Eleven Hundred Springs producing results

Matt Hillyer has a word of advice for any aspiring producers.

"It's harder than you think," says the Eleven Hundred Springs frontman. "It's hard to be objective with yourself; it's hard to wear both hats. [But] it was certainly fun."

Hillyer and his Dallas-based bandmates decided to produce their latest record, This Crazy Life, themselves last summer at Fort Worth's WaveLight Studios. After working with respected producer Lloyd Maines for 2008's Country Jam, Hillyer and Springs co-founder Steve Berg felt that they were finally up to the task.

The resulting 12 tracks, adorned with plenty of fiddle and pedal steel, as well as evocative titles like I'll Get on to Getting Over You Tomorrow, are more of the same, grittily authentic country music that fans have come to expect from the quintet.

"I don't know if you're ever really ready to do all that [producing], but we did learn a lot from Lloyd," Hillyer says. "It was a whole lot of fun working with him; it's a learning experience when you work with somebody that good and the various little tricks you pick up on."

While little on This Crazy Life, in stores, sounds like the acts in heavy rotation on CMT, Hillyer doesn't necessarily quibble with Nashville's steady shift away from hard-living artists such as Waylon Jennings or Merle Haggard and toward camera-ready cuties like Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood.

"Any genre of music has got to progress and change as it goes," Hillyer says. "[Country music] has grown into something that's made a whole lot of jobs for everybody.... If one of us is doing well, then it really does spread out to a lot of us. It is a family sort of environment when it comes to all the different bands."

What's more, Hillyer, along with bandmates Berg, Jordan Hendrix, Burton Lee and Brian Ferguson, feels that attempting to change what Eleven Hundred Springs has been about since its inception in 1998 would do more harm than good. Rather than chase trends over the years, the Springs crew has focused on honing its distinctive sound.

"I think you have to go with your gut on what you're going to be putting out there," Hillyer says. "I always try to write songs I think could be a hit but, in the end, you've got to go with what you know and what you feel. I don't know how we could sell it any other way; it's what we like."

The rest of the year will be spent supporting This Crazy Life -- including a CD release show at Billy Bob's Texas on Friday -- but Hillyer says the Springs already has its eye on what's next. Spending some time on pre-production for Life helped him realize its value, so the band is toying with some demos for its next record.

Call it another handy tip from Hillyer.

"It's a lot more fun; it takes a bit of the pressure off," Hillyer says. "We're ahead of the curve this time."