching soul whose desperate quest for belonging and acceptance leads to the novel’s tragic crescendo
The Rush Creek Saloon serves as both setting and metaphor—a liminal space where worlds collide, specifically the “hicks” who’ve always frequented the bar and the “hippies” who follow Doug’s music from town. Collins beautifully captures this cultural moment when country music and blues were cross-pollinating, creating something new and electric in Austin’s fertile musical soil.
Strings of Connection
What elevates this novel beyond a simple tale of music and tragedy is Collins’ profound understanding of human longing. Every character vibrates with desire—for fame, for love, for belonging, for understanding:
Doug’s yearning to transcend his circumstances through music while remaining tethered to family responsibilities
Deanna’s quiet devastation as she watches her marriage wither and her attraction to Doug bloom
Steven’s shattering need to be seen and accepted, especially by Doug, who represents everything he wants to be and have
The prose itself exemplifies this tension, alternating between tight, dialogue-driven scenes and expansive, almost dreamy internal monologues that plumb the depths of each character’s consciousness.
High Notes: The Novel’s Greatest Strengths
Collins demonstrates remarkable talent in several areas that make this debut particularly impressive:
Authentic Musical Backdrop
Few novels capture the feel of live music with such visceral accuracy. When Doug plays, you don’t just read about it—you hear it:
“The notes felt right coming off the walls and down from the ceiling, they were real sugar, even though it was just a box and should’ve felt like a sealed-up echo chamber.”
Collins clearly understands both the technical aspects of musicianship and the transcendent experience music creates, writing passages that make your fingers itch for fretboard and your ears ring with phantom sound.
Evocative Sense of Place
The novel breathes with the dust and cedar of 1970s Texas. Rush Creek exists in that perfect limbo between city and country, between old and new Texas:
“The reputation for tolerance is what got a lot of people here…In some people’s minds, tolerance is mistaken for something benign, but it’s not.” – Eddie Wilson
This line from the epigraph encapsulates the novel’s understanding of Austin as a place of contradictions—a liberal oasis in conservative Texas, where tolerance doesn’t always extend beyond surface level acceptance.
Complex Characters
Each perspective offers something genuine and flawed. Doug’s artistic temperament and selfishness, Deanna’s quiet desperation and strength, and Steven’s heartbreaking combination of boldness and fragility feel achingly real. Even secondary characters like Wendell, Gwen, Hopper, and Benny have distinct personalities that impact the narrative in meaningful ways.
The Occasional Flat Notes: Where the Novel Struggles
Despite its considerable strengths, the novel does hit a few sour notes:
Pacing Challenges
The middle section occasionally meanders, with certain scenes feeling repetitive—particularly the numerous bar interactions that don’t always advance character development or plot. The novel sometimes lingers too long in the uncomfortable spaces between characters without providing new insights.
Uneven Voice Distribution
While all three perspectives are compelling, Steven’s section feels somewhat compressed compared to Doug and Deanna’s more expansive narratives. His voice—particularly his conversations with “Hick God”—is so distinctive and haunting that readers may wish for more extended time in his consciousness earlier in the novel.
Thematic Heaviness
Collins doesn’t shy away from difficult themes—addiction, religious trauma, sexuality, violence—but occasionally the accumulation of pain feels relentless without sufficient counterbalance. The novel’s dark trajectory is appropriate to its themes, but moments of beauty or connection could have been amplified to create more emotional dynamics.
Harmonizing with Literary Traditions
Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine joins an esteemed tradition of novels exploring the underbelly of American music scenes. It echoes the raw authenticity of Larry Brown’s gritty southern narratives, the musical devotion of Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, and the Texas-specific tensions found in Larry McMurtry’s contemporary works.
What distinguishes Collins’ contribution is her nuanced understanding of how music can simultaneously unite and divide communities. The novel acknowledges music’s transcendent qualities while recognizing how cultural ownership creates friction—who gets to play what, who belongs where, and who pays the price when worlds collide.
Final Chord: A Remarkable Debut
Despite minor flaws, Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine announces Collins as a significant literary voice with an exceptional ear for dialogue, a gift for atmosphere, and unflinching emotional honesty. The novel lingers like a haunting melody, its characters and setting remaining vivid long after the final page.
For readers who appreciate novels that combine cultural insight with deeply personal journeys, that balance darkness with authentic moments of connection, and that explore the price of artistic pursuit, Collins offers a compelling, unforgettable read that captures a pivotal moment in American cultural history through an intimate, local lens.
Who Should Read This Book?
This novel will particularly resonate with:
Music enthusiasts interested in the evolution of American roots music
Readers drawn to character-driven literary fiction with strong sense of place
Those fascinated by cultural shifts in American identity during the 1970s
Fans of Texas-based literature exploring the state’s complex social dynamics
Readers who appreciate morally complex characters and situations without easy resolutions
Like Steven finding himself swept up in Doug’s blues riff, I found myself pulled into the undercurrent of this novel from an advance copy that arrived on my doorstep. I swayed and stumbled through these pages, occasionally losing my footing but always finding the rhythm again. This honest review is my way of passing the record along—it’s one worth adding to your collection.